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PurposeThe paper aims to analyse the issues and challenges in implementing and adopting the sharing economy concept in tourism. More specifically, the paper intends to identify critical factors for seeking possible pathways for achieving sustainable development of the Indian tourism industry.Design/methodology/approachThis research work has adopted the triangulation approach involving a twofold study concerning the perspectives of both service providers and customers. To cull deeper insight, an inductive content analysis was carried out to identify the critical factors influencing sharing economy in tourism and establish them as key research areas for further study.FindingsThe study identified seven critical influencing factors, namely, affordability, consciousness, cultural involvement, status quo biasness, socio-environmental responsiveness, regulatory supervision and technological drivers concerning sharing economy in tourism.Research limitations/implicationsThis study will expand the existing literature by exploring the critical factors relevant to the practice of sharing economy in the tourism industry. It will aid both marketers and policymakers to bridge the gap between what sharing economy concept demands, what consumers perceive and how service providers practise in reality. The present study limits its scope to qualitative analysis and geographical boundary within India. Further research with empirical study may be extended in future, with the research agendas presented in this paper.Originality/valueThe novelty of the study lies in the identification of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the implementation of sharing economy in tourism. To delve deeper into the ground reality, this qualitative study corroborates the perspectives of both the demand and supply side, which is a unique effort by itself.

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Purpose In quest of exploring the issues, challenges and opportunities prevailing in the tea tourism industry, this study aims to present a comprehensive morphological analysis (MA). More specifically, it identifies critical dimensions that bear significance for the sustainable growth of tea tourism. Design/methodology/approach The present study adopted a triangulation method of research involving an ethnographic study (ES) followed by a series of focus group sessions carried out from the prominent tea-producing districts in India. This study accords equal importance to both the demand and supply perspectives of tea tourism and its stakeholders. Findings Critical dimensions such as improper planning and marketing efforts, limited collaboration among stakeholders, the involvement of local people, socio-economic inequality and consumer’s attitude towards tea tourism were identified as major issues and challenges. Research limitations/implications The present research limits its scope to the geographical boundary within India keeping cross-boundary research for future study. This study will aid future researchers and scholars in expanding the domain of tea tourism. Practical implications The present study bears significance to the policymakers, governing bodies, marketers, tour operators in embracing a socio-economic perspective while undertaking a suitable strategy towards marketing of tea tourism and ensuring its sustainable development. Originality/value This study makes a novel attempt in blending the ES, focus group sessions and MA, together in a single research initiative, making it a single point reference in tea tourism literature.

PurposeThe paper aims to explore the various dimensions of human factor relevant for integrating data-driven supply chain quality management practices (DDSCQMPs) with organizational performance. Keeping the transition phase from “Industry 4.0” to “Industry 5.0” in mind, the paper reinforces the role of the human factor and critically discusses the issues and challenges in the present organizational setup.Design/methodology/approachFollowing the grounded theory approach, the study arranged in-depth interviews and focus group sessions with industry experts from various service-oriented firms in India. Dimensions of human factor identified from there were grouped together through a morphological analysis (MA), and interlinkages between them were explored through a cross-consistency matrix.FindingsThis research work identified 20 critical dimensions of human factor and have grouped them under five important categories, namely, cohesive force, motivating force, regulating force, supporting force and functional force that drive quality performance in the supply chain domain.Originality/valueIn line with the requirements of the present “Industry 4.0” and the forthcoming “Industry 5.0”, where the need to collaborate human factor with smart system gets priority, the paper made a novel attempt in presenting the critical human factors and categorizing them under important driving forces. The research also contributed in linking DDSCQMPs with organizational performance. The proposed framework can guide the future researchers in expanding the theoretical constructs through initiating further cross-cultural studies across industries.

PurposeTaking a retrospective view, the present study aims to investigate the resilience of shared facilities (accommodation) across India in the post-pandemic period. More specifically, it explores the issues and challenges in implementing sustainable practices in the long run taking a dual perspective of both consumers and service providers.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-method study was pursued in exploring the future resilience of the shared facilities in the post-pandemic period. A multi-method triangulation approach was adopted involving both data collection and data analysis. Primary data was collected through focus group sessions and analysed through a grounded theory study. Whereas, secondary data was extracted from Twitter and processed through textual data mining using the NVivo (12 Pro) software. Critical themes and sentiments were explored through the dual study and a corroboration process was followed thereon to support the findings.FindingsThe dual study extracted major themes pertaining to the present pandemic scenario wherein recovery strategies are at the top priority for all tourism service providers. Among the major themes tourists 2019 passiveness towards the environment existing misconceptions with shared facilities and situational perspective emerged as critical issues worrying service providers in the post-pandemic period. Furthermore the sentiment analysis indicated a positive start to the recovery measures wherein both tourist and tour operators are confident to embrace and restore the shared facilities/business respectively with additional care and responsibilities.Originality/valueThe novelty of the study lies in the identification of critical themes and sentiments concerning the future resilience of the shared economy businesses post-pandemic period in Indian tourism which can have a generalized effect across the world. Moreover, the study corroborated the findings of the dual study where similarities among the themes were observed.

Purpose Drawing on the UTAUT-2 model, the study attempts to accentuate the role of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) based tourism products and services in enhancing responsible travel behaviour (RTB). This paper aims to examine the emergence of AR- and VR-based tourism in emerging economies, outlines the issues and contributing factors and discusses possible mitigation measures. Design/methodology/approach Following the triangulation method of research, a dual study involving both focus group discussions and questionnaire-based surveys were undertaken. The grounded theory approach was adopted to develop a structural framework followed by an empirical validation process. Findings Critical dimensions such as performance anticipation, effort anticipation, referent power, facilitating factors, perceived value and perceived risk were found as antecedents of behavioural intentions (BIs) towards adopting AR- and VR-based tourism products. Moreover, cultural involvement and marketing stimuli emerged as moderating factors driving the BI towards RTB. Practical implications This paper outlines key elements that contribute to the adoption of AR- and VR-based tourism products and services in emerging economies, which would enable marketers and practitioners to strategize their tourism offerings. Originality/value The study takes a dual perspective of both tourists and tour operators and presents a critical overview of the AR- and VR-based tourism industry, taking an emerging economies’ perspective. The study further attempted both the triangulation method and grounded study approach for establishing a hypothetical framework, which is a unique attempt in itself.

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