Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research

Hospitality brands have increasingly embraced corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA), publicly taking a stance on controversial issues to align with evolving consumer values. Prior research has predominantly focused on the magnitude of brand-cause fit while overlooking the type of fit (natural fit vs. created fit). Through two experiments in hospitality settings (hotel and fast-food restaurant), this study examines how two key moderators—brand-consumer stance agreement and message framing—shape the effectiveness of different brand-cause fit types in CSA campaigns. Study 1 demonstrates that natural (vs. created) fit enhances perceived altruistic motives and consumer responses when consumers disagree with the brand’s stance, but this effect diminishes with agreement. Study 2 suggests that pairing a CSA message with positive framing and a natural fit (vs. created fit) maximizes CSA campaign effectiveness. These findings advance CSA literature in hospitality contexts and provide hospitality managers with strategic guidance for designing effective sociopolitical campaigns.

This study examined whether the tourist experience aligns with the peak–end rule, offering a perspective in the field of travel. This study analyzed real-time data on tourists’ emotional valence, arousal, and satisfaction—key elements of their momentary experiences—and their impact on subsequent retrospective evaluations. The results indicated that these three aspects of tourist experiences during travel significantly impacted retrospective evaluations. In contrast, neither the duration of the experience nor the beginning moments had significant effects. Noteworthy points in the tourist experience, such as the peaks, troughs, and ends of valence and satisfaction, significantly affected loyalty post-trip, thereby supporting the peak–end rule. However, arousal experiences did not have this effect. This study also found that extreme negative experiences in the tourism context may require more consideration than positive peak experiences.

This study examined how informal conversations—both shallow and deep—impacted employees’ constituent attachment in the hospitality industry, along with the antecedents of such conversations. With a sample of 251 hospitality employees, our findings revealed that deep conversations, but not shallow conversations, were positively related to constituent attachment. In addition, an inclusion climate and workplace fun were positively related to deep conversations. Moreover, the relationships between inclusion climate, fun, and constituent attachment were mediated more strongly by deep conversations than by shallow ones. While prior research has generally focused on the impact of small talk, this study advances human resources and organizational behavior research by being the first to distinguish between deep and shallow workplace conversations, revealing their unique impact on constituent attachment, and highlighting the role of inclusion climate and workplace fun in fostering meaningful connections.

Through a mixed-method approach, this research examines how speech voice cues influence in-consumption engagement in travel live streaming, underpinned by signaling theory. Study 1 examines the impacts of speech voice cues on in-consumption engagement using real-world travel live streaming data. Study 2 employs semi-structured interviews to reveal the underlying mechanisms of how speech voice cues influence viewer in-consumption engagement. Findings show that speech rate had a significant inverted U-shaped effect, whereas loudness and pitch had a significant negative impact on in-consumption engagement. Piecemeal habits, voice-destination consistency, and perceived credibility were identified as underlying mechanisms in speech voice cues. This research extends signaling theory to a dynamic travel live streaming context, empirically explaining how speech voice cues of travel live streamers influence viewer in-consumption engagement.

Loss aversion is a human tendency, which is used to explain the reference price effect. We critically examined the loss aversion account of the reference price effect in accommodation decisions by adopting a mixed-method approach. Physiological reactions to losses were captured by electrodermal activities and trait loss aversion was measured by a behavioral economic task. We tested whether trait loss aversion predicts individuals’ susceptibility to the reference price effect in lodging decisions and whether physiological reactions mediate the effect. We explored the moderating role of travel use history and established a methodological triangulation among the three loss-aversion measures: trait, hotel choice, and physiological. The physiological results gave support to the role of emotions in the reference price effect. Our findings provide valuable insights for managers in addressing asymmetric pricing, particularly highlighting the importance of monitoring customer emotional fluctuations during price presentation and segmenting the market based on travel experience.

This study explores the relationship between financial well-being and health tourism spending in the United States, emphasizing the financial dynamics of healthcare access through Sen’s Capability Approach. Analyzing gender- and age-segmented data, it examines how financial constraints shape health tourism decisions, explicitly focusing on process freedom and conversion factors. Regression results show that, while general effects were often non-significant, detailed segment-specific analyses reveal significant variations by gender, age, and service type. Worsening financial conditions led to increased spending on prolonged and incidental health tourism for specific demographics, indicating adaptive economic behaviors. The findings highlight the bi-directional influences between financial well-being and health tourism, emphasizing the importance of targeted financial policies and support systems to improve healthcare access for vulnerable groups. This study underscores the nuanced role of financial well-being in health tourism decisions, providing insights for tailored interventions to meet diverse healthcare needs.

Although location choice is fundamental in the hospitality industry, current research often overlooks the role of incumbent market structures in shaping these decisions. This study addresses this gap by examining how strategic entry barriers and brand loyalty influence new entrants’ market choices. Using data from 4,249 Texas hotels (2001–2023) and applying multi-level zero-inflated Poisson and hurdle gamma models, the analysis reveals that ownership consolidation limits the volume of entries and redirects potential entrants to nearby markets, while class heterogeneity surprisingly attracts more entrants. Moreover, strong brand loyalty deters independent hotels entirely and selectively discourages “loyalty beachheads,” although a higher concentration of parent companies may entice certain branded newcomers. These findings offer new insights into how incumbents can influence competitive dynamics and guide policymakers as they weigh the benefits of market consolidation against the need to foster a healthy, diverse hospitality sector.

Accent, as a regional linguistic variant, influences consumer attitudes and decisions. However, it remains unclear whether tourists react more positively to salespersons with (vs. without) local accents when purchasing souvenirs. Drawing on signaling theory, we examine whether, how, and when a salesperson’s local accent affects tourists’ purchase behavior for souvenirs. Through six scenario-based experiments and one field experiment, our findings reveal that salespersons with local accents significantly increase tourists’ purchase intentions. The perceived fit between salespersons’ marketing communication and souvenirs serves as the psychological mechanism driving this effect. Notably, the “local accent effect” is significant only for souvenirs with high local relevance and when salespersons are dressed in casual attire. Our study unveils a new pathway that influences souvenir purchases—salespersons’ local accents—and expands the signaling theory by demonstrating its explanatory power for auditory signals in the souvenir shopping context.

Measurement invariance (MI) has received increasing attention in the psychology and organizational management literatures with warnings about the peril of assuming psychometric equivalence (i.e., invariance) of a measure of a latent construct across different conditions (such as time periods) or groups (such as in cross-cultural comparisons) rather than testing for it. Heeding this warning, we offer a beginner’s introduction to MI and assess the MI paradigm in hospitality research by examining studies in the International Journal of Hospitality Management and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Education that are susceptible to MI issues. We go further, including a didactic example, humbly examining our own published work on intrapersonal longitudinal change in cultural intelligence and demonstrating how assuming rather than testing for MI led to flawed inferences. Suggestions for researchers wanting to test for MI are provided, as are suggestions for how to proceed when measures are non-invariant.

The concept of luxury experience and its interpretation among diverse customers has been rapidly and profoundly evolving across various academic disciplines and segments of the hospitality industry. Practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) may appear contradictory to the traditional notion of luxury hospitality. However, despite the paradoxical challenges of integrating DEI into luxury hospitality experience, the primary purpose of this article is to spark important and innovative conversations about why and how linking these seemingly opposing concepts of luxury and DEI can bring value and open up new business and research opportunities for hospitality practitioners and scholars.