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PurposeWith the explosive growth of the Internet, online travel agents (OTAs) have gained an increasing market share in the online booking market. However, OTAs are facing fierce competition from hotels' direct booking channels, as well as competition among themselves. Therefore, there is a need for an understanding of the evolution of the OTA market from a dynamic perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the long-term effect of OTAs on the hospitality industry and to find whether an equilibrium of this effect exists in the context of e-commerce.Design/methodology/approachTo gain a better understanding of the OTA market process, a mathematical framework is constructed on the basis of four assumptions. NetLogo 5.1.0 is used to perform a series of numerical simulations.FindingsThe results indicate the following: (1) the development of the OTA market helps to improve net social welfare, but hotels (especially economy hotels) have suffered as a result; (2) clever exploitation of both online and offline channels that are based on hotels' historical data may improve hotels' performance; (3) a scale-priority strategy can be more helpful than a profit-priority strategy for enabling OTAs to maintain their long-term competitiveness; (4) the timing of participation in online-channel competition is a crucial factor in determining whether OTAs can achieve business success.Social implicationsIn this study, it is shown how consumer habits have changed since the development of OTAs. The online channels provided by OTAs create a convenient, low-cost user experience, and they consequently improve the net welfare of customers. OTAs should be encouraged appropriately, although some economy hotels may suffer from the rise of OTAs.Originality/valueIn this empirical study, a mathematical framework is developed to describe the process of evolution in the OTA market, and it uses simulations as a means to validate prior research findings. Unlike previous studies, a dynamic perspective is used in this investigation to interpret the emergence of OTAs and to analyze their enormous impact on the hospitality industry. Thus, the findings of this study capture the competitive characteristics of online and offline channels in a network context and indicate potential strategies for the development of OTAs and which hotels may use OTAs to achieve better performance. In addition, the study findings could be easily extended to explain many of the classical economic phenomena regarding firms with intangible products.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Generative leadership (GL) in fostering employees toward green creativity (GrCRT) in tourism and hospitality industry. The present study theorized a model with the help of the theory of componential creativity to investigate GL, PGC, and GC as precursors of GrCRT. In addition to positing the direct associations, the model anticipates the mediation effect of PGC and GC on the association between GL and GrCRT. The data collected from a sample of 380 frontline workers in the hospitality industry of Pakistan assessed by their respective 112 supervisors is analyzed using Process macro. Empirical results confirm that GL significantly fosters employees toward GrCRT. Furthermore, results confirm that psychological green climate (PGC) and green commitment (GC) partially mediate the link between GL-GrCRT. Moreover, the results show that serial mediation is positive and significant. This is maidan study to empirically examine a new construct, such as Generative leadership on green creativity in tourism and hospitality. Further, this study is the first one to study the mediating role of psychological green climate and green commitment on the said relationship and validating the theory of componential creativity. Furthermore, this study would be among the few ones that has examined the serial mediation of psychological green climate and green commitment between GL-GrCRT. This study also make valuable contributions to policy makers in the tourism and hospitality industry to understand how they can reduce the environmental footprints through generative leaders who can encourage employees toward green creativity.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine what influence travelers’ adoption of online reviews, and whether the online reviews will influence their travel planning decisions. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 193 respondents from eWOM websites and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings The results revealed that eWOM has a significant influence on travel decisions. Furthermore, travelers were willing to adopt information from eWOM and this information was useful in their travel planning and decisions. Gender and time spent on online reviews were found to affect travel planning and decisions. Travelers also found that the reviews and issues raised in eWOM had credibility and were of good quality. Research limitations/implications The study was not able to incorporate all factors which may be relevant to this study and so further theoretical development may be necessary to develop the conceptual model. The sample size, while adequate, can be expanded further. Practical implications Operators and administrators of eWOM can use these findings to develop more user-friendly interfaces so that more positive reviews and sales can be generated. Social implications The results showed that travelers who adopt the information in eWOM will, in turn, use eWOM in their travel planning. This confirms the importance of eWOM and travelers in general will translate their pre-travel decisions into actual travel planning. Originality/value This research extended existing eWOM and information system adoption studies and focused on the travel planning context. This research validated the significant roles of eWOM argument quality and credibility in predicting the information usefulness of eWOM.

Finding and keeping qualified workers is an evident problem in the hospitality industry in many parts of the Alpine region. Job satisfaction is, therefore, becoming increasingly important for sustainable development of the labor market and in further consequence regions and destinations. Hence, this study aims to examine factors influencing job satisfaction to gain a better understanding. A total of 345 employees were surveyed on aspects of job satisfaction using an online questionnaire. Data analyses show that a positive relationship with the supervisor, adherence to the duty roster, and personal development opportunities are the most important factors for job satisfaction. In contrast, remuneration, task portfolio, working atmosphere, and the infrastructure provided were less important drivers. The findings highlight important areas and directions for further investigation of job satisfaction. For practitioners, the study offers valuable insights into the sustainable and effective promotion of employee job satisfaction.

PurposeThe success of sharing economy (SE) platforms has made it attractive for many firms to adopt this business model. However, the inherent weaknesses of these platforms, such as their unstandardized service quality, the burden of maintenance on resource owners and the threat of multi-homing, have become increasingly apparent. Previous prescriptions for addressing these weaknesses, however, are limited because they do not account for factors such as compliance costs and information asymmetry, and tend to solve the problem on only one side of the platform at the expense of the others. By exploring the strategies deployed and actions undertaken across the development of Xbed, a successful accommodation-sharing platform in China, this study aims to explore an alternative solution that would overcome the aforementioned weaknesses without the corresponding compromises.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a case study consisting of secondary data and interviews with 15 informants who were representatives of Xbed's top management, organizational IT functions and its various business units.FindingsThe authors identified three inherent weaknesses that may be found in SE business models and how these weaknesses can be overcome without compromising other stakeholders through an auxiliary platform. The authors also discuss the advantages, characteristics, deployment and nature of auxiliary platforms.Originality/valueThis model contributes an in-depth view of establishing and nurturing auxiliary platforms to complement a primary SE platform. Owners and managers of SE platforms may use our model as the basis of guidelines for optimizing their platforms' development, thereby extending the benefits of SE to more stakeholders.

Hotel interns' satisfaction with the internship may play a significant role in determining their intention to develop a career in the hospitality industry. Factors that affect hotel interns' satisfaction and career intention are thus important to be identified in linking hospitality education to industry human resource needs. This study aims to identify the key factors that affect job satisfaction and career intention of hotel interns in China. Data were collected through a survey on hospitality management students in three Chinese universities. Factor analysis identified seven factors that influence students' satisfaction with internship experience and their career intention; these include internship achievements, mentorship and assessment, interpersonal relationships, compensation, hotel features, hotel internship programming, and curriculum requirements. Regression results indicated that internship achievements, curriculum requirements, hotel internship programming, and mentorship and assessment significantly influenced interns’ satisfaction with internship experience, while curriculum requirements, interpersonal relationships, and internship achievements significantly affected career intention. The study provides empirical insights to guide hotel internship program design and practices.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze the entrepreneurial intentions of higher education students in a private higher education institution (HEI), enrolled in the following courses: Business Management, Hospitality Management, Tourism and Business Relations.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative methodology was used through the application of a questionnaire in a private HEI located in the northern region of Portugal and 228 valid responses were collected.FindingsWe have found out that (1) the elder the students are, the higher is the probability that they will consider entrepreneurship as the first option to enter the job market; (2) the courses of Business Management and Hotel Management are those that influence the entrepreneurial intentions most positively; (3) the more prepared a student feels in order to start a business, the more likely he will become an entrepreneur; (4) to consider entrepreneurship as the first option to enter the job market is positively influenced by the dimensions of the Attitude Toward Enterprise (ATE), namely, leadership, creativity, achievement and personal control; (5) to have a business idea could be motivated by the course in which the students are enrolled in, if they feel they are prepared to start a business, and by the dimensions of ATE.Practical implicationsHEIs and/or regional governments may have an entrepreneurship support office, where students can get assistance in the process of creating their companies and develop innovative entrepreneurial models adapted to older students. The creation of “senior entrepreneurial ecosystems” can be an interesting path to be explored. HEIs can make extracurricular activities available to students. Policymakers must introduce entrepreneurship to primary and secondary education.Originality/valueThis study increases the understanding of the individual characteristics of the students in a private HEI, as well as the courses that positively influence entrepreneurial intentions.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the perception of employees towards training and also examine the mediation effect of employee engagement between training and task performance. Design/methodology/approach An integrated model has been developed highlighting the relationship of the motivation for training and support for training and their implications on task performance through the mediating role of employee engagement. Using the sample of 397, structural equation modelling has been used with the help of SPSS and AMOS to validate the hypothesized relationship and evaluate the responses of employees working in travel agencies operating in Delhi (capital), India. Findings The findings of this study demonstrated a positively significant relationship between training and task performance of employees in the tourism and hospitality industry. Simultaneously, employee engagement positively mediates the relationship between training and task performance directly and indirectly. This study goes over the ramifications of the findings and offers some suggestions for practical implementations. Practical implications The findings of this study can be used by managers and HR professionals to organize exclusive training programs for improving employees’ performance based on the dimensions used in this study. This study also suggests that training program enhances employee engagement in organizational activities which leads to build up team work and overall organizational as well as individual performance. Originality/value This study also introduces a conceptual model and theoretical framework that provide a significant contribution to the training and task performance of employees. This study provides a strong theoretical foundation by incorporating the social exchange theory to confirm the role of employee engagement in performance. Further, this novel piece of research explores the relationship between training and task performance with employee engagement as a mediator, especially in the Indian tourism and hospitality industry.

PurposeThis study aims to elicit the preferences of potential travelers for different property listings' attributes (online review number, positive valence rate of reviews and discount strategy) when selecting hotels and peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation sharing on online booking platforms.Design/methodology/approachA discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted with 291 respondents with accommodation needs. They were asked to choose between pairs of listings.FindingsThe authors found that when booking accommodation online, complex discount strategies were not determinant both in selecting hotels and P2P accommodations. Positive valence rate of reviews has a higher impact on the selection of traditional hotels than P2P accommodations, while the number of online reviews has a higher impact on the selection of P2P accommodations than traditional hotels. The authors further discuss the effect of each attribute on online accommodation selection in terms of price ranges of the property listings.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings provide suggestions for platform operators and product/service providers to improve their marketing strategies and optimize their management efforts.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that investigate the role of property listings' attributes on the selections between hotels and P2P accommodations. The findings from this research study could be generalized to other online platforms and electronic commerce-related transactions.