Impact of the length of stay at hotels on online reviews

Purpose The length of stay (LoS) is of major importance from the perspective of the management of tourist destinations. As tourists heavily rely on the online reviews of other travelers as a primary information source, this study aims to empirically examine how the LoS can influence the online reviews for hotels, with special emphasis on the textual review content. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes online review data collected from Booking.com by using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program to operationalize review depth, analytical thinking and the authenticity reflected in customer reviews. Based on the analyzed data, this study used a series of regression analyses to understand the impacts of the LoS on online reviews. Findings The author’s analysis found that a longer stay at a hotel causes consumers to be more likely to post online reviews that not only include a numerical rating as well as written content but also lengthier and more detailed descriptions of their hotel experiences. Further analysis found that the LoS at hotels causes systematic differences in the linguistic attributes of the review content. Specifically, consumers who stay longer tend to write reviews with more analytical information, resulting in consumers perceiving the online reviews as more authentic. Research limitations/implications Although the LoS has been considered a significant issue in tourism, studies examining the impact of different lengths of stay on consumers’ post-purchase behaviors are limited. In this light, the author’s findings demonstrate how the LoS can change the linguistic attributes of online reviews. It expands the body of knowledge of the LoS in tourism. Originality/value This study represents the first attempt to empirically examine and reveal how the different length of stay at a hotel systemically influences consumer review-posting behaviors.

ReRec: A Divide-and-Conquer Approach to Recommendation Based on Repeat Purchase Behaviors of Users in Community E-Commerce

Existing studies have made a great endeavor in predicting users’ potential interests in items by modeling user preferences and item characteristics. As an important indicator of users’ satisfaction and loyalty, repeat purchase behavior is a promising perspective to extract insightful information for community e-commerce. However, the repeated purchase behaviors of users have not yet been thoroughly studied. To fill in this research gap from the perspective of repeated purchase behavior and improve the process of generation of candidate recommended items this research proposed a novel approach called ReRec (Repeat purchase Recommender) for real-life applications. Specifically, the proposed ReRec approach comprises two components: the first is to model the repeat purchase behaviors of different types of users and the second is to recommend items to users based on their repeat purchase behaviors of different types. The extensive experiments are conducted on a real dataset collected from a community e-commerce platform, and the performance of our model has improved at least about 13.6% compared with the state-of-the-art techniques in recommending online items (measured by F-measure). Specifically, for active users, with w = 1 and N(UA)∈[5,25], the results of ReRec show a significant improvement (at least 50%) in recommendation. With α and σ as 0.75 and 0.2284, respectively, the proposed ReRec for unactive users is also superior to (at least 13.6%) the evaluation indicators of traditional Item CF when N(UB)∈[6, 25]. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to study recommendations in community e-commerce.

The Effects of Anxiety over COVID-19 on Purchase Behaviors in Beauty Services

This study covered 219 males and females in their 20s~50s living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do areas. SPSS v. 21.0 was used to analyze the data. The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of anxiety over COVID-19 on purchase behaviors in beauty services and the results are as follows. First, based on an analysis of the effects of anxiety over COVID-19 on abstention, there were significant positive results, meaning that more anxiety leads to more abstention. Second, based on an analysis of the effects of anxiety over COVID-19 on the preferences, there were significant positive results, meaning that more anxiety leads to more preference behaviors. Third, based on an analysis of the effects of anxiety over COVID-19 on expected behaviors, there were significant positive results, meaning that more psychological anxiety leads to more expected behaviors pertaining to beauty services. Summing up, the social anxiety over COVID-19 makes people abstain from beauty services or reduces the use. People prefer one-person shops to large franchise shops where congestion may occur. It is also assumed that psychological healing where stress and depression disappear as one uses beauty services leads to expected purchase behaviors. Considering these points, we can assume that the beauty industry should thoroughly manage disinfection and hygienic affairs and use reservation system where only a very few people can come and this will make anxiety disappear. This will remove problems of the beauty services that necessitate contacts with people and increase purchase behaviors.

The Effects of Organic Certification on Shoppers’ Purchase Intention Formation in Taiwan: A Multi-Group Analysis of Structural Invariance

Labeling products with organic certification logos is a means of indicating to consumers that those products are government certified. However, in Taiwan, organic certification is not required before a food product claims itself organic. Since previous research showed that the COVID-19 lockdown effected both Spanish and Romanian subjects’ intention to purchase more sustainable products, the aim of this study was to determine whether the perception of organic certification labeling makes a difference in how organic shoppers’ purchasing intentions toward organic produce were realized. Data from organic produce shoppers were used to identify organic certification labeling differences. One group of shoppers was asked about their purchase behaviors toward government-certified organic produce labeled with the certification logo (N = 468), while the other was asked about their purchase behaviors toward self-claimed organic produce without a government certification logo (N = 403). Multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were employed as the main method of analysis in this study. The results indicated that the hypothesized model was validated. In addition, through this process, it was clarified that this government organic certification labeling significantly enhances the influence of organic produce shoppers’ behavioral beliefs regarding organic produce on their attitudes.

How to operate physical showrooms: Service decision and pricing based on product quality

This paper addresses operation strategies of the physical showroom under e-commerce, and studies joint decisions of the showroom service and pricing based on product quality. First, we propose an analytical model to capture the feature of consumer purchase behaviors and model three operation strategies of the physical showroom: the cooperation operation (CO), the manufacturer operation (MO), and the e-retailer operation (RO). Then, the equilibrium solutions in the above three strategies are obtained based on product quality, and the optimal operation strategy is analyzed. Besides, we extend the model to the scenario of endogenous product quality. The results are as follows. First, in contrast to the conventional wisdom, we find that the optimal showroom service may decrease with product quality when the production cost coefficient is high. Second, the results illustrate that enterprises should consider both product quality and production cost before opening physical showrooms. When the production cost coefficient is low, both the MO strategy and the RO strategy are better than the CO strategy, which means that the enterprise should open the physical showroom separately than jointly. However, when the production cost coefficient is high, the CO strategy provides the optimal showroom service. The enterprises in the supply chain should cooperate to balance costs and benefits. Besides, when product quality is endogenous, our analysis reveals that the RO strategy may offer better product quality than the CO strategy when the production cost coefficient is moderate.

Retail Format Usage: Pre-COVID-19 Benchmark Data, Pandemic Practice, and Emergent Influence

Background: COVID-19 brought revolutionary change in consumer retail format behavior. Pre-pandemic, multiple retail formats were available, and consumers showed evidence of preference for particular formats. Then, the disruptions caused by store closures and stay-at-home mandates altered consumer behavior substantially. Aims of the Study: The purpose of this work is to report the results of research on consumer preferences for retail formats as a benchmark for examination of changes in consumer usage of retail formats wrought by COVID-19 and projection of emergent post-pandemic behaviors. Pre-COVID-19, variety in retail formats proliferated. Methodology Employed: Survey methodology captured preferences, practices, and recommendations related to use of retail formats. Research questions included: a) Which retail formats do consumers prefer? b) Which digital tools do consumers use to make purchases? c) Does delivery mode and/or product type influence retail format preference? d) Does retail format influence impulse purchasing behavior? e) Do consumers mix retail formats when making product purchases? and f) What will be the implications of COVID-19 for retail format preference? Results: Consumers reported differences in preferences for online, in-store, catalogue, and phone retail formats. Product type influenced consumer retail format preferences. Retail format influenced impulse purchase behaviors. Consumers used smart phones, laptops, desktops, tablets, email, discussion boards, social media, and social networks as purchasing tools. Conclusions: This study investigated pre-pandemic consumer preferences and usage variables related to retail format. It provides benchmarks for examination of changes resultant from the massive retail disruptions of mandatory store closures and stay-at-home mandates. It further provides a framework for projections of emergent, post-pandemic behaviors. Recommendations: The authors recommend further investigation of consumer retail format use during and subsequent to the height of the pandemic. Comparison of consumer usage pre- and post-pandemic can provide valuable input to retail planning.

Organic Cotton Clothing Purchase Behavior: A Comparative Study of Consumers in the United States and Bangladesh

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the differences and similarities of organic cotton clothing (OCC) purchase behaviors of the consumers who lie at the top and the bottom of the apparel supply chain. The influences of consumers’ sustainability knowledge and social norms on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions were examined to understand within the framework of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Sample data were collected from the United States and Bangladesh and, finally, 136 useable responses were used for the data analysis. Among the useable responses, 85 samples were from the US (containing 91.76% female participants and 4.71% male participants) and 51 responses were from the Bangladesh sample (containing 7.84% female participants and 88.24% male participants). A structural equation model was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings showed that for US consumers, sustainability knowledge was a powerful predictor of positive attitudes towards OCC, while for Bangladeshi consumers, it was not. In the context of social norms, Bangladeshi consumers demonstrated a strong positive attitudes formation whereas American consumers were found to display less strong relationships. OCC marketers and retailers should concentrate on educating consumers about the real benefits of organic cotton consumption by disseminating proper information about organic cotton fiber and its processing.

SHOPPING ORIENTATION, STATUS CONSUMPTION AND IMPULSE BUYING OF GENERATION X AND Y IN PURCHASING FAST FASHION PRODUCTS

Generation cohorts have different tendencies in purchase behaviors, especially the Generation X and the Generation Y. Although the age gap between these two generation cohorts is not wide, the Generation X has distinctive purchase behaviors that are different from the Generation Y. In the fashion business, the Generation X consumers do not consider the brands in purchasing their clothes, but they calculate the benefits in buying a clothing product. However, the Generation Y consumers consider it as a part of their social status, therefore, they position themselves in the middle class or the upper class by what they wear. The aim of this research is to investigate the different purchase behaviors of the Generation X and Y in buying fast fashion products in Surabaya. The purchase behaviors are reflected through such variables as shopping orientation, status consumption, and impulse buying. As this is a quantitative research, the data are collected using questionnaires that are distributed to 100 respondents. The respondents are chosen using the purposive sampling technique. Then, the data are tested for the validity, reliability, normality, and homogeneity. To test the hypothesis, the independent samples t-test is used. The results show that the differences between the Generation X and the Generation Y are significant in their shopping orientation and impulse buying. However, there are no significant differences in the status consump-tions.