‘Ripping Off’ Tourists: An Empirical Evaluation of Tourists’ Perceptions and Service Worker (Mis)behavior

Harris, Lloyd C.

doi:10.1016/j.annals.2011.12.002

Cited by 74 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Several studies within tourism, however, reverse the actor and target, and instead focus on tourists as targets in the context of how service workers/providers misbehave through deception or rip-offs (Harris, 2012), harassment (Kozak, 2007) or crime (Brunt et al, 2000). An emphasis on tourist victimisation, and lighter forms of service failure, spawned studies on the darker outcomes of dysfunctional tourist services, such as tourist worry (Larsen et al, 2009), anger and regret (see Sánchez-García & Currás-Pérez, 2011) in the context of tourist hotels and restaurants and the implications of these negative cognitive states and emotions for customer (dis)satisfaction, (mis)trust and switching behaviour.…”

Section: Consumer Misbehaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities

Cohen

Prayag

Moital

2013

Current Issues in Tourism

569

333

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Although consumer behaviour (CB) is one of the most researched areas in the field of tourism, few extensive reviews of the body of knowledge in this area exist. This review article examines what we argue are the key concepts, external influences and opportune research contexts in contemporary tourism CB research. Using a narrative review, we examine the CB literature published in three major tourism journals from 2000 to 2012. Of 519 articles identified and reviewed, 191 are included in this article. We examine the development of and scope for future research on nine key concepts, including decision-making, values, motivations, self-concept and personality, expectations, attitudes, perceptions, satisfaction, trust and loyalty. We then examine three important external influences on tourism behaviour, technology, Generation Y and the rise in concern over ethical consumption. Finally, we identify and discuss five research contexts that represent major areas for future scholarship: group and joint decision-making, under-researched segments, cross-cultural issues in emerging markets, emotions and consumer misbehaviour. Our examination of key research gaps is concluded by arguing that the hedonic and affective aspects of CB research in tourism must be brought to bear on the wider CB and marketing literature.Keywords: consumption; travel; behaviour; marketing; research agenda Introduction Consumer behaviour (CB) involves certain decisions, activities, ideas or experiences that satisfy consumer needs and wants (Solomon, 1996). It is 'concerned with all activities directly involved in obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services, including the decision processes that precede and follow these actions' (Engel, Blackwell, & Miniard, 1995, p. 4). CB remains one of the most researched areas in the marketing and tourism fields, with the terms 'travel behaviour' or 'tourist behaviour' typically used to describe this area of inquiry. Few comprehensive reviews of the literature on CB concepts and models exist in the field of tourism. Exceptions include Moutinho (1993) who reviews the social and psychological influences on individual travel behaviour with the aim of developing a model of tourist behaviour and Dimanche and Havitz (1995) Tourism, 2014 Vol. 17, No. 10, 872 -909, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013 four concepts (ego-involvement, loyalty and commitment, family decision-making and novelty-seeking) in an attempt to methodologically advance CB in tourism studies.A lack of comprehensive reviews is not only due to the extensive breadth of the topic area itself, but also because travel behaviour is generally considered as a continuous process that includes varied yet inter-correlated stages and concepts that cannot always be analysed separately (Mill & Morrison, 2002). Tourism researchers have reviewed individual concepts (e.g. Riley, Niininen, Szivas, & Willis, 2001, on loyalty), specific influences (e.g. Moutinho, 1993, on social influences on CB), and particular research contexts (e.g. Hong, Lee, L...

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Section: Consumer Misbehaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities

Cohen

Prayag

Moital

2013

Current Issues in Tourism

569

333

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“…Such unethical service sabotage is widespread and cross-cultural. Those without sufficient destination knowledge are less likely to recognize, question, or challenge exploitation (Harris 2012). This has ethical implications, and Macbeth (2005) recognizes the need to examine tourism stakeholders' moral positions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the Mass Tourism Stereotype

Ying

Weaver

Kwek

2015

Journal of Travel Research

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Low-priced tour packages are mass tourism power projection sites where providers attempt to restrict tourist power. This study adopts a hybrid design that incorporates dual analytic autoethnography and blog analysis, sharing not only the authors' experiences and insights into the negotiation between supplier attempts to disempower tourists and reciprocal efforts of tourists to self-empower in all-inclusive tour packages, but also viewpoints of other tour participants collected during the tours and from the Internet. Tour experiences were negotiated through power exchanges. In this "powerscape," we were subjected to disempowerment strategies, including domination, intimidation, reliance creation, and trust building, while our self-empowerment ranged from active resistance to nonresistance. Different disempowerment strategies appear to solicit specific reactions. Our exploratory study provides insight into the power dynamics implicit in mass tourism and identifies several contextual factors that shape power relationships.

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“…Harris (2012) found that hotel service employees' misbehaviour is common and frequent, and that consumers notice these actions. Harris (2012) identified five ways in which tourists believed they were cheated: overcharging, charging for unused services, adding on extra charges, forcing use of unneeded services, and short changing. Wong Chak Keung (2000) studied tourists' perceptions of hotel frontline employees' questionable behaviour and identified unethical behavior as one of its underlying dimensions.…”

Section: Ethical Behavior Of Front-line Employeesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lee and Tsang (2013) assert that ethics is an important challenge in the hospitality industry, and claim that the understanding of ethical perception and moral position of all stakeholders should be accentuated. Scholars assert that the hospitality industry is open to unethical practices, and frequently presents its employees with morally and ethically ambiguous situations such as overbooking, theft, whistle-blowing, mistreatment of others, racial prejudices, sabotage, benefit at the expense of guest supplementary service, and misleading information in the restaurant menus, hotel brochures and websites (Stevens, 2001;Yaman & Gurel, 2006;Wong & Chan, 2010;Harris, 2012). Although a large number of ethical behavior investigations have been carried out and reported in the literature, only few empirical studies have been undertaken in the hospitality industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethics in the Hospitality Industry: Review and Research Agenda

Knani¹

2014

IJBM

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Practitioners in the hospitality sector rate ethics as one of the most important issues faced by the industry. Many scholars argue that the hospitality sector is open to frequent unethical practices. Managers and employees, due to intensive face-to-face interactions with clients, confront many ethical dilemmas in their day-to-day operations. Previous research confirms that a positive ethical climate nurtures a healthy organization by increasing manager and employee job satisfaction, enhancing customer experience, and increasing the organization's profit. Despite its crucial role, studies on ethics in the hospitality industry are limited compared to those undertaken in the more general business area. This manuscript reviews the literature on ethical perceptions and practices among hospitality managers, employees and students (future professionals), and proposes a research agenda. This critic review intends to increase awareness and knowledge on the importance of this issue and give some orientations for scholars towards several important topics for future research in the area of hospitality ethics.

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‘Ripping Off’ Tourists: An Empirical Evaluation of Tourists’ Perceptions and Service Worker (Mis)behavior

Cited by 74 publications

References 39 publications

Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities

Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities

Beyond the Mass Tourism Stereotype

Ethics in the Hospitality Industry: Review and Research Agenda

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