Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine hidden drivers of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by modeling attributes of self-relevant and quality-relevant values. This is a meaningful extension of previous consumer behavior research regarding the association of eWOM and self-constructs. Design/methodology/approach – An on-site survey was conducted to collect data. Statistical analyses, including structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis, were used to empirically examine which factors significantly influence café customers to engage in eWOM. Findings – The study found significant drivers of eWOM intentions by examining self-relevant values connected with the café, such as conveying reflected appraisal of self, conspicuous presentation and self-image congruity beyond the simple evaluation of service quality. The moderating effect of consumer opinion leadership on the relationships between those drivers and eWOM intentions was also investigated. Practical implications – The results demonstrated that consumers’ self-construal value was a salient diver of eWOM intentions rather than service quality value itself. However, the findings showed that these service qualities positively influenced opinion leaders’ eWOM intentions to generate information. This makes an important contribution by providing practical messages for foodservice operators to develop more effective marketing strategies. Originality/value – The present research extends our understanding of the drivers of eWOM beyond the idea that eWOM simply reflects perceived quality evaluations. The authors found that consumers can construct a self-identity and present themselves to others in the virtual world by showing “what they eat or experience”.

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Purpose This paper aims to examine whether employee subjective well-being acts as a mediator in the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention within the context of select-service hotels. Design/methodology/approach The sample included hourly employees in select-service hotels in the Midwest USA. The significance of the relationships was assessed using regression, and both the Sobel test and bootstrapping methods were performed to test the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention. Findings The results confirm subjective well-being acted as a partial mediator in the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention. Employees who perceive higher levels of support from their supervisors are less likely to leave their organizations. At the same time, supervisor support also positively affects subjective well-being, which reduces turnover intention. Practical implications Actions by supervisors’ impact the well-being of their employees, which in turn may influence whether an employee stays with the organization. Organizations could use management training and employee feedback on supervisor support to improve employee support mechanisms. Organizations should also pay attention to improving employee subjective well-being beyond the work place. Improving the well-being of employees and supporting employees can help reduce turnover and may increase employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction and profits. Originality/value This study is the first to show that subjective well-being mediates the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention; and one of the few within the hospitality context to examine the constructs of subjective well-being, supervisor support and turnover together.

Graduate students, particularly those based in research intensive universities are susceptible to exhaustion. The study utilized a quantitative approach to test the impact of student engagement, self-efficacy, and social support on college students' emotional exhaustion. A hierarchical regression approach was used for analysis. Findings demonstrated that students who were engaged, and self -efficacious were less exhausted from their studies. Social support especially from advisors was important in helping students cope with emotional exhaustion. Additionally, student engagement proved to be important as it partially mediates the advisor support-exhaustion relationship while fully mediating the self-efficacy-exhaustion relationship. Implications and suggestions for institutions of higher learning regarding intervention strategies to mitigate the exhaustion and burnout process were discussed.

The quality of a hotel can be evaluated by a series of stakeholders. Information can come from those who habitually evaluate or rate hotels (i.e., experts), from those who visit a hotel as part of their travel plans (i.e., consumers), and from those who work within the hotel or its corporate organization (i.e., internal stakeholders). This study focuses on the ways in which hotel General Managers use feedback from consumers and experts to improve or sustain service quality. In an environment of information overload, hotel management often must decide which sources to value the most and which to value the least. This study explored the amount of value GeneralManagers place on such information. If given a similar service experience, whether consumers and experts would provide a similar rating is not clear. The present study explored whether a relationship existed between the perceptions of consumer feedback and customer satisfaction scores. Finally, similarities and differences between the various sources of feedback were studied.