Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management & Dietetics / Carol W. Shanklin / Ki-Joon Back / This study proposed and tested a theoretical model of service recovery consisting of antecedents and consequences of service recovery satisfaction. This study further tested recovery paradox effects and investigated the effects of situational and attributional factors in the evaluation of service recovery efforts and consequent overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The study employed scenario experimentation with three dimensions of justice manipulated at two levels each (2x2x2 between-groups factorial design). Postage paid, self-addressed envelopes and questionnaires (600 copies) were distributed. Participants represented 15 religious and community service groups. All respondents were regular casual restaurant customers. Of 308 surveys returned, 286 cases were used for data analysis. In study 1, the proposed relationships were tested using the structural equation modeling. In study 2, multivariate analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of covariance tests were employed to test proposed hypotheses. The three dimensions of justice had positive effects on recovery satisfaction. Recovery satisfaction had a significant positive effect on customers’ trust. Trust in service providers had positive effect on commitment and overall satisfaction. Commitment had positive effects on overall satisfaction and behavioral intentions. This study indicated that, although a service failure might negatively affect customers’ relationship with the service provider, effective service recovery reinforced attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The results of this study emphasized that service recovery efforts should be viewed not only as a strategy to recover customers’ immediate satisfaction but also as a relationship tool to provide customers confidence that ongoing relationships are beneficial to them. This study did not find recovery paradox in the experimental scenarios. The magnitude of service failure had significant negative effects on perceived justice and recovery satisfaction. Customers’ rating of stability causation had significant negative effects on overall satisfaction, revisit intention, and word-of-mouth intention. The study findings indicated that positive recovery efforts could reinstate customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions up to those of pre-failure. Restaurant managers and their employees need to provide extra efforts to restore the customers’ perceived losses in serious failure situations. Service providers should reduce systematic occurrences of service failure so customer will not develop stability perception.

This study investigates which aspect of a service (core or relational) is more instrumental in inducing higher customer satisfaction and more positive behavioral outcomes among male and female bank customers. A large-scale survey of the customers of a national bank in New Zealand serves as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications to induce greater customer satisfaction and favorable outcomes are discussed. Avenues for future research are offered.

This dissertation explores the demographic, economic, political, and environmental characteristics that have helped define the "New West," reviews studies on individual attitudes and participation in response to these changes, and presents findings and conclusions from an analysis of two study areas: Bear Lake and Star Valley. Results suggest that residency status is generally not a significant predictor of resident attitudes towards aspects of community change. Non-residency status factors, such as high levels of place attachment, knowledge about community affairs, values for property ownership, and community satisfaction, were generally more influential upon residents' attitudes. Significant predictors of resident involvement in community affairs differed based on how involvement was measured; self-reported involvement in political affairs was most strongly predicted by permanent resident status, local social connections, knowledge of community affairs, and place attachment, while resident intention to participate in community affairs was positively correlated with greater personal efficacy, knowledge of community affairs, past leadership recruitment, place attachment, and altruistic motivation. Predictors for intention to participate also differed based on whether participation was measured by action type or by issue. Measuring participation by the type of action focused predictors on the skills, incentives, and resources needed to achieve those actions. Grouping participation by the type of issue, however, focused predictors on the characteristics that differentiated residents with regard to issue relevance. Out-migration, as an alternative to participatory action, was only predicted by non-economic factors. Additionally, the relationship between attitudes and behavioral intentions was only weakly predicted based on attitude ambivalence and specific scenarios. Study results highlighted several methodological considerations for future attitude and participatory studies. Use of general attitudinal statements may have yielded inflated response scores and therefore may not translate to shared acceptability of specific management decisions or trade-offs. This study also explored the notion of behavioral intentions as a means of identifying residents' "ideal" tendency for involvement. Local community leaders may be able to improve resident public participation by utilizing these findings to provide a shared goal for action, identifying appropriate audiences for specific issues, and recognizing how different participatory methods may yield obstacles and opportunities for resident involvement.

Global Alliance of Marketing and Management Associations (GAMMA). The purpose of this study was to propose and empirically test a sport spectator behavioral model. The model presented here is a micro-level perspective of value creation in the context of live sporting events. This study used directional hypotheses to compare the influence of different value dimensions on specific customer behaviors in the setting of North American professional sport. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine path coefficients for the hypothesized relationships in the model. Organization-related value propositions were found to be stronger predictors of perceived economic, hedonic, and social value. One exception to this was customer density, which negatively impacted certain value perceptions. The hedonic value was found to have the strongest influence on customer in-role and extra-role behavior. The behavioral model tested here can be used in future studies to examine how sport organizations and their customers can create value in the live event setting and how the roles performed by each stakeholder influence future behavior. Findings suggest there are several actions marketers and managers can take to increase customer perceived value and prompt spectators to attend future events or act as advocates for the organization.

The dissertation explored the relationships among Website interactivity, brand knowledge, consumer-based brand equity and behavioral intentions in the context of hotel Websites. Based on an in-depth literature review, a theory-driven model was proposed and ten hypotheses were developed. The dissertation employed an empirical study based on a survey design, and collected data via a marketing company. Respondents who booked a hotel room online using hotel branded Websites in the last 12 months were approached to complete the online questionnaire. Four hundred ninety six (496) respondents completed the online questionnaire by answering to questions related to their last hotel booking experience. Analysis was conducted in two phases: (1) Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and (2) Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The overall fit of the CFA model and the final SEM model were acceptable, indicating an adequate fit to the data. The results suggested that the two dimensions of Website interactivity, namely system interactivity and social interactivity, positively impacted the components of brand knowledge, and that system interactivity had a stronger impact as compared to social interactivity. Although, social interactivity was not found to have a significant direct effect on brand awareness, the results showed that social interactivity had a significant impact on brand image. Furthermore, the relationship between brand equity and behavioral intentions was positive and significant. The empirical study offered theoretical for utilizing Website interactivity as a branding tool in the hotel context. Additionally, the results provide practical insights into branding strategies, Website development, and behavioral intentions enhancement. Very few studies have empirically examined and incorporated Website interactivity dimensions and brand knowledge with consumer-based brand equity and behavioral intentions. This gap in the literature has been compounded by an absence of empirical studies on Website interactivity as a tool to develop brands and behavioral intentions in the context of hotel Websites. The present dissertation closes this gap in the literature by reporting on a questionnaire of US adult travelers that offered data on those theoretical associations. Conceptually, the results support the influential impact of Website interactivity on brand elements and behavioral intentions.

Purpose - The purpose of this thesis is to explain the impacts of attitude, subjective normsand perceived behavioral control on Swedish consumers' intentions to purchase greencosmetics.Methodology - This thesis utilizes a multiple regression analysis based on an onlineself-completion questionnaire with respondents inside the sampling frame of SwedishMillennials and generation z consumers.Results - This thesis provides an understanding that Attitude, Subjective Norm and Perceivedbehavioral control can positively impact green cosmetic purchase intention.Originality / value - Testing the model of TPB as previously applied in green cosmeticconsumption research, in a greener highly competitive growing market of Swedish personalcare products.

No description available.

An important field of research now is how smartwatches are being adopted and used in variouscultural situations. The adoption of smartwatches among Pakistani consumers is the subject ofthis study, with an emphasis on understanding the behavioral intents and usage patternsinfluenced by cultural customs and lifestyle preferences. Semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires were employed in the study's qualitative research approach to extract insights from a diverse group of individuals. The research utilized qualitative methods, gathering in-depth and nuanced information from Pakistani users through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires. The data was subjected to thematic analysis, which revealed recurrent themes that provide insights into the variables impacting the adoption and sustained use ofsmartwatches.Five main themes emerged from the participants after thematic analysis. It was revealed that smartwatches were helpful in encouraging better lifestyles because they could beused as health-monitoring devices to actively control their fitness-impacting lifestyles. Users were able to smoothly incorporate technology into their fashion choices thanks to smartwatches, which wereseen as extensions of personal style. Participants praised the ease of managing tasks and notifications straight from the wrist, which facilitated effective time management. Withfeatureslike stresstracking and relaxation activities, smartwatches act as instruments for reducingstress.Participants praised smartwatches for helping them stay connected and organized whileretaining a professional demeanor. The findings were interpreted using a comprehensiveframework basedon the Affordance theory. The themes that were found reflected the perceived benefits that smartwatches are thought to provide, directing users towards activities based on thefunctionality they perceive. By illuminating the complex relationships between perceived affordances and behavioral intentions, this framework improved our knowledge of how cultural practices and lifestyle preferences interact with the adoption of technology. The results highlightthe mutually beneficial interaction between technology, culture, and personal goals whilehighlighting the roleof perceived affordances in influencing users' intents and actions. These observations offer invaluable advice for designers, academics, and stakeholders looking toimprove user experiences across various cultural contexts as smartwatches continue to reshape personal interactions with technology.

Sexual assault in the United States continues to be a major societal problem which often results in serious long-term consequences for the survivors, with perpetrators most commonly being men. Sexual assault prevention programs for college men often lack theories to guide the research and demonstrate mixed results. Previous research has demonstrated that more traditional male gender role identity is linked to sexual assault supportive attitudes and behaviors, suggesting that masculine ideology could be a contributing factor to college men?s reactions to a sexual assault prevention program. The purpose of this study was to test a model of how male gender role identity constructs influence college men?s reactions to a sexual assault prevention program through the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Participants were 97 college men, ages 18 to 22. They completed measures of adherence to masculine ideologies, then participated in an hour long sexual assault prevention program focused on bystander prevention, and finally completed measures of central route processing and outcome variables. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model of how masculine ideologies and central route processing contributed to outcome results. These results indicated that men who adhered to more traditional masculine ideologies were less likely to engage in central route processing, a thoughtful processing of the information provided in the prevention program. Additionally, less adherence to traditional masculinity predicted more behavioral intentions to change as a result of the program and less acceptance of rape myths. More engagement in central route processing also predicted more positive outcomes such as behavioral intentions to change and less rape myth acceptance. Results from hierarchical linear regression analysis indicated that central route processing was more influential on the outcome variables than masculine ideology. Implications for this research include support of sexual assault prevention programs based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model as being potentially effective regardless of the men?s existing masculine ideologies.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:51:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarcioMC_DISSERT.pdf: 2917876 bytes, checksum: 6618176c63435f1be7b0c9123c48f4cb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-04-05 / This dissertation aims to analyze the causal relationship between the quality of tourist services, satisfaction with the attributes and globally, fidelity and image of tourist destinations. Therefore, it was conducted an exploratory, descriptive research with quantitative analytical approach. Data collection was performed by a questionnaire addressed to tourists at the Augusto Severo International Airport and Bus station of Natal, the main points of entry and exit of tourists. The composition was simple random sampling by reaching the final number of 400 tourists interviewed. Among the main results, is an assessment of the quality of the components of the destination. It was noted that nine are the dimensions of perceived quality of tourism products and services of ―Sun and Sand‖ segment, that is, Beaches and Facilities, Public Equipment, Catering Services, Transportation, Hotel Equipment, Hotel Services, Entertainment & Attractions, Access to the Hotel and Hospitality. Moreover, it was concluded that the Preview Tourism Destination Image has little direct influence in the Consumer Satisfaction, and only indirectly in the Post-Purchase Behavior. While the Complex Tourism Destination Image exerts strong and direct influence on both factors, in the Customer Satisfaction Process and Loyalty, the dimensions of quality also claimed to be strongly influences both factors / Esta disserta??o pretendeu analisar a rela??o causal entre a Qualidade dos Servi?os Tur?sticos, a Satisfa??o com os atributos e de forma global, a Fidelidade e a Imagem de Destinos Tur?sticos. Para tanto, se realizou um estudo explorat?rio-descritivo, do tipo Survey, com enfoque anal?tico quantitativo. A coleta de dados foi realizada atrav?s de question?rio aplicado junto aos turistas nacionais no Aeroporto Internacional Augusto Severo e na Rodovi?ria da Cidade do Natal, principais locais de entrada e sa?da de turistas. A composi??o amostral foi aleat?ria simples chegando-se ao n?mero final de 400 turistas entrevistados. Dentre os principais resultados, encontra-se um diagn?stico da qualidade dos componentes do destino tur?stico Natal. Observou-se, tamb?m, que s?o noves as dimens?es da percep??o de qualidade dos produtos e servi?os tur?sticos de Sol e Praia, ou seja, Praias e Facilidades, Equipamentos P?blicos, Restaura??o, Servi?os de Transportes, Equipamentos do Hotel, Servi?os do Hotel, Entretenimento e Atrativos, Acesso ao Hotel e Hospitalidade. Al?m disso, concluiu-se que a Imagem Pr?via do Destino Tur?stico exerce pouca influ?ncia direta junto a Satisfa??o do Consumidor, e apenas indireta no Comportamento P?s-Compra (Fidelidade). Enquanto que a Imagem Complexa exerce influ?ncia forte e direta tanto no processo de Satisfa??o do Consumidor quanto no de Fideliza??o dele, as dimens?es da qualidade encontradas tamb?m se apresentaram como fortes influenciadoras de ambos os fatores