Theses & Dissertations

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    Diffusion of Smart Hotels: Effects of Personal Traits and Evaluation on Behavioural Intentions
    (University of Guelph, ) Li, Zeyuan; Jo, WooMi
    Following the trend of the fourth industrial revolution, the idea of smart hotels has emerged in the hotel industry, providing consumers with another choice when travelling. Smart hotels can provide consumers with unique experiences and help increase service efficiency and eliminate health concerns during pandemics. However, since a smart hotel is relatively new in the industry, the hotel industry has limited information, especially about what affects consumers’ intentions to choose smart hotels versus traditional hotels. The hotel industry has been hesitating to put significant investments in developing smart hotels, which may lead to delay of the smart hotel evolution. To clarify the unknown of smart hotels and give the hotel industry confidence in the future of smart hotels, this study used a quantitative approach and discovered the effects of two consumer characteristics (consumer innovativeness and subjective knowledge) on two consumer behavioural intentions (purchase intention and willingness to pay).
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    Identifying Factors that Drive Social Media Engagement and Followings of Athletes in the WNBA
    (University of Guelph, ) MacDonald , Shayne; Pegoraro , Ann
    Social media provides athletes the unique opportunity to communicate directly with fans and consumers. However, the current literature that explores social media engagement and followers omits a key demographic: women professional athletes. Therefore, this research sought to identify factors that drive Instagram engagement and followings of athletes in the WNBA to provide insight on strategic social media management for women professional athletes. Athlete post data was collected from two separate time periods and a wide range of variables were explored. Results indicated that an athlete who had greater followers at the time of posting saw higher levels of engagement, while city population, team win percentage, and career MVP awards were all positively associated with followings. The results of this study provide a foundation of strategic social media management for women professional athletes.Social media provides athletes the unique opportunity to communicate directly with fans and consumers. However, the current literature that explores social media engagement and followers omits a key demographic: women professional athletes. Therefore, this research sought to identify factors that drive Instagram engagement and followings of athletes in the WNBA to provide insight on strategic social media management for women professional athletes. Athlete post data was collected from two separate time periods and a wide range of variables were explored. Results indicated that an athlete who had greater followers at the time of posting saw higher levels of engagement, while city population, team win percentage, and career MVP awards were all positively associated with followings. The results of this study provide a foundation of strategic social media management for women professional athletes.
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    Women’s Professional Sport Fans: The Canadian Market
    (University of Guelph, ) Sherar, Zoe; Pegoraro, Ann; Kennedy , Heather
    This study examined the consumption patterns, behaviours, and attitudes of women’s sport consumers in Canada. First, a general profile of women’s sport consumers was established. Next, the study focused on identifying key differences between high- and low-level women’s sport consumers based on their consumption habits and demographic information. Finally, the theory of planned behaviour was implemented to reveal any impact attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control have on consumption intentions. High-level consumers were more likely to identify as female, were younger, and exhibited more fluid fan tendencies. Low-level consumers were slightly older, more evenly split across genders, and were more likely to engage with women's sport on TV. Excitement, supporting women’s opportunities in sport, social bonding, perceived behavioural control and subjective norms all significantly predicted consumption intentions. This research is useful for any organizations, businesses or leagues that have an interest in the growth of women’s sport.
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    The “G” in “Glamping”: Exploring the Key Factors Contributing to Canada and U.S. Glamper’s Satisfaction and Glampsite Rebooking Intentions
    (University of Guelph, ) Ma, Wenxiao; Holmes, Mark; Joppe, Marion
    Glamping, a trendy outdoor hospitality product, has received minimal academic attention. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the key predictors of North American glampers’ satisfaction and rebooking intention. Meanwhile, the study reviewed and picked five constructs (physical environment, interaction, outcome, access, and enjoyment) and proposed an exploratory conceptual framework. An online panel survey was employed with 423 valid samples collected for a quantitative analysis. Results suggest that both the quality of the physical environment and accessibility predict glampers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, accommodation settings could influence the prediction effects of physical environment quality and the interaction quality. The study also conducted a cluster analysis based on two open-ended questions. Concept maps generated by Leximancer demonstrated a comprehensive picture of more contributors to glamping satisfaction and rebooking intention. Findings of the study provide theoretical implications for future glamping studies as well as managerial inspirations for glampsite owners.
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    What matters is the mindset: The role of construal level activated by automated service in influencing consumer behaviors
    (University of Guelph, ) Liang, Lena Jingen; Choi, Hwansuk Chris
    Service automation (e.g., robotics, artificial intelligence, and chabots) has attracted much attention from academia and industry in the past decade. Although emerging research on service automation has been flourishing, there is not only a lack of clarification of its definition but also a limited understanding of its effects and mechanism. Without a clear understanding of its effects and mechanism, hotel managers may fail to maintain a satisfying consumer experience when adopting automated services into practice. Therefore, this dissertation fulfills these gaps by exploring and examining the definition as well as the underlying mechanism of service automation via three perspectives: a systematic review, its bidirectional effect between service automation and level of construal, and the congruency effects on consumers’ behavior intention. Two studies could be developed from this dissertation. More specifically, the first study (Chapter 2) presented a systematic review of the previous tourism and hospitality consumer behavior studies in service automation and clarified the definition of service automation. The second study (Chapter 3) tested the underlying mechanism of the effects brought by automated service in consumer’s mindset. A bidirectional effect was found between consumer’s level of construal and the preference for automated service. Overall, this dissertation contributes to a further understanding of service automation and its application in the tourism and hospitality field through a holistic view.