Hierarchical porous polypyrrole (PPy) nanoclusters composed of small PPy nanospheres were successfully prepared in one-step by a reactive-template method without any surfactants. The Fe 3 O 4 nanoclusters acted as both the template for shaping PPy structure and oxidant source simultaneously. The dosage of pyrrole monomer, the concentration of HCl acid had significant influence on the structures and conductivities of the resulting PPy nanoclusters. By carefully controlling the experimental conditions, hierarchical porous PPy nanoclusters with the surface area as high as 104 m 2 g À1 were obtained. The value was about 3.5 times larger than that of traditional PPy nanoparticles. Based on the transmission electron microscope (TEM) images and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, a possible formation mechanism was proposed and investigated in detail. To test the feasibility of using the PPy nanoclusters in real applications, the capacity of nanoclusters as a heavy metal ion remover was explored. The resulting PPy nanoclusters showed an excellent ability to remove Cr(VI) ions in aqueous solution.

Self-service technology (SST) and its applications are changing the way the hospitality and tourism industry provides products and services to their customers. Although the use of SST is a remarkable change for service providers because its use can meet customers’ pursuit of an efficient life, research provides a sufficient overview of how the usage of SST influences customers’ service experience in the tourism and hospitality settings remains lacking. Thus, this study aims to provide an understanding of previous SST research and a basis for exploring the influential factors regarding SST adoption. To achieve this purpose, SST papers in leading hospitality and tourism academic journals were reviewed. Although the number of articles is limited, content analysis allows the authors to understand a phenomenon and identify research topics and methods in SST studies. Also, this study contributes to existing SST literature by providing future research guidelines.

Building on the literature on luxury consumption behavior, this study investigates customers’ perceived values on their patronage behavior toward luxury service brands. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling is used to test the research model with a sample of 177 American luxury hotel customers. The findings suggest that functional, individual, and social values from experiences influence customers’ perceived connection with a luxury service brand. The bond between customers and brands affects customers’ patronage behavior. Moreover, the role of the self-brand connection on the relationship between the perceived value and behavioral intention indicates that the impact of functional, individual, and social values on patronage behavior, and the self-brand connection is different depending on the perceived congruity with the luxury hotel brand. However, the affluent customers’ perception of financial value does not enhance the self-brand connection. The results suggest that it would be more effective for luxury hotel service providers to build strong and meaningful ties with customers. This study identifies the role of the self-brand connection in the relationships between multidimensional perceived value (i.e. financial, functional, individual, social) and loyal behavior in the luxury service context.

Purpose In the service industry, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered a strategic valuable resource. Although previous studies emphasized CSR activities in the service industry, a limited number of studies have examined the combined effect with the service experience. Thus, this study aims to examine the potential antecedents of cruise customers’ positive responses toward the cruise company. Design/methodology/approach The proposed model includes CSR activities, service experiences, satisfaction and revisit intention. The model is tested using samples of cruise customers from the USA. Tests of the proposed model produce significant results for path coefficients from two-dimensional service experience (i.e. physical quality and staff behavior) and not from CSR activities (i.e. environmental and philanthropic). Findings Hypothesis testing indicates that among cruise customers, perceived physical quality and staff behavior are more relevant for creating satisfaction and revisit intention than environmental and philanthropic CSR support. Research limitations/implications The results provide important implications for scholars concerning the effects of CSR activities on customer behavior for efficaciously managing customers’ positive experience with facilities and employees. Originality/value There has been a paradigm shift in the cruise industry. The recent trend shows an increasing number of cruise businesses leading to intense competition. Yet, researchers have not adequately examined the impact of service experience and CSR experience simultaneously. Thus, this study contributes to the existing CSR literature by identifying the important determinants of cruise customers’ behavior.

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