FACTORS INFLUENCING TRAVELERS UNPLANNED ATTRACTION VISITS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Yeong-Hyeon Hwang & Sang Taek Lim Division

of International Tourism Dong-A University

ABSTRACT T ir er a soep r t nt e fr e r up ne ar t nvisits within h e a h i t xl eh a r o t vl s nl nd ta i s s c m o e u a e a t co the context of pleasure travel and to examine the influence of trip, traveler, and trip plan characteristics on the number of unplanned attraction stops made by travelers to destination region. The data used for this study were obtained from a survey that was conducted during Fall, 2001 to develop a profile of those persons interested in travel to Northern Indiana area. Results of the study indicate that unplanned attraction visits in Northern Indiana contribute substantially to the tourism volume in the Area. A calibrated path model that delineate the relationships among trip/traveler characteristics, trip plan characteristics, and the number of unplanned stops revealed that the influence of trip and traveler characteristics on the number of unplanned attraction stops are, in large part, mediated by the specifics of a trip plan. INTRODUCTION Theoretical approaches to understanding t vl s destination decisions have largely r er a e assumed that travelers decide an itinerary prior to a trip, and this itinerary does not change during the trip. This normative assumption, however, neglects the dynamic nature of travel that the trip actually evolves through the course of travel. Tae r ati t nand r l s n c ao v e ip i understanding of trip i aos ibuded by limited rationality in working memory and sut n s on t i the capacity or willingness to process available information (Simon 1955). As a result, travelers face many uncertainties that cannot be perfectly foreseen (Wood 1998). In order to deal with this uncertainty, travelers typically postpone some decisions (e.g., choice of secondary destinations, attractions, restaurants and shopping centers that might be visited, etc.) until the actual trip so that decisions can be made using locally available information (Bettman, Luce, and Payne 1998; Fesenmaier and Jeng 2000; Jeng and Fesenmaier 2002; Li, Hwang, and Fesenmaier 2002). Owing to spontaneous decision making involved during a trip, the place(s) travelers actually visited may (and, often does) differ significantly from what was originally planned. Tae r up ne attraction visits are likely under three conditions: (1) when r l s nl nd v e a travelers find new information; (2) where there is a disparity between expectations and actual situations; and, (3) when unanticipated constraints occur (Stewart and Vogt 1999). Unplanned behavior, in general, is unreflective, immediate, and spontaneous; it is made on the spot and does not require intensive information processing. It is likely to occur as a response to on-site stimuli and reflects individual and product differences (Cobb and Hoyer 1986; Rook 1987; Weun, Jones, and Beatty 1998). Given substantial differences between planned and unplanned decision-making processes, conventional approache t m dl g t vl s s o oe n r e r i a e destination visiting behavior are likely to fail to accurately reflect the reality of pleasure travel. It is, thus, argued in this paper that the understanding of unplanned behavior is necessary in order to develop a more comprehes em dl f r e r dsnt nv in bhv r ni oe o t vl s et ao it g eai . v a e i i si o Fo a r ta v w o tt i pr ne f ne t d gi i da ptl eai i rm pa i l i pi ,h m ot c o udra i n v ul saa bhv rs cc e n e a sn n d i s i o especially apparent in tourism, as public agencies are increasingly investing resources in efforts to develop tourism attractions and to conduct more effective tourism marketing campaigns (Lew and McKercher 2002; Wber and Fesenmaier 2004). Tourism destination management agencies need to understand why and how travelers revise their trip plans in
993

order not only to better attract travelers, but also to better serve those who are already in the area. This paper aims to ep r t nt e fr e r up ne attraction visits within the xl eh a r o t vl s nl nd o e u a e a context of pleasure travel to Northern Indiana and to examine the influence of trip, traveler, and trip plan characteristics on the number of unplanned attraction stops made by travelers to the region. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Consumer research in diverse domains indicates that observed behaviors do not always represent outcomes of rational cognitive processes. For example, a substantial amount of e p i leer o cnu e ucae eai hs shown that a proportion of the items m ic r a h n osm r pr s bhv r a ra s c s h o i sopr bse cno b fudi t isop glt E e t uht dtl f n hpe akt ant e on n h r hpi i. vn h g h e id igure s e n s o e ae varies from one study to another and from one product to another, the contribution of unplanned purchases ranges from 30-50 percent of all purchases (Bellenger et al., 1978; Cobb and Hoyer, 1986; Kelly, Smith, and Hunt, 2000; Phillips and Bradshaw, 1993). Planning does not always bring about the intended behavioral outcomes (Sheeran, 2002; Young et al., 1998). Empirical research has shown that the probability that a customer will purchase the intended item is significantly lower than one, whereas that of the unintended item is significantly higher than zero (Infosino, 1986; Jamienson and Bass, 1989). A common approach to explaining the differences between intentions (or plans) and behavioral outcomes is to allow multiple stages in which the formation of intention and execution of the intention are separated (Belk, 1985; Gollwitzer, 1996, Heckhausen and Gollwitzer, 1987; Stewart and Vogt, 1999). Diverse approaches founded on multiple stage models can be identified. The Model of Action Phases, sometimes referred to as horizontal perspectives on action (Gollwitzer, 1996), distinguishes a planning phase and an action phase. In its premise, the Model of Action Phs d t gi e ol ei , w i r r et ae ii u hs ga stn h h e e n sn s tg c ps s i i da e co o ga ,rm oltv g w i s n i bhv r i c d o a n v ul sl t n f ol f d i s ei s o gasi n, h h i ie eai d et t r r i c g fs o r e w d existing goals (Lewin, Dembo, Festinger, and Sears, 1944). The Action Phase Model further posits that the realm of behavior comprises separable phenomena such as deliberating, planning, acting, and evaluating. Block and Morwitz (1999) have applied the Model of Action Phases to grocery shopping behavior ad ugs d htosm r goe sop g n sget t cnu e rcr hpi e a s y n behavior could be framed into pre-actional (shopping list writing) and actional (list fulfillment) stages. Within the context of pleasure travel, the Case-Based Vacation Planning model by Stewart and Vogt (1999) is of special interest in that it explicitly incorporates the process of alteration of a plan during a trip. According to this model, travelers develop a trip plan before their trip, but this plan is subject to change, especially when they fail to satisfy t vl s t e nes r e r i l ed during the course of trip. Plan failure then initiates plan revision. a e m y Any discrepancy between planned and actual behavior is generated as a result of plan revision. Separation between the pre-trip and the trip phase allows comparison of planned and actual behavior. Stewart and Vogt (1999) further argue that the occurrence of unplanned behavior, which leads to revision of a travel plan, is likely when travelers are exposed to new information, disparities between expectations and actual experience, and unanticipated constraints during a trip. FACTORS INFLUENCING TRAVELERS UNPLANNED ATTRACTION VISITS Research on diverse aspects of travel decisions such as multi-destination travel dc i s n t vl s i om t nueis used to conceptualize unplanned stop decisions. eio ad r e r n r ao s sn a e f i The flexibility of a trip plan, in particular, is expected to play a crucial role in stimulating or cont i n t vl sup ne stop decisions. Flexibility can be defined, especially in the sa i r e r nl nd rn g a e a
994

context of decision-making, as the delay of decisions for a gain in information, and has been recognized as an effective mean for dealing with uncertainty (Hart, 1951). Following this line of logic, flexibility of a trip plan, tourists level of willingness to change their plan in response to unfolding situations during a trip, r l toe m n l o m t etot p n e e s n et cm i n t h l fc s a m e a (Scott, Osgood, Peterson, and Scott, 1979) and represents the availability (or lack) of resources that may hinder one from actually engaging in unplanned actions. Flexibility can often be obtained by loose planning. As pointed out elsewhere (Fesenmaier and Jeng, 2000; Jeng and Fesenmaier, 2002; Stewart and Vogt, 1999), travelers do not always plan out every aspect of a trip in advance. The rigidity of a trip itinerary varies from one facet of the trip to another and from one person to another (Jeng, 2000). Studies seem to suggest that the flexibility of a travel schedule, which is directly related to the likelihood of making unplanned stops, varies depending upon the time budget of a trip (Jeng and Fesenmaier, 1998; McKercher, 1998; Oppermann, 1995). Thus, a trip length is hypothesized to influence the number of unplanned stops in the trip. In addition, the number of activities planned to do and the number of planned visits, which are surrogates of the rigidity of a trip itinerary, are also hypothesized to have substantial influence on the number of unplanned stops in the trip. H1: Trip plan characteristics significantly influence the number of unplanned attraction stops occurred in a trip. (a) Travelers tend to make more unplanned attraction stops when they planned to stay longer at a destination region. (b) People tend to make more unplanned attraction stops during a trip when the number of planned activities of the trip decreases. (c) The number of unplanned attraction stops during a trip decreases as the number of planned stops of the trip increases. The complexity of the decision process related to travelers spatial behavior can be attributed to the fact that it is contingent upon the specifics of the situation in which it occurs. Trip characteristics, in particular, appear to be the most important determinants of the context in which travelersspatial decisions are operating. Distance between an origin and a destination (O-D distance hereafter), individuals previous travel experience to a destination, the number of trip purposes, and the condition if children are accompanying the trip are considered to be relevant to the flexibility of a trip plan to the destination. Previous research seems to indicate that the perceived cost of a trip influences the likelihood of making unplanned stops during a trip and the rigidity of a trip plan. According t epc du lyt oy t vl se ru dc i s ov iup ne o xet ti h r r e r n ot eio t it nl ndattractions can be e it e , a e e sn s a described as situations in which the expected utility of a visit to an additional attraction is believed to be higher than its associated cost. An implicit assumption of expected utility theory is that travelers unplanned stop decisions are induced only by incremental costs and benefits, not by prior investments. In reality, however, people tend to keep their original decision once a certain amount of resources has been invested as a result of that decision (Arkes and Blumer, 1985). Similarly, it is expected that unplanned actions are more likely as t vl s net h hr cs i atp i t sense that they are more eager to react to r e r i s a i e ot n r ,n he a e v g i unexpected situations in order to save/enhance their costly trip experience. O-D distance has been used to represent travel cost of a trip, and is known to positively influence the likelihood to visit more than one destination in a trip (Kim and Fesenmaier, 1990; Lo, 1992). It is, thus, expected that the likelihood of unplanned stops increases as the O-D distance increases. On the other hand, reetr er o t vl s ueo i om t n otnd f m t r cn e a h n r e r s f n r ao b i s c a e f i a e r o ist o u information centers posits that those travelers with limited accessibility to a destination are likely to be more sensitive to the risk of making a wrong choice; as a result, they tend to plan out more detailed aspects of the trip to the destination. In contrast, those with easy access to a destination are more likely to make spontaneous decisions, and thus are more interested in
995

travel information available at tourist information centers (Li et al., 2002). Following this logic, the number of activities planned to do and the number of planned visits are anticipated to increase as the O-D distance increases. The cost of an action reflects both objective measures and ind i a e et n i d l pr p os vus c i (Thaler, 1980). The extent of previous trips to a destination defines the perceived cost of the trip in the sense that it indicates the perceived easiness of the trip to the destination. The more experienced a traveler at a destination, the less perceived cost is likely to be associated. Previous experience defines the range of places considered to visit. Further, previous experience with a destination plays an important role in terms of how a destination is categorized during decision-making processes with respect to how well it could perform when selected as a travel destination (Woodside and Lysonski, 1989). Experienced visitors are more likely to consider destinations/attractions with low accessibility (McKercher, 1998). In addition, more experienced visitors may want to visit novel destinations since they are likely to have already visited well-known places within a destination. In this sense, repeat visitors are more selective and less prone to visit multiple destinations (Oppermann, 1992; Hwang, Gretzel and Fesenmaier, 2002). In a similar vein, experienced visitors to a destination are not likely to make unplanned stops because the opportunity cost of postponing spontaneous visits for them is smaller than for less experienced visitors. Tae proecnb gnr l df e a oe s t nes r o v for travel. r l ups a e ee l e nd s n te ed o m t es v ay i s ad i Travelers often take a trip in order to fulfill a number of different purposes (Lue et al., 1993; Tideswell and Faulkner, 1999). Multi-purpose trips, in comparison with single purpose trips, are often equated as multi-destination travel, as opposed to a single destination travel, because the number of trip purposes is closely connected to the activities and settings provided by different destinations. Thus, the number of purposes for a trip is expected to positively influence the number of activities individuals want to do, and the number of places they want to visit. The nature of the travel group is also an important factor for stopping decisions. The characteristic of the travel party impacts the flexibility of the trip itinerary in that it influences the mobility of the travel group. Children in travel party, in particular, often constrain the range of places to visit. A family with children tends to take short vacations at easily accessible destinations; in contrast, couples without children are more likely to choose destinations with modest accessibility (McKercher, 1998). Thus, it is expected that travelers accompanied with children are likely to plan less activities and stops. H2: Trip characteristics directly and/or indirectly influence the number of unplanned attraction stops occurred during a trip. (a) Travelers plan more activities and stops, and are more likely to make unplanned attraction stops as the distance to a destination increases. (b) People are likely to plan more activities and stops, but less likely to make unplanned attraction stops when the previous travel experience to a destination increases. (c) People tend to plan more activities and stops as the number of purposes for the trip increases. (d) People who travel with children tend to plan less activities and stops than travel group without children. The context for unplanned stop decisions includes individual differences among travelers. The study of how and why individuals engage in variety-seeking behaviors has been a major focus of interest in diverse disciplines including marketing, psychology, consumer behavior and economics (Kahn, 1995). Within the context of marketing and consumer behavior, variety-sei cnb df e a t i i da ednyto switch ek g a e e nd s h n v ul t ec n i e di s n
996

away from the item consumed on the last occasion (Kahn, Kalwani, and Morrison, 1986). From a viewpoint of travelers destination choices, i i da n v ul variety seeking is often di s equated to a multidestination trip (Lue et al., 1993; Tideswell and Faulkner, 1999). People tend to visit more than one place in order to satisfy various benefits. Travelers multidestination travel tendency is, thus, expected to positively influence the number of activities and stops planned. Multidestination travel tendency is also expected to influence the extent of unplanned stops. Given the same level of rigidity of a trip plan, those travelers who would like to visit multiple destinations are more likely than their counterparts to respond to new opportunities to make an unplanned stop. Individuals differ in the extent of advance planning, which indicates their involvement level (Fesenmaier and Johnson, 1989). Simple and routine decisions require relatively low consumer involvement, while a complex decision demands for a high commitment and strong attitude (Reid and Crompton, 1993). Fesenmaier and Johnson (1989) found that lowinvolvement travelers tend to have a shorter planning horizon, while the medium-high involvement travel group showed a longer trip planning horizon. It is important to note that the longer the planning horizon is, the more destination alternatives will be considered and the more extensive their evaluation will be. In addition, the results of their study indicated that low-involvement tourists take shorter, getaway type of trips that involve less resource constraints and less risk factors, whereas highly involved tourists tend to take longer vacations which require extensive cognitive efforts, advance planning, and entail more resource constraints and risk factors. It is, thus, anticipated that those individuals who tend to spend more time on trip planning are more likely to plan in detail and less likely to make unplanned stops during the trip. Individual decision-making style regarding the tendency of relying on spontaneous s trip decisions is expected to influence the extent and nature of unplanned spatial decisions. Individualstendency to make en route decisions and the extent of advance planning regarding different aspects of a trip varies from one person to another (Harmstead and Lester, 2000; Rook and Fisher, 1995; Weun et al., 1998). That is, some prefer to plan out detailed aspects of a trip and try to follow their plan, while others prefer to loosely plan the trip and try to make the most of the unforeseen opportunities as the trip progresses. Id i a ni d l vus tendency to postpone trip related decisions is thus expected to be positively related to the flexibility of a trip plan and the likelihood of making unplanned stops during the trip. H3: Travelers characteristics directly and/or indirectly influence the number of unplanned attraction stops occurred during a trip. (a) Travelers who prefer to visit multiple destinations while traveling tend to plan more activities and stops, and are likely to make more unplanned attraction stops during a trip. (b) People who tend to spend more time on trip planning are likely to plan more activities and stops, but are less likely to make unplanned attraction stops during a trip. (c) People who prefer to rely on en route trip decisions tend to plan fewer activities and stops, and are likely to make more unplanned attraction stops during a trip. METHOD The data used for this study were obtained from a survey that was conducted during Fall, 2001 to develop a profile of those persons interested in travel to Northern Indiana area and to understand the nature of travel to the Area. A survey packet (i.e., a cover letter, a questionnaire, a postage paid return envelope and a description of the incentive) was sent to a sample of 3,525 individuals who reside in one of five adjacent states (i.e., Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio) and had requested travel information from the Northern
997

Indiana Tourism Development Commission during the time period from April 15 to September 3, 2001. Northern Indiana was chosen as a study site for several reasons including: 1) this Area represents a typical Midwestern destination which provides diverse natural and cultural attractions; 2) the Area offers diverse opportunities, instead of being dominated by a small number of big attractions, and, thus, facilitates diversified spatial behavior; and, 3) the Area attracts visitors from diverse markets including Chicago Metropolitan as well as small Midwestern cities/towns and, therefore, these visitors are expected to be typical of travelers to other destinations in the U.S. This study involved measurements of various variables that define an unplanned attraction stop and trip plan/traveler/trip characteristics. An unplanned attraction stop was defined and identified, as a key dependent variable, based on stop records provided by respondents. In the survey, respondents were first asked to indicate if they had traveled to or through the Area since they requested travel information. For those who had traveled to Northern Indiana, detailed information regarding each stop in the region was obtained including the name of place, if the stop had been planned before the trip, if they made an overnight stay at the place, and the length of time spent at the stop. Based on the responses to these questions, an unplanned attraction stop was defined as a visit to a place (city/town) but had not been planned before the trip. Trip plan characteristics described the specifics of a trip plan regarding the trip to a specific destination (i.e., Northern Indiana) and included planned length of stay in the region, number of activities planned, and the number of places planned to visit. Traveler characteristics represented individuals tendency regarding trip planning and travel behavior, including multidestination travel tendency, the extent of advance trip planning, and the level of spontaneous trip decision making. Trip characteristics described the specifics of a trip and included origin-destination distance, number of visits to a destination within the past 12 months, number of trip purposes, and the indication of children in the travel party. FINDINGS CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS Respondents who provided detailed information on the destinations they had visited during their visit to Northern Indiana were included in the analysis because the goal of this study was to understand the differences between travelersplanned and actual behavior regarding the places they had visited. Among a total of 1,436 respondents, 836 individuals indicated they had visited the Area since their last travel information request; of those, 551 persons provided a completed records of the destinations they had visited in the Area. Demographic characteristics of the resulting sample (n=551) and those who were not included in the study (n=285) were compared using Chi-square statistic in order to test if there were any differences that might explain respondentsdecisions to provide (or not to provide) detailed information regarding the places they had visited (see Table 1). The sample was largely female respondents (65.8%) and married (76.0%). Over 50 percent of respondents (56.5%) were between 46 and 65 years old, and most respondents (75.0%) had children living at home. In terms of household income, about 58 percent of respondents (57.6%) indicated they had earned over $50,000 during the past year. The residents of Illinois (54.6%) comprised the largest geographic group among the respondents, followed by the residents of Indiana (32.1%) and the residents of Michigan (5.8%). Chi-square statistics reported in Table 1 show no significant differences between those respondents who provided detailed 2 information on the places visited and those who did not in terms of gender (=.235, df=1, 2 2 sig.=.628), marital status (=2.648, df=1, sig.=.104), if children are living at home (=.255, 2 2 df=1, sig.=.614), age (=1.175, df=4, sig.=.882), state of residency (=2.169, df=4, 2 sig.=.705), and annual household income (=7.358, df=3, sig.=.061). Based on the results, it was concluded that the results drawn from the sample can, in large part, represent the travel behaviors of visitors to the Area.
998

Table 1: Demographic Characteristics of Respondents Final Data Set Demographic Characteristics Included Excluded (n=551) (n=285) Gender Female 65.8% 67.5% Male 34.2% 32.5% Marital Status Married 76.0% 70.8% Other 24.0% 29.2% Living with children Yes 75.0% 76.7% at home No 25.0% 23.3% Age Years 35 9.7% 8.9% 36 Years 45 14.9% 15.7% 46 Years 55 29.7% 27.8% 56 Years 65 26.8% 26.0% 66 + Years 18.9% 21.7% Income 4.3% 8.6% $19,999 $20k $49,999 38.1% 42.3% $50k $79,999 34.0% 28.8% $80k + 23.6% 20.3% State of residence Illinois 54.6% 53.0% Indiana 32.1% 35.1% Michigan 5.8% 3.9% Ohio 4.2% 4.2% Wisconsin 3.3% 3.9% FREQUENCY OF UNPLANNED ATTRACTION VISITS

2 (sig.)

.235(.628) 2.648(.104) .255(.614) 1.175(.882)

7.358(.061)

2.169(.705)

About 44 percent of the trips to Northern Indiana (244 out of 551 trips considered) included at least one attraction stop that was not planned prior to the trip (see Figure 1). The number of unplanned stops made ranged from 0 to 8. Of the travelers who made unplanned stops, over a half (52.0%) made one unplanned stop. Travelers who made at least one unplanned stop while traveling around Northern Indiana added, on average, 1.8 places to their itinerary by spontaneous decisions.
Number of Trips with Unplanned Destination Stops Frequency of Unplanned Destinaton Stops in a Trip

No unplanned destination stops 55.7%

Included unplanned destination stops 44.3%

52.0%

1 unplanned stop

29.9% 18.1%

2 unplanned stops 3+ unplanned stops

n=551 trips

n=244 trips

Figure 1: Frequency of Trips with Unplanned Attraction Visits

999

The contribution of unplanned attraction stops to different aspects of tourism visitation was then investigated; specifically, the analysis examined the contribution of unplanned destination stops to the number of places visited, the number of overnight stays made, and the length of stay in the Area (see Figure 2). Travelers to the Area visited, on average, 2.8 places and resulted in a total number of 1,537 places visited. Of these, 428 places (27.8%) were visited without having prior intention to visit planned before the trip. In terms of the number of overnight stays, 551 travelers to Northern Indiana made, on average, 1.2 overnight stays per trip and, thus, generated a total number of 651 overnight stays in the Area. Of these, 29 percent (188 overnight stays) were made at places not planned before the trip. Frequency results regarding the length of stay in the Area were obtained based on the responses from 468 travelers who reported the length of stay at each stop. Travelers to Northern Indiana stayed, on average, 3 days in the Area and, thus, generated a total of 1,419 stay days. Of these, 355 days (25.0%) occurred at unplanned destinations.
Total=1,537 places 1) Number of places visited
428 (27.8%) 1,109 (72.2%)

Total=651 Overnight stays 1) Overnight stays

188 (28.9%) 463 (71.1%)

Unplanned stop Planned stop

Total=1,419 days 2) Length of stay

355 (25.0%) 1064 (75.0%)

1) Based on 551 trip records. 2) Based on 468 trip rocords that report stay length at each stop

Figure 2: Contributions of Unplanned Attraction Visits to Tourism Visitations in Northern Indiana MO E I GT A E E S U P A N DA T A TO V ST D LN R V L R N L N E T R C I N IIS The purpose of this step was to establish a predictive model for the number of unplanned attraction visits in a trip which incorporates trip and traveler characteristics. A path model that included all the variables of interest and delineated causal links from trip, traveler characteristics to the specifics of a trip plan and to the number of unplanned stops was tested in order to examine the structure of relationships among the respective variables (see Figure 3 for the variables included in the analysis). Path analysis was conducted by using LISREL 8.52. First, the hypothesized model that linked trip, traveler characteristics to trip plan characteristics and trip plan characteristics to the number of unplanned stops without direct links from trip, traveler characteristics to the number of unplanned stops was tested. 2 The model Chi-square value ( =16.73) and its significance level (sig.=.019) indicated that the model does not represent the data well. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of .055 also indicated that the model produce a relatively high discrepancy (Brown and Cudeck, 1992; MacCallum, Browne, and Sugawara, 1996). A reduced model that includes significant relationships identified was then recalibrated and the results are depicted in Figure 3. The resulting final model which includes 16 2 significant paths provided an acceptable level of model RMSEA, and SRMR. A non, 2 significant model value (20.79) indicates that the model represents the data reasonably well. A small value of RMSEA (.018) and SRMR (.025) showed that the discrepancy between the sample and model-implied variance-covariance matrices is within the acceptable level of .05 (Brown and Cudeck, 1992; MacCallum, Browne, and Sugawara, 1996). In addition, the Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) and Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) that are close to unity (.99 and .97, respectively) also suggested an acceptable level of model fit.
1000

Trip/Traveler Characteristics
) 74 2.

Trip Plan
Planned length of stay R2=.03
(t= 3
.31

Outcomes

(t =

Previous experience

3 .1

.29

***

2. 0 3)

(t=

. 10 *

***

.15 **

(t=

7.7 8

Number of trip purposes

.07 * (t

.08 **
=1.84 )

(t=2 .

09 )

Multidestination travel preference Level of spontaneous trp decision making Extent of advance planning
.0 8
*

* =-1.6 -.06 (t

7)

(t=

1. 76

.4

2 *** ( t=

10

.4 2

Number of planned activites R2=.16 Chi-square = 20.79 (p = .29) 90% CI for RMSEA = (.0; .048) Goodness of Fit Index = .99

RMSEA = .018 SRMR = .025 Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) = .97

Figure 3: Path Model of the Number of Unplanned Attraction Visits The total effect each variable has on the number of unplanned attraction stops was examined (see Table 2). All the trip and traveler characteristics, except for O-D distance, significantly influenced the number of unplanned attraction visits that occurred during a trip. The level of spontaneous trip decision making, among exogenous variables considered, was the most influential factor in inducing unplanned stops during a trip, while traveling with children was the least influential factor. All trip plan characteristics strongly influenced the number of unplanned destination stops. Most of specified indirect effects trip and traveler characteristics have on the number of unplanned stops were significant. Exceptions were individualsmultidestination travel tendency and the level of spontaneous trip decision making. Indirect effect from individuals multidestination travel tendency to the number of unplanned stops was not verified in the model. The effect of individualslevel of spontaneous trip decision making on the number of unplanned stops was direct instead of mediating through other variables. It is of interest to note that the negative effect of planned length of stay on the number of unplanned stops. Intuitively, a positive influence from planned length of stay to the number of unplanned stops was expected. However, the results indicated that the negative effects of length of stay planned that were, in large part, mediated through the number of activities and stops planned were much more substantial than the expected positive direct effect.

1001

- .1

***: Significant at the .01 level **: Significant at the .05 level *: Significant at the .01 level

1 ** (t =

-.07* (t=-1.96

-2

Travel with children

Number of planned stops R2=.41

.37
***

.0

. 80) (t=1 .08 2) 2 .5 ** (t= 6) .1 2 .6 -3 t= ** ( * 0 -.2

*

Number of unplanned stops R2=.10

9)

.5 (t=8

.0 8
*

(t= 79 1. )

1)

Table 2: Effects of Trip Plan, Trip, Traveler Characteristics on the Number of Unplanned Destination Stops Effects on the Number of Unplanned Stops Variables Total Effects Indirect Effects Trip plan characteristics Planned length of stay -.14*** (-5.47) -.14*** (-5.47) Number of activities planned -.20*** (-4.23) -.08*** (-3.45) Number of planned stops -.20***(-3.66) Trip characteristics Number of visits in the past 12 months -.03** (-2.49) -.03** (-2.49) Number of purposes -.05*** (-3.09) -.05*** (-3.09) Travel with children .01* (1.72) .01* (1.72) Traveler characteristics Multidestination travel tendency .08* (1.80) Level of spontaneous trip decision making .11** (2.44) .00 ( -.12) Extent of advance planning -.02** (-2.28) -.02** (-2.28) Note: T-values in parentheses; *: p<.1; **: p<.05; ***: p<.01 Overall, the path model of unplanned stops depicted in Figure 3 indicates that the influence of trip and traveler characteristics on the number of unplanned attraction stops are, in large part, mediated by the specifics of a trip plan. Trip plan characteristics, which include the planned length of stay, the number of activities and stops planned, are defined by the specificity of a trip, including past visit experience (H2b), the number of trip purpose (H2c), and traveling with children (H2d), and traveler characteristics such as the level of spontaneous trip decision making (H3c). The specificity of the trip plan such as number of planned activities (H1b) and number of planned stops (H1c) then influences the number of unplanned destination stops occurred during the trip. The results suggest that trip plan characteristics connote travelers readiness to react to unfolding situations during a trip and can be used to predict the number of unplanned attraction visits occurred during the trip. DISCUSSION From a theoretical point of view, study findings suggest that an explicit consideration of unplanned behavior needs to be made when developing models of travelers spatial behavior. This study indicates that travelers react to situations that unfold during a trip and thus, the morphology of a trip is greatly influenced by unplanned behaviors. The results strongly suggest that travelers decisions regarding unplanned attraction visits follow a constructive decision-making process. A trip plan reflects i i da n v ul anticipations of what will occur di s during a trip. Given the very nature of a trip plan, travelers are likely to make use of the information gathered during a trip in order to redefine their decision tasks and make decisions regarding the original plan instead of just following the original trip plan. From a practical point of view, the substance of unplanned attraction visits suggests that on-site promotion strategies that target those travelers who are already in a destination need to be recognized as an important destination management strategy in addition to conventional advertisement strategies that aim to attract visits to the destination. Research on consumers purchase behavior has long recognized the prevalence of unplanned purchase, and marketing endeavors targeting unplanned behavior, such as on-shelf position and in-store demonstration, have been widely developed (Wood, 1998). The substantial contribution of unplanned stops to tourism volumes make the marketing strategies using on-site stimuli important (Assael, 1984). A feasible strategy for promoting unplanned stops to a destination would be distributing information that targets a group of people who are more likely to make unplanned stops.

1002

The findings of this study are limited to the travelers stopping behavior in Northern Indiana. The extent of travelersunplanned destination visits is anticipated to vary substantially by destination. The characteristics of travelers unplanned destination visits are defined in large part by the destinations available resources which, in turn, influence travel patterns (Jeng and Fesenmaier, 1998; Kim and Fesenmaier, 1990; Tideswell and Faulkner, 1999; Wallace et al., 2000). Substantial variations in the extent of travelers unplanned behavior are also expected in other behaviors than spatial movement such as activity participation and length of stay. REFERENCES Arkes, K. R., and Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 35(1), 124-140. Assael, H. (1984). Consumer behavior and marketing action. Boston: Kent. Belk, R. W. (1985). Issues in the intention-behavior discrepancy. In J. N. Sneth (ed.), Research in consumer behavior (Vol. 1 pp.1-34), Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Bellenger, D. N., Robertson, D. H., and Hirschman, E. C. (1978). Impulse buying varies by product. Journal of Advertising Research, 18(6), 15-18. Bettman, J. R., Luce, M. F., and Payne, J. W. (1998). Constructive consumer choice processes. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(3), 187-217. Block, L. G., and Morwitz, V. G. (1999). Shopping lists as an external memory aid for grocery shopping: Influences on list writing and list fulfillment. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 8(4), 343-375. Browne, M. W., and Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods and Research, 21(2), 230-258. Cobb, C. J., and Hoyer, W. D. (1986). Planned versus impulse purchase behavior. Journal of Retailing, 62(4), 384-409. Fesenmaier, D. R., and Jeng, J-M. (2000). Assessing structure in the pleasure trip planning process. Tourism Analysis, 5(1), 13-27. Fesenmaier, D. R., and Johnson, B. (1989). Involvement-based segmentation: implications for travel marketing in Texas. Tourism Management, 10 (4), 293 300. Gollwitzer, P. M. (1996). The volitional benefits of planning. In P. M. Gollwitzer and J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 287-312). New York: Guilford. Harmstead, J. R., and Lester, D. (2000). Dimensions of impulsiveness. Psychological Reports, 87(2), 701-702. Hart, A. G. (1951). Anticipations, uncertainty, and dynamic planning, New York: A. M. Kelley. Heckhausen, H., and Gollwitzer, P. M. (1987). Thought contents and cognitive functioning in motivational versus volitional states of mind. Motivation and Emotion, 11(2), 101-120. Hwang, Y-H., Gretzel, U., and Fesenmaier, D. R. 2002. Multi-city pleasure trip patterns: An analysis of international travelers to the U.S. In Karl W. Wber (ed.) City Tourism 2002: Proceedings of International City Tourism Conference 2002 (pp. 53-62), June 20-22, Vienna, Austria. Infosino, W. (1986). Forecasting new product sales from likelihood of purchase ratings. Marketing Science, 5(4), 372-384. Jamieson, L., and Bass, F. (1989). Adjusting stated intention measures to predict trial purchase of new products: A comparison of models and methods. Journal of Marketing Research, 26(3), 336-345.
1003

Jeng, J-M. (2000). Exploring the travel planning hierarchy: An interactive Web experiment. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Jeng, J-M., and Fesenmaier, D. R. (1998). Destination compatibility in multidestination pleasure travel. Tourism Analysis, 3(2), 77-87. Jeng, J-M., and Fesenmaier, D. R. (2002). Conceptualizing the travel decision-making hierarchy: A review of recent developments. Tourism Analysis, 7(1), 15-32. Kahn, B. E. (1995). Consumer variety-seeking among goods and services: An integrated review. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2(3), 139-148. Kahn, B. E., Kalwani, M. U., and Morrison, D. G. (1986). Measuring variety-seeking and reinforcement behaviors using panel data. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(May), 89-100. Kelly, J. P., Smith, S. M., and Hunt H. K. (2000). Fulfillment of planned and unplanned purchases of sale- and regular-price items: A benchmark study. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 19(3), 247-263. Kim, S., and Fesenmaier, D. R. (1990). Evaluating spatial structure effects in recreational travel. Leisure Sciences, 12(4), 367-381. Lew, A. A., and McKercher, B. (2002). Trip destinations, gateways and itineraries: The example of Hong Kong, Tourism Management, 23(6), 609-621. Lewin, K., Dembo, T., Festinger, L. A., and Sears, P. S. (1944). Level of aspiration. In J. M. Hunt (Ed.), Personality and the behavior disorders (pp. 333-378). New York: Ronald Press. Li, Z., Hwang, Y-H., and Fesenmaier, Daniel R. 2002. The influence of information provided by tourist information center on traveler behavior. Proceedings of 33rd TTRA Annual Conference, June 23-26, Arlington, Virginia, USA. Lo, L. (1992). Destination interdependence and the competing-destinations model. Environment and Planning A, 24(8), 1191-1204. Lue, C. C., Crompton, J. L., and Fesenmaier, D. R. (1993). Conceptualization of multidestination pleasure trip decisions. Annals of Tourism Research, 20(2), 289-301. MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M .W., and Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130-149. McKercher, B. (1998). The effect of market access on destination choice. Journal of Travel Research, 37(1), 39-47. Oppermann, M. (1992). International tourist flows in Malaysia. Annals of Tourism Research, 19(3), 482-500. Oppermann, M. (1995). A model of travel itineraries. Journal of Travel Research, 33(1), 5761. Phillips, H., and Bradshaw, R. (1993). How consumers actually shop: Customer interaction with the point of sale. Journal of the Market Research Society, 35(1), 51-63. Reid, I.S., and Crompton, J. L. (1993). A taxonomy of leisure purchase decision paradigms based on level of involvement, Journal of Leisure Research, 25(2), 182-202. Rook, D. W. (1987). The buying impulse. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(2), 189-199. Rook, D. W., and Fisher, R. J. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behavior. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 22(December), 305-313. Scott, W. A., Osgood, D. W., Peterson, C., and Scott, R. (1979). Cognitive structure: Theory and measurement of individual differences. Washington, D.C.: V. H. Winston & Son.
1004

Sheeran, P. (2002). Intention-behavior relations: A conceptual and empirical review. In W. Stroebe, and M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 12 pp.136). West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons. Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69 (Feburary), 99-118. Stewart, S. I., and Vogt, C. A. (1997). Multi-destination trip patterns. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(2), 458-461. Thaler, R. (1980). Toward a positive theory of consumer choice. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1(1), 39-60. Tideswell, C., and Faulkner, W. (1999). Multidestination travel patterns of international visitors to Queensland. Journal of Travel research, 37(4), 364-374. Wallace, B., Barnes, J., and Rutherford, G. S. (2000). Evaluating the effects of traveler and trip characteristics on trip chaining, with implications for transportation demand management strategies. In Transportation Research Record 1718 (pp. 97-106), TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. Weun, S., Jones, M. A., and Beatty, S. E. (1998). Developing and validation of the impulse buying tendency scale. Psychological Reports, 82(3), 1123-1133. Wber, K. and Fesenmaier, D. R. (2002). Assessing State Tourism Advertising Programs in the United States: A Multi-Criteria Benchmarking Approach Applying Data Envelopment Analysis, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 16(2/3), 1-18. Wood, M. (1998). Socio-economic status, delay of gratification, and impulse buying. Journal of Economic Psychology, 19(3), 295-320. Woodside, A. G., and Lysonski, S. (1989). A general model of traveler destination choice. Journal of Travel Research, 27(1), 8-14. Young, M. R., DeSarbo, W. S., and Morwitz, V. G. (1998). The stochastic modeling of purchase intentions and behavior. Management Science, 44(2), 188-202.

1005

EXPLORING THE HOTEL RATING SYSTEM FROM THE VIEW OF SERVICE QUALITY C.S. , Su
Food and Beverage Management Department Jin-Wen Institute of Technology

L.H. , Sun
Hospitality Management Department Tunghai University

H.J. , Chen
Department of Human Development and Family Studies National Taiwan Normal University

D.Y. ,Yu
Hospitality Management Department of Western Culinary Arts Taiwan Hospitality and Tourism College ABSTRACT This research uses Content Analysis to do research on the hotel rating system of United Kingdom, U.S.A., China and Taiwan. The purpose of this research is to compare the content and evaluating way of hotel rating system and to explore the differences of hotel rating systems from the view of service quality. Furthermore, to examine Criteria of Hotel Service Quality Evaluationof Taiwan Tourist Bureau with P.Z.B. (1990) Srvice Quality Five Dimensions. According to it, some comments are proposed to be the reference of establishing the hotel rating system. The result of this research suggests that the hotel rating system should add more items for the dimensions of lb i sos ees Reait , Repni ns i ly v and Empathyto evaluate hotel service quality more properly. The survey should also be conducted to understand cnu e osm r s view continuously to keep hotel rating system susceptibility of the market. It will also s increase the cnu e a of utilizing the hotel rating system. osm r r e s t Keywords: Hotel Rating System, Service Quality, Content Analysis INTRODUCTION In this rapid-developing society nowadays, the factors that affect the customers choose hotels are more complicated than before. While comparing the hotels, the customers will consider more. Therefore, to set up the criteria of the hotel rating system becomes more difficult. In ofr i wt t ht i ut fast grow-up and demand, some countries set cnom t i h o ln sy y h e e d rs up the new hotel rating system or revise the existing hotel rating system (McDonald, M., 1992; Niv, 1988). However, what does the hotel rating system mean to the hoteliers and customers? To the hoteliers, does the higher grade stand for the higher price? And, to the customers, does the hotel with higher grade mean being able to offer better equipments and service quality? These are the questions that the hoteliers and customers want to clarify. For the above questions, Israeli (2002) pointed out that owning the higher grade is hotel asset and important advantage of supporting the higher price. However, in this s competitive market, current hotel rating systems are not sensitive enough to the changes of the market. Some customers think that the hotels with different grades are unable to reveal the
1006

difference of service quality (Fernandez and Bedia, 2004). This shows that the customers value the service quality increasingly, so the promotion of service quality is relevant to an et pi sustainable operation. Therefore, we should incorporate the confirming ability of n rre e ss service quality into the hotel rating system and increase the weight of service quality; furthermore, to make hotels with high gradeequal to hotels with high service quality . Thus, it will be more publicly trustful and meaningful to consumers. For a long time, in Taiwan, the government indicates the hotel grade with l pm u b s m ,hw vr m s i e aoa ps ne f lt udrad i m ai . In l s o ee ot n r t nl as gr a o ne t oo , tn i e s i s n t en g s n consideration of this, Taiwan Tourist Bureau deliberates American Automobile Associations (AAA) to set up the hotel rating system. The result of evaluation will be indicated in t sr a sign which is accepted internationally to r l e p m b s m sign in the past. Thus, we e a l l s pc u oo believe that to have a sign applicable to international lodging industry will be advantageous to the lodging industry in Taiwan, and can make it stride forward. The establishments of hotel rating systems of every countries distinguish from one another. We can say that the criteria are the indicators of cultural differences (Yu, 1992). There are different valued points in vr u cutehotel rating systems. These a os on i i rs discrepancies exist in the facilities and service quality. And, the tourist hotels of developed countries have gone along for years and made much progress to a certain extent. For instance, United Kingdom, United States of America, they are worth our consulting and learning, including the way of implementation, rating mode, main content and the criteria of service quality, and so on. In addition, China was developing fast in recent years. Although it is not a long time for the development of tourist hotels, itduring the period of desiring to set up the s hotel rating system to fit its country, the same as Taiwan. So also probe it into this research. This research will examine the hotel rating systems of United Kingdom, U.S.A., China and Taiwan and compare the contents and evaluating ways of hotel rating systems; and, to explore the differences of hotel rating systems from the view of service quality. Furthermore, employing Content Analysis to examine Criteria of Hotel Service Quality Evaluationof Taiwan Tourist Bureau with P.Z.B. (1990) Service Quality Five Dimensions. We expect to propose some comments to be the reference of establishing the hotel rating systems and offer the results to be customers best guide of selecting hotels; in addition, to assist customers to choose a hotel which can conform to their demands and expectations. THE CONTENT OF HOTEL RATING SYSTEMS Since 1990, there were a lot of researches with regard to hotel rating system. The research objects contained hotel executives and consumers, etc. From these researches, we can find the trend of hotel rating system. Among them, the importance of quality grading has been mainly proposed and popularized to put to use on the choice of the hotels (Callan, 1995). A scholar pointed out that to confirm the quality not only in high-level service but also reflecting the customer's expectation and demand (Fernandez & Bedia, 2004). It is obvious that the customer has begun to query if the service quality which the hotel can offer could conform to individual expectation and demand. This shows that to pay much attention to service quality is the trend of the hotel rating system in recent years. However, the measurement of quality is very subjective and unable to be replaced by another person (Callan, 1990). The valued factors also vary with each individual. So this research holds Content Analysis to explore and compare the hotel rating systems of Britain, U.S.A., China and Taiwan, in order to understand the valued factors and evaluating ways of service quality in the hotel rating systems nowadays.

1007

BRITISH HOTEL RATING SYSTEM The main hotel rating systems in Britain are English Tourist Boards (ETBs), Automobile Association (AA) and Royal Automobile Club (RAC). In this research, the main object is English Tourist Boards. Among them, English Tourist Boards is with the support and cooperation between ten regional Tourism Bureaus in Britain. It implements national hotel rating system to all types of lodiging industries. The rating system with the same criteria is carried by Scottish Tourist Board and Wales Tourist Board. Therefore, it can be regarded as a really nationwide rating system. The purpose of this system is to confirm and set up the confidence to adopt this system. The executive way includes facility classification and quality grading. The contents of hotel rating system of English Tourist Boards are mainly divided into two parts---facility classification and quality grading. Facility classification is a term that subclassifies the accommodation, for example, to be expressed in o n or a . Each Crw St r catalogue consists of specific facility and service, for example the size of individual bathrooms, the minimum size of bedrooms, the mirror with total length and providing room sevice. Quality grading is a qualitative assessment to specific equipments. The grading will evaluate the facility or the service offered. English Tourist Boards express its grade in qualitative description such as m edd Co m neHighly Co m ne etc.. In the final m edd, result, quality grading is attached to the facility classification, for example he Co n T r rw s e C m edd. o m ne High quality is seldom achieved by chance. It is almost invariably the outcome of care, attention to detail, a fitness for the purpose intended, allied to a genuine concern for the needs, comfort and convenience of the user. There are four levels of grading: prvd, o m ne i l C m edd A poe C m edd, Hg y o m ne h and Luxe Each quality grade can apply to any facility classification. For example, a De . One Crown B&B can be De Luxe if its facilities and services, although limited in range, are of a particularly high standard. Grading and classification inspections are made unannounced. The initial inspection will invariably involve an inspector staying overnight, as a normal guest. The inspector will not reveal his or her identity until the bill is paid the following morning. A high proportion of subsequent inspections will also involve an overnight stay. The quality assessment will include such aspects as warmth of welcome and efficiency of service, as well as the standard of the furnishings, fittings and dcoration. The standard of meals and their presentation is also taken into account. Everything that affects the experience of a guest will be included in the assessment. Inspectors receive careful training to enable them to apply our quality standards consistently and fairly. Only those facilities and services that are provided are assessed, and due consideration is given to the style and nature of the establishment. B&Bs, farmhouse and guesthouses are not expected to operate in the style of large city center hotels, and vice versa. This means that all types of establishment, whatever their classification, can achieve a high quality grade if the facilities and services they provide, however limited in range, are to a high quality standard. The quality grade does not include an assessment of value for money. The information provided by the combination of the classification and quality grade enables the public to determine for themselves what represents good value. When making their quality assessments, inspectors will be comparing the standard of what is provided against standards laid down by the English Tourist Boards. These standards
1008

are based on the experience of inspecting over 11,500 establishments a year. It should be recognized that the English Tourist Boardconcept of excellence may differ from that of an s individual proprietor, whose experience of what is provided elsewhere is, of necessity, more limited. The quality of each individual aspect is assessed as Excellence, Good, Acceptable or Poor. The inspectors method takes account of variations within these bands. A top assessment is given where it would be unreasonable to expect anything significantly better. The quality grade that is awarded to an establishment is a reflection of the overall standard, taking everything into account. It is a balanced view of what is provided and, as such, cannot acknowledge individual areas of excellence. Following each grading inspection the inspector will discuss his or her findings with the proprietor/manager, but will not announce the grade at that time. The inspectorassessment is subject to further scrutiny and s checks before the grade is confirmed by letter. The rating may not be used until the confirmation letter has been received. When the grade is conifirmed, the proprietor/manager will receive a copy of the inspectorwritten assessment form with a record of the observation made at the time of the s inspection. These observations are intended to be helpful to those who may wish to improve their standards or to seek to achieve a higher grade. They are not requirements to maintain the grade that has been awarded. AMERICAN HOTEL RATING SYSTEM There is no uniform hotel rating system in U.S.A.. The domestic current rating system is established by an association or an international chain hotel. Among them, the more famous one is American Automobile Associations (AAA). AAA evaluates more than 29,000 accomodations annually and induces them to be twelve categories. According to the services and equipments, they are divided into Large-Scale Hotel, Small-Scale Hotel, Motel, Country Inn, Historistic Site Hotel, Vacation Home, Ranch, Cabin/Cottage, Condiminium, and so on. It adopts a rating system of one to five diamonds. Please see < Table 1 >. Table 1: AAA Diamond Rating System One Diamond These establishments typically appeal to the budget-minded traveler. They provide essential, no-frills accommodations. They meet the basic requirements pertaining to comfort, cleanliness, and hospitality. Two Diamonds These establishments typically appeal to the traveler seeking more than the basic accommodations. There are modest enhancements to the overall physical attributes, design elements, and amenities of the facility typically at a moderate price. Three Diamonds These establishments appeal to the traveler with comprehensive needs. Properties are multifaceted with a distinguished style, including marked upgrades in the quality of physical attributes, amenities, ann level of comfort provided. Four Diamonds These establishments are upscale in all areas. Accomodations are progressively more refined and stylish. The physical attributes reflect an obvious enhanced level of quality throughout. The fundamental hallmarks at this level include an extensive array of amenities combined with a high degree of hospitality, service, and attention to detail. Five Diamonds These establishments reflect the characteristics of the ultimate in luxury and sophistication. Accomodations are first class. The physical attributes are extraordinary in every manner. The fundamental hallmarks at this level are to meticulously serve and exceed all guest expectations while maintaining an impeccable standard of excellence. Many personalized services and amenities enhance an unmatched level of comfort.
1009

AAA Diamond Ratings represent a combination of the overall quality, the range of facilities, and the level of services offered by a property. These widely recognized and trusted symbols help AAA members choose lodgings that will meet their needs and expectations. The evaluation process is made up of three parts: AAA Diamond Rating requirements, objective ratings quidelines for both physical attributes and service levels (where applicable), and subjective elements based on experience and training. First, all establishments must meet diamond rating requirements and be determined to provide member value. This validation is conducted through a combined process of applications, referrals and media research. The overall evaluation process will include the review of six key areas: 1.Management and Staff, 2.Housekeeping and Maintenance, 3.Exterior, grounds and public areas, 4.Room decoration, ambiance and amenities, 5.Bathrooms, 6.Guest Service. The way of an anonymous overnight evaluation will be adopted to assess guest services. In this way, we can observe more realistic and slighter parts of service. Itworth considering while drafting the s hotel rating system. CHINESE HOTEL RATING SYSTEM In China, the uniform rating system is proposed by central government. In 1993 the hotels are divided into one to five stars by National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China. National Tourism Administration sets up the hotel rating organization and is responsible for the leading position of star evaluating way in the country-wide. It also takes charge of evaluating the hotels that are over three stars. For the province, autonomous region and the municipality directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government, Tourism Bureau is responsible for evaluating local Tourist Hotels and the hotels that are one star or two stars in this area. The result should be submitted to the hotel rating organization of National Tourism Administration. After the first evaluation of local three-star hotels and being confirmed by National Tourism Administration, the hotels that are over four stars should be recommended to hotel rating organization. With the development of tourist hotel industry of China, different hotels have already formed different customer sources and consuming levels. The substituting service items offered are increasing constantly, too. Therefore, the hoteliers should base on their own customer demand and classification to choose service items independently. In its rating system, except for the criteria of evaluating t bi i facilities and equipments, to set up h ud g e ln s the criteria of service quality for four-star or five-star hotels can be regarded as its characteristic. The criteria of service quality includes the server appearance, lobby, guest s rooms, restaurant(bar) and other services(including medical service, hair and beauty salon, business service, postal service and telecommunications, baby care, childrens recreation room, commercial affair service, flower shop, ballroom and conference service), hotel security, hotel reputation and integrated effects, and so on. TAIWAN HOTEL RATING SYSTEM THE EVOLUTION OF HOTEL RATING SYSTEM The hotel rating system in Taiwan did not adopt star system at the beginning, but plum blossom system. Through continuous revisions, it just evolves to star system now. The process that the system develops from plum blossom system to star system over the years is as follows. Please refer < Table 2 >.

1010

Table 2: The Evolution of Taiwan Hotel Rating System Age Process 1977 1979 The evaluation group of international tourist hotels starterd to check international tourist hotels. Tourism Bureau gave over Architectural Institution of the Republic of China to do Study of Minimum Facility Standard and Classification The Method to International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan . Tourism Bureau drafts Criteria of International Tourist Hotel Grades The . Tourism Bureau finishes Plum Blossom Evaluation Syt and begins sm , e to evaluate international tourist hotels of the four and five plum blossom grade for the first time. Tourism Bureau begins to evaluate international tourist hotels of the two and three plum blossom grade for the first time. The tourist hotels can participate in this evaluation voluntarily. Tourism Bureau evaluates international tourist hotels of the four and five plum blossom grade for the second time and establishes to evaluate them once every three years. Tourism Bureau stops the evaluation system for international tourist hotels. Tourism Bureau arranges to list the fire control and building management in the evaluation system for international tourist hotels. Tourism Bureau evaluates all international tourist hotels in Taiwan again, and thinks about using the grade of star proceed classification. to Tourism Bureau renews to draft the evaluation system for international tourist hotels, and initially establishes draft plan of hotel building the equipment and service quality evaluation standard . Tourism Bureau adopts the evaluation system of star grade and begins to test this system. All hotels need to accept the evaluation of building equipments. Tourism Bureau formally adopts hotel rating system of stargrade to evaluate hotels. Source of data: This research.

1980 1983

1984

1986

1989

1992 2002

2003

2005

INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL RATING SYSTEM In recent years, on the basis of the prosperity of hotel industry, Tourism Bureau announces Hotle Rating Systemi D cm e 2002 and expects to offer consumers a n ee br , reference for selecting the hotels in Taiwan. In Taiwan, Hotle Rating System is done once every three years. Tourist Hotels and general hotels are belonged to different supervising organizations respectively. Tourism Bureau administers tourist hotels and local country or municipal governments administer general hotels. Tourism Bureau will plan to evaluate all of the eighty-six tourist hotels. However, concerning that this work needs a large amount of time and resources, it must be done professionally and fairly. Therefore, Tourism Bureau authorizes this work to the folk organization according to governmental purchasing law. General hotels voluntarily apply to
1011

participate in this work. This work replaces t s no l b s m h i f p m l s with t s nt t sr avl e g u oo s r i h i e te a g a li y available internationally. The method of evaluation refers to the rating system of AAA, U.S.A. and plans to adopt two stages to carry out: (1)The evaluation of the building equipment: According to the total scores of evaluation items, it can get one to three star grades. The hotel that gets three star grades can determine voluntarily whether to accept the evaluation of service quality, and can further get four to five star grades. (2) The four-star and five-star hotels adopt to add up the score of building equipment and service qualityto be evaluation scores. The implementation of the evaluation plans to be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the hotels are forced to participate in building equipment evaluation. The expense will be paid by the government. In the second stage, service quality evaluation is determined by each hotel whether to participate or not. The expense is born by each hotel. Concerning the future management, Tourism Bureau intends to indicate the valid date for the result of evaluation, and make different color marker in different year in order to be distinguished by consumers. EVALUATION OF HOTEL SERVICE QUALITY There are two forms --- Criteria of Hotel Building Equipment Criteria The and The of Hotel Service Qualityin hotel rating system. The total score of building quipment evaluation is 600. The score of one-star to three-star tourist hotel is between 60 and 180, 181and 300, 301and 600 respectively. The hotel whose score is over 301 is qualified for the evaluation of service quality. When the total score of evaluation of building quipment and service quality is between 600 and 749, the hotel can be appraised to be four-star international tourist hotel; and the score is over 750, the hotel can be five-star international tourist hotel. Here, we like to focuse on Criteria of Hotel Service Qualitywhich include d The twelve parts; they are as follows: (1)Operator: including 9 items, each item scores 3 or 4 points, and total score is 30 points. (2)Reservation: including 11 items, each item scores 2 or 3 points, and total score is 30 points. (3)Front Desk: including 21 items, each item scores 2 or 3 points, and total score is 60 points. (4)Internet Service: including 5 items, each item scores 4 points, and total score is 20 points. (5)Baggage Service: including 13 items, each item scores 2 or 3 points, and total score is 30 points. (6)Guest Room: including 15 items, each item scores 4 points, and total score is 60 points. (7)Housekeeping: including 8 items, each item scores 3 or 4 points, and total score is 30 points. (8)Room Service: including 7 items, each item scores 2 or 3 points, and total score is 20 points. (9)Restaurant: including 18 items, each item scores 2 or 3 points, and total score is 50 points. (10)Dining Quality: including 8 items, each item scores 3, 4 or 5 points, and total score is 30 points. (11)Fitness Center.: including 10 items, each item scores 2 points, and total score is 20 points. (12)Staff Training: including 2 items, each item scores 10 points, and total score is 20 points. The total score of hotel service quality evaluation is 400. There are 127 items and each item has three levels: Unqualified , Qualified and GoodThe score range of each item is . different. It will be subjectively judged by the inspectors.

1012

THE RESULTS THE COMPARISON OF HOTEL RATING SYSTEMS We use Content Analysis to analyze and compare the criteria of these four different hotel rating systems according to the bulletins and the forms. Please refer < Table 3 >. Table 3: The Comparison of Hotel Rating Systems Britain U.S.A. The English Tourist No uniform hotel Organization Boards(ETBs) rating system. The (Automobile more famous one is Association(AA) American & Royal Automobile Automobile Association(AAA). Club(RAC)

Grade Sign Evaluating Way The Way of Joining the Unit

China National Tourism Administration sets up the star appraisal organization of the hotels. It s responsible for the leading job of national tourist hotels. Crown Diamond Star Not giving Not giving advance Giving advance advance notice. notice. notice. Voluntary Voluntary Mandatory

Taiwan It is under the charge of Tourism Bureau, the general hotel is under the charge of each county and municipal governments. Star Giving advance notice. Itdivided s into two stages. The first stage for building equipment is mandatory, the second stage for service quality is voluntary. Once every three years Although there are separate criteria for the quality, the results are included in the grade signs No

The Once a year Frequency of Evaluation The Grade The result of Sign of quality Quality assessment is attached to the classification, for example he Tr e Crowns C m edd. o m ne The No Consideration of Special Regional Disparity The Adoption No of Consumer's Opinions

Once a year

Once a year

Including it in the Although there grade signs are separate criteria for the quality, the results are included in the grade signs No No

No

No

No

From <Table 3>, in Taiwan and China, it can be found that to evaluate service quality with the specific form shows to place the importance on it. In order to understand further if there overall consideration for the factors of service quality, here we will analyze the s
1013

dimensions of service quality in Criteria of Hotel Service Quality Taiwan. The of THE ANALYSIS OF SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS OF TAIWAN RATING SYSTEM The five dimensions of service quality said by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1990) are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. To more deeply understand the implementation of hotel service quality evaluation in Taiwan, we apply the following process to proceed Content Analysis: 1.Coding: There are four coders, and they code independently to avoid affecting reliability. They also refer to the scale of restaurant service quality by Stevens (1995). 2.Data Arrangement: According to the results that are coded by the four coders, we process the data arrangement and extraction, to verify, analyze and compare. Every item is classified into the dimension that most coders think it should be belonged to. When we can t differentiate the dimension of the item, the researcher judges the last code. 3.Statistics and Analysis: In order to sum up the basic situation of service quality evaluation of hotel rating system, we proceed the statistical analysis of the data. 4.Reliability: Reliability is calculated as follows: A: The agreement level between two people. The formula is: A = 2 M N1 + N2 M: The number of totally agreed(It means the number of the same answers that two coders give). N1N2: the number of questions that two coders answer. B: Reliability. The formula is: B = n A 1 + [ ( n-1 ) A ]

n: the number of the coders The result of that is summed up by four coders (a, b, c and d) is as follows: A a b c d 0.65 0.56 0.46 b 0.50 0.52 c

0.35

the average of is: ( 0.65 + 0.56 + 0.46 + 0.50 + 0.52 + 0.35) 6 = 0.51 = 51% A 4 0.51 1 + [ ( 4-1 ) 0.51 ] =

B=

2.04 2.53 = 80.63 %

From the analysis of reliability, the agreement of four coders is 51% and the reliability is 80.63%. It confirms to the reliability requisition of Kassarjian (1997). It means that the result can reach the level of acceptability after the content analysis of the criteria of hotel
1014

rating systmem. The results of service quality dimension analysis are as <Table 4>. And please see the ratio analysis in <Figure 1>. According to the results of service quality five-dimension analysis, we can find that sr c appears most frequently and pt appears least. In 127 items, As a e un Em a y h lb i an sosvns Reait i ly d Repni ees i appear less than 15%. The items about Empathy, Reliability and Responsiiveness should be increased, so the criteria of hotel rating system can cover the five dimensions. The hotel service quality can be assessed properly. sr c permost frequently and the second one is As a e apa un s TangibilityWe can find . that sr c As a e and un Tangibility focused on the service quality of hotel rating system. are The importance of the commitment to the customers, willing to help the customers, offering speedy service and placing yourself in customerposition seems to be ignored. s Table 4: The Analysis of Service Quality Dimension of Hotel Ratin System Dimension Item 1. Operator 2. Reservation 3. Front Desk 4. Internet 5. Baggage 6. Guest room 7. Housekeeping 8. Room Service 9. Restaurant 10. Dining quality 11.Fitness Center 12. Staff Training Total 1 0 3 5 2 15 0 1 4 8 4 0 43 ( 33.9 % ) 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 2 0 2 0 11 (8.7 % ) Tangibility Reliability The Empathy Question Responsiveness Assurance Count 2 1 8 0 2 0 1 0 4 0 1 0 19 ( 14.9 % ) 5 10 10 0 9 0 3 4 8 0 3 2 54 ( 42.5 % ) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (0% ) 9 11 21 5 13 15 8 7 18 8 10 2 127

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS The hotel rating system is at the stage of drafting and revision. By exploring the hotel rating system of other countries that the lodging undustry has developed riperly, we must be able to learn and contribute to the rating system of Taiwan. The purpose of this research is to propose some comments to be the reference of establishing the hotel rating systems. We expect the results of the rating system to be customers best guide of selecting hotels and assist customers to choose a hotel which can conform to their demands and expectations. The conclusion of this research is as follows: 1. According to the analysis of hotel rating systems, we can find out that thereno s criteria about evaluating empathy dimension of service quality. For an international tourist hotel, to consider every customer special needs is very s important to its service quality. However, there no clear criteria for evaluating s
1015

 empathy and it relevant to personal feelings. So it always results in being , s subjective. To avoid being too subjective and influencing consumers' trust, the way --- s r Shoppercan be adopted to evaluate Myt y e empathy Hence, the proper . and strict training for the evaluators is very important. 2. The criteria which are not relevant to service quality should be omitted from the hotel service quality evaluation. And, more criteria for the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness should be added to the hotel rating system to evaluate hotel service quality more properly. 3. During the process of establishing the hotel rating system, it should also proceed the survey to consumers' view continuously and keep hotel rating system s susceptibility of t m ret i r s cnu e a of utilizing the hotel rating h a to n e e osm r r e e k ca s t systems (Callan, 1998). 4. From British hotel rating system, we can see it separate to announce the rating s results of facilities and service quality. It demonstrates paying attention to service quality and examining service quality from another point of view. This idea is worth Taiwan governmentlearning and emulation. s 5. Opposite to the anonymity of Britain and U.S.A., China and Taiwan still inform the hotels in advance. Because the anonymous ways can let the evaluators have true experience and understand slighter part, too. In this aspect, it still needs more considerations for the sake of national conditions and culture. For the future research, the quantitative and qualitative researches can be conducted to understand the important and unimportant factors for the customers to choose the hotels. It can make the hotel rating system of Taiwan to be more close to consumers needs. And, it can really become an asset of the enterprise and be publicly trustful to the consumers. REFERENCES Callan R. J. (1998). Attributional Analysis of Customers hotel selection criteria by U.K. grading scheme categories. Journal of Travel Research, v.36, no.3(Winter 1998). p2034. Callan R. J. (1995). Hotel classification and grading schemes, a paradigm of utilization and user characteristics. Int. Journal of Hospitality Management, vol.14, No.3/4, pp.271284. Callan R. J. (1994). Development of A Framework For The Determination Of Attributes Used Fro Hotel Selection --- Indications From Focus Group And In-Depth Interviews. Hospitality Research Journal, 18, 2 p53, 22. Callan R. J. (1992). Jersey Hotel Grading Scheme: An Idiosyncratic Approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 4, 3. Callan R. J. (1990). Hotel Award Scheme As A Measurement Of Service Quality : An Assessment By Travel Industry Journalists As Surrogate Consumers. Int. Journal of Hospitality Management, vol.9, 1, p45, 14. Chi, Liang-Yu. (1991, September 24). Internat nlort o lwlb r a e wt t i at i hts i e e r d i s r o us e l gd h a sign next year. United Daily News, p. 14. Chiu, TsuChien. (1982, October 10). The economy of the world is quickening and the tourist i ndustry in Taiwan should have new actions. Economic Daily News, p. 6. Chiu, Tsu-Chien. (1983, August 21). Evaluation of international tourist hotels should be nonjudgmental, cohere with the international standard, and be close to the market. Economic Daily News, p. 5. Chou, Li-Yun. (2005, April 30). We have a new hotel criterion this year. United Daily News, p.
1016

E8. Chou, Tzu-Hsuan. (1983, August 5). The evaluation of the hotels brings innovation. The first is Lai Lai Hotel and the second is Grand Hotel. United Daily News, p. 2. Conlin J.(1999). Service Provides Comparative Data. Hotel & Motel Management, Vol. 214, Iss. 13, p4, 2p, 1c. Feng, Chin-Yen. (1986, January 5). Economic Affairs Bureau establishes evaluation of general tourist hotels. Only twelve hotels take part in the evaluation and hotels that do not join do not decorate owing to the bad business. United Daily News, p. 7. Fernandez M. & Bedia M. (2004). Is the hotel classification system a good indicator of hotel quality? An Application in Spain. Tourism Management, 25, 771-775. Herzog, T. (2002). Research Methods and Data Analysis in the Social Sciences (Chu, J.J. trans. ). Taipei : Yang-Chi Publishing. Huang, Yu-Chen. (1990, April 13). The evaluations of the tourist hotels add a new item a ti tli eas sf y a nt e el t . sf yn aao bcue a tcn o b ng c dEconomic Daily News, p. 18. e s lt n e ee Huang, Ju-Ping. (2005, March 6). The officials evaluate the stargrade of hotels. China Times, p. A8. Huang, Ju-Ping, & Huang, Li-Ju. (2004, February 20). Six-star hotelwill be punished by Fair Trade law. China Times, p. A8. Huang, Tsai-Chuan. (1990, April 12). How is hotel management in the future? National Chiao Tung University helps to research it and Tourism Bureau will improve it according to the research result. Min Sheng Daily, p. 7. Huang, Tsai-Chuan. (1991, September 28). Tourist hotels in Taiwan enter the international stage. Min Sheng Daily, p. 8. Huang, Tsai-Chuan. (1993, January 14). Evaluating scheme in every country has its own feature. Min Sheng Daily, p. 8. Huang, Shu-Yi. (1991, September 5). Five-plum blossomare not equal to five-star ; Tourism Bureau evaluates if hotel evaluation changes. Economic Daily News, p. 3. Israeli A. (2002). Star rating and corporate affiliation: their influence on room price and performance of hotels in Israel. Int. Journal of Hospitality Management, 21, 405-424. Kassarjian (1977). Content analysis in customer research. Journal of Customer Research, 4, 818. Lee, I-Ming(1999). Exploring the Necessity of Hotel Grading Scheme. Journal of Kaohsiung Hospitality College, 2, 1999.Oct., 29-40. Lou, Pang-Ju(2001). Spatial Temporal Change for International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan. Chinese Cultural University Unpublished Master Degree Thesis. Liu, Fu-Kuei, & Hu, Ming-Yang. (1990, September 24). The dealers hope the government establish evaluating scheme to reward or punish. Min Sheng Daily, p. 15. McDonald, M. (1992). The Statutory Grading of Hotels. Int. Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol.11, Iss.4, p293, 7. Niv, Adi (1988). Tourist Hotels In Israel---Modern Classification Scheme. Tourism Management, Vol. 9, Iss. 2, p164, 3. Pine R. and Qi P. (2004). Barriers to Hotel Chain Development in China. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 16, 1. Shin, Tsai-Man. (1989, February 26). t d m no Sa i od r plum blossom each country r a , has its own evaluation and grade of the hotels. Min Sheng Daily, p. 8. Shin, Tsai-Man. (1994, October 5). Reservation organizations originated in American is equal to the luxury hotels; luxurious hotels have nice prospects. Min Sheng Daily, p. 37. Shin, Tsai-Man. (1994, October 12). The American hotels sweep across hotel market globally. Min Sheng Daily, p. 37. Stevens, P., Knutson, B., & Patton, M. (1995). DINESERV: a tool for measuring service quality in restaurant. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 36(2), 56-60. Tung, Chih-Sen. (2001, December 13). Twenty-four hotels win a prize in the evaluation of good hotels. United Daily News, p. 20. Tsai, Sung Ling. (1983, August 21). The labor union should establish on-the-job training to promote hotel employees and evaluating scheme is getting ahead. Economic Daily
1017

News, p. 5. Voss, R. (1984). The Stars that Were Born 75 Years Ago. Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Vol. 175, Iss.3345, p55. Wang, Wei-Hang(1990). To Construct the Hotel Grading Scheme in the Concept of Market Segment. National Defense Management College Unpublished Master Degree Thesis. Yu L. (1992). Seeing Stars: China Hotel-Rating System. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant s Administration Quarterly, 33, 5. Zhan-Qing, L., Liu, J.C. and Qing L.Z. (1993). Assessment of The Hotel Rating System in China. Tourism Management, Vol.14, Iss.6, p440, 13. Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. L. (1990). Delivering quality service: balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York, NY: The Free Press. English Tourist Board, National Grading and Classification Scheme.

http://www.aaa.com http://202.39.225.136/indexc.asp

1018

USING FULL-TIME COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AS PART-TIMERS IN THE TAIWAN HOTEL INDUSTRY Shu-Hwa Hsiao & Tom Baum The Scottish Hotel School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, U.K.
ABSTRACT Using college students as part time workers has been considered as a flexible option for many organizations. The employment of students from universities for part-time jobs is widespread in the hospitality sector in many countries. Combining study and work has become the norm among college/university students and part-time work has played a central role in their life. Combining work and study seems a part of a routine and a habitual fact of life for most full-time students. Numerous studies have reported that more students are seeking part-time work due to financial necessity. But the role of students in the labour market has been understated in labour market research. Hence, the aims of this study are to explore flexible options as a response to labour shortages in the Taiwan hotel industry, to explore the potential of employing full time college/university students as part time workers i Tia ht i ut, n t poi i i t i o ht m ngr pr p osi n a n o l n sy ad o rv e n g s n o l aae e et n n w s e d r d sh t e s c i e p y gflt eclg/ i rt s dn t w r i Tia ht i ut Both m l i u i o ee n e i t et o ok n a n o ln s on lm l u v sy u s w s e d ry. quantitative and qualitative approaches will be adopted to achieve the objective of this study. An on-l esre wl b cre ott clc clg/ i rt s dn e et n i uvy i e a i u o o et o ee n e i t et pr p os n l rd l l u v sy u s c i toward part-time jobs. This research also will interview hotel managers at international tourist hotels in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan), and involve three major departments: Front Office, Housekeeping, and Food and Beverage. A semi-structured, in depth interview method will be employed to explore hotel managers e pcvs nui clg/ i rt s dn a pr et e o s g o ee n e i t et s s i n l u v sy u s part-timers in the hotel industry. Focus group discussions will be used to explore experiences, preferences and career orientations of full-time college/university students working in hotels on a part-time basis. This research attempts to bridge a research gap in that the role of student labour in the hotel industry that has been neglected in labour market research, particularly within the flexible labour literature. Keywords: Flexible labour, Hotel industry; Human resource management, Students INTRODUCTION The hospitality industry is known for its low pay, long work hours and high turnover rates (Cheng & Brown, 1998). The labour shortage problem has been a major concern in this industry in recent years. In the past two decades, the hospitality and tourism industries in Taiwan have grown dramatically. Taiwan possesses many world-class natural resources for tourism as well as historical and cultural sites. These resources have unique characteristics worthy of development (e.g., the so-cldbr i l cl r o Tia ae aoi n u ue f a n l ga t w s m utnd ee ) I 20,h gvrm n hs none t ob T ui b Y a on i w lr . n 02 t oe et a anucd h D ul orm y er a ls e n e e s 20 l . T e ups o t s l it dult nm e o i e aoat rt arrivals 08 p n h proe fh p n so ob h u br fn r t nlo i a i a e e tn i us from 2 million to 5 million within 6 years (Travel Weekly 2003, p. 88). Due to the rapid growth of the hospitality industry in Taiwan, the demand for human resources has been increasing. Ways of easing the labour shortage have become a vital issue. As a strategic response to labor shortages in the hospitality industry, some organizations are taking a fresh look at the potential of older workers (Magd, 2003). Some authors reveal that older workers may not be the best option because of their age. Some researchers also declare that aggressive recruitment and retention programmes to attract young job applicants may not be sufficient to overcome labour shortages (Magd, 2003). Therefore, the aims of this study are to explore flexible options as a response to labour shortages in the Taiwan Hotel
1019

Industry and, specifically to explore the potential of employing full time college/university s dn a prt ew re i Tia ht i ut adt poi i i t i oht t et s a i u s t m okr n a n o ln sy n o rv e n g s n o l s w s e d r d sh t e m ngr pr p osn m l i flt e o ee n e i s dn t w r i Tia aae e et n i e p y g u i clg/ i rt t et o ok n a n s c i o n lm l u v sy u s w s hotel industry. Five research questions are proposed, as follows: 1 o d ht m ngrpr i h i flt e o ee n e i s dn i Tia . w o o l aae e e e in u i clg/ i rt t et n a n H e s c v rg lm l u v sy u s w s hotel industry? 2.How do full time college/university students who work as part timers in the hotel i ut pr i w ri iTiaht i ut ? n sy e e e ok gn a n o ln sy d r cv n w s e d r 3.What are the advantages of employing full time college/university students as perceived by Taiwan hotel managers? 4.What are the disadvantages of employing full time college/university students as perceived by Taiwan hotel managers? 5.What are the preferences of employing full time college/university students among Taiwan hotel managers? LITERATURE REVIEW FLEXIBLE LABOUR Flexible labour provides the theoretical context for this study. Flexible labour is usually referred to as part-time, temporary, casual, or self-employment (Felstead & Jewson, 1999; Sheridan & Conway 2001). This includes freelancing, subcontracting, outsourcing, home working, teleworking, franchising, zero-hours contracts, fixed-term contract, seasonal working, flexi-time and consultancy work (Forde, 1998; Sheridan & Conway 2001). They are all included in the non-standard labour force (Felstead & Jewson, 1999). Students are considered to be more flexible than other sectors of the part-time and casual labour market (Lucas & Ralston, 1996). There has been extensive debate on issues relating to the growth in flexible labour. The most important of these i t ei efm m dldvl e b Ak snadh s h f x l i oe ee pd y t no n i e l b r , o i s asc t a t Ist eo Mapw rSui . I Ak sn (94 ei efm s ie t h ntu f no e t e o as e it ds n t no 18) f x l i i s l b r model, functional flexibility and numerical flexibility could be achieved by dividing the labour force into core and periphery workers (Canny 2002). Walsh (1991) argues that Ak sn m dl g e lt cni r i t t rl o l or up i f h n gt t no oe i s il os e t n o h o fa u spl n a i i h i s v te d ao e e b y so n e t m o w i e pe ll ors xhne ad h w y t ti d i i ogn aos e s n h h pr hr a u iecagd n t a iu le wt n r i t n r c i a b e iz h a zi (Wa h 19, . 0) Wa ha oa usht t i e a l or a e intt c r l , 91 p 14. s l l r e t e n r la u m r ts o sut e s s g a h tn b k r ud on a simple core-pr hr bs dt m nd i p b m ngm n sa g s ( l ,90 e pe ai e r i s l y aae ett t i Wa h19, i y s e e m y re e s p. 26; see also Deery & Jago, 2002). Both Walsh (1991) and Kalleberg (2001) criticize the t an t cr adpr hr a hm gnu gop. D e adJg (02 dut t r t g h oe n e pe s o oeos rus er n ao 20) ob e ei e i y y h vl o Ak sn cr pr hr m dlnt cn x o t sri i ute D e & a e f t no oe e pe oe i h ot t fh e c n si ( er u i s / i y e e e v e d rs y Jg, 02 p 5)ada usht t r a edfr oe ao 20, . 0, n r e t e ne o m r accurate modeling of the service 3 g a he sc r okoc( er & Jg, 02 p 30. H ue a (01 pi sot l ko et w rfr D e o e y ao 20, . 5) osm n 20) o tt h a f n e c evidence as to why employers use flexible staffing arrangements and the implications of these arrangements for workers.

1020

STUDENT WORKERS Using full time college students as part time workers has been considered as a flexible option for many organizations. Employers' demands for part-time labour corresponds with students' needs to seek part-time employment (Taylor et al., 1999). Long trading hours is one of key characteristics of industries such as retailing, hotels and catering. These industries are also involved in intensive competitive markets, and they are labour-intensive and highly variable (Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Johnson & Lucas, 2002). Research shows that these industries prefer a young workforce. Hotels and restaurants often employ the highest proportion of a young workforce among the age group between 16 and 25 (Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Using student workers appears to match these age-conscious industries' demands (Lucas & Lammont, 1998) and recruiting young educated people is one way to approach the best possible workforce (Airey & Frontistis, 1997; see also Johnson & Lucas, 2002). THE GROWTH IN STUDENT PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT The number of students in higher education has risen recent years (Broadbridge & Swanson, 2005), and the proportion of students working part-time has also increased in industries such as retailing and hospitality over recent years (Lucas & Ralston, 1996; Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Curtis & Shani, 2002). Student employment has recently increased among many OECD-countries, and even in countries that have no tradition of student employment, such as France and Spain (Hofman & Steijn, 2003). In the UK, the U.S., Australia, and the Netherlands, the number of students working in part-time jobs is increasing significantly, especially in the service sector, including retailing, catering, hotel and other consumer services (Robinson, 1993; Allan 2000; Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Van der Meer & Wielers, 2001; Canny, 2002). In the UK, numerous researches show that the increased growth of full-time students taking part-time jobs. Carney and et. al. (2005) reveals that 50 per cent of the undergraduate full time students in their research had part-time jobs and 37 per cent of students without a job were trying to find a job. A TUC's (2000) survey of universities and further education colleges in Leeds, Bristol, Manchester and Cardiff found that 72 per cent of students are working. The RCU conducted a national survey of part-time work in 2000. A total of 2334 full-time FE (Further Education) students and HE (Higher Education) students from 19 colleges in England, Scotland and Wales completed questionnaires in this survey. The survey found that around two-thirds of them had part-time work at the time of the survey or had worked part-time previously during a prior phase of their course (Byram et al., 2001). In the U.S. students at college and universities taking term-time employment has increased also. King and Bannon (2002) reported that the percentage of all full-time students who worked increased from 71% in 1995-96 to 74% in 1999-2000 and approximately half of full-time working student work 25 or more hours per week. There are more than half of college students have a job (Orszag et al., 2001). In Australia, over the past decade the number of university students has increased rapidly. Numerous students are working either full-time or part-time while studying at the universities. McInnes, James and Hartley (2002) found that the percentage of full-time students in paid employment had increased from 42 per cent in 1994 to 51 per cent in 1999 and 78 per cent of students on their survey (a survey of 1563 working students who were enrolled full-time in nine Australian universities in 2001) had worked in the past year and 73 per cent during semester time. The average hours students worked is 15 hours per week and over 40 per cent of them working more than 16 hours per week (McInnes & Hartley, 2002). In the Netherland the number of full-time students who have jobs has risen from 12,000 in 1981 to 164,000 in 1997. It is a rise of the student labour market participation rate from 3.7% to 37.1% (Van der Meer & Wielers, 2001; Hofman & Steijn, 2003).
1021

THE REASONS FOR THE GROWTH IN STUDENT PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT The expansion of the further and higher education system and the growth of the flexible labour market are two main structural reasons lead to this dramatic growth in student parttime work over the last two decades (Taylor et al., 1999). Moreover, some factors have driven student employment from its traditional vacations work into regular term-time working. The increased demand for numerical flexibility has supported the rising student labour market participation. However, the rising student employment is also supply driven because many young people perceive part-time jobs as a source of independence and a social status (Hofman & Steijn, 2003). The major reasons for the increase in students taking part-time work are financial need and gaining work experience to enhance career prospects (Harvey et al., 1998; Lucas & Lammont, 1998; Taylor et al., 1999; Curtis & Shani, 2002; Metcalf, 2005; Carney et al, 2005). Peer influence and lifestyle choice may also be factors of increasing numbers of working students in the labour market Cutis & Lucas, 2001; Broadbridge & Swanson, 2005). ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING STUDENT WORKERS There are advantages and disadvantages to using student workers. Lucas and Ralston (97 s t t t m l e e adfr t et i asc t wt t idset cn o 19) te h e p yr dm n o s dn s s ie i h r ei o ot l a a o s u s o ad h e r r labour and maximize flexibility (see also Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Employers perceive student workers to be more productive and motivated than older workers. Most employers also prefer employing full-time students, especially those who major in hospitality. Student workers bring some positive attributes to the jobs. Employers perceive students as an intelligent and articulate young workforce and they are numerically and functionally flexible, and easy to recruit. Students are also willing to follow instructions and are willing to take on responsibility, and are easy to recruit and control (Lucas & Ralston, 1996; Lucas & Ralston, 1997; Curtis, 2000; Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Employers demand for cheap and flexible labour to remain their business viability. Research shows that university students provide a high degree of functional and numerical flexibility (Lucas & Ralston, 1997; Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Employers are able to increase or decrease students' working hours according to demand fluctuations at short notice (Lucas & Ralston, 1996). Employers are able to use students flexibly by asking them to do other jobs (Lucas, 1997; Cutis & Lucas 2001). In addition, due to the low pay for student labour, students may be seen as cheap and flexible labour (Lucas & Lammont, 1998; Curtis, 2001; Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Employers view students as high quality workers that can learn t nsqi l (ode a, 95. h m t e e p yr g efrr rin s dn h g u k F r t l 19) T e o vs m l e i o e u i t et i cy . i o s v c tg u s i t do l e sie pr n a m syr a dt t s dn e e e cm ui t n n e fo r k l e os r ot e t o h t et pr i d o m n ao sa w ld s e l le e u s cv ci skills and flexibility as well as their ability to learn the job moe u k H f a & Sen r qi l ( om n tj cy i, 2003, p. 127). However, disadvantages may include the following factors. It is hard for employers to control service quality because many hotels do not provide training programmes for part-time workers (Curtis & Lucas, 2001). In addition, working hours are often not suited to most students (Curtis, 2000; Curtis & Williams, 2002). Employers have found that it is hard to ask students come to work around, for example, final examinations. Employers have to be flexible to work with college students. THE REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS TO STUDENTS TO SEEK PART-TIME JOBS Combining work and study seems a part of routine and a habitual fact of life for most
1022

full-time students who taking part-time work during term-time (Lucas & Lammont, 1998; Curtis & William, 2002; Orszag et al., 2001; Carney et al, 2005). Students seek for part-time jobs for many reasons. Previous studies found that the major reason for full-time college students taking paid employment during term-time is financial need (Ford et al, 1995; Taylor, et al, 1999; Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Broadbridge & Swanson, 2005; Metcalf, 2005; Carney et al., 2005). In addition, working for paying for their social life/recreation also was indicated by working students (Byram et al., 2001). It is a high price for students to pay for a degree (Curtis & Lucas, 2001). Since the UK government's changes in funding and reduced grants for students in the early 1990s, it is impossible for all students to remain at university with full-time study without additional helps such as parental assistance or student loan, and without taking term-time jobs (Taylor et al, 1999; Curtis & Shani, 2002; Curtis & Willliam, 2002; Curtis, 2003). Parental assistance, student loans, bank loans, overdrafts and part-time employment are ways that students can meet the cost of living and studying (Taylor et al., 1999). Curtis and William's (2002) survey indicates that almost quarter of students employed need their part-time work to remain in full-time study. Students may wish to use their leisure time to work to support their financial needs such as personal or educational expenses (Feldman, 1990; Robinson, 1993). As the cost of higher education in the UK has shifted increasingly from the state to the students and their families, more university students take term-time jobs (Metcalf, 2005). Curtis and Lucas (2001) found some advantages from university students who work as part-timers in the hospitality industry. Their results show that student employment not only provide students opportunities for earning money, but also help them gain valuable work and social experience, opportunities to meet people, to take on responsibility, lead to permanent jobs and career development (see also Curtis & William, 2002). Doing part-time jobs helps students understand the world of business, increases their confidence and helps to develop their working skills such as communication and organisation skills, acquire transferable skills, enhance their employability, improve time management, learn to balance between work and study, and meet people outside the university (Steinberg et al., 1982; Harvey et al., 1998; Lucas & Lammont, 1998; Watts & Pickering 2000; Cutis & Lucas, 2001; Curtis & Shani, 2002; Curtis & William, 2002). Some of these students think working as part-timers is enjoyable. Students might use their working experience to built or enhance their CVs to help them gain full-time jobs or access the best paid jobs after graduation (Christie & Munro, 2001; Broadbridge & Swanson, 2005). Students are working in jobs related to their vocational course of study; the working experience may improve their academic knowledge/skills, academic motivation, career development and employment prospects (Lucas, 1997; McKechnie et al. 1999; see also Cutis & Lucas, 2001; Johnson & Lucas, 2002). THE DRAWBACKS OF STUDENTS DOING PART-TIME JOBS Some studies have found that students taking part-time, term-time employment whilst studying have a detrimental effect on their academic performance. Evidence shows that there is a conflict between work and academic studies. It is hard for students to balance their work and studies (Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Curtis & Shani, 2002; Curtis & William, 2002). Curtis and Shani (2002) provide evidence that there are some negative effects on academic studies of students taking paid employment during term-time and a quarter of the employed students in their study response that they could not afford for university without taking termtime jobs (see also Curtis & William, 2002). Many studies show that the majority of students feel that working has a negative effect on their academic work and quality of life because of the reduction in time available to do coursework and the tiredness induced by combining academic work with paid work (Winn & Stevenson, 1997, Taylor & Smith, 1999; Taylor et al., 1999; TUC, 2000; Goddard, 2003). Neil and et al. (2004) noted that if students work more than 15 hours per week then there may be a detrimental effect on academic
1023

performance. Students commonly take jobs in retailing or the hospitality industry and usually w r i usc l or AR U sre r el t t to ok n noi hus a . C uvy e a h -thirds of students with part-time v s a w jobs work at least of the time on weekday evening. Well over half work at weekends in ad i t w ri eei t og t w e ai 20, p.2). Unsocial working hours dio o ok g vn g h uh h ek( v , 01 tn n n r e D s influence students' social life (Curtis & Lucas, 2001; Curtis & William, 2002). Since pay is low for student labour, students in severe financial difficulty will not be able to earn enough to survive at university without influencing their academic performance because they need to work too many hours (Curtis & Williams, 2002). Moreover, students take paid employment during term-time have suffered and reduced time for studying. A TUC's (2000) survey found that 26 per cent of students had missed lectures due to working and 16 per cent had failed to submit coursework and it also found that the negative effects including unsocial hours, traveling home late at night, low pay, bullying and other harassment and health and safety hazards. Manthei and Gilmore's research (2005) found that students who work during term-time have less time for social activities and recreation/leisure pursuits, and less time for study. However, the results suggest that undergraduates work during term-time is not always detrimental to academic efforts, particularly if students can manage their course load and working hours (Manthei & Gilmore, 2005). T I N SE P RE C A WA X E IN E In Taiwan, the number of college/university students is around 600,000 (1111 Manpower Bank, 2003). The policy of high tuition has forced students take paid employment during term-time. 1111 Manpower Bank (2003) conducted an internet survey among 18-22 years old college/university students in the beginning of 2003 academic year. The survey reveals that ninety-two percent of undergraduate students want to take part-time employment during term-time. The result shows that doing part-time jobs while at the university plays a central role in a student life. Earning money for living expenses, increasing social experience and earning money for tuition are the three major reasons of students taking part-time jobs. The resources of tuition come from family distribution, student loans, taking part-time employment, or combination of these. The average hour of work is 20 hours per week. 1 in 6 work over 35 hours. The hours worked is 3 hours more than class time per week. As to the impact of academic studies, over 50 percent of students feel it has strong impact (1111 Manpower Bank, 2003). METHODS Both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be adopted to achieve the objective of this study. An on-line survey will be carried out to collect college/univrt s dn e i t et sy u s perceptions towards part-time jobs. This research also will interview hotel managers at international tourist hotels in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan), and involve three major departments: Front Office, Housekeeping, and Food and Beverage. A semi-structured, in dp i e i m t dwlb e p ydt ep r ht m ngr pr et e o ui et n r e e o i e m l e o xl e o l aae e pcvs n s g h tv w h l o o e s s i n college/university students as part-timers in the hotel industry. Focus group discussions will be used to explore experiences, preferences and career orientations of full-time college/university students working in hotels on a part-t e ai Maae e et n o i bs . m s ngr pr p os f s c i part-timers will be central research issues. Managers in different departments such as Front Office, Housekeeping, and Food and Beverage might differ in their attitude towards part-time workers and using full-time college/university students as part-timer at different levels.

1024

CONTRIBUTION / EXPECTED OUTCOMES The expected results and contributions of this study that will assist researchers, practitioners, and policy makers are as follows: Bridge a research gap in that the role of student labour in the hotel industry that has been neglected in labour market research, particularly within the flexible labour literature; convey ht m ngr pe r cso h i o l aae r e ne fr in e s fe rg full time college/university students as a solution to the labour shortage problem; give a dee udrad go s dn o snt ht i ut ; rv e sflnom t nfr epr ne t i f t et rl i h o ln sy poi ue i r ao o sn n u s e e e d r d u f i human resource managers from the hotel industry for developing effective recruitment sa g s ad f d sm s iri ad d f ecsars i e aoa t rthts t t i ; n i o e i l ie n ie ne c s n r t nl o i o l re e n m a ts fr o tn i us e d f et ea m n i m ngr pr p oso a e p y g u t e o ee n e i ie n dpr et n aae e et n t r m l i fl i clg/ i rt fr t s s c i w d o n lm l u v sy students. CONCLUSIONS Employers' demands for part-time labour corresponds with students' needs to seek parttime employment (Taylor et al., 1999). Numerous studies have reported that more students are seeking part-time work for financial necessity. Working part-time seems an inevitable part of student life. The increasing number of students working as part-timers indicates that the trend of full-time students working during term-time will continue, and the effects on the student experience needs to be considered (Curtis & Shani, 2002). Recent researches show that many student workers face great difficulties and challenges and stress in dealing with work and study simultaneously. They need more supports from both universities and employers in their dual roles of students and workers. If the benefits of working were recognized more widely, part-time employment could be integrated into degree courses, especially for business studies or other business-related courses (Curtis & Shani, 2002; Curtis & William, 2002). Since there are a number of advantages in employing student workers, most employers are willing to use student workers, especially full-time college/university students, to work in the hospitality industry. It not only benefits employers, but also students. Employers benefit from cost savings by employing students, while students gain experience and money from work. It seems that employers will continue to use students in their workforce because students are more flexible, easier to arrange and to communicate with, and learn more quickly and perform better. Researchers might be interested in exploring how organizations in the hospitality industry utilize this flexible labourcollege/university students and how the perspective of this flexible group. REFERENCES Airey, D. & Frontistis, A. (1997). The attitudes to careers in tourism: an Anglo Greek comparison. Tourism Management, 18(3), 149-158. Allan, C. (2000). The hidden organisational costs of using non-standard employment. Personnel Review, 29 (2), 188-206. Atkinson, J. (1984). Manpower strategies for flexible organisations. Personnel Management, 16(8), 28-31. Broadbridge, A. & Swanson, V. (2005). Earning and learning: how term-time employment impacts on students' adjustment to university life. Journal of Education and Work, 18(2), 235-249. Byram, P. & Backhouse, J. & Bange, J. (2001). National Survey of the Impact of Part-time work on Full-time Students, Preston: RCU Ltd. C ny A (02. Fei el or T ego t o s dn e p y eti t U an, . 20) l b a u? h rwh f t et m l m n n h K . xl b u s o e Journal of Education and Work, 15(3), 277-301.
1025

Carney, C., McNeish, S. & McColl, J. (2005). The impact of part-time employment on students' health and academic performance: a Scottish perspective. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 29(4), 307-319. Cheng, A. & Brown, A. (1998). HRM strategies and labour turnover in the hotel industry: A comparative study of Australia and Singapore. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 9(1), 136-154. Christie, H. & Munro, M. (2001). Making ends meet: student incomes and debt. Studies in Higher Education, 26(3), 363-383. CRAC (2002). Accreditation for students' part-time work. Education + Training, 44(1), 45-46. Curtis. S. (2000). Factors influencing the demand for and supply of student labour. Management Research News, 23, 9-ll. Curtis. S. (2003). The response of academics to students' term-time working. Management Research News, 26(10/11), 70-77. Curtis. S. (2005). Support for working undergraduates: the view of academic staff. Education and Training, 47(7), 496-505. Curtis. S. & Lucas, R. (2001). A coincidence of needs? Employers and full-time students. Employee Relations, 23(1), 38-54. Curtis, S. & Shani, N. (2002). The effect of taking paid employment during term-time on s dn cdm c t i . t et aae is d sJournal of Further and Higher Education, 26(2), 129-138. u s ue C rs S & Wii s J (02.T e r ut tw rfr :udrr ut pr ut. . i la lm . 20) h e c n okoc ne a a s a -time l a e gd e t employment. Education + Training, 44(1), 5-l0. Davies, P. (1999). Learning and earning: The impact of paid employment on young people in full-time education. London: FEDA. Deery, M. & Jago, L. (2002). The core and the periphery: an examination of the flexible workforce model in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 21, 339-351 Feldman, D. (1990). Reconceptualizing the nature and consequences of part-time work. The Academy of Management Review, 15(1), 103-112. Felstead, A. & Jewson, N. (1999). Flexible labour and non-standard employment: an agenda of issues. In Felstead, A. and Jewson, N. (eds.). Global Trends in Flexible Labour. London: Macmillan Business. Ford, J. & Bosworth, D. & Wilson, R. (1995). Part-time work and full-time higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 187-202. Forde, C. (1998). Temporary employment agency working in the UK: Theoretical issues and empirical evidence. The University of Leeds: Unpublished PhD Thesis. Goddard, A. (2003). Paid work damaging to studies, report says. The Times Higher Education Supplement, 23 May, 9. Harvey, L. & Geall, V. & Moon, S. (1998). Working Experience: expanding opportunities for undergraduates, Centre for Research into Quality, University of Central England, Birmingham. Hofman, W.H.A. & Steijn, A. J. (2003). Students or lower-sie w re ? Dsl e eta k l okr i a m n t ld s pc the bottom of the labour market. Higher Education, 45, 127-146. Houseman, S. (2001). Why employers use flexible staffing arrangements: Evidence from an establishment survey. Industrial and labor Relations Review, 55 (1), 149-170. Johnson, K. & Lucas, R. (2002). Student employment within services: A UK, Central & Eastern European perspective. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 10(1), 53-67. Kalleberg, A. L. (2001). Organizing flexibility: the flexible firm in a new century. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 39(4), 479-504. King, T. & Bannon, A. (2002). At what cost? The price that working students pay for A college education. Washington DC: The State PIRGs' Higher Education Project, Available at http://www.pirg.org/hgihered/atwhat cost.html Lucas, R. & Lammont, N. (1998). Combining work and study: an empirical study of full-time students in school, college and university. Journal of Education and Work, 11 (1), 41-55.
1026

Lucas, R. & Ralston L. (1996). Part-time student labour: strategic choice or pragmatic response? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, l.8 (2), 2124. Lucas, R. & Ralston, L. (1997). Youth, gender and part-time employment: A preliminary appraisal of student employment. Employee Relations, 19(1), 51-66. Magd, H. (2003). Management attitudes and perceptions of older employees in hospitality management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15(7), 393-401. Manthei, R. & Gilmore, A. (2005). The effect of paid employment on university students' lives. Education and Training, 47(3), 202-215. McKechnie, J., Hobbs, S. & Lindsay, S. (1999). The nature and extent of student employment at the University of Paisley. In Kelly. P. (ed.), Working in Two Worlds: Students and Part-time Employment. Scottish Low Pay Unit, Glasgow. McInnis, C. & Hartley, R. (2002). Managing study and work: The impact of full-time study and paid work on the undergraduate experience in Australian universities. Commonwealth of Australia, Evaluations and Investigation Programme of the Department t of Education Science & Training. Feb. 2002. Metcalf, H. (2005). Paying for university: the impact of increasing costs on student employment, debt and satisfaction. National Institute Economic Review, No. 191, 106117. Neill, N. & Mulholland, G. & Ross, V. & Leckey J. (2004). The influence of part-time work on student placement. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(2), 123-137. NUS (1999). Hardship Survey, London: National Union of Students. Orszag, J. & Orszag, P. & Whitmore, D. (2001). Learning and earning: Working in college. Commissioned by Upromise Inc., August 2001. Available at

http://www.brockport.edu/career01/upromise.htm
Robinson, O. (1993). Employment in services: perspectives on part-time employment growth in North America. The Service Industries Journal, 13(3), 1-18. Sheridan, A & Conway, L. (2001). Workplace flexibility: reconciling the needs of employers and employees. Women in Management Review, 16(1), 5-11. Smith, M. & Fagan, C., & Rubbery, J. (1998). Where and why is part-time work growing in E rp?I O R iy J & Fgn C ( s, a -time Prospects: an international uoe n el . l, , aa, . e . Pr d) t comparison of part-time work in Europe, North American and the Pacific Rim, London: Routlege. Steinberg, L. & Greenberger, E. & Garduque, L. & McAullife, S. (1982). Higher school students in the labor force: some costs and benefits to schooling and learning. Educational of Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 4(3), 363-372. Taylor, P. & Smith, N. & Cooper, C. (1999). Not for lipstick and lager: Students and part time work. Unpublished research monograph, University of Stirling, 1999.

Travel Weekly (2003). Taiwan names 2004 'Year of Tourism': the choice of travel professionals (Reed). 2003 Issue 1692, p88, 1/5p
TUC (2000). Students@work 2000. London: Trades Union Congress Van der Meer, P. & Wielers, R. (2001). The increased labour market participation of Dutch students, work, employment and society, 15(1), 55-71. Wa h T (91.Fei e e p y etnt r a adht t d.nP lr A ( ) l , .19)l b m l m n i h e i n o lr e I o e , .e , s xl o e tl e a lt d Farewell to flexibility? Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. Watts, C. & Pickering A. (2000). Pay as you learn: student employment and academic progress. Education and Training, 42(3), 129-134. Winn, S. & Stevenson, R. (1997). Student loans: are the policy objectives being achieved? Higher Education Quarterly, 51(2), 144-163. 1111 Manpower Bank (2003). Survey of college students, retrieved date: 2006.02.26 available at http://www.cdn.com.tw/live/2003/09/16/text/920916e1.htm.

1027

AN EXAMINATION OF SPA SERVICE QUALITY: A MODIFIED SERVQUAL APPROACH Prateep Wetprasit* Prince of Songkla University, Thailand Bryan Cheung Institute of Vocational Education, Hong Kong Bo Hu Oklahoma State University, USA
ABSTRACT A oe fh p ne n s d sn p m ngm n t seer i et a d a os s n o t i er g t i i sa aae et h r a h n sgt pt n e o i ue ,i s c v i e r perceptions of spa service quality by employing a modified SERVQUAL approach. The model, which was empirically tested at spas in Thailand, resulted in four dimensions. The important service attributes were also identified and ranked. Keywords: spa management, service quality, SERVQUAL, service attributes INTRODUCTION After suffering from the many undesirable side effects of modern medical treatments, people return to rediscovering the healing and relaxing magic of spa and its related therapies such as hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, and different kinds of massages. In the early 1990s, entrepreneurs and corporations began their investments in the industry, spurring the unprecedented growth of this quickly emerging hospitality sector, particularly in Asia. T aadt a ai in Asia,n yd 6% r eu go t bten 00 n 20. hin, es cp al l h p t ej e a 4 e ne rwh e e 20 ad 02As o v w more spa operations enter the industry, the competition among spas in Thailand intensifies. Delivery of high service quality has become a major tool to sharpen the cutting edge of a spa business and to stand out from the stiff competition (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). The importance of service quality in a spa operation is determined not only by the i esi cm et ndet t i ut epnn a go t bt l b i nt ea a n nie o pti u o h n sy xoetl rwh u a o y t a r s t fd io e d rs i s s u service business. A memorable spa experience goes beyond the rich heritage of natural ingredients, holistic remedies, state-of-the-art environment, and labor-intensive therapies. Professional knowledge, hospitality, and the caring extended by spa employees are all vital factors attributed to high service quality as well. Although service quality has been considered of utmost importance because of its direct relationship with customer satisfaction (Bolton & Drew, 1991), there is limited research o sa a osperceptions of service quality and none n p pt n r has investigated the market in Asia. This s d pooe t ea i pt n e et n o t y rpsd o xm n a ospr p os f u e r c i spa service quality by employing a modified SERVQUAL model. Specific objectives were: 1) to modify the SERVQUAL scale to fit in the spa industry; 2) to assess the overall spa service quality; 3) to provide management implications for the spa practitioners. LITERATURE REVIEW Service quality has been an indispensable management subject since the 1970s (Lam & Woo, 1997) due to its intrigued relationship with customer satisfaction (Bolton & Drew, 1991). Delivery of high levels of service quality has been the tactic predominantly used by service
1028

providers to sharpen their cutting edge (Cronin &Taylor, 1992). Customers will reuse a product or service only when their expectations are exceeded and they are satisfied. Therefore, cs m r as co t aa e x n dt m ns noe t n sces raueA t a, ut e stf t n o l g et t e r i a pr i ucs o f l . f r l o ia i r e e e ao s ir e l customer satisfaction and loyalty can only be secured by high quality services (Staples & Dalrymple, 2003). As service quality is intangible, heterogeneous, and inseparable, its measurement has been a challenging task (Zhao, Bai, & Hui, 2002). Among the many theories and models developed in the domain of service quality, the SERVQUAL instrument developed and advanced by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985 & 1991) is the cornerstone on which many other works have been built (Sureshchandar, Chandrasekharon, & Anantharaman, 2002). Through continuous revisions, it became a five-dimension 22-item scale as listed in Table 1. Table 1 Dimensions and Items in SERVQUAL Service Quality Service Quality Items Dimensions Tangibles Having up-to-date equipment Visually appealing physical facilities Employees neat in appearance Visually appealing materials Reliability When promises to do something, he/she does so Showing sincere interest in solving your problems Performing the service right the first time Providing services at the time it promises Keeping accurate records Responsiveness Telling you when the service will be performed Giving prompt service Always willing to help Never too busy to respond to your requests Assurance Employees can be trusted Feeling safe in your transactions with employees Consistently courteous Having knowledge to answer your questions Empathy Giving individual attention Having operating hours convenient to you Employees giving personal attention Having your best interest at heart Employees understanding your specific needs The versatility of the SERVQUAL model makes it possible to measure service quality through different perspectives of management, employees, and customers and to compare service quality among competing service providers. The instrument has been widely applied in general service industries, such as hospitals (Wisniewski & Wisniewski, 2005), banks (Sureshchandar et al., 2002), call centers (Staples & Dalrymple, 2003), information help desks ( Lee, Rho, & Schniederjans, 2003), department stores (Zhao et al., 2002), and phone companies (Bebko, 2000), The scale was also adapted to several hospitality industries through revision according to their uniqueness, such as hotels (Lau, Akbar, & Fie, 2005; Juwaheer, 2004), fast food restaurants (Lee, Kim, Hemmington & Y n 20)wn t rm ( e & , u, 04, i o i O N i e us l Palmer, 2004), and airlines (Chang, Lim, Jeon, Ji, & Seo, 2003). SERVQUAL has been the subject of a number of criticisms. Donnelly and Dalrymple q uestioned its portability and validity in the context of public services due to the multidimensio nal nature of the stockholders (Staples & Dalrymple, 2003). Zhao, B a i , & H u i (02 cm et t th m dl r i it ad plait i d f etu uaad nu 20) o m n d h t oesea ly n ap cb i n ie n cl r n i e a e lb i i ly fr t l d
1029

strial environments merited investigation. Sureshchandar, Chandrasekharon, & Anantharaman (2002) challenged its incomprehensiveness of leaving out items such as social responsibility. Lam & Woo (1997) pointed out that the conceptual foundation and methodological limitatio ns of the model posed questions regarding its reliability and validity.

Controversial as it is, the SERVQUAL model has never been constantly applied to me asure service quality in various industries.
The emphasis of SERVQUAL on understanding the service delivery system from the consumer perspecti ih h r eatn h cn x o sa pr i sad h m dl f e v s i l e vn i t ot t fp oe t n,n t oesi e gy l e e ao e v dimensions that have been defined in the general service environment are also applicable to the spa industry. However, research on spa management is still at its infant stage. Snoj and Mumel (2002) applied SERVQUAL to examine the importance of service quality in health spas at Slovenia. The study found that perceived value and quality of services were the most important factors in building and maintaining loyalty of spa patrons. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The project was undertaken in Phuket, a popular spa destination in Thailand, to ea i pt n e et no sasri qat b e p y gam d i S R Q A xm n a os pr p o f p e c uly y m l i e r c i ve i on oie E V U L fd approach. The study has two stages. First, the study adopted the qualitative method of focus groups to develop a modified SERVQUAL instrument for the spa industry. In-depth discussions were facilitated among a focus group of eight participants, a mix of spa managers, therapists, and customers. Based on the original SERVQUAL scale, the 23 service quality attributes were introduced to the group. After each participant revising the attributes to fit in the context of spa service, a group discussion was followed. After several rounds of revisions and discussions, a consensus was reached to include 19 attributes in the modified SERVQUAL of spa services. In stage two, the modified SERVQUAL was empirically tested among the patrons of 25 spas in Phuket between June and August 2004. Four language versions including Thai, English, Chinese, and Japanese were available. Five interviews were conducted in each establishment by approaching every third patron checking out at reception. Among the 125 questionnaires completed, one was unusable. Therefore, 124 responses were used for further data analysis. The survey data analysis involved two steps. First, exploratory factor analysis was employed to find the underlying constructs of spa service quality. Principal Component Analysis with a Varimax rotation was applied with predetermined Eigenvalues above one. Only items with factor loadings equal or above 0.5 were retained in each factor. The reliability o ec d es n a ass d y m l i Cobca h t t Cobca h vl f ah i ni w s s s b e p y g rnah l ae s rnah l a a e m o ee on s p s. sp u above 0.6, which indicates acceptable internal consistency (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998), was used. Second, the derived factors and items were ranked based on their mean scores. RESULTS The focus group discussion identified 19 items that reflect the uniqueness of the spa industry. Visually appealing physical facilities in the dimension of tangibles was expanded into three separate items of style & decoration, lighting design, and music in order to better reflect the uniqueness of the spa industry. Employees neat in appearance was revised into staff uniform. Visually appealing materials and having up-to-date equipment remained in the new scale. Five new items-food and beverage, cleanliness and sanitation, amenities, functional areas, and location-were added. Food and beverage refers to herbal tea, hors d'oeuvres, and fruits provided before, during, and after treatments. Cleanliness and amenities, such as bed linens, towels, and robes, are important elements to evaluate spa service quality. Patrons have extensive usage of spa functional areas reception area, relaxing/waiting area, changing room, sauna/steam area, whirlpool, washroom, and treatment area. Since these
1030

functional areas are usually confined in a space ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 ft2, their design, construction materials, furniture, and fixtures need to be cohesive and consistent in delivering the overall service image. Location was included to check whether the location of a spa establishment would have any effect on patrons perceptions of spa service quality. The four original items in the dimension of reliabilityw e po i so o o e i , hn rm s t d sm t n e hg h/ e os o hwn s cr i e si sl n yu pol s e om n t sri e h de s, so i i e n r tn o i or rb m , pr r i h e c s g n e te vg e f g e ve r h t fst e ad poi n sri s th t et rm ss i th iti , n rv i e c at i ipo i present difficulties to the g er m dg ve em e respondents to answer the questions because most spa patrons do not have enough knowledge to judge the authenticity of the treatment techniques. However, guests can evaluate t r is eprs bsd o t oe l f l g o r aao ad r r h et h a s xe i ae n h vr l e i f e xt n n e e m n e pt te e a en l i fs .Thus professionalism, a general impression of services received from therapists, was added. Availability and clarity of information was included to assess the thoroughness of the information presented in spa menus. ei yu w e t sri wl b pr r ead laswln t hl Tln o hn h e c i e e om d n a y ii o e lg e ve l f w lg p remained in the new sa .Gv gpo p sri n ee t bs t r pn t yu cl i n rm te c ad nvro uy o e od o or e i ve o s r us w r dle bcuesa ecuaear ai ads w pc o sri . nw e et e e t eas ps nor q s e ed g e x g n l ae f e c A e l n o ve item consultation service was added to examine the pre-treatment consulting, which is an essential step in spa service. Sense of assurance during treatment and communication

skills were added as they are important factors during the interactions between therapists and patrons. ides n etui m w s de t r l eh oi nlor Knns ad n s s a add o e a t r i fu h a pc e ga
im i e pt . O e t nhus r cnei toyu w s e t f m t e pt t s n m a y pr i or a ovn n t o a dle r h m a y e h ao e e ed o e h dimension, on the grounds that most spas in Phuket have the same operation hours between 9:00am and 11:00pm. Table 2 Factor Analysis of the Modified SERVQUAL Factor Loading F1: Tangibility Up-to-date equipment Amenities (e.g. Linen) Cleanliness & sanitation Materials are visually appealing Location Music Lighting design Functional areas (e.g. rest area/locker area) Food and beverage F2: Impression Staff uniform Communication skills Style and decoration Sense of assurance F3: Dedication Professionalism Always willing to help Availability and clarity of information Kindness & enthusiasm F4: Consultation Consultation service Tell you when the service will be performed Total Variance Explained 0.82 0.82 0.77 0.74 0.71 0.67 0.62 0.61 0.50 8.93% 0.88 0.70 0.60 0.58 7.96% 0.78 0.71 0.59 0.49 5.95% 0.88 0.75 71.21% 0.80 0.83 0.82 Variance Explained 48.38% Cobc rnah s Alpha 0.91

Exploratory factor analysis was used to explore the underlying relationship among the
1031

19 items. As shown in Table 2, the analysis resulted in four factors with engenvalues above one explaining 71.21% of the total variance. Based on the representative items, the factors w r nm d s Tangibility, pes n d ao,ad Coslt n T e eait e a e a e Im r i , Dei t n n nu ao. h r i ly so ci ti lb i values of the four factors ranged from 0.80 to 0.91, indicating an acceptable internal consistency (Hair, et al., 1998). The four factors were also ranked by their item means. Dedication, with a mean of 4. 25, was rated the most important service quality dimension. This dimension also contains the top three service quality attributes perceived by spa patrons. They a sae p ye r p m l es e o kindness and enthusiasm, their willingness to help, and professionalism. Tangibility was rated the second most important dimension of spa service quality with a mean of 3.81, followed by impression with a mean of 3.79 and Consultation with a mean of 3.44. CONCLUSIONS The modified SERVQUAL of spa service quality tested in Phuket, Thailand shows the uniqueness of the spa industry. Patron views the importance of service quality in a spa operation from fou d es n i t odr fhr isdedication, tangibility, impression, r i ni sn h re o t a s m o e e pt and consultation. Staff kindness and enthusiast, willingness to help, and professionalism are the most important service attributes. The findings of this research should be of interest to spa practitioners and researchers. REFERENCES Bolton, R. N. & Drew, J. H. (1991). A longitudinal analysis of the impact of service changes o n customer attitudes. Journal of Marketing, 55, 1-9. Cronin, J. & Taylor, S. (1992). Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension. Journal of Marketing, 56, 56 68. C agD, i S B,enS,i . So .1 Jl20)Mesr g ii hn, . m . . o, . H, e H (9 u 03. aui a l e L J J & y n rn s service quality : SERVQUAL or SERVPERF? Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute 2002 Annual Meeting. [Electronic version]. Retrieved September 12, 2005, from http//:www.sbaer.uca.edu/Research/2002/394.pdf Jw he T D (04. xl i i e aoa t rt pr p os f o l pr i s y u aer . .20)E p r g n r t nlo is e et n o ht oe t n b , o n tn i u s c i e ao using a modified SERVQUAL approach case study of Mauritius. Managing Service a Quality, 14, 350. Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. (1998). Multivariate Data Analysis (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Lam, S. S. K., & K. S. Woo (1997). Measuring service quality: A test-retest reliability investigation of SERVQUAL. Journal of the Market Research Society, 39, 381-396. Lau, P. M., Akbar, A. K. & Fie, Y. G. (2005). Service Quality: A Study of the Luxury Hotels in Malaysia. Journal of American Academy of Business, 7, 46-55. Lee, S. G., Rho, H. B., & Schniederjans, M. J. (19 July 2003). Applying SERVQUAL for media choice: An empirical study of post-acceptance model. Proceedings of the Decision Sciences Institute 2002 Annual Meeting. Retrieved August10, 2005, Available: http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/Research/2002/dsi/papers/203.pdf Lee, S. H., Kim Y. P., Hemmington, N., & D. K. Yun (2004). Competitive service quality improvement (CSQI): a case study in the fast-food industry. Food Service Technology, 4, 75. O N i, & Pl e A (04. n pout n n t rm. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant el l M. a r .20)Wi rdco ad o i m e i us Administration Quarterly, August, 269-284. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry L. L. (1991). Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale. Journal of Retailing, 67, 420-450. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality
1032

and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49, 41-50. Snoj, B., & Mumel D (2002). The measurement of perceived differences in service quality the case of health spas in Slovenia. Journal of Vacation Marketing, September, 8, 362379. Sureshchandar, G. S., Chandrasekharan, R., & Anantharaman R. N. (2002). Determinants of customer-perceived service quality: A confirmatory factor analysis approach. The Journal of Service Marketing, 16, 9-34. Staples, W. J., and Dalrymple J. F. (19 July 2003). Assessing call center quality using the SERVQUAL model. Retrieved September 5, 2005 Available: http://www.cmqr.rmit.edu.au/publications/wsjdrbicit02.pdf Wisniewski, M. & Wisniewski H (2005). Measuring service quality in a hospital colposcopy c linic. International Journal of Health Care Quality, 18, 217-219. Zhao, X., Bai, C., & Hui, Y.V. (2002) An empirical assessment and application of SERVQUAL in a Mainland Chinese department store. Total Quality Management, 13, 241-254.

1033

EFFECTIVENESS OF EMOTIONAL LEADERSHIP ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN FOODSERVICE MANAGEMENT COMPANY Hyun-Young Jung Research Institute of Food and Nutritional Science Yonsei University Hyun-Ah Kim Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences Kyungnam University IlSun Yang Department of Food and Nutrition Yonsei University ABSTRACT
The purposes of this study were to: a) provide evidence concerning the effects of Emotional Leadership on job outcomes, b) examine the impacts of Emotional Leadership on employee-related variables were 'job satisfaction', 'organizational commitment', 'organizational performance', 'turnover intention' c) identify the conceptual framework underlying Emotional Leadership. A survey was conducted from August 23 to November 3, 2005 to collect data from head office managers (N=219), branch managers (N=230), and kitchen staff (N=611). Statistical analyses were completed using SPSS Win (12.0) for descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, AMOS (5.0) for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. This study has identified that the Emotional Leadership effect on their organizational performance and attitudes toward their job. Also this study has provided sufficient evidences for future Emotional Leadership and management research to investigate the role of emotions in the foodservice industry workplace. Keywords: Emotional Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Organizational commitment, Job satisfaction, Organizational performance, Turn over intention INTRODUCTION The definition of leadership was ability to inspire and guide others toward building the and achieving a shared vision(Borra & Kunkel, 2002). Leadership is that management controls people by pushing them in the right direction. Leadership motives and energizes people by satisfying basic human needs. Research on leadership has addressed the topic using many different approaches. Current writings on leadership focused on the relationship between leaders and follower especially emotions. Avolio et al (2004) defined authentic leaders as those individuals who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and other values/moral perspective, s knowledge, and strengths; aware of context in which they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral character Emotional leadership often is . viewed as an extension of emotional intelligence. A leadermoods and behaviors are thought s to drive the moods and behaviors of the organization and impact its overall performance. During the last decade, the interpersonal skills have become more integral for the effective leadership (Goleman, 1998). The most of the studies have been applied based on the new leadership paradigm which were developed in the early 80's and have addressed the topic using many different approaches. Burns(1978) distinguished between the transformational leader who raises the needs and motivations of followers and promotes dramatic change in individuals, groups and organizations and the transactional leader who addresses the current
1034

needs of subordinates by focusing attention on exchanges (reward for performance, mutual support and bilateral exchanges). Bass(1985) further developed this paradigm by integrating transformational and transactional leadership, suggesting that both styles may be linked to the achievement of desired goals and objectives. Generally in organization, a transformational leadership style is considered to be more effective than a transactional style, as transformational leaders have been consistently found to promote greater, organizational performance (Lowe and Kroeck, 1996). The transformational and transactional leadership models were merged into a full-range of leadership model, which suggests that leaders generally possess both types of leadership behaviors. Goleman (1998, 2002) stressed the importance of managing relationships and described emotional intelligence as an important ingredient for excellent leadership. Goleman defined emotional intelligence as capacity for recognizing our feelings and those of others, for the motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships Measures for emotional intelligence have been developed, and emotional intelligence has been linked with effective leadership styles, transformational leadership, and effective teams. Primal leadership theories often are viewed as an extension of emotional intelligence. A leader moods and behaviors are thought to drive the moods and behaviors of the s organization and impact its overall performance (Goleman, 2002). Goleman organizes Emotional leadership into two main categories: personal competencies and social competencies (Figure. 1)

Figure 1: Two main Categories of Emotional leadership

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study were to: a) provide evidence concerning the effects of Emotional Leadership on job outcomes, b) examine the impacts of Emotional Leadership on employee-related variables were 'job satisfaction', 'organizational commitment', 'organizational performance', 'turnover intention' c) identify the conceptual framework underlying Emotional Leadership ( Based on finding in the literature, a test model (see Figure 2) was developed.

1035

Figure 2: Proposed structural equation model METHODS The questionnaires were developed to measure the respondent perception of their s leaders' Emotional leadership (Goleman, 2000). Job satisfaction, Organizational commitment, Organizational performance and turnover intension based on the prior studies. (Mowday, 1982; Meyer & Allen, 1984; Koh, 1995; Brewer & Selden, 2000; Kim, 2004; Lee, 2002), the 16 items to measure Emotional leadership, 6 items to measure the job satisfaction, 12 items to measure the Organizational performance, 15 items to measure the Organizational commitment, 4items to measure the turnover intention were developed, pilot-tested and modified to the final instrument. The Emotional leadership items were categorized into 4 parts, which were self-awareness (3 items), self-management (6 items), social awareness (3 items), relationship management (6 items). The each items were measured on the 5 point liker scale. A survey was conducted from August 23 to November 3, 2005 to collect data from head office managers (N=219), branch managers (N=230), and kitchen staff (N=611). Statistical analyses were completed using SPSS Win (12.0) for descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis and AMOS (5.0) for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling

RESULTS
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF THE SUBJECT The samples were composed of 282 males and 768 female. The 46.1% of Head office managers, 28.6% of Branch managers and 84.0% of Kitchen staff were married. The ninetyseven percent of the respondents had completed a more than college degree in Head office manager sample. The eighty-nine percent of the Head office managers respondents were
1036

working as regular worker, 10.5% were contracted workers. The thirty percent of Kitchen staff respondents were working as regular workers. The eighty percent of them had worked for more than twelve months in foodservice industry.

Table 1: Demographic Information of Subjects Frequency (%) Head Office Managers (N=219) Sex Male Female Marriage Single Married Age 20 through 29 30 through 39 40 through 49 50 and over Education Under highschool College University Graduate School and over Status of job occupation Regular worker Contract worker Part-time worker Working period in Current foodservice industry Under 1year 1 year ~ 4 years 5 years ~ 9 years 10 years ~ 15 years 15 years and over 108(48.9) 111(51.1) 118(53.9) 101(46.1) 78(35.6) 124(56.6) 14( 6.4) 3( 1.4) 7(3.2) 51(23.3) 140(63.9) 21(9.6) 196(89.5) 23(10.5) 0(0.0) 12( 5.5) 108(49.3) 79(36.1) 18( 8.2) 2(0.9)

Branch Managers (N=231) 27(11.7) 204(88.3) 165(53.9) 66(28.6) 141(61.0) 79(34.2) 11( 4.8) 0( 0.0) 5(2.2) 69(29.9) 153(66.2) 4(1.7) 203(87.9) 28(12.1) 0(0.0) 44(19.0) 159(68.8) 27(11.7) 1( 0.4) 0(0.0)

Kitchen staff (N=611) 148(24.2) 463(75.8) 98(16.0) 513(84.0) 54( 8.8) 183(30.0) 250(40.9) 124(20.3) 415(67.9) 159(26.0) 36( 5.9) 1(0.2) 182(29.8) 293(48.0) 136(22.3) 124(20.3) 361(59.1) 87(14.2) 28( 4.6) 11(1.8)

RELIABILITIES OF MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT

The results of reliabilities test of measurement instrument for Emotional Leadership, job satisfaction and Organizational performance were as following Table 2, Table 3 and Table 4. The cronbach alpha for Emotional leadership was 0.950, cronbach s s alpha for job satisfaction was 0.800 and cronbach alpha for Organizational s performance was 0.901

1037

Table 2: Reliability analysis of measurement tool for Emotional leadership

Variable 1. Emotional self-awareness: reading ones own emotions and recognizing their impact Corrected item-total correlation .664 .659 .635 .680 .669 .673 .693 .652 .724 .709 .664 .695 .704 .762 .741 .728 .760 .745 Alpha if item deleted .948 .948 .948 .948 .948 .946 .947 .948 .947 .947 .948 .947 .947 .946 .946 .947 .946 .946

2. Accurate self-assessment: knowing ones strengths and limits 3. Self-confidence: a sound sense of ones self-worth and capabilities
4. Emotional self-control: keeping disruptive emotions and impulses under control 5. Transparency: trustworthiness displaying honesty and integrity;

6. Achievement: the drive to improve performance to meet inner standards of excellence 7. Adaptability: flexibility in handling change

8. Initiative: readiness to act and seize opportunities

9. Optimism: seeing the upside in events 10.Empathy: sensing others emotions, understanding their perspective, and taking an active interest in their concerns 11.Organizational awareness: reading the currents, decision networks, and politics at the organizational level 12.Service: recognizing and meeting follower, client, and customer needs 13.Influence: wielding effective tactics for persuasion

14.

Conflict management: resolving disagreements

15.Inspirational leadership: guiding and motivating with a compelling vision 16.Change catalyst: initiating, managing, and leading in new direction

17. Building bonds: cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships 18. Teamwork and collaboration: cooperation and team building
Cronbach's alpha = 0.950

1038

Figure 3: Confirmatory factor analysis: Emotional leadership

Table 3: Reliability analysis of measurement tool for Job satisfaction

Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Work itself Co-Worker Supervision & Recognition Pay Promotion Working condition Corrected item-total correlation .547 .438 .589 .515 .624 .620 Alpha if item deleted .770 .793 .760 .778 .754 .753

Cronbach's alpha = 0.800

1039

Table 4: liability analysis of measurement tool for Organizational performance Variables 1. My organization has made good use of my knowledge and skills in looking for ways to become more efficient 2. My organization is trying to reduce cost in managing organization and performing works. 3. In the past two years, the productivity of my work unit has improved 4. Overall, the quality of work performed by my current coworkers in my immediate work group is high 5. My organization provides fair and equitable treatment for employees and applicants in all aspects of personnel management without regard to their political affiliation, sex, hometown, marital status, age, or handicapping condition. 6. In general, all are treated with respect in my organization, with no regard to status and grade 7. My organization has conducted business relations with outside customers very promptly 8. It is rare to make big mistakes in my organization when conducting work 9. The work performed by my work unit provides the public a worthwhile return on their tax dollars 10.The occurrence of goal attainment is very high in my organization 11.My organization provides fair and equitable services to the public, with no considering of their individual backgrounds 12.The customer satisfaction toward my organization is very high Cronbach's alpha = 0.901 Corrected item-total correlation .562 .314 .616 .669 Alpha if item deleted .896 .917 .893 .891

.675

.890

.715 .679 .699 .696 .616 .719 .709

.888 .890 .889 .889 .893 .888 .889

HYPOTHESIS (EFFECTIVENESS OF ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE)

EMOTIONAL

LEADERSHIP

ON

The test of hypothesis using structural equation modeling found that Emotional Leadership produced positive effects on job attitude and job performance. Emotional Leadership enhanced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and in turn, employees' attitude produced positive effects on organizational performance, and Emotional Leadership also had a direct impact on organizational performance (see Figure 4, 5, 6).

1040

Figure 4: Revised Structural model; Head office managers. **P<. 01, ***P<. 001

Figure 5: Revised Structural model; Branch managers. **P<. 01, ***P<. 001

1041

Figure 6: Revised Structural model; Kitchen staff. **P<. 01, ***P<. 001

CONCLUSION
The main results of this study were as follows; First, head office manager and branch managers gave the highest point to their leader in the Emotional Leadership competence 'Organizational awareness: reading the currents, decision networks, and politics at the organizational level' and gave the lowest point to their leader in the Emotional L ae h cm e ne f ec: id ge et et ts o pr ai ' ihns f edr i o pt c I l ne we i f cv a i fr e us n Kt e t f sp e nu l n f i cc s o. c as gave high point to their leader in the Emotional Leadership competence 'Optimism: seeing the upside in events' and 'Adaptability: flexibility in handing change' and gave lower point in the Emotional Leadership competence 'Inspirational leadership: guiding and motivating with compelling vision'. Second, the means of job satisfaction score were above the midpoint (3 point) scale. E p ye'o stf t no w re w sr avl h h H w vr t et t o m l es j as co n c okr a e t e i . o ee h x n f o b ia i o li y g , e es stf t no ' yo 'po o o' n okev om n w r relatively low. Third, the as co np rl ' m t n ad w r ni n et e ia i a l r i , , r ' e organizational commitment score was above the midpoint (3 point) scale. The organizational commitment score was higher at 'loyalty' factor than 'commitment' factor. Fourth, the means of organizational performance score were above the midpoint scale. Evaluated the highest organizational performance variable was 'Internal Efficiency; trying to reduced cost' and the lowest organizational performance variable was 'Internal Fairness; equitable treatment and all are treated with respect with no regard to status and grad'. In case of kitchen staff evaluated the lowest organizational performance variable was 'Internal Efficiency: good use of staff knowledge and skills'. Fifth, most respondents intended to 'thinking of quitting; towards turnover process. Sixth, the test of hypothesis using structural equation modeling found that Emotional Leadership produced positive effects on job attitude and job performance. Emotional Leadership enhanced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and in turn,
1042

employees' attitude produced positive effects on organizational performance, and Emotional Leadership also had a direct impact on organizational performance In conclusion, this study has identified that the Emotional Leadership effect on their organizational performance and attitudes toward their job. Also this study has provided sufficient evidences for future Emotional Leadership and management research to investigate the role of emotions in the foodservice industry workplace. But the Emotional Leadership was the new conceptual theory, so there should be the more empirical studies on managers and employees in the foodservice industry workplace are called for.

REFERENCES
Avolio BJ, Gardner WL, Walumbwa FO, Lithans F, May DR(2004). Unlocking the mask : A look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly 15:801-823 Bass BM(1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. The Free Press. New York Bass BM(1995). Theory of transformational leadership redux. The Leadership Quarterly 6(4):463-478 Borrra S, Kunkel ME. (2002). PresidentPage: ADA House and Board: Melding talents and s enthusiasm. Journal of American Dietetic Association 102:12 Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York, NY : Harpers & Row. Goleman D (1995). Emotional intelligence: Bantam. New York Goleman D (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. Bantam. New York Goleman D (2000). Leadership that gets results, pp78-90, Harvard Business Review. Boston Goleman D, Boyatzis R, McKee A(2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence, pp. 306, Harvard Business School press. Boston Meyer JP, Alien NJ (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment, Human Resource Management Review 1(1):61-89 This work was supported by Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by Korea Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2005-003-C00205)

1043

E-MAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE QUALITY BY THAI TRAVEL AGENTS N. Saweksup* and I. Assenov Department of Service Industries Prince of Songkla University Phuket, Thailand
ABSTRACT T i ep r oyr er ue yt yget apoc t ea i t ueo t h xl a r e a h sd m s r us prah o xm n h s f h s ot s c e e e e simplest and most prevalent Internet technology, e-mail, by Thai travel agents. The results showed a poor e-mail response rate: only 7 percent of the travel replied the inquiries of fictitious customers. The answers of those who replied were of varying quality, but only one in 25 e-mails was of excellent quality. Incomplete answers were common, and most e-mails lacked some essential part of the information required by the customers. Responses by companies with branded e-mails were of better quality and faster than those of non-branded emails. This study suggested that the travel agents could gain competitive advantage by relatively simple improvements such as implementing basic e-mail templates. Furthermore, better managerial control and staff training are needed to ensure better quality of e-mail customer services. Keywords: e-tourism, e-mail customer service, travel agents, Thailand INTRODUCTION In an ever-globalizing world where distances are often no longer an obstacle to conducting businesses, many companies have been able to improve their competitiveness by looking beyond the constraints of national markets and reaching customers from around the world far more effectively than even in the near past. Communication technology has been crucial in providing these opportunities and has become entrenched in the daily operations of various businesses. It has been used as a tool for providing and receiving information, conducting operations with other businesses and reaching current and potential customers. In particular, the Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce) have had a profound effect on the way tourism-related businesses operate. The rapid growth of online transactions has provided a new channel for companies to grow their markets by reaching directly to consumers (Sudeikis, 2005). Many travel businesses now operate with parallel physical locations and online operations, and some have positioned themselves solely online. This has helped them optimize operations and cut costs, and given them access to far greater number of potential customers than traditional channels could have reached. Among the opportunities created has been possibility for final product or service providers to bypass intermediaries, such as travel agents, and reach their clients directly, thus cutting costs and avoiding negative bias by travel agents. This process of disintermediation has brought the need for travel agents to reposition themselves and come up with a different business model in order to survive and thrive in this new environment (Ching-biu Tse, 2003). The travel agents need to win the trust of their customers in their superior ability to advise on travel, bundle better products and services, and provide reliable travel-related information. All of this is related to providing better customer service quality vital part of a a service-based industry such as tourism. However, some organizations have been unable to adapt and start using effectively e-mails as both a communication and a marketing tool, which has resulted in often sub-standard online customer services.

1044

There are no previous studies of the e-mail customer service quality of Thai travel agentswhich prompted this research. The purpose of this study was to measure response behavior of Thai travel agents through e-mail inquiries. It was based on the mystery shopper approach sending e-mails to travel agents pretending to be a potential customer interested in a specific product, and then evaluating the quality of answers. This study follows the general approach of previous research in other countries, but also differs in that the e-mails that were sent to travel agents were in their second language English, to acknowledge the fact that many travel agents in Thailand face the additional pressure of having to answer customer emails in a foreign language due to the reliance of the tourism industry in the country on international tourists. Specifically, the objectives are, first, to assess the prevalence of e-mail usage by Thai travel agents; second, to measure their response behavior in terms of response rates, response time and information depth; third, to analyze whether there are any differences in response behavior depending on the type of customer (foreigners and Thai), e-mail characteristics (branded and non-branded e-m i ad t vlaet l ao;ad fut t m k a) n r e gn o t n n or , o ae l a s ci h recommendations for improving the e-mail customer service of Thai travel agents. Information technology, E-commerce and tourism fr ao t ho g I)e rt t c ao,a e n,rcs n,t aead I om t n e nl y ( r e o h r t ngt r gpoes gs r ,n n i c o T fs e e i hi i og delivery of information and the processes and devices that make all this possible (Nyheim et al., 2005). IT entered Thailand more significantly in the early 1980s and plays an important role in many sectors (Runckel, 2004). In 2002, Thailand established the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and gave the new Ministry the Mission to develop and support more comprehensive electronic processes for government, commerce, industry, business and education (Nasingkun, 2003). IT has been driving the globalization and re-engineering of most business processes which has lead to the rise in electronic commerce. E-commerce describes the process of buying, selling, or exchanging products, services and information via computer networks, including the Internet. Everyday, developers are adding new functions to the array of tools that enable clients to communicate to companies and with each others (Cox and Koelzer, 2004). Increasingly, business sites are adding bulletin boards, chat rooms, live customer service via individual chat and E-mail. E-mail and contact forms are now universal and pervasively used in e-commerce (Rice and Todd, 2005). The tourism industry has been among the first to use the new technologies. Because it is an information-rich industry, it depends heavily on finding and developing new means to distribute travel products and services, marketing information to customers, and offering comfort and convenience to travelers (Zhou, 2004). Information is essential for both the dayto-day operations and the strategic management of tourism, and information technology spota bs es ucos O C no 19)The development of Internet services by upr l ui s fnt n ( onr 99. s l n i , t rm bs esshsbcm ko na -t rm , r ui e ui s . h ky o i ui s us n e a eo e nw s e o i o t rm -bs es T e e us o s n differences between e-tourism and traditional tourism markets are the speed at which information can be communicated, global accessibility and minimal costs of establishing a business online (Buhalis, 2003). The increase in the demand side has resulted in a shift away from traditional supply chains and communication channels (The Scottish Parliament, 2002). Such technologies have been developing over a number of years. Before the Internet was created, a travel marketing and distribution system known as Computer Reservation Systems (CRS) was introduced in 1970. This computerized system assists tourism enterprises with handling their inventories profitability and with facilitating the tourism product distribution (Curtin et al., 1998). One of the early adopters of IT has been the airline business. An airline computer reservation
1045

system emerged early on to become known as global distribution system (GDS). It provides distribution channels that give customers the ability to easily, and quickly search for products and services with full disclosure of rate and availability (Curtin et al., 1998). IT has also penetrated the hotel industry at a face pace, by integrating the hotel operations, reshaping the marketing function, improving total efficiency, providing tools for marketing research and partnership building, and enhancing customer services while providing strategic opportunities (Buhalis, 2003). Furthermore, IT is critical for tour operators. Tour operators can change significantly by allowing the customers to access them through their website and e-mail. IT is a o m ot to t d tbt n for pr opcae ( ni,98. l i pr n frh ir u o o t oe t s akgsWah l 9) s a e si i u ar l1 Taioa t vl gn ,o em s ae r k r t nlr e aet sm t e cld bi -and-m r r aet hv a obe di a s i l c ot gn , ae l en a s s forced to transform themselves. Due to reduced or eliminated airline commissions, direct online sales by hotels, and other recent developments, the travel agents are increasingly using Internet to get new business and to cut costs. Online travel agents (OTAs) - including both r k bi -and-cc(o ol eadofn oe t n)adlk c lk bt n n n fi pr i s n cc-and-odr (n n ol i h i le ao i re ol e n ) i y travel agents - are increasingly important. OTAs provide services via the World Wide Web (WWW) to enable customers to search for appropriate accommodation, flights and other travel products (Clemons et al., 1999). However, in order to avoid being altogether bypassed by consumers and providers, travel agents need to provides service that adds value to their customers and enhances their travel experience, and reposition themselves as consultants and trusted advisors who can provide knowledge, experience and advice (Dixon, 2000), thus turning from intermediaries to infomediaries (Nadkami and Peng, 2001). This includes offering better-structured and move integrated services to customers than end-providers such as hotels or airlines do. E-mail customer service Quality is an extremely difficult concept to define in a few words. At it most basic, qat cu b df e a ofr i t r u e et .ts l s t t t ulyia uly ol e e nd s cnom n o e i m n Iia o te h qat s l i d i g qr s s ad a i l about fitness for use and is based prim ry n as i cs m r ne (a e 20) I a l o stf n ut e ed Pl r 01. n i iy g o s m , other words, customer service is whatever satisfies the customer (Rice and Todd, 2005). Parasuraman et al. (1985) proposed five elements of service quality, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Good service quality is important for all service businesses, including travel agents (Lockwood et al., 1996). Travel products consist of both tangible and intangible elements, and this can make maintaining good quality of services harder than in other businesses. Millan and Esteban (2003) extended Pr ua a e asf ed es n o sri qat a sr n t l i i ni s f e c ulyand a m v m o ve i developed models targeted specifically at the travel agents business. They propose as final factors of satisfaction with the service of travel agents 25 items categorized in 6 dimensions which are service encounters, empathy, reliability, service environment, efficiency of advice and additional attributes. Service quality has a strong link to consumer loyalty (Taylor and Terhune, 2001). Especially in the case of online travel services, satisfaction with pre-transaction services will be vital, as it leads to return behavior and new word-of-mouth customers. Word-of-mouth can spread quickly. Online customers can easily use e-mail, often offered by the provider in the form of a web-link, to recommend their favorites web site to friends and family (Van Riel, 2004). However, providing online service is arguably more difficult than providing offline service (Teal, 2005). This is due to the fact that with online services the relationship with customers tend to be less personalized (Picozzi, 2005); some people are reluctant to communicate through computers and may prefer actual human contact (Peacock, 1995); auxiliary signs like the tone of voice and body language are missing in online customer service. Unlike the traditional ways of communication online service sessions put more pressure on written communication (Teal, 2005), normally via e-mail.
1046

Many businesses have failed to adapt to the effective use of e-mail. A number of studies have found poor e-mail response behavior in the tourism industry. This may sometimes result in losing guests not only for individual travel businesses but for the whole destination (Matzler et al., 2003). Common problems are late answers (or no answers at all), insufficient information provided (asking clarifying questions takes far more time online than if present at t t vlgn fc)nto o i s na e h r eaet of e o fl wn t dr -mail protocol (Murphy et al. 2003, Murphy ea s i , l g a d and Tan 2003). Often services can be improved with minimum efforts, such as staff training, use of ready e-m it p t , n psi m ngr ai d t a sh It ntFe a a e le ad oiv aae tt e o r t n re (r t l m as te s tu w d e e y al., 2002). Implementing basic e-mail procedures can help business gain an immediate competitive advantage. METHODOLOGY T e yt yget apoc w saot b sni e h m s r us prah a dp d y ed g -mails under alias names, e e n posing as a potential customer of the travel agent and inquiring after specific travel itineraries. Two different e-mails were sent to all known Thai travel agents who have provided e-mail addresses in the database of Thai tourism authorities (2,258 travel agents) by using blind carbon copy (Bcc). It was decided to target the entire population, rather than a sample of it, due to expected low response rates. Two different e-mails were sent to each travel agent on different days from different e-mail addresses, one with a foreign name (Box 1) and another with a Thai name (Box 2), in order to test among other things the anecdotal evidence that foreigners in the country tend to get better customer service. Therefore, the total number of sent e-mails was 4516. Both e-mail messages were in English, as English is commonly used by Thais in e-mail messages. The e-mail from the Thai customer e-mail was written in broken English on purpose, for better authenticity. The text was different, but travel agents were asked for the same information includes (1) The price of air tickets to Switzerland by Swiss Airline, other Star Alliance airlines, and cheaper airlines available, and (2) The various choices of package tours to Disneyland, Hong Kong for 3 or 4 days. The results were analyzed following standards adapted from Matzler et al. (2003), Frey et al. (2002), Murphy et al. (2003), Murphy and Tan (2003), and Lehnert (2002). The requirements of a good answer were divided in several dimensions, as follows: (1) Promptness: Reply within 24 hours; (2) Politeness: Use an appropriate salutation, Thank for the customers' interest, Close politely, Be careful with humor, Avoid sarcasm; (3) Personal approach: Address the customer by name, Identify the employee's name; (4) Professionalism: (4.1) Information content: Answer air ticket question, Various choices of airlines, Offer Swiss airline, Offer Star Alliance airlines, Offer other Cheaper airlines, Air ticket answer's quality, Answer tour program question, Offer the tour program, Various choices of packages, Types of package, Tour package answer's quality; (4.2) Answer presentation: Never leave the subject blank, Reply in English, Watch grammar and spelling, Do not use attachment, Provide volunteer relevant information, Avoid abbreviation, Avoid replying in capital letters, Include original e-mail, Offer further assistance; and (5) Promotional: Identify the travel agent's name, Identify the contact address. Overall impression was calculated from the previous five dimensions.. After the analysis of the e-m ias e uly t r u s i b sm a zdad a nw r qat h e l wl e u m r e n l s i, e s t l i sent by the researchers to all the travel agents who responded to the original mystery e-mails.

1047

Box 1: E-mail inquiry from a foreign customer To: From: Randomly selected Thai travel agent Natassja Freytag (natassja.freytag@gmail.com)

Subject: Inquiry Hi, I live in Thailand and I am looking to fly to Geneva, Switzerland with my family and would like to enquire after two-way air ticket price for the whole family. My husband and two kids, 13 and 10 years old, will be going. We would like to fly economy class, departing from Bangkok in the beginning of May 2006 and coming back from Geneva approximately 2 weeks later. I prefer to fly with Swiss, or with a Star Alliance airline, but the price is also very important. Could you also check for the cheapest airline available? Also, my daughters and I would like to go to Disneyland, Hong Kong. I am looking for 3 or 4 days package tour to Hong Kong at the end of June for one adult and two kids. Please suggest me the most interesting program with reasonable price. I will appreciate if you recommend me different choices. Thank you for your efforts, Natassja Freytag

Box 2: E-mail inquiry from a Thai customer To: From: Subject: Randomly selected Thai travel agent Oranat Wongpaisarn (oranatw@gmail.com) Asking about tickets and package tours

I am Thai and live in Bangkok. I will go to Geneva in Switzerland with my family for 2-3 weeks. I will go about 1 May 2006. There are 4 people in my family: my husband, 2 sons with age 15 and 9 years and I. I want to know the price for round tickets, in economy class. I have limited budget but still want to fly with the best airline. I prefer Swiss airline or with Star alliance airlines. Please tell me the options and the best price that you have. My relatives (25, 18 and 10 years) also want to go to Disneyland, Hongkong at the end of June. They will go for 3 to 4 days. They want to know about the interested tour programs and price. Tell me the options and the best price you have. Thanks, Oranat Wongpaisarn

1048

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The first objective of the research was to find out the level of adoption of e-mails by Thai travel agents, and the degree to which they relied on branded e-mail addresses (e.g. info@TravelAgentName.com) rather than non-branded (usually free) free e-mail services such as Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail. It was believed that the former both show a stronger commitment to, and better familiarity with, online services and inspire more confidence in customers. According to the database of Bangkok Tourist Business And Guide Register Office, all there are 5970 travel agents in Thailand, and nearly half (48%) of them are located in Bangkok and the central part of Thailand. About 38% were located in the South of Thailand, and the rest in the North and Northeast of the country. About two in ten, or 2258 of the 5970 travel agents, have an e-mail address. The e-mail inquires were sent to all travel agents but about one quarter was returned due to technical problems or wrong e-mail addresses provided in the database used. Only one-fourth of the travel agents used branded e-mails. It was quite low, probably due to using branded e-mail was much more costly. In regions where tourism is not well developed, such as the Northeast, only 7 percent of all e-mails are branded. Over half of the agents with non-branded e-mails used popular domain names such as Hotmail (45%), Yahoo (14%) and Loxinfo (8%). Next we studied the response rate, response speed, and response quality of e-mail customer service of Thai travel agents. Matzler et al. (2003) and Murphy and Tan (2003) have found among others very low response rate and poor response quality in travel service providers in Austria and Singapore, respectively. Anecdotal evidence suggested that this would be the case in Thailand as well. The overall response rate was very poor: just only about 7 percent, or 230 responses. The response quality was found to be fair. Following the service quality dimensions discussed above, the major findings are summarized below (Figure 1). (1) Promptness: Just over half of all answered e-mails were answered within 24 hours. The average delay was 2.3 days, and one e-mail came 14 days after the inquiry. (2) Politeness: Of those that replied, three-quarters ue a apor t sl ao, bu hl t ne frt cs m r i erest and closed sd n prpie a ti aot a h kd o h ut e n a u tn f a e o s t politely, and only 1 percent used unacceptable sarcasm. (3) Personal approach: Half of the responses adesdt cs m r ynm ad2% i n f dt e p ye flnm . dr e h ut e b a e n 7 d ti h m l e u a e(4) s e o e ie e o s l Professionalism: (4.1) Information content: 53% of the responses answered the air ticket question, only one-fourth offered more than 2 airline choices, about one in ten informed of the price, flight schedule and condition information for airline ticket, one in five answered the tour package question, and just one-third informed of the price, itinerary and conditions of the tour package. (4.2) Answer presentation: About 96 percent used suitable subject or left the original subject in the subject field, used English to communicate, and avoided attachments. About four-fifths included the original e-mail in the response, 15% provided volunteer information (such as the price will be lower if you go before 3 May 2006 and the price from this airline is much lower but it has a flight only once a week) and offered further assistance (like please do not hesitate to contact me if you need more information). (5) Promotional: About two-ft i n f dt t vl gn a e n ol 1 pr n i n f dflcn c ih d ti h r e aet nm ad n 7 e etd ti u ot t f e ie e a s y c e ie l a address (postal address, telephone and fax numbers and website). Overall impression: The majority of responses (64%) were fair, but only 4% provided excellent quality. We proceeded with test on the differences in the quality of answers to Thai and foreign customers, to test the anecdotal evidence that foreigners get better service by Thai travel agents. T-tests showed that the response rate to foreign customers was slightly higher than to Thai (see Table 1). However, the travel agents took shorter time to answer to Thai customers
1049

(the average was 1.69 days) than to foreign customer (2.52 days), and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.002). Both responses to foreign and Thai customers (about 65 percent) were of fair quality. However, the quality of responses to Thai customer (9.93 points) was better than foreign customer (9.30). One possible explanation is that travel agents feel more comfortable answering to Thais, and are uncertain of how to communicate with foreigners; however, this issue needs further exploration. The speed of answers was higher in regions where tourism plays major roles - Bangkok and the South of Thailand. This result conforms with Matzler et al. (2003) who found that the response time and information depth of hotel responses to inquiries are related to the tourism intensity of the region. The travel agents in regions where tourism played major role may realize better the importance of new technologies, and have better exposure to them, than travel agents in regions where tourism is less important.

Responded Responded within a day Used an appropriate salutation Thanked for the customer interest Closed politely Addressed the customer by name Identified the e p yeu nm m l esfl a e o l Answered the air ticket questionn Answered the tour package question, Used English to communicate effectively Provided volunteer information Offered further assistance Ieti t t vlgn a e dn f d h r eaet nm ie e a s Identified full contact address Provided excellent quality

7 55 73 50 62 53 27 54 17 47 15 15 41 17 4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Figure 1. Response rate and response quality (percent of all answered e-mails)

1050

Table 1: Comparison of e-mail responses rate and quality between customer, e-mail characteristics and location
Response rate (Percentage) 7.34 7.78 6.89 0.373 11.11 5.78 0.00* 9.92 3.01 8.20 16.67 0.00* Quality (20 points) 9.60 9.30 9.93 0.084 10.23 9.09 0.002** 9.40 9.96 10.93 9.30 0.176

E-mail / Dimension All e-mails Customer All e-mails Foreigner Thai P-value E-mail's brand Branded e-mail Non branded e-mail P-value Location Bangkok and central South North Northeast P-value

Speed (days) 2.13 2.52 1.69 0.002** 2.19 2.09 0.72 2.19 2.00 1.70 2.56 0.694

Notes: *Chi-square tests indicated the difference between groups was statistically significant at p . 01 0 ** T-t tni t t d f ec s ttay i icn ap 0 1 e i c e h ie ne tii l s n i tt . s d a d e fr asc l g f a 0 Looking at the differences between answers from branded and non-branded e-mails, we found that travel agents with branded e-mails had significantly (p = 0.00) higher response rate than agents with non-branded e-mails (11.11% vs. 5.78%). The quality of answers from branded e-mails was, as expected, higher. At the same time, it took longer for branded e-mail agents to answer the inquiry. CONCLUSION The low response rate and fair quality of e-mail responses suggested that these agents are in the early stages of adopting e-mail as a business communication tool. Many travel agents fail to implement the most basic communication tool: e-mail. These travel agents might not only lose their customers, but also lose other potential customers due to negative word of mouth effect. Some travel agents in our study provided better e-mail responses than o e . h r pner eadr pne ulyo t t vl gn wt badde t r T e e os a n e oss qat f h r e aet i r e -mail hs s t s i e a s h n addresses was better than that of the agents with non branded e-mail addresses. The quality and speed of answers to Thai customers was better than to foreigners. Pechlaner et al. (2002) found that poor management attitudes and low priorities towards the Internet resulted in poor e-mail responses, and better e-mail policies and training should give agents an immediate competitive advantage via improved eService. To enhance their competitive advantage, Siguaw et al. (2000) argued that managers should incorporate more guest service technologies. Compared with other travel industry software, e-mail programs are easy to use. The staff must realize the high return on their technology investments by focusing on basic procedures to manage e-mail service quality. Managers and staff members must appreciate that e-mail is as important as a phonecall, fax or letter (Stevens and McElhill, 2000). Our specific recommendations include the following. The travel agent should establish
1051

e-mail templates that use basic business communication procedures such as polite greetings, thanking the customer, addressing the customer by name, offering additional information via w bi, f r gfr e as t c, l i ple ,dn fi t e p ye nm ad ese of i ut r s s ne c s g o ty i ty g h m l e a e n t en h ia on il e i n e o s including the agent contact address (Box 3). However, the employees should be flexible and had some initiative to answer the inquiries. This includes offering not only the required information but also and interesting information related to their inquiry, which should increase the customer satisfaction. To increase e-mail response and e-mail quality, the manager intervention was required. This includes training for employees, to make sure that they realize the importance of new technologies for the success of the business, and to ensure that they are aware of the basic rules of e-mail customer service. A quick and easy test to gauge the e-service of their staff is for managers to send an e-mail from mock customers to their own company. Another possible approach is to attach a simple evaluation form in the e-mail message to the customer, politely asking for a feedback on the response quality. Limitations and suggestions for the future research We attempted to conduct an extensive survey of all Thai travel agents using e-mails in t iw r. o ee t ol cm r es e a bs wt i om t no t vl gn h r ok H w vr h n o pe ni dt ae i n r ao n r e aet e e ,e y h v a h f i a s mail addresses, provided by the Bangkok Tourist Business And Guide Register Office, was found to be incomplete and sometimes with wrong e-mail addresses. The provision of e-mail addresses by travel agents to the tourist authorities is voluntary, resulting in us being unable to reach all travel agents using e-mails. It also appears that some e-mail addresses had been mistyped in the database. About a quarter of the e-mails sent by us were returned, and the reasons were apparently wrong e-mail addresses, or out-of-date e-mails. Another limitation was related to our attempts to compare between answers to the English and Thai versions of the inquiry. We had to send two e-mails to each travel agent, several days apart, from different e-mails and under different names, and with different text. However, the requirements of both e-mails were similar and as a result some travel agents might have decided not to answer the second e-mail. This may have lowered the response rate additionally. Further exploration of e-mail customer services could check for differences in the quality of service provided by travel agents of different sizes (the authors were unable to find such information), with different periods of existence of the company, and even with different age structure of staff. Our guess is that bigger, newer, and with younger staff travel agents would provide better online customer service. The future research could test whether there are differences between the customer service quality of online customers, walk-in customers, and even customers using other media (telephone and fax). The research might include the ep r i o at l ut e ecosoe xl ao f c a cs m r r t n t -mail responses. Interviews with travel agents o tn u o s ai staff and managers would also provide an insight into the attitude towards online services by service providers, as well as find out common problems encountered by travel agents in their efforts to improve competitiveness through online services.

1052

Box 3 Suggested model response to the inquiry sent to Thai travel agents: 1 Subject: Your inquiry for flights to Geneva and tour program in Hong Kong 2 Dear Mrs. Natassja Freytag3 Thank you for your e-mail to ThaiBooking, concerning economy class flights to Geneva and tour packages to Disneyland, Hongkong.4 Several airlines have daily flights to Geneva, Switzerland with departure in the morning and afternoon. The price depends upon the airline, date and advanced booking. The price normally starts from 41,250 for adult and 29,450 Baht for a child for Swiss.5 However, you can get a lower price if you depart before 3th May6 when it costs only 39,250 and 28,000 Baht for adult and child, respectively. Some other Star Alliances companies offer lower airfare than Swiss: Austrian Airline : 38,000 Baht (Adult) and 30,120 Baht (Child) Scandinavian Airline : 35,360 Baht (Adult) and 26,000 Baht (Child) I would also like to offer you some other, non-Star Alliance airlines: Turkish Airline : 29,020 Baht (Adult) and 23,420 Baht (Child) Etihad Airline : 28,150 Baht (Adult) and 22,100 Baht (Child) Remark: These prices include all airport fees. Regarding the tour packages to Disneyland, Hong Kong, all programs are quite similar. The main tourist attractions for 3 days 2 nights package include Disneyland, Repluse Bay and Victoria Peak. For the 4 days 3 nights program, traveling at Lowu shopping Arcade and Cultural Village will be added. The price may differ depending on the number of days and airlines:7 4 days 3 nights 3 days 2 nights By Thai Airways: 29,700 Baht (Adult) and 24,200 Baht (Child) By Cathey Pacific: 22,800 Baht (Adult) and 20,800 Baht (Child) By Srilankan Airline: 23,900 Baht (Adult) and 22,900 Baht (Child) By Dragon Air: 19,800 Baht (Adult) and 18,800 Baht (Child) Box 3 (Continued) Remarks: This price includes round-trip tickets, accommodation, entrance fee to Disneyland and local transportation. Thai Booking Agent can also help you with other bookings and packages related to your trip to Geneva and Hong Kong. You will find more information about Switzerland and Hong Kong on the Thai Connection Agent Website, www.thaibooking.com8 The Thai Booking agent is happy to deliver your tickets to you for free at the greater Bangkok area, or you may pick them up from our office. Please let us know if you have other questions about your flight, tour package or stay in Geneva and Hong Kong.9 Best Regards,10 Tanya Tanyaluk (tanya@thaibooking.com)

1053

Notes: 1 The response should be in less than 24 hours to provide promptness. 2 Using a subject line related to the message. 3 U i er ad dr s g y u nm ad plees s g a n ade i b fl a e ds o t s n D sn l in . 4 Thanking adds politeness and using the agency name reminds the potential guest, provides agency branding and shows professionalism. 5 Answering the first question and making sure to cover all needed information. 6 Providing volunteer relevant information. 7 Answering the second question and making sure to cover all needed information. 8 Offering additional information via the website. 9 Offering further assistance and i l i t plel s n u n h o t e e . cdg e i pa 10 Closing politely. 11 This section includes the sedr nm ad u cn cdtl i l i t w bi ne a e n fl ot t e i, c d gh ese s l a as n u n e t address, for the agency. The section shows both personal approach and professionalism. REFERENCES Buhalis, Dimitrios. (2001). The Future eTourism intermediaries. Tourism Management 23. pp.207-220. Ching-biu Tse, Alan. (2003). Disintermediation of travel agents in the hotel industry. Hospitality Management 22. pp. 453-460. Clemons, Eric, Hann Horn and Hitt, Lorin. (1999). The nature of competition in electronic markets: an empirical investigation of online travel agent offering. (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/pdfs/724.pdf) Cox, Barbara and Koelzer, William. (2004). Stickiness: Online reservations and other online functions. Internet marketing in hospitality. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. pp 113-138. Curtin, Dennis, Foley, Kim, Sen, Kunal and Morin, Cathleen. (1998). Welcome to the world of hospitality Information technology. Information technology. United States of America: The Mcgraw-hill Companies, Inc. pp.5-19. Frey, Susanne, Schegg, Roland and Murphy, Jamie. (2002). E-mail customer service in the Swiss hotel industry. Tourism and Hospitality Research. Volume 4 Number 3. pp.198212. Lehnert, G. Wendy. (2002). E-mail Management. Light on the web: essentials to make the network for you. United States of America: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. pp.59-86. Lockwood, Andrew, Baker, Michael and Ghillyer, Andrew. (1996). Hospitality and quality: an introduction. Quality Management in hospitality. Great Britain: Redwood Books, Trowbridge, Wiltshire. pp.1-13. Matzler, Kurt, Pechlaner, Harald, Abfalter, Dagmar and Wolf, Mirjam. (2003). Determinants of response to customer e-mail enquiries to hotels: evidence from Austria. Tourism Management. 26. pp. 249 259 Millan, Angel and Esteban, Agueda. (2003). Development of a multiple-item scale for measuring customer satisfaction in travel agencies services. Tourism management. 25. pp.533-546. Murphy, Jamie, Olaru, Doina, Schegg, Roland and Frey, Susanne. (2003). The Bandwagon e etS i H tsWe-site and E-mail Management. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant f c ws o l f : s e b Administration Quarterly. Cornell University. pp.71-87. Murphy, Jamie., Tan, Irene. (2003). Journey to nowhere? E-mail customer service by travel agents in Singapore. Tourism management 24. pp.543-550. Nadkami, Sanjay and Peng, Chammi. (2001). The relevance of travel agencies in the era of ecommerce and globalization. Nasingkun, Krich. (2003). How Thailand Should Utilize Information Technology http://www.cicc.or.jp/english/cicc_news/pdf_ppt/Essay_vol3_thai.pdf
1054

Nyheim, Peter, Mcfadden Francis and Connolly, Daniel. (2005). Welcome to the world of hospitality information technology. Technology strategies for the hospitality industry. United State of America: Pearson Education. Inc. pp.20-40. O C no Pt.19)It dco:h i pr ne fnom t n Electronic information onr e r(99.n out n t m ot c o i r ao. , e r i e a f i distribution in tourism and hospitality. United Kingdom: Biddles Ltd. Pp.1-6. Palmer, Adrian. (2001) Service quality. Principles of services marketing. England: McGraw-Hill Publishing. pp.208-229. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of marketing. Vol.49. pp.41-50. Peacock, Martin. (1995) Change:Unravelling the process. Information Technology in the hospitality industry. England: Redwood Books.pp.1-21. Pechlaner, H., Rienzner, H., Matzler, K., & Osti, L. (2002). Response attitudes and behavior of hotel industry to electronic info requests. In K. W. W.ober, A. J. Frew, & M. Hitz (Eds.), Proceedings of the ENTER 2002 conference. Innsbruck: Springer, pp. 177 186. Picozzi, Lisa (2005). Understand Online Customer Service. (http://www.score.org/s_cs_10.html). Rice, Susan and Todd, Ginger. (2005). Customer service for the travel professional. A guide to becoming a travel professional. United States of America: Delmar Learning. R nkl C rt hr (04.T aad R a t B trIT ad S f a Idsy uce hio e 20) hin od o ee C n ot r nut . , sp . l s t w e r http://www.business-in-asia.com/telecom_software_electronic.html Siguaw, J. A., Enz, C. A. & Namisivayam, K. (2000). Adoption of information technology in US hotels : Strategically driven objectives. Journal of Travel Research, 39 (November), pp.192-201. Stevens, G.R. and McElhill J. (2000). A qualitative study and model of the use of e-mail in organizations. Internet Research: Electronic networking applications and policy, Vol. 10, No. 4. pp.271-283. Sudeikis, Kathy. (2005). Travel Agents: The Hot New Distribution Channel. (http://www.astanet.com/news/speeches/2005/LA%20%20Times%20Travel%20Show%20Sudeikis.doc.). Taylor, David and Terhune, Alyse. (2001). Can customer loyalty survive the Web?.Doing Ebusiness: Strategies for thriving in an electronic marketplace. United States of America: Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp.82-99. Teal, Kelly. (2005). Online worlds and offline worlds - what are some customer service differences (http://www.netspoke.com). The Scottish Parliament: The information center. (2002). Tourism E-business. (http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/pdf_res_brief/sb02-93.pdf). Van Riel, Allard, Semeijin, Janjaap and Pauwels, Pieter. (2004). Online Travel Service Quality: the Role of Pre-Transaction Services. Total Quality Management, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 475 493. Wanhill, S. (1998). Intermediaries. Tourism: principles and practice. London: Longman Publishing. pp. 423-446.

Zhou, Zongqing. (2004). Overview. E-commerce and information technology in hospitality and tourism. Canada: Delmar Learning. pp.1-11.

1055

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CUSTOMER VALUES AND BRAND EQUITY: THE CASE IN THE MOTEL INDUSTRY IN TAIWAN H.-H. Pu, Y.-A. Liu, & C.-Y. Yu
Graduate Institute of Tourism Management Chinese Culture University ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between customer values and brand equity, particularly in the motel industry in Taiwan. The information provided by 805 motel customers showed that the utilitarian values might be concerned more than the hedonic values by the respondents. Brand awareness, perceived quality and brand image were the three important factors of the motels' brand equity. Although the hedonic values were not highly emphasised by the motel consumers as expected, the correlation between the customer value factor "enjoyment" and the brand equity factors was very strong. Besides, the customers' socioeconomic characteristics could influence their value pursuit and brand equity evaluation of the motels significantly. Keywords: Customer value, Brand equity, Motel industry INTRODUCTION The importance of a brand has been always emphasized by major enterprises worldwide because the products with their own brands could ultimately bring added value to their brands (Farquhar, 1989, 1990; Park and Srinivasan, 1994), and the value of a brand is brand equity. Keller (1993) pointed out the importance of customer-based brand equity. The value of a brand is not only evaluated financially, but can also be assessed by the customers' viewpoints. Prasad and Dev (2000) indicated that branding is a means to clearly identify the difference from one hotel to another for the consumers, by which they could judge the advantages and disadvantages of brand equity through their own experiences in the hotels. On account of the prosperity of the motel industry in Taiwan, there is a need to explore the motels' different aspects of brand equity in the customers' minds. The motel industry in Taiwan has developed its unique characteristics for its recent boost. Due to the scale of Taiwan, the driving distance during travel could never be as far as in any other major continent in the world. Hence, the need for an accommodation during a long-distance driving appears not so significant. In this sense, the demarcation between motels and common hotels is somewhat hazy. It may not be necessary that the motels are built near the main roads. The motels may function just as the other economic hotels, basically to provide a place to stop by. However, on the other hand, the design of independent parking area connecting directly to each motel room has highly emphasized the privacy in some motels. The motel staffs are usually well-trained to make minimum contact with their customers. Apart from the overnight lodging, the motels also charge for several-hour short stays for the consumers' own purpose. For those who prefer hiding themselves from others' attentions, the motels may provide a perfect location for their breaks. This may distinguish the motels from other general hotels for their increase. Besides, the motels are facing more competitions due to their quick development. Although there is no official statistics precise enough to indicate the scale of motel industry, rough estimation could be made based on the Tourism Bureau statistics (2006). If the largescale tourist hotels are not counted up, there are 2,529 common hotels with 96,900 rooms legally operated in Taiwan in May 2006. In those hotels, 343 of them are designated as motels, and 11,563 rooms are provided. The actual number of legal motels, including the ones
1056

without the term motel in their names, should be more than the figures shown above. Hence, some of the motels have promoted themselves for their different themes in the rooms. They try to offer their customers a sense of luxury or exotic varieties. Since some of the leading motels have attracted many consumers successfully, more themed motels are invested and operated nowadays. The famous motels may set up a high quality standard for other motels to follow, or even to compete. Therefore, this trend may intensify the necessity of investigating the motels' brand equity. On the other hand, Gale (1994) argued that only when the enterprises include customer values to the core of competition strategy, could they be able to maintain their competitive strength. The customer value is defined by Holbrook (1999) as 'an interactive relativistic preference experience' (p.5). Babin, Darden and Griffin (1994) conceptualized the customer value into hedonic and utilitarian values. To the motel business, it is worth to prioritize the consumers' hedonic or utilitarian values for further service management. Moreover, to obtain further insights, how the costumer value in relation to the motels' brand equity is the question to be delved into. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate the relationships between customer values and brand equity among the motel consumers. The research framework is displayed as Figure 1. Three main research hypotheses are listed below. H1: The motel customers' values and brand equity are correlated. H2: The customer values are significantly different for the motel customers with different profile and consumption-related characteristics. H3: The customer-based brand equity is significantly different for the motel customers with different profile and consumption-related characteristics.

H1 Customer Values H2 H3 Brand Equity

Motel Customers ' Profile and Consumption -related Features

Figure 1: The research framework METHODS PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURES The research population included the consumers who have motel lodging experiences in Taiwan. Therefore, the participants were more suitably sampled from the motel customers during their stay. The Taoyuan County was the selected region for this survey because there are many motels in Taoyuan available for the sampling procedures (ranked the second in Taiwan), and the researchers could get access to obtain some motel information via the county government. Since the customers' privacy was greatly considered by the motel managers, after contacting the 52 legal motels in Taoyuan, 17 of them were willing to provide assistance to the survey. Convenience sampling was used in those motels. The questionnaires were put in the motels rooms. The customers were welcome to answer the questionnaire freely. A small complimentary gift could be collected from the check-in counter after the participants
1057

handing in the questionnaires. The formal survey was conducted during August and September in 2005. A total of 850 questionnaires were distributed, and the usable returning rate was 94.7% (n = 805).

MATERIALS
Questionnaire survey was the approach used for collecting information. A three-part structured questionnaire was designed, which included a group of questions relating to the motel customers' values, a scale measuring the motels' customer-based brand equity, and the questions regarding the respondents' consumption in the motels and their socio-demographic data. Since limited studies have investigated the customer values in the motel industry, literature regarding customer values was mainly referred to for grasping the conceptual categories to develop the value items. The values pursued by the motel customers were briefly categorized into hedonic and utilitarian values. The utilitarian values included subcategory concepts such as safety, privacy, reliability, etc. (Sheth, Newman and Gross, 1991a; Babin, Darden and Griffin, 1994; Holbrook, 1999). The hedonic values included subcategory concepts such as enjoyment, comfort, excitement, expectation, etc. (Sheth, Newman and Gross, 1991b; Babin, Darden and Griffin, 1994; Aaker, 1996). In order to find the actual items representing the motels' customer values, preliminary interviews were conducted in two themed and two budget motels. Four managers (one in each motel) and eight consumers (two in each motel) were interviewed in June 2005. In total, 50 value items pursued by the motel customers were listed in the pilot questionnaire. The respondents were asked to rate each value item on a five-point Likert scale. Score 5 means that the respondents strongly agreed with this item as a very important value in one's motel lodging. One point means that the respondents strongly disagree with this item as a very important value at motel stay. On the other hand, the questions concerning customer-based brand equity were gathered from some relevant references, and were modified verbally for the motel consumers to answer. Based on Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993), five main constructs of the brand equity were integrated: brand awareness, perceived quality, brand image, brand loyalty, and market behaviour. The questions of the motels' brand awareness were referred to Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993). The questions of perceived quality of the motels were designed based on Parasuraman, Zeithml and Berry (1985), Bolton and Drew (1991), Fick and Ritchie (1991), Saleh and Ryan (1991), Cronin and Taylor (1992), Bojanic and Rosen (1993), Lee and Hing (1995), and Kim and Kim (2003). The brand image items were adopted from Dobni and Zinkhan (1990), Aaker (1991), Keller (1993), Low and Lamb (2000), and Kim and Kim (2003). The brand loyalty questions were collected from Aaker (1991), Odin, Odin and Valette-Florence (2001), Yoo and Donthu (2001), and Kim and Kim (2003). As for the motel market behaviour, items in Aaker (1991, 1996) were employed. The participants were asked to evaluate the brand equity of their staying motels on a five-point Likert scale, on which 5 means strongly agree, and 1 means strongly disagree. Thirty-five questions were included in the pilot questionnaire. A pilot study with a valid sample size of 115 was carried out at the end of July 2005. The respondents had no trouble in replying the questions about their profile and motel consumption, so there was no change needed for those questions. The internal consistency and construct validity of the motel customer values and brand equity scales were checked. The results from item analysis and factor analysis suggested that 7 items in the customer value scale and 2 questions in the brand equity scale should be removed. The Cronbach's alpha of the refined customer value scale (43 questions) equals to 0.9514, and the revised 33item brand equity scale also showed a high alpha value of 0.9499. These items were remained in the questionnaire for the formal survey.

1058

RESULTS Some of the major findings were listed as follows (Table 1). Most motel consumers were single female aged between 21~30, graduated from senior high schools, or junior colleges. A number of the respondents worked in the service industry and received monthly income between NTD 20,000 to 59,999. Almost half of them went to motels with their lovers, travelling on the purpose of recreation and vacation. The respondents usually knew about the motel when seeing the roadside signboards, and more than half chose motels just for rest. A majority of the respondents consumed in motels more than 11 times. There seemed to be no distinct difference among the respondents' preference towards the three kinds of motel types. Table1: Descriptive statistics of the motel customers' profile and their consumption-related features (n=805)
Variables Gender Frequency Male 372 Female 433 Marital Single 408 status Married without kids 119 Married with kids 198 Highest Junior high 47 educational Senior high 421 level College/University 285 Graduate school 52 Age range 20 and younger 54 21~31 343 31~40 277 41~50 122 51~60 9 Monthly 20,000 and less 89 income 20,000-39,999 284 (NTD) 40,000~59,999 299 60,000-79,999 45 80, 000-99,999 27 10,000 and above 61 Origin of Taoyuan Province 329 residence Northern Taiwan 159 Central Taiwan 220 Southern Taiwan 65 Eastern Taiwan 21 Occupation Student 70 Free lance 132 Public sectors 74 Service industry 249 Manufacture 159 Items % 46.2 53.8 50.7 14.8 24.6 5.8 52.3 35.4 6.5 6.7 42.6 34.4 15.2 1.1 11.1 35.3 37.1 5.6 3.4 7.6 40.9 19.8 27.3 8.1 2.6 8.7 16.4 9.2 30.9 19.3 Variables Items Frequency Occupation Self-employed 73 (Cont.) Retired/House keeper 23 Others 10 Companies Spouse 132 Other relatives 64 Lovers 493 Friends/colleagues 79 Others 37 Purpose of Travelling 86 the trip Visiting friends/family 43 Business 44 Leisure/vacation 400 Others 232 Purpose of Day use 446 lodging Overnight 356 Source of Roadside Signboard 217 information Internet 143 Motel magazines 162 Promotions 44 Word of mouth 91 Recommendations 148 Times of The first time 135 lodging in 2~5 times 150 a motel 6~10 times 223 11 times and more 297 Preference Themed 274 toward type Budget 268 of motel Both themed and budget 263 % 9.1 2.9 1.2 16.4 8.0 61.2 9.8 4.6 10.7 5.3 5.5 49.7 28.8 55.4 44.2 27 17.8 20.1 5.5 11.3 18.4 16.8 18.6 27.7 36.9 34 33.3 32.7

When applying factor analysis, there were five factors extracted from the items of customer values. Four of them were related to the utilitarian value and named as "room facility", "safety concerns", "privacy protection" and "whole expression", respectively. The other factor was named "enjoyment", which belongs to hedonic value. This result explained the values pursued by the motel consumer more specifically (Table 2). Since some of the items describing brand equity were trimmed due to their low internal consistency, the factor analysis extracted only three factors: "brand awareness", "perceived quality" and "brand image". However, the "brand loyalty" and "market behaviour" were not notably considered by the respondents as the main brand equity of the motels. Therefore, the
1059

five perspectives of brand equity established by Aaker (1991) and Keller (1993) were neither necessarily nor completely presented in the motel industry (Table 3). Table 2: Factor structure and item-reliability of consumer values of motel consumption
Customer value factors and items Factor 1 Room facility Clear instructions for the facilities in the motel room Good sound-proof in the motel room High quality aromatherapy and healing products Broadband wireless internet access Hanging qualified motel certificate New style furniture Faultless electronic appliance Bringing surprise Cosy feeling Interior decoration with harmonious colours Comfort beds Factor 2 Safety concerns Design with skilful thought Attractive Theme of the room with novel feeling Perfect bathroom facilities No obstruction on the escaping route Free feeling Individually-ordered food and beverage Without problem-making customers Venue for celebrating special occasions Safe payment procedure Stress and fatigue relief Reasonable price Factor 3 Privacy protection Counter secret camera surveillance devices Fantasy arousal Delightful atmosphere for interaction Full range of facilities against disaster Mini bar with a great variety No privacy disturbance by phone from the motel staff No direct/eye contact with the motel staff Lust satisfaction Factor 4 Whole expression Keeping clean and tidy as a whole Secured door lock system Light-hearted Satisfying my expectations Discount scheme Easy access Unforgettable memories Rest in relax Factor 5 Enjoyment Pleasure provision Charming atmosphere Enhancing excitement Mean scorea Standard deviation Eigenvalue Explained variances (%) Accumulated explained variances (%) Cronbach's alpha Total Cronbach's alpha=0.9742, n=805. KMO measure of sampling adequacy=0.978. a 5=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree. Factor loadings Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 0.645 0.640 0.626 0.605 0.600 0.570 0.568 0.538 0.514 0.488 0.466 0.634 0.629 0.625 0.618 0.617 0.598 0.566 0.566 0.552 0.548 0.530 0.504 0.715 0.638 0.620 0.568 0.518 0.514 0.484 0.439 0.756 0.724 0.663 0.577 0.514 0.488 0.450 0.432 0.809 0.793 0.763 3.78 3.64 3.78 3.70 3.65 0.99 0.96 0.96 1.02 0.99 6.968 6.278 5.533 4.956 3.325 16.591 14.947 13.174 11.800 7.916 16.591 31.538 44.712 56.511 64.428 0.9073 0.9444 0.9140 0.9093 0.8581

1060

Table 3: Factor structure and item-reliability of the motels' customer-based brand equity
Brand equity factors and items Factor 1 Brand awareness This motel brand is the first one I can think of when mentioning about a motel brand. Customers' needs can be foreseen and instant service can be provided in this motel. The motel staff have good manners. I am much familiar with this motel brand in comparison with alternative brands. This motel has various discount promotion frequently. The motel staff are very friendly. I can easily recognize this motel brand among plenty of motels. The price range of this motel is very expensive to me. This motel is very quite and comfortable for rest. I think that a motel brand is a synonym for high quality motels. This motel is a professional one. I will recommend this motel to the others. Factor 2 Perceived quality This motel is spacious. This motel provides luxury service. This motel treats you as a very special and important customer. This motel is attractive as a whole. This motel has a distinct theme. I often hear the brand name of this motel. The environment is clean and tidy in this motel. I am satisfied with patronizing this motel. This motel has a long history. I will choose this motel even though there are other choices. This motel provides information actively for customer communication. I patronize this motel regularly. I think that this motel provides good value for the money. Factor 3 Brand image It is convenient to this motel if considering the traffic time. This motel is usually my first choice in comparison with the other motels. Cleanness is one image of this motel. This motel provides high quality food and beverage. Mean scorea Standard deviation Eigenvalue Explained variances (%) Accumulated explained variances (%) Cronbach's alpha Total Cronbach's alpha=0.9653, n=805. KMO measure of sampling adequacy=0.968. a 5=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree. Factor loadings Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 0.765 0.763 0.741 0.736 0.686 0.655 0.647 0.614 0.581 0.580 0.547 0.524 0.705 0.693 0.678 0.670 0.658 0.638 0.575 0.571 0.562 0.559 0.517 0.509 0.506 0.833 0.699 0.583 0.575 3.55 3.61 3.55 1.02 1.01 1.01 7.563 6.748 3.309 24.396 21.767 10.674 24.396 21.767 10.674 0.9513 0.9341 0.7854

The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the factors of customer values and brand equity were positively correlated (Table 4). The strongest correlation was shown between the customer value factor "enjoyment" and the brand equity factor "brand awareness". However, the correlation between the factors "room facility" and "brand awareness", and the correlations between "safety concerns", "whole expression" and "perceived quality" were not significant. Furthermore, the analysis of canonical correlation illustrated that "enjoyment" of customer valued had the strongest correlations with all the three factors of motel brand equity. It implied that the customers who pursued hedonic values would evaluate the motel according to its brand awareness, brand image, and perceived quality (Table 5, Figure 2).

1061

Table 4: Pearson's correlations among the customer values and brand equity factors (n=805)
Customer values Brand equity Brand awareness Perceived quality Brand image **p<0.01.
Room facility Safety concerns Privacy protection Whole expression Enjoyment

0.066 0.100 ** 0.191 **

0.135 ** 0.068 0.161 **

0.121 ** 0.138 ** 0.206 **

0.224 ** 0.007 0.105 **

0.565 ** 0.498 ** 0.247 **

Table 5: Canonical correlation between the customer values and brand equity factors
Statistics summary Canonical correlation coefficient ( ) 2 Squared canonical correlation coefficient () Eigenvalue Explained variances (%) Accumulated explained variances (%) Wilks' lambda F value Degree for freedom p- value 1 Canonical correlation 2 0.894 *** 0.210 *** 0.799 0.044 3.973 0.046 98.287 1.141 98.287 99.428 0.19 0.93 122.13 6.90 15 8 0.00 0.00 Canonical variable 2 -0.594 -0.406 -0.527 -0.110 0.439 0.882 20 2 0.314 0.278 -0.908 33 1.470 3 0.150 *** 0.023 0.023 0.572 100.000 0.98 6.16 3 0.00 3 -0.248 0.211 -0.211 0.907 -0.166 0.452 20 3 0.640 -0.769 -0.014 33 0.754

Customer values (Independent variable) X1: Room facility X2: Safety concerns X3: Privacy protection X4: Whole expression X5: Enjoyment Variance extracted (%) Redundancy (%) Brand equity (Dependent variable) Y1: Brand awareness Y2: Perceived quality Y3: Brand image Variance extracted (%) Redundancy (%) ***p<0.001. Canonical loadi s 0.45 . n g Room facility -0.594

1 -0.205 -0.225 -0.281 -0.230 -0.881 15.979 20 1 -0.701 -0.576 -0.420 33 26.631

0.894 1 1 -0.576 -0.701 Brand awareness

Privacy protection -0.527 Whole expression 0.907 3 Enjoyment -0.881 2

0.210

-0.908

Perceived quality

0.640 0.150 3 -0.769 Brand image

Figure 2: Canonical correlation diagram of the customer values and brand equity factors
1062

The results of MANOVA between motel customers' characteristics and their customer values and brand equity showed that a Wi 'vl sece t s n i n l e T b 6 l ls a e r hd h i ic te l al l k u a e g fa v . e epesdt d f ec t tbtent r pnet poi adt cs m r a e ad xr e h ie ne e s e e h e odn s rfe n h ut e vl s n s e fr s w e s l e o u brand equity. The post hoc tests found that male customers concerned more on safety issues than female; they also had higher perceptions toward the motel quality than females. Younger customers paid attention on all the customer values more than the older, meanwhile they agreed with the motel brand equity at a higher level than the older groups. In comparison with those married and not having kids, customers who were single or married now with kids tended to value room facilities, privacy, whole expression, and enjoyment as important in the motel, and they perceived brand awareness and quality as motel brand equity. The customers who obtained at least college diploma usually looked for privacy protection and enjoyment in the motel and agreed with all three factors as motel brand equity. Interestingly, among the various occupational background, those who worked in the public sectors was the only group emphasizing privacy protection at a significant level. Moreover, those who with monthly income at NTD 60 to 80 thousand significantly highlighted room facilities and enjoyment in the motel and brand awareness as brand equity of the motel. Table 6: Difference tests between the respondents' profile and the factors of customer values and brand equity
Factors Customer values Room facility Safety concerns Privacy protection Whole expression Enjoyment Brand equity Brand awareness Perceived quality Brand image Gender (t) 0.655 0.657*** 0.788 0.777 -3.877 -2.424 -2.889* -0.480 Age (F) 8.045*** 4.478*** 15.381*** 2.283* 10.812*** 7.439*** 9.623*** 7.137*** Respondents' profile Education Marital (F) status (F) 3.890 0.521 9.933** 2.472 7.169*** 3.970 4.862* 5.453*** 4.284** 0.712 5.841*** 6.828*** 6.538*** 8.102*** 14.794*** 0.267 Monthly income (F) 5.178*** 2.949* 0.627 2.481* 4.750*** 7.780*** 2.842* 1.542 Occupation (F) 2.183* 1.906 6.613*** 3.233** 2.273* 3.288** 0.703 4.070***

*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

The consumption-related characteristics had significant impact on the perceptions of customer values and brand equity (Table 7). The post hoc tests indicated that the customer lodging with spouse focused on room facilities more than that with other relatives. When companying with lover, the customer thought of enjoyment as more important and perceived quality as more satisfying. Those travelling for other purposes desired privacy protection, whole expressions, and enjoyment in the motel. Brand awareness and overall quality were perceived adequate by those travelling for leisure/vacation and other purposes at a significant level. Generally, the more frequently the respondent consumed the motel, the more important each customer value factor and brand equity factor became in his/her view point. When the customer preferred a themed motel, s/he also regarded enjoyment as important and brand awareness and overall quality as essential brand equity.

1063

Table 7: Difference tests between the motel consumption-related features and the factors of customer values and brand equity
Travel companies (F) Trip purpose (F) Motel consumption-related features Purpose of Information Motel lodging lodging source times (t) (F) (F) -6.56 -1.317 2.567 -2.900 2.517 0.048 3.447** -1.262 0.466 2.295* 8.102*** 3.083** 21.499*** 10.663*** 23.953*** 2.272* 5.548*** 7.414*** 26.101*** 4.698** 38.466*** 16.382*** 53.728*** 4.872** Motel type preference (F) 0.057 0.436 2.919 1.944 22.742*** 7.476*** 20.288*** 0.947

Factors Customer values Room facility 9.527*** 1.721 Safety concerns 2.488* 2.041 Privacy protection 18.548*** 16.264*** Whole expression 2.501* 9.638*** Enjoyment 8.787*** 17.207*** Brand equity Brand awareness 2.534* 3.895** Perceived quality 16.724*** 17.887*** Brand image 5.023*** 7.652*** *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Using canonical correlation analysis, this study examined not only the relationship between customer values and motel brand equity, but also the inter-relationship with the two sets of variables. The canonical correlation analysis of the five factors of customer values and the three factors of motel brand equity produced three canonical variates significant at the 0.001 level. Canonical correlations ranged from 0.89 to 0.15. The overlapping variances between pairs of canonical variates, which were equal to the squared canonical correlation for each function, ranged between 79.9% and 2.3%. Only variate pairs with a redundancy index greater than 1.5% for both variates were considered in the final analysis, because low redundancy indicated that little variation in one variate can be accounted for by the other variate (Baloglu, Weaver, and McCleary, 1998; Oh, Uysal, and Weaver, 1995). Thus, the customer values variance that could be explained by brand equity was 20% (redundancy), and 26.63% () of the brand equity could be recovered by customer values variance (Table 5). 1 The canonical loadings were used to interpret the meanings of canonical variates. Moreover, to avoid multicollinearity problems, canonical loadings were used to discern the relationships between pairs of variates. In the present study, only variables with a canonical loading greater than 0.45 (Baloglu, et al., 1998) were considered for the interpretation of the variates.The first variate pair showed that the customer value toward enjoyment was directly ralted to brand awareness and perceived quality of brand equity. Motel customers who pursued a pleasant or exciting experience would be more aware of the motel brand, features, service quality, and personal satisfaction. The second variate pair indicated that preferences for room facilities and privacy protection corresponded to motel brand image. In the room facilities, customers emphasized on clear instructions, sound-proof, aromatherapy, wireless internet, and faultless appliance, and so on, while privacy protection meant camera surveillance devices, prevention from disaster, no disturbance and full benefit from the atmosphere and satisfaction. They also perceived cleanness and convenience as the features of the motel brand image. The third canonical variate consisted of whole expression of customer value and two brand equity, brand awareness and perceived quality. The whole expression as customer valued in the motel included keeping clean and tidy, secured door luck, discount, accessibility, and memorability. The results of one-way ANOVA indicate that the motel customer values were differed by their age, travel companion, and times of motel consumptions. Moreover, customers with different age groups, travel companions, purposes of travel, source of information, and times
1064

of motel consumption may have significantly different view on motels' brand equity. Thus, all three hypotheses were partially supported. REFERENCES Aaker, D. A. (1991). Managing Brand Equity. New York: Free Press. Aaker, D. A. (1996). Managing brand equity across products and markets. California Management Review, 38(3), 102-120. Babin, B. J., Darden, W. R., & Griffin, M. (1994). Work and/or fun: Measuring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value. Journal of Consumer Research, 20(4, Mar), 644-656. Baloglu, S., Weaver, P., & McCleary, K.W. (1998). Overlapping product-benefit segments in the lodging industry: a canonical correlation approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 10(4), 159-166. Bojanic, D. C., & Rosen, L. D. (1993). Measuring service quality in restaurants: An application of the SERVQUAL instrument. Hospitality Research Journal, 18, 3-14. Bolton, R. N., & Drew, J. H. (1991). A multistage model of customers' assessments of service quality and value. Journal of Consumer Research, 17(4), 375-384. Cronin, J. J., Jr., & Taylor, S. A. (1992). Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension. Journal of Marketing, 56(July), 55-68. Dobni, D., & Zinkhan, G. M. (1990). In search of brand image: A foundation analysis. In M. E. Goldberg, G. Gorn, & R. W. Pollay (Eds.), Advances in consumer research, (pp. 110-119). Provo, Utah: Association for Consumer Research. Farquhar, P. H. (1989). Managing brand equity, Marketing Research, 12(1), 24-33. Farquhar, P. H. (1990). Managing brand equity, Journal of Advertising Research, 30(4), 7-12. Fick, G. R., & Ritchie, J. R. (1991). Measuring service quality in the travel and tourism industry. Journal of Travel Research, 30(Fall), 2-9. Gale, B. T. (1994). Managing customer value: Creating quality and service that customers can see, New York: The Free Press. 42. Holbrook, M. B. (1999). Introduction to consumer value, in Holbrook (Ed), Consumer value: A framework for analysis and research, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-28. Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity, Journal of Marketing, 57(January), 1-22. Kim, H. B., & Kim, W. G. (2003). The effect of consumer-based brand equity on firms' financial performance. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 20(4), 335-51. Lee, Y., & Hing, N. (1995). Measuring quality in restaurant operations: an application of the SERVQUAL instrument. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 14(3), 293310. Low, G. S. & Lamb, C. W., Jr. (2000). The measurement and dimensionality of brand associations. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 9(6), 350-368. Odin, Y., Odin, N., & Valette-Florence, P. (2001). Conceptual and operational aspects of brand loyalty: An empirical investigation. Journal of Business Research, 53, 75-84. Oh, H.C., Uysal, M. & Weaver, P.A. (1995). Product bundles and market segments based on travel motivations: a canonical correlation approach. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 14(2), 123-137. Parasuraman, A., Zeithml, V. A. & Berry, L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49(Fall), 41-50. Park, C. S., & Srinivasan, V. (1994). A survey-based method for measuring and understanding brand equity and its extendibility, Journal of Marketing Research, 31(May), 271-288. Prasad, K., & Dev, C. S. (2000). Managing hotel brand equity: A customer-centric framework for assessing performance, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 41(3), 22-31. Saleh, F., & Ryan, C. (1991). Analyzing service quality in the hospitality industry using the SERVQUAL model. The Service Industries Journal, 11(3), 324-343. Sheth, J. N., Newman, B. I., & Gross, B. L. (1991a). Why we buy what we buy: A theory of
1065

consumption values. Journal of Business Research, 22(2), 159-170. Sheth, J. N., Newman, B. I., & Gross, B. L. (1991b). Consumption values and market choice: Theory and application. Cincinnati: South-Western Publication. Tourism Bureau, Republic of China. (2006). List of common hotels [Online], Available: http://202.39.225.136/indexc.asp [May, 2006] (in Chinese). Yoo, B., Donthu, N., & Lee, S. (2000). An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(2), 195-212.

1066