Immigrants employed in hospitality organizations experience various psychological challenges as they adapt to the cultures of their organizations and the society at large. This dissertation aims to investigate how acculturation and workplace inclusion of immigrant restaurant workers affect their levels of job satisfactions, subjective well-being, work engagement, organizational attachment, and turnover intention. This study followed a cross-sectional research design to explore immigrant restaurant employees' attitudes towards their acculturation process and perceptions of their work experiences in the United States. This study was developed by using scales from the existing literature and a back-to-back translation method by native speakers of Spanish and Haitian Creole languages. The participants of this study were 279 immigrants, who are restaurants employees in the United States. Data were simultaneously collected in three different ways. The questionnaire adopted for this study was distributed at multiple restaurants, including stand-alone and hotel foodservice outlets, in the Southeastern region of the USA. Also, a link to the survey questionnaire was forwarded to other participants via email and social media to individuals who qualify as immigrant restaurant workers. In addition, the data collection the process involved using Amazon Turk, until the required sample size for this study was met. Both SPSS version 24 and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were utilized to analyze the collected data for this study. This study's results indicate that acculturation and workplace inclusion positively influence subjective well-being and job satisfaction amongst immigrant restaurant workers. Meanwhile, work engagement, organizational, and turnover intention are directly influenced by job satisfaction. The findings of this study advance the knowledge of acculturation and workplace inclusion in both the hospitality discipline and the mainstream human resources literature. While there are very few studies on acculturation and workplace inclusion in the hospitality and tourism literature, no prior research was conducted on immigrants working in the food and beverage sector. Also, no previous studies investigated both the effect of acculturation and workplace inclusion on immigrant employees in a simultaneous manner. Hence this study adds to both the hospitality and organizational behavior body of knowledge. It also provides new insights on how to improve these employees' subjective well-being, job satisfaction, work engagement, organizational attachment, and reduce the chances of quitting their hospitality jobs.

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In convention market, one of the fastest growing sectors in hospitality industry, meeting planners play an important role to select a destination for their event. Therefore, a good relationship with them can be a competitive advantage for a convention destination considering a fierce competition among the destinations. The objective of this study is to develop an empirically valid relationship marketing (RM) model that would verify the antecedents, mediators, and consequence of the relationship between the destination marketing organization (DMO) and meeting planners. This study found three antecedents (i.e., customer orientation, familiarity, and reputation) of the RM mediating constructs that consist of satisfaction, trust, and commitment as well as consequence (i.e. behavioral intention) led by the RM mediators based on review of the literature. Therefore, the hypothesized relationships 1) between the antecedents and the mediators, 2) between the mediators, 3) and 3) between the mediators and the consequence in the model were tested by using structural equation modeling (SEM) with LISREL results. Eight out of eleven hypotheses were supported by the examination of path coefficients while 33 observed indicators were confirmed in the measurement model through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The SEM results showed the significant relationships that lead to meaningful implications in both industry and academia while this study is not immune to limitations that can be the starting points of recommendations for future studies

This study investigates current green restaurant certifications as well as developing a new more user certification. First, a fact finding investigation to find the most established and commonly utilized green restaurant certifications were compared. Second, a new green certification was developed. Third, chosen green restaurant certifications were compared. Lastly, the new green certification analyzed whether restaurants in the central Florida area utilized green practices. Data were collected in face to face sessions with restaurant managers during nonpeak hours of operation. There were numerous surveys utilized in this research study. The statistical methodology utilized in this study was average means and factor analysis in SPPS 20. The statistical results indicated that the newly developed green certification was ranked closely to the two established certification of the Green Restaurant Association and the Green Seal. Furthermore, when inquiring about restaurant green practices the result strongly indicated that restaurants are not utilizing green practices. As a side note there were restaurants that were not even using the more basic green practices such as energy efficient light bulbs. Implications, limitations and suggestions for future research were discussed in the final chapter.

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze guest/customer satisfaction surveys of a casual dining restaurant in the Orlando, Florida area; specifically, to analyze if there is a difference between satisfaction levels of tourist and non-tourist guests. The guest satisfaction surveys were analyzed on eight dimensions of satisfaction; Pace of Service, Service Overall, Server Communication & Accuracy, Food (Taste & Quality), Food Preparation, Bar (Beer, Wine, & Cocktail), Gratefulness, and Atmosphere in whole (including atmosphere and cleanliness).The eight dimensions were evaluated in the GPS (guest pulse survey) based on a Net Promoter Score, or NPS® system, and were compared by guest type: tourist versus non-tourist. Multiple linear regression analyses results concluded that the dimensions of Pace, Service Overall, Food, Food Preparation, and Atmosphere were predicators of Overall Satisfaction for tourist respondents. Service Overall, Server Communication, and Gratefulness were predictors of Overall Satisfaction for nontourist respondents

In the hospitality industry, the role of the frontline employee is integral. These employees are the face of the organization and have a strong role in shaping and forming the opinions of consumers by way of their product and service delivery. Therefore, the decisions an employee makes during the product or service delivery is critical in maintaining the relationship with the customer. Employees may be faced with opportunities to better service a customer at the cost of breaking an organizational rule or procedure. When an employee is faced with this dilemma and decides to break the rule on the behalf of the customer knowing the risks involved, this is called prosocial rule breaking. One distinct difference between this concept and general rule breaking is that this is performed as a nonselfish gesture; the employee does not receive any personal benefit. To examine this further, this study investigated the overall propensity to participate in prosocial rule breaking and the impact of the Big Five personality dimensions on prosocial rule breaking. To gain a better understanding of these constructs, a review of literature related to ethical decision making, prosocial behavior, and the five factor theory of personality was conducted. To investigate the research objectives, a purposive sample of frontline employees from a nationally branded restaurant chain completed a four part self-administered questionnaire by answering questions on the five factor personality dimensions through the Big Five Inventory (BFI), a restaurant based scenario followed by Morrison's (2006) prosocial rule breaking scale, a section on demographic information, and an open ended section for qualitative comments. Overall, three-hundred and five (305) usable questionnaires were completed and interpreted. The results demonstrated that this sample of restaurant employees revealed a moderate propensity for prosocial rule breaking. Moreover, the results revealed that the Agreeableness dimension is the most common personality dimension for this group of restaurant employees, but the Conscientiousness domain was the best predictor of one's propensity not to participate in prosocial rule breaking. The implications for managers from this study indicate a need for managers to recognize and encourage prosocial behaviors from their employees. They also need to understand which personality domains contribute to prosocial behavior, which can ultimately have implications for hiring, selection, and training.

Entertainment, being such a lucrative market, receives fewer academic endeavors than most other types of tourism provision. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the entertainment destination experience via conceptualization, scale development, and empirical testing. Entertainment has been acknowledged as one of the driving forces of the global economy and received increasing scholarly interest in hospitality and tourism research. A mixed-methods approach was adopted to achieve the study purpose, consisting of three studies. Study 1 examined the concept manifestation of the entertainment destination experience. Visual and textual analytical techniques were employed to analyze 318 online reviews from TripAdvisor. Following the well-established scale development procedures, Study 2 included three phases to develop a scale for the entertainment destination experience by conducting 21 in-depth interviews and collecting 602 usable surveys. With a total of 373 valid responses, Study 3 examined the impact of the entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention by employing the partial least squares structural equation modeling. This dissertation identified the core attributes of the entertainment destination experience. The multi-dimensional and formative nature of the entertainment destination experience was revealed. The current research identified six dimensions of the entertainment destination experience, consisting of hospitality, affective, cognitive, sensory, intellectual, and social entertainment. The study results uncovered the positive impacts of entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. Emotions and memorability were found to mediate the relationship between entertainment destination experience, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. This dissertation makes pioneering efforts to investigate the entertainment destination experience. The current study is one of the first attempts to manifest the conceptual attributes of the entertainment destination experience. Also, it is one of the first to go beyond a unidimensional perspective by exploring the multi-faceted nature of the entertainment destination experience. The findings shed light on the entertainment research in hospitality and tourism and advance the understanding of tourist experience by establishing a scale for entertainment destination experience. In addition, this dissertation adds new knowledge to entertainment literature and tourism and hospitality research by uncovering the impact of the entertainment destination experience on emotions, memorability, destination satisfaction, and behavioral intention. From a managerial perspective, the present study offers important practical implications for industry practitioners who aim to tap into the entertainment market. The findings highlight the core attributes and dimensions of the entertainment destination experience for destination policies and regulations. Employing the entertainment destination experience scale as a toolkit, destination managers are recommended to evaluate entertainment products and services to shape the tourist experience and improve the destination image.

Tourism consumption is a systematic aesthetic appreciation experience that combines human lives with extraordinary nature and culture. While the bridge linking aesthetics and tourism has significant potential of helping to explore how tourism contributes to human life, the study of aesthetics in tourism remains unclear and fragmented. To fill this research void, this study aims to cultivate a comprehensive understanding of the nature of aesthetics in tourism by exploring and defining a Chinese classical aesthetic concept – Yijing. Specifically, the objectives are to (1) explore the manifestation of aesthetics in tourism, (2) unveil the formation of Yijing through tourist gaze, (3) uncover the connotation of Yijing, (4) comprehend how Yijing contributes to human life, (5) delve into the formation of Yijing through social media gaze, and (6) examine the impacts of Yijing on intention to transformational changes. Guided by the realism paradigm and employing an exploratory sequential mixed-method approach, this dissertation initially undertook a two-phase qualitative study, performing netnography to explore both tourists' and online audiences' activities on a travel platform. The sample for the narrative analysis consisted of 35 content-rich travel blog posts (total word count: 776,993; total number of pictures: 11,924), along with corresponding comments (total word count: 9,541) and interactive responses from online observers. A quantitative study was then conducted to test the conceptual model developed based on the qualitative findings with a generalized population. The main study (n=395) was analyzed with PLS-SEM. Findings from the qualitative study suggested a Yin-Yang philosophical approach to understanding aesthetics in tourism, proposing a new way to define "Beauty" and "Ugliness." A two-stage framework of Yijing's formation (i.e., preparation and realization) and a three-level pyramid of Yijing's connotation (i.e., perceptual appreciation, transcendence, and Epiphany) were revealed. The three levels of Yijing ideally correspond to the three realms of people's outlook on life and trigger individuals' behavioral, psychological, and transformational changes. Findings from the quantitative study further validated the three levels of Yijing and its significant influence on self-transformation in a global setting. This dissertation bears valuable theoretical contributions to studying aesthetics in various disciplines and fields such as tourism, hospitality, education, psychology, and marketing from a unique Eastern philosophical perspective. It also yields insightful practical implications for organizations and practitioners to practice aesthetic placemaking.

Cryptocurrency is virtual money that is secured by digital information and cryptographic techniques, enabling fast and secure hospitality and travel transactions without risks of fraud, conversion costs, or certain transaction fees. Despite its potential benefits, customers are hesitant to adopt cryptocurrency for purchases. Prior literature mostly utilized technology acceptance models to conceptualize individual cryptocurrency adoption in hospitality and tourism, preventing an interdisciplinary comprehension of this phenomenon that integrates technology, finance, and e-commerce aspects. This dissertation aims to explore factors explaining individuals' intentions to use cryptocurrency for hospitality and tourism purchases and to develop a conceptual framework that generalizes adoption intention towards cryptocurrency. To achieve these objectives, a mixed-method approach was employed, involving 29 semi-structured interviews and 401 online surveys with cryptocurrency holders. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis to validate the proposed model's constructs and scales, while the online surveys were analyzed using structural equation modeling to test inter-construct relationships. Multigroup structural equation modeling estimations were also conducted to examine the moderation of personal innovativeness, risk propensity, and familiarity with cryptocurrency. The study revealed that performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition, price value, and perceived trust had positive impacts on usage intention while effort expectancy and stickiness to traditional payment were identified as barriers to customers' willingness to use cryptocurrency. The findings also showed that perceived ubiquity was determinant of perceived trust and performance expectancy, while perceived structural assurance predicted perceived trust and perceived risk. The study also confirmed the invariance in the relationships between adoption intention and its antecedents regardless of individuals' personal innovativeness, risk propensity, and familiarity with cryptocurrency. This dissertation provided valuable theoretical contributions to individuals' cryptocurrency adoption in hospitality and tourism from an interdisciplinary perspective, and practical implications for practitioners in these sectors and payment service providers to optimize their implementation of digital currency.

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