The Impact of Environmental Social Media Publications on User Satisfaction with and Trust in Tourism Businesses

Users’ perception for innovation and sustainability management: evidence from public transport

No one doubts the importance of public transport services in the economic backbone of any country. In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the contribution to Sustainable Development Goals on the part of governments, companies, and stakeholders. In this sense, transport can contribute to the sustainability of cities and facilitate other social objectives, such as universal accessibility, with innovation being a key pillar for this. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyze users’ perceptions of the innovation and sustainability of public transport in Spain.

To analyze the user’s perception of public transport, a questionnaire was developed following Bitner’s Servicescape Model. A total of 1,354 responses were collected in different Spanish cities. The main results show that the policies implemented in both innovation and sustainability are perceived positively but do not seem to have much impact on the service user. Public transport users prioritize the speed, frequency, and safety of the service received. In addition, it should be noted that the gender of the user influences the preferences of the objectives, i.e., men value technological development in public transport more. At the same time, women give higher priority to sustainability. The age of users is another variable that conditions public transport users’ perceptions of innovation and sustainability. The results also show users’ preferences for different types of public transport.

The study’s main contribution is that it shows to what extent the innovation and sustainability policies applied in the public transport service are valued and motivate citizens to use the service. The political and management decisions may be disconnected from the reality perceived by users. These decisions may be more linked to regulatory pressures and involve a high implementation cost, so it is necessary to consider the valuation of users’ service so that the benefit or social return of these investments is high, encouraging the use of the service.

Exploring the impact of digital knowledge management on technostress and sustainability

Purpose

This paper aims to assess how digital knowledge management affects technostress in workers and how that influences the organization’s sustainability. The study applied an in-depth literature review of the following concepts and dimensions, digital knowledge management (acquisition, sharing and application), technostress (techno overload, invasion, complexity, insecurity and uncertainty) and sustainability (economic, social and environmental).

Design/methodology/approach

After completing the literature review, an online questionnaire was developed and disseminated through social networks. The questionnaire had four sections: classification of the respondent, questions related to knowledge management, technostress and sustainability. The final sample comprises 454 responses. First, a descriptive analysis of the sample was carried out, and second, a structural equation model by the partial least squares–structural equation modeling method was conducted.

Findings

The results show that there is a direct and positive relationship between knowledge management and technostress. This finding means that a higher level of knowledge management of firms causes a greater level of technostress among employees. The close relationship between knowledge management and the firms’ sustainability has also been confirmed. The study results have shown that gender does not have a moderating effect on the relationships reported, as there are no significant differences.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to look at digital knowledge management, assessing both the levels of employee technostress and the sustainability achieved by their organizations. Thus, this study could serve as a basis for future research. In addition, it contributes to the scarce academic literature on technostress and digital knowledge management levels.

Evaluation of User Satisfaction and Trust of Review Platforms: Analysis of the Impact of Privacy and E-WOM in the Case of TripAdvisor

Technological advances have had many advantages like an E-WOM (Electronic Word of Mouth) that has become a very important and powerful tool for users who wish to share their knowledge, experiences and emotions about a product or service. But the use of virtual platforms may affect the privacy of users data. This present study has a twofold objective: first check if the privacy of users when using TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel platform, has an impact on their satisfaction and trust on the platform. Secondly, the relationship between E-WOM and the variables users trust and satisfaction when using TripAdvisor is examined. In order to achieve the objectives set out, the sample of 390 persons was analyzed. The PLS-SEM method has been used to process the data and test the hypotheses. The results of the analysis have shown that there is a positive and direct relationship between TripAdvisor users’ privacy and satisfaction. The direct and positive relationship between users’ E-WOM and their degree of satisfaction and trust toward the platform has also been confirmed. This study makes a significant contribution to the academic literature on the variables studied, as previous studies presented different results.

Service Quality in Tourism Public Health: Trust, Satisfaction, and Loyalty

The spread of COVID-19 and large-scale travel restrictions has caused serious damage to the global tourism industry. Tourists pay additional attention to public health services and their health during travel, but studies on tourism public health service quality (TPHSQ) are limited. Therefore, this study aims to define TPHSQ and revise and validate its scale. The result of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicates that TPHSQ includes two dimensions “overall environmental image” and “public health facilities and management.” And based on 456 valid samples, the relationship among TPHSQ, tourists’ trust, satisfaction, and loyalty was validated using the multiple linear regression models. Results revealed the importance of the TPHSQ in improving tourists’ satisfaction and recovering their trust and loyalty. These results provided several implications for research, practice, and society that can benefit diverse stakeholders, which could accelerate the recovery of the tourism industry.

Using Social Media to Preserve Consumers' Awareness on Food Identity in Times of Crisis: The Case of Bakeries

Departing from the understanding of food tourism in urban environments, this research analyses the brand engagement of bakeries during the COVID-19 lockdown period, and the first stages of the de-escalation process. A mixed-methods study is designed to analyze the case of six selected bakeries in Catalonia (Spain). Drawing on data obtained from semi-structured interviews (N = 6) and a visual content analysis of the businesses’ social media promotion in Instagram (N = 638), results show the performance of bakeries during pandemic times, where a change in production and consumption behaviors is observed and takeaway and delivery helped them to survive. In particular, their social media promotion in Instagram also revealed how bakeries have managed this difficult situation and kept a close relationship with customers, standing up as a symbol of resilience against the odds and contributing to preserve customers’ awareness on food and health, and the city’s identity, through digital branding strategies that communicate messages around bread and pastry foods (the product), the shop and the workshop (the place), and both the employees and the customers (the people).

The Impacts of Self-Construal and Perceived Risk on Technology Readiness

This paper explores how different self-construals interact with perceived risk and influence tourism consumers’ technology readiness toward tourism mobile apps. The study used 284 tourist participants to show that tourism consumers, regardless of self-construal type, have a negative perception of technology readiness when they perceive a high level of risk. Furthermore, those with independent self-construal have a more positive perception of technology readiness than those with an interdependent self-construal when they perceive a low level of risk. The results also show that technology readiness mediates the relationship between self-construal and use intention toward mobile apps. Based on these results, we proposed the following practical implications. First, companies need to find and lower potential risks that can be perceived in tourism mobile apps. They must also deliver different messages according to consumers’ self-construal. Companies should provide independents with information related to the positive benefits obtained through the mobile app, and interdependents should be provided with information that reduces perceived losses.