PurposeThe university environment is experiencing important changes that have to be managed in order to ensure the university's survival. One of the most notable changes is the appearance of a new kind of student who wants to update and/or expand his/her knowledge. This has caused universities to expand their educational offer through seminars, Master's programmes, special courses. This work endeavours a dual objective: to analyse the elements that determine the attendees' satisfaction with the stated courses; and to analyse the relationship between the satisfaction experienced by the course attendees and their loyalty to the institution that offers the courses.Design/methodology/approachThe information from a survey of the attendees of these kinds of courses at a Spanish university has been used.FindingsThe work herein developed shows how the teaching staff, the teaching methods and course administration are key elements to achieving student satisfaction and their subsequent loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has been applied to a specific university, and it would be appropriate to expand the research to other institutions of higher education.Practical implicationsThe appropriate management of the determinants of satisfaction is vital to the strategic decisions of universities.Originality/valueThe work centres on the analysis framework, on a new kind of student and on these students' specific demands, specifically on the demands satisfied through short courses aimed at updating previously acquired knowledge. Most prior works focus on analysing the satisfaction with university degrees and on the educational offer that these organisations can provide, such as continuing education and/or complementary courses.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The recent changes that have occurred in the Spanish university teaching environment, such as growing competition, have caused these courses to become an important differentiating element of what is offered by each university. Therefore, the authors propose to delve deeper into the relationship existing between satisfaction and the intent to recommend the courses taken by the attendees. Design/methodology/implications -The research developed in the paper endeavours to be a first approximation of the factors that determine the satisfaction of the people who attend the summer courses offered by a Spanish public university. Furthermore, this article analyses whether or not the satisfaction levels of the students translate into one of the positive behaviours that are set forth in specialised literature: recommendation. The information is based on the analysis of a self-administered survey given to the students of the 2003 summer session after completing the course. Findings -The results obtained show that the teaching staff, enrolment and course organisation are the elements that have an impact on student satisfaction, and they show that this satisfaction is what, to a large extent, explains the intent to recommend the courses. In addition to these three elements, and in order to increase the satisfaction levels of students, it is necessary to know the objectives that the students have. Originality/value -This paper determines the elements that are potentially capable of generating satisfaction and the subsequent effect of the satisfaction on recommendations for the university (summer courses) have been analysed. Other papers analyse all universities, but this work analyses a university's summer courses.

In tourism, sustainable development represents a way to exercise a business activity such that the needs of both the tourists and the receiving regions are satisfied, while at the same time protecting and fostering future opportunities by preserving essential ecological processes, biological diversity and cultural integrity. There is broad scientific consensus about the need to consolidate an ethical paradigm that combines economic objectives with the principles of ecology, sustainable development and citizen participation. In view of this situation, it has become necessary to identify how to measure compliance with these principles, identify what indicators must be used and determine what perspective must be adopted. Therefore, the objective of this work was to develop measurement models of the sustainability concepts associated with rural tourism from the residents' perspective. Using data from a survey, the results obtained have led to the development and validation of instruments that reliably measure the sustainability dimensions from the residents' perspective. As a result, tourism managers have access to an instrument that allows them to analyse the opinions of the residents of an area regarding the tourism development that takes place there.

Purpose -The main objective of this study is to determine the factors that could have an impact on intentions to participate in regional tourism activities related to wine, from the Spanish customer's point of view. Design/methodology/approach -This study analyses the opinions of potential wine tourists.They are asked about the importance they give to various items regarding intention to participate in wine tourism. These items have been taken from a review of the relevant literature. The dimensions that could have an impact on participation in tourism activities related to wine are determined through a factor analysis. These dimensions, together with the barriers traditionally encountered to any kind of tourism activity, are used in a regression analysis. The predictors of the intention to participate in wine tourism are thus determined. Findings -The services offered by wineries, the possibility of increasing knowledge about the wine product, the possibility of providing leisure activities, and interest in the wine product, are factors that positively affect the intentions of potential wine tourists. In the context analysed, neither cost nor time nor distance act as barriers to the development of wine tourism. Practical implications -Tourism agents are provided with data for successfully developing wine tourism. Thus, in addition to elements that can be controlled by the provider -such as winery services, activities for children, wine therapy activities and activities to increase knowledge of wineelements that cannot be controlled also have an influence, such as a tourist's interest in wine. This makes it necessary to develop communication strategies that increase interest in the wine product and in related activities. Originality/value -A review of the existing literature on the approach to wine tourism development allowed the authors to establish that there are no papers examining the determinants that could have an impact on participation in tourism activities related to wine in Spain. Moreover, the tested model includes incentives for, and barriers to, the strategic development of wine tourism.

Globalization, competition and market saturation have caused a growing interest by firms in developing strategies directed at creating brand loyalty among their customers, especially in markets with low growth rates. In order to reach this objective, relationship marketing must be applied, which considers the mutual benefits derived from the creation of stable relationships between buyers and sellers. The study herein developed analyses the existence of groups of customers from the service sector who value the offer of relational benefits by the organisation, in which benefits are centred basically on the relationship with the contact personnel. As a result, the customers state greater levels of satisfaction with and loyalty to the organisation.