scholarly journals Word of Mouth Communication Influence of Online Hotel Room Reservation Confirmation: Case Study of Individual Travelers in Hong Kong

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Suk Ha Chan ◽  
Anna Chun-Hsuan Hsiao ◽  
Irini Lai Fun Tang

Hong Kong residents tend to spend their holidays by traveling overseas; hence, they reserve hotels online. Moreover, low-cost carriers have become popular and common, thereby resulting in an increase in the number of individual travelers. Accordingly, the online hotel industry can no longer ignore the potential segment of individual travelers. In addition, word of mouth (WOM) is significant in the decision-making process because of the development of Web 2.0. and Travel 3.0. Furthermore, previous studies were analyzed and only a few focus on the individual traveler perspectives on purchasing hotel reservations online. However, individual travelers have different culture and values compared with the public; the former has its own lifestyle, consumer behavior, and ego. Therefore, the investigation of individual travelers when purchasing hotel reservations online is a valuable research topic. Under all situations, WOM has become one of the crucial factors upon which individual travelers base their travel planning and decision. This study used the interpretivist approach to investigate the respondents’ experiences and views for exploring and understanding individual traveler’s perception. The current study adopted qualitative research toward the effects of WOM communication on purchasing hotel reservations online. To investigate the topic, in-depth interviews were conducted on 15 respondents who are individual travelers and travel alone. The interviews followed a semi-structured format using open-ended questions. Descriptive research was designed to gather the findings. In addition, this study provided the effects of WOM communication on purchasing hotel reservations online from the perspective of an individual traveler. New findings, effects of WOM from an individual traveler’s perspective, and recommendations are provided, thereby providing significant guidance to industrial practitioners to improve and formulate marketing strategies.

Society ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Eraskaita Ginting ◽  
Yusnaini Yusnaini

People in Jambi city assume that Pasar Hong Kong, a traditional market located in Jelutung sub-district, is “a Chinese market”, even some areas in the city of Jambi such as Jelutung, Koni, and Talang Banjar are dominated by the ethnic of Chinese. This research aims to explore how social inequality that occurs due to the advantages and disadvantages of an ethnic group so that it can affect individual attitudes that damage social capital. This research uses a case study approach with in-depth interviews and literature study as data collection techniques. The subjects of this study were ethnic Malay and Chinese female merchants in Pasar Hong Kong, Jambi city, Indonesia. This research found that social inequalities that occur among the female merchants of ethnic Malay and Chinese in Pasar Hongkong occur naturally, where both merchants and buyers have a high tolerance when interacting. Although sometimes there are differences in attitude when the merchants serve different ethnic buyers. The involvement of traditional leaders in managing social inequalities is very important due to the lack of assimilation among ethnic Malay and Chinese.


Author(s):  
Mathias Herup Nielsen

This article investigates different acts of political protests currently floating from unemployed citizens who are being affected by recent retrenchment policy reforms. Whereas most of the existing literature tends to portray political protest as either collective and public or individual and private, this article attempts instead to shed light on the plurality of normative resources activated by the unemployed in a highly critical situation. Thereby the analysis moves between the collective and the individual as well as between the public and the private. Using the theoretical framework developed by Laurent Thévenot and Luc Boltanski in their joint work on justification, the article analyses a specific case, namely unemployed Danish recipients of social assistance who are affected by a new policy initiative meaning that their income has been lowered. Drawing on newspaper articles and qualitative in-depth interviews with affected citizens, the analysis unfolds and theorizes upon three very different forms of protesting: a civic, an industrial and a domestic form of resistance.


2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Kurt Rhyner

Disasters are always caused by a combination of factors, and the natural phenomenon that brings them on is usually just a catalyst. The underlying cause of most disasters is poverty as mostly the poor segments of the population usually live in high risk areas where their shelter all too often cannot withstand even light winds, small inundations or medium earthquakes. When Hurricane Mitch hit Central America in October 1998, all countries were ill prepared. A few weeks earlier, the authorities of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, had attempted to simulate an evacuation, but it had met with a great degree of resistance from the public. When Mitch hit, unprecedented masses of water raced down the mountainous river beds. People were taken by surprise, as no efficient organisation existed. Everybody ran for their lives. Houses slid down hillsides, rivers swept bridges, houses and people with them. Six years later, Tegucigalpa looks very similar to the days before Mitch. The steep hillsides are covered with a potpourri of dwellings, from miserable huts to solid upmarket houses. Regulations were passed in the year 2002 to prohibit construction in high risk areas; however, enforcement is difficult, especially when existing buildings are renovated and even enlarged. Theoretically it is possible to evacuate high risk areas. Nonetheless, such drastic measures are virtually impossible to implement, as no mayor or police chief would survive such an action in office. The paper presents a case study which shows that the underlying problems of poverty and the non-availability of suitable land for people to relocate from high risk areas can usually not be overcome by post-disaster reconstruction programmes. A mitigation strategy is thus to empower inhabitants of high risk areas to improve their own situation by affordable access to information, advice and suitable low cost construction materials through “Building Advisory Services” and Ecomaterials producers within the neighbourhoods.


Author(s):  
Hemi Mistry

Additional opinions—that is, dissenting opinions, separate opinions, and declarations—are, by definition, the primary institutional mechanism through which judges can express their individual views on a particular decision, as distinct from the judgment or decision proclaimed on behalf of the institution. Therefore, within the public sphere they are the principal institutional manifestation of the individual—and thus the individuality—of the judge. Consequently, for those who seek to understand the impact of certain personal characteristics upon how a judge discharges their professional functions and, in turn, the wider institutional and systemic implications of the participation of individuals bearing those characteristics, the study of additional opinions would seem a useful analytical enterprise. Using gender diversity at the International Court of Justice as a case study, the purpose of this chapter is twofold: first, to explain the relationship between diversity and additional opinions, and second, to explore the methodological potential, and challenges, that the study of additional opinions entails.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Kopang Botlhale

Purpose The purpose of this study is to discuss corporate governance in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Lesotho to influence policy debates. Design/methodology/approach This is a desktop study that used the qualitative research approach. For this research, the case study method has been adopted. In terms of orientation, this is descriptive research. Data were collected from three-tiered sources: independent publications (e.g. World Bank); government publications; and newspaper articles. Data analysis was in the form of document analysis. Findings The study concluded that there are instances of poor and/or bad governance in SOEs in Lesotho. Egregious examples include transgressing against the Public Financial Management Act (2011) and the failure to submit Audited Financial Results. Research limitations/implications The findings are limited to a specific case. Nonetheless, there are general lessons that can be drawn for African countries from the case study. A key general lesson is the imperative need to reconfigure the legal-institutional architecture of SOEs so that they create public value. Practical implications Other than cataloguing instances of poor and/or bad governance in SOEs in Lesotho, the paper goes further and accordingly makes policy recommendations to enhance corporate governance in SOEs in Lesotho. Originality/value There is no academic study on corporate governance in SOEs in Lesotho; therefore, there is a gap in the literature. Hence, the study makes an original contribution to the literature.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Keith Thomas ◽  
Paul Lam ◽  
Annisa Ho

Successful knowledge transfer or diffusion of e-learning practice goes beyond precursor incentives and anticipated rewards for the individual lecturer. It also involves wider enabling of learning attributes and cultural capabilities in an organization. This paper examines how some of these attributes and capabilities play out in an educational institution in the context of web-enabled technology. An organizational-learning model is used to examine diffusion of practices after initial design and development. This paper is based on a case study of eight course-level e-learning projects in a university based in Hong Kong. The study illustrates a number of issues and challenges for the wider uptake of the initial idea from the individual course to the programme and wider institution.


Author(s):  
Delarise M. Mulqueeny ◽  
Myra Taylor

Background: Patients play a major role in the success of any antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme. Hence, their needs should be articulated on a regular basis for interventional processes to promote adherence, retention and quality care.Aim: This study investigated whether patients’ needs were being met, described which needs were met, which were not and how such needs could be met.Setting: The study took place at four ART clinics in eThekwini district public hospitals.Methods: This study formed part of a larger study that utilised a sequential mixed-methods design. However, only the qualitative component is documented herein. Twelve HIV-infected patients engaged in in-depth interviews (three patients from each of the four hospitals). A socio-ecological framework divided responses into four categories, namely, the individual, interpersonal, institutional and policy. Each category presented (1) patients’ needs that are being met, (2) needs that are not being met, (3) recommendations on how they can be met and (4) researchers’ observations.Results: All 12 patients reported that all their needs were not being met. They further shared their met needs, unmet needs and made recommendations for meeting their unmet needs. These needs varied per antiretroviral clinic because of unique processes at each institution.Conclusion: To adequately address the needs of HIV-infected patients, it is imperative for all stakeholders involved in the public ART programme to gain an understanding of what constitutes ‘patients’ needs’. The results reflect patients’ willingness to be involved in their care, treatment and interventional strategies to adequately meet their needs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-231
Author(s):  
Myriam Ertz ◽  
Fahri Karakas ◽  
Frederick Stapenhurst ◽  
Rasheed Draman ◽  
Emine Sarigöllü ◽  
...  

Purpose This study aims to offer a better understanding of supply side of bribery and corruption in an international business perspective by conceptualizing it in the narrower concept of misconduct in business (MIB) derived from the deontological perspective to business ethics. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a case study methodology of professionals working within Canadian mining multinational corporations operating in Africa. The authors conducted 2 focus groups, 25 in-depth interviews, document search and an open-ended questionnaire to 15 professionals. Further, they drew on a combination of the classic relationalist sociological framework and its recent revision, that they named the relationalism-substantialism framework to analyze the data. Findings The triangulated empirical data show that the reason why MIB in the form of bribery supply occurs is not exclusively tied to any given perspective, whether the individual, the organization or the wider societal context. Rather, these different layers are tightly intertwined and interact with each other for the supply of bribery to occur. Originality/value Although the three siloed perspectives of MIB have been studied in the literature, they have not been addressed in relation to one another, and even less with a relationalism-substantialism framework. Yet, this perspective contributes compellingly to the understanding of the supply side in bribery. The authors propose a net of conceptually related constructs that intervene in the process of bribery supply occurrence, namely relationality influenced by institutional dysfunctionality and conflation and substantiality through agency and culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511876335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna SC Chu

This study aims to examine the roles of social media in protest mobilization through the case of Umbrella Movement. Instead of focusing in the occupied sites, the study chose to look at mobilization efforts and confrontations within Hong Kong secondary schools. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 students, teachers and principals from four schools, with an aim to identify how members in schools used different media for information sharing, opinion expression and mobilization. It also reconstructed what actually occurred in the tactful negotiations between school authorities and student leaders during the movement. The findings of this study suggest that how different communication practices are mediated in particular social and cultural contexts remain to be relevant and important, as the stress on “harmony” in local education settings illustrate in this case study. The strong adherence to political neutrality and professionalism suggest that schools could hardly provide the kind of idealistic civic education stated in curriculum documents. The findings prompted for a critical reading of how apolitical civic education in Hong Kong schools constrained a social movement that was supposedly led by the youth.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana Castronuovo ◽  
Lorena Allemandi ◽  
Victoria Tiscornia ◽  
Beatriz Champagne ◽  
Norm Campbell ◽  
...  

Abstract: The Less Salt, More Life program was the first voluntary salt reduction initiative in Argentina. This article analyzes the perspectives of the stakeholders involved in this voluntary agreement between the Ministry of Health and the food industry to gradually reduce sodium content in processed foods. This exploratory case study used a qualitative approach including 29 in-depth interviews with stakeholders from the public and private sectors and identified the role of the different stakeholders and their perceptions regarding the challenges encountered in the policy process that contribute to the debate on public-private partnerships in health policies. The article also discusses the initiative’s main challenges and controversies.


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