Abstract:Considering that the core concerns in sustainability are threats to the survival of humankind and the ecosystems that humans depend on, changing the consumption and production behaviors of individuals and society is inevitable. However, people are reluctant to change their own behavior in support of sustainability goals. This tendency seems to be especially strong in tourism because the main value of tourism is hedonic utility. Thus, the tourism industry is now introducing gamification and smart tourism to shift tourist behavior toward sustainability, but most of studies and practices only focus on the performance and application of gamification without considering customer adoption patterns and perceptions during the process. This study empirically investigated what factors affect the adoption of smart tourism applications that incorporate game elements, using the Google Maps tourist guide program. As an initial approach, we incorporated diverse theoretical approaches: perceived usefulness; perceived ease of use; perceived enjoyment from technology acceptance model; information and interaction motivations from the uses and gratifications theory; the network effect; distributive justice; flow as responses to the game characteristics of smart tourism applications; and information privacy concerns as a negative factor for diffusion. The result showed that hedonic characteristics of the gamified smart tourism application (GSTA) are strong in adoption. Perceived enjoyment had a significant influence on the intention to use, but information quality, related to cognitive experience, did not. The flow and perceived distributive justice associated with the game content were not significant, but the interaction motivation was significant in the research model. The results of this study show that individuals regard a GSTA as a low-level game tool. Also, it is important to preoccupy the smart tourism application market in terms of marketing strategy because the network effect is relevant to both perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment. We also found that the need to provide personal information would negatively affect the adoption of a gamified smart tourism application.
Purpose
This study aims to examine the effects of different dimensions of national culture on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of hospitality firms, including lodging, casino and restaurant firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study performs a panel regression analysis to examine the effect of Hofstede’s national culture dimensions on the total CSR score, positive CSR score and negative CSR of the sampled hospitality firms. The sample period spans fiscal years 1993 to 2011and 365 firm-year observations are used for the study’s analysis.
Findings
This study finds a positive and significant effect of uncertainty avoidance on the total CSR score. Further, the study’s results show a positive and significant effect of power distance both on positive and negative CSR scores, while individualism appears to have a negative and significant effect both on positive and negative CSR scores. Masculinity reveals a negative and significant effect on the positive CSR score.
Research limitations/implications
Although the study’s results may not be generalizable to private or non-hospitality firms, according to the findings, multinational hospitality firms are encouraged to conceive a CSR portfolio consisting of localized CSR strategies that consider the effects of national culture on CSR.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the body of hospitality literature by filling the void regarding the relationship between national culture and CSR. At the same time, the findings of this study serve as guidelines for multinational hospitality firms’ implementing CSR activities.
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