Purpose The popularity of online shopping has grown in the recent years, enhancing the interest in identifying the factors that influence shoppers’ loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to investigate, through aesthetic appeal, layout and functionality, and financial security, the impact of customers’ perceptions of the e-servicescape in online shopping on perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty defined as a two-component construct (attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty), following the sequence of the S–O–R framework. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered using an Internet survey in which 221 active online shoppers participated who had at least one online purchase in the past six months. The research model was analysed using the partial least squares approach to analyse structural equations (SEM). Findings Based upon empirical evidence of a web-based survey of online shoppers, this study shows that consumers’ interpretation of e-servicescape exerts a positive influence over perceived e-shopping value and loyalty. Specifically, the study finds that layout and functionality and financial security, as the salient attributes of the e-servicescape dimension, set the point of perceived e-shopping value which affects attitudinal loyalty. Practical implications The authors expose several practical implications how marketing management could use the dimensions of e-servicescape perceived e-shopping value. Managers are advised to incorporate the dimensions of the e-servicescape to build perceived e-shopping value and loyalty. Online shops need to invest in particular in layout and functionality and financial security, dimensions that had a stronger effect on perceived e-shopping value in order to achieve costumers’ loyalty in a fashion product context. Originality/value The transition from physical service locations to virtual service processes has increased the research interest of e-servicescape. This study analyses it through its aesthetic appeal, layout and functionality, and financial security connecting them with the constructs of perceived e-shopping value and customer loyalty in the application for fashion products. This work emphasises the connection between servicescape attributes in creating perceived value which affects attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. In this way, the e-servicescape is seen as stimuli, the perceived e-shopping value represents the organism and the loyalty the response of the sequence of the S–O–R framework. This research provides insight into the new effects of each dimension of e-servicescape on perceived e-shopping value and the two dimensions of loyalty, thus improving the existing knowledge in the field of servicescape and online shopping customer behaviour.

Purpose – Besides possessing professional knowledge, tourism service providers need to have expressed communication skills and soft skills in order to offer a better tourism service. In this paper, the tourism employees' set of soft and communication skills is analysed and compared from two different points of view: tourists on the one hand and future tourism professionals, i.e., tourism students, on the other. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to analyse the importance and differences in the perception of soft skills and communication skills in the tourism and hospitality sector from these two standpoints. Methodology – Two structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data: the first questionnaire aimed at examining the tourists' attitudes regarding the importance of soft and communication skills (N=431), and the second one, at analysing the importance of soft and communication skills from the perspective of future tourism professionals (N=404). The research results are presented using descriptive statistics, the t-test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. Findings – The results indicate that both groups are aware of the importance of communication and soft skills. The statistically significant differences between the tourist sample and the future tourism professional sample were found for all items of the Soft skills factor, with the exception of the items Demonstrating respect, Integrity, and Responsibility. Both samples show similarities with regard to all kinds of Communication skills. Statistically significant differences in the perception of all five Communication skills items from tourists' and future tourism professionals' perspectives were found. Contribution – The paper contributes to the theory by systematizing and analysing the literature and conceptualizing the soft skills and communication skills up to date. Its empirical contribution derives from the examination of data related to the tourist sample and the future tourism employee sample. This different point of view contributes to filling the research gap and opens new future research directions. By examining the most important soft skills and communication skills from these two perspectives, this study provides a practical implication for tourism educators and hospitality managers, revealing the communication skills and soft skills that require further development.

The basic subjects of this paper are the mission and vision statements as well as their connection with the definition of strategy. New approaches to strategy development and implementation studies analyse the possibilities of adapting strategies to turbulent environments constantly changing the definition of strategy. Organizations proclaim the intention of business through its vision, mission and goals: that is why vision and mission statements are the starting points of any attempt of finding a new definition of strategy. Vision and mission statements of the most successful Croatian organizations in the year 2011 were analysed using core analysis. After finding and ranking the most frequent terms, a new definition of strategy used by Croatian organizations in time of crisis was presented. ARTICLE INFO

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Active event sport tourists (AESTs) are those tourists who are taking part in organised events as competitors. Each event is held in a particular destination and, as a part of a highly competitive industry, both events and destinations offer an ever-widening range of services, striving to make their visitors satisfied. In order to better understand, conceptualize and manage the AESTs’ satisfaction, the primary research based on a questionnaire survey was conducted on 16 small-scale sports events, collecting 502 responses. Results indicate that six satisfaction categories emerged: four event-related dimensions (staff and communication, event reputation, safety, and facilities and key processes) and two destination-related dimensions (destination offering and destination attributes). Understanding the role of the satisfaction of AESTs in a small-scale sport event creates both scientific and practical contributions, where sport event management and marketing need to consider each of these satisfaction categories in order to design and deliver the best active sport tourism experience.

While the importance and positive impact of small-scale sports events for the tourism of host regions has been well researched, the possibilities of branding such events under a common denominator have not been fully explored. This paper attempts to provide an approach for using the concepts of brand personality and umbrella brand for the purpose of small-scale sports event analysis and promotion recommendations. Gorski Kotar, an underdeveloped region in Croatia, was chosen as the research area. The research target was small-scale sports events organised in this area. The aim was to build a general recommendation of an overall umbrella brand for all examined events, developed from the brand personality traits of each event (sub--brands). Using desk research along with workshops and interviews with organisers, three characteristics for each of the 81 small-scale sports events were extracted. The existing framework of five brand-personality dimensions by Aaker (1997) was used for the purpose of coding characteristics into traits and later linking with factors. An overall brand personality profile of all events was created and results imply the necessity of introducing a new factor called Nature (nature-oriented) into the existing framework.

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the corporate image as a high-order construct in the hospitality industry. Therefore, it includes an important part of all the agents that contribute to the formation of this corporate image: the clients, the employees and the hotel management.Design/methodology/approachIn order to better conceptualize and understand the dimensions of corporate image in the hospitality industry, a theoretical systematization and analysis of the literature on corporate image definitions and validated scales to date are presented. The primary research is based on a questionnaire survey that emerged from the theoretical model. The collected data were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM).FindingsResults indicate that corporate image is a high-order construct that includes the dimensions of symbols from servicescape, employees' behaviour, perception of the organization, perception of the management, perception of the service and perception of the hotel.Research limitations/implicationsThe application of this paper will enable new research in the corporate marketing literature, while the presented multidimensional approach will support future empirical research on corporate image in hospitality.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to theory by conceptualizing the corporate image as high-order construct. It provides evidence of corporate image multidimensionality, comprising six dimensions. Moreover, the findings provide an insight for practitioners to better understand how to manage hotel image.