Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 155 p. Includes abstract.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-diss.--Tübingen. / Lebenslauf. "Literatur und sonstige hilf́smittel": p. 86-87.

Inaug.-diss.--Tübingen. / Lebenslauf. "Literatur und sonstige hilf́smittel": p. 86-87.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (M Arch)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2010. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: David Fortin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 41-43).

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of personal attributes, risk perception, and risk reduction strategies on travel intention in the specific context of U.S. travelers and the island destination of Bali, Indonesia. The variables examined in this study are personality traits, subjective knowledge, risk experience, perceived risk, emotion, risk reduction strategies, and intention to visit. Travelers with certain personal attributes (personality traits, subjective knowledge, and risk experience) were asked to evaluate destination risk factors and develop risk perceptions and emotions. They were also asked about different risk-reduction strategies and how each would impact their considerations to visit the destination. The method used in this study was a quantitative approach. The data were collected from U.S. travelers with a non-probability sampling procedure. Participants were asked to complete an online survey through Amazon MTurk. The survey was completed on November 11, 2020. A total of 594 usable responses were retained for data analysis. Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the socio-demographic and travel experiences of the respondents. PLS-SEM statistical analysis with SmartPLS v.3.0 was then conducted to examine the effects of personal attributes and risk-related variables on intent to visit. Findings showed that risk experience positively influenced risk perception, while psychocentric personality traits and subjective knowledge positively influenced emotion. Risk perception was found not to inhibit intention to visit. In addition, respondents had relatively positive emotion levels regarding the destination. However, risk perception had a positive influence on the intention to engage in various risk reduction strategies, except information search. Only trust and financial strategies had positive influences on intent to visit. The effects of risk perception and emotions in influencing risk reduction strategies were different according to the experienced and non-experienced groups. This study adds to the limited knowledge of tourist risk reduction behaviors in the context of a vulnerable island destination. This study proposes a conceptual framework that provides a more integrated understanding of risk-related behavior. Exploring the complexity of tourists' behavior regarding risk could expand our understanding of how tourists respond to different types of risks. DMOs must understand how tourists respond to different types of risks and support effective strategies to alleviate risk perception.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate service innovation synergies and their effect on soft key performance indicators from the customer perspective. Innovation can prove to be a great benefit to firms, but they are rarely able to realize this benefit due to high market failure rates. Considering the required investment of resources under uncertainty, it is imperative to understand and discover ways to increase the market success of service innovations. A possible answer lies in the research niche of innovation synergies. Nevertheless, two major research gaps undermine existing knowledge. The first issue is that industry and research fail to take the customer perspective into account, even though market success is ultimately determined by customers and their perceptions of value. Second, a limited research niche of innovation synergies, which has yet to consider the customer perspective and classification systems exclusive to service innovation. Hence, this dissertation aims to answer the following research question: how are synergies between different service innovations perceived and valued by customers? A mixed-methods approach was employed to address the research question. First, a qualitative study with 34 experienced theme park customers enabled the researcher to confirm the contextual appropriateness of the research model. Moreover, it created a foundational understanding of customer-based service innovation synergies. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and the results enriched the development of the second quantitative study. The latter had the primary objective of investigating the effect of different types of service innovation projects (stand-alone service innovations vs synergetic service innovations) on the customers' perceptions of innovation and on soft key performance indicators. An online scenario-based experiment was conducted with theme park customers. Based on 454 responses, the research model was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). An analysis of variance and multigroup analysis were employed to test for differences in groups. This study found that service innovativeness is characterized by change and differentiation and is mainly driven by perceptions of newness and immersion. Additionally, service innovativeness has a positive effect on perceived firm innovativeness, adoption intentions, and loyalty intentions. More importantly, this study found that customers of experiential services perceive synergetic service innovations favorably and significantly more innovative than stand-alone service innovations. Finally, service innovation synergies could be a profit maximization strategy by having a significantly higher impact on loyalty intentions than stand-alone service concept innovations. These results contribute to theory by introducing a new research niche of customer-based service innovation synergies. The dissertation also forwards predictive and holistic knowledge on innovation acceptance and market value. From a managerial standpoint, it helps service firms in attending to two of the most pressing innovation challenges they face, high failure rates and low differentiation. Furthermore, it serves as a strategic guide of best practices to introduce valuable service innovation synergies.

Past research has shown that theft is a prevalent crime against tourists. This study's purpose was to determine the effects of past incidents of personal theft on tourists' future decisions to travel by analyzing and comparing those who have experienced personal theft to those who heard of such incidents through personal accounts of friends or family. The findings, which were taken from a survey of 215 respondents, revealed that that experiencing personal theft, or knowing of someone who has, is not a deterrent for visiting a destination where the theft occurred. Results also showed that one aspect of theft that was a deterrent to travel to destinations was how the authorities handled the reporting of the theft. If these findings are confirmed by other studies, then destinations that are afflicted by such thefts should not necessarily see a reduction in tourist arrivals.

The tourism industry has become one of the fastest growing sectors in the world's economy, contributing 9.1% of world GDP and more than 260 million jobs worldwide (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2011). The U.S college student market has emerged as major segment within this sector, generating approximately $15 billion on annual domestic and international travel. Among the various travel patterns of college students, they are most highly motivated for spring break travel, with more than two million students traveling per season (Bai et al., 2004; Borgerding, 2001; Reynolds, 2004). This research, through surveying college students majoring in hospitality and tourism management, analyzed the significance of college student perceptions of key spring break destination attributes. A total of 281 usable responses were subjected to the Principal Component Analysis that generated six dimensions: Breaking Away, Sun and Beach, Safety and Hygiene, Psychological Distance, Price and Value, and Social Exploration, comprised of 24 key attributes that influence a college spring breaker's destination selection decision. An Importance-Performance Analysis (Martilla & James, 1977) was conducted based on the respondents' assessment of attributes on five of the six dimensions. The results of the IPA allowed comparison of the top four most visited destinations identified by the respondents: Daytona Beach, South Beach Miami, Panama City Beach, and Clearwater Beach/Tampa. The study findings may provide valuable implications for destination service providers to improve their destination's appeal in this highly competitive and lucrative market. Future research on college spring break groups located in different geographic locations within the country is highly encouraged to better understand the general characteristics of this market.