Includes bibliographical references.

What is a Theme Park? A Synthesis and Research Framework -- How capricious supervisors affect hospitality employees' service performance? A diary study from the employees' emotional perspective -- Healthy, But Say It Out Loud? The Messaging Effect on Restaurants' Healthy Food Promotion -- Feeling Luxe: A Topic Modeling X Emotion Detection Analysis of Luxury Hotel Experiences -- Travelers' Psychological Comfort with Local Food Experiences and Place Attachment -- The Myth of Contactless Hospitality Service: Customers' Willingness to Pay -- Resident Empowerment and Support for Gaming Tourism: Comparisons of Resident Attitudes Pre- and Amid-Covid-19 Pandemic -- Overbooking as a Means to Manage Restaurant No-Shows and Cancellations: A Novel Model Extension.

[Article Title: What is a Theme Park? A Synthesis and Research Framework/ Zengxian Liang and Xiang (Robert) Li, p.1343-1370]

Abstract: Theme parks have attracted extensive scholarly attention within and outside the tourism literature. These parks have been studied from various stances, yet a uniform definition and integrated framework remain lacking for theme park research and practice. Based on a comprehensive review and research synthesis, this article defines a theme park as a dedicated space featuring five main characteristics: thematic identity, closed space with controlled access, hybrid consumption, performative labor, and merchandising. This article further considers multidisciplinary lenses in theme park studies, particularly in terms of how these five characteristics can be assessed. A research framework covering four domains (industry, tourists/visitors, environment, and impacts) is accordingly proposed to inspire theoretical advances, identify research gaps, promote relevant research, and facilitate managerial practices. This article encourages scholars to move beyond current empirical confines and shape the interdisciplinary future of theme park tourism research.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480211069173

[Article Title: How capricious supervisors affect hospitality employees' service performance? A diary study from the employees' emotional perspective/ In-Jo Park, Shenyang Hai and Peter Beomcheol Kim, p.1371-1398]

Abstract: Drawing on the affective events theory, this study examined the detrimental effects of supervisors’ emotional expression variability on hospitality employees’ emotional experience variability and service performance, and whether employees’ emotion management buffers such negative impacts. The research hypotheses were examined using longitudinal data collected from 145 hotel employees of multiple hotel companies who completed surveys in four phases: Time 1 (i.e., daily surveys for seven workdays to assess supervisors’ emotional expression variability), Time 2 (i.e., daily surveys for 7 workdays to assess employees’ emotional experience variability), Time 3, and Time 4 (i.e., a survey rated by supervisors). The results show that supervisors’ emotional expression variability has an indirect effect on employees’ service performance through employees’ emotional experience variability, and employee emotion management mitigates the related detrimental effects. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed for hospitality researchers and practitioners.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221076782

[Article Title: Healthy, But Say It Out Loud? The Messaging Effect on Restaurants' Healthy Food Promotion/ Lu Lu and Ruiying Cai, p.1399-1424]

Abstract: This research aims to examine the role of menu messaging (implicit vs. explicit) used to disclose the healthy food item in shifting diner perceptions and purchase intentions. Drawing on a consumer experiment, the results establish a menu messaging effect on diners’ purchase intentions of healthy items and the underlying mechanism via psychological reactance and perceived attractiveness. Explicit (vs. implicit) messaging negatively affects consumer purchase intentions, which is due to 1) increased psychological reactance (i.e., perceived threat of freedom and counterarguing) and 2) decreased perceived attractiveness. The menu messaging effect is further conditioned by diners’ goal orientation (pleasure vs. goal). Under a goal-driven mindset, the messaging effect is more pronounced compared to a pleasure-driven mindset. This research is among the first to establish a significant role of menu messaging in healthy item communication at restaurants. Theoretical and managerial are further elaborated.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221087965

[Article Title: Feeling Luxe: A Topic Modeling X Emotion Detection Analysis of Luxury Hotel Experiences/ Laurie Wu, Wan Yang, Yixing (Lisa) Gao and Shihan (David) Ma, p.1425-1452]

Abstract: As the luxury market and associated experiential consumption continues to rise, the hospitality management literature lags somewhat behind practice in examining luxury experiences. This research presents an exploratory analysis of luxury hotel experiences via the approach of topic modeling and emotion detection in online luxury hotel reviews. Results demonstrate that “people” and “product—activity & wellness” aspects of luxury hotel experiences tend to be positively associated with online review ratings. The “product—food & beverage” and “physical evidence and place” aspects may produce mixed effects on rating levels. Finally, the “process” and “price and promotion” aspects tend to be negatively associated with online review ratings. Findings further reveal that such effects function via the mediation paths of various categories of discrete emotions. These results offer enriching insight for hospitality management research and practice regarding luxury hotel experiences.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221103222

[Article Title: Travelers' Psychological Comfort with Local Food Experiences and Place Attachment/ Saerom Wang, Xinran Lehto, Liping Cai, Carl Behnke and Ksenia Kirillova, p.1453-1477]

Abstract: Travelers’ engagement with local food at a foreign destination could be overwhelming and affect their overall travel experience. This study investigates the role travelers’ psychological comfort with local food plays in influencing the development of their place attachment to a destination. The study utilized survey data sampled from Korean and American travelers who had visited China and found that travelers’ place attachment is positively and significantly influenced by their psychological comfort with food, interaction with service providers, and atmospherics. The findings also reveal that Korean and American travelers differ in the degree to which comfort affects their place attachment. These and other findings of the study bring attention to the comfort factor of travelers’ food experience, thus complementing previous research that tended to emphasize the novelty value of local cuisines.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480211058474

[Article Title: The Myth of Contactless Hospitality Service: Customers' Willingness to Pay Fei Hao, Richard T. R. Qiu, Jinah Park and Kaye Chon, p.1478-1502]

Abstract: Contactless hospitality services are an expensive endeavor with an uncertain return on investment. This study explores these services from the perspective of hotel guests’ willingness to pay (WTP). To this end, 10 discrete choice experiments were conducted on 1,939 Chinese hotel guests to test a hybrid choice model. The findings indicate that hotel guests’ WTP is influenced by hotel attributes, hotel scale, customer demographics, travel-related variables, technology readiness, and health concerns. Generally, there is significant heterogeneity in the WTP for different contactless amenities, such as for contactless room entrance, contactless payment system, contactless elevator service, robotic services, a smart room, and contactless front desk services. This study contributes to the knowledge on technology implementation in the hospitality industry and the WTP for hotel amenities. Furthermore, it guides hotel practitioners to invest smartly and rationally in contactless services.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221081781

[Article Title: Resident Empowerment and Support for Gaming Tourism: Comparisons of Resident Attitudes Pre- and Amid-Covid-19 Pandemic/ Xiangping Li, B. Bynum Boley and Fiona X. Yang, p.1503-1529]

Abstract: Grounded in Weber’s theory of formal and substantive rationality, this study aims to examine the influences of economic and noneconomic factors, namely resident empowerment and trust, on resident support for gaming tourism, a controversial type of tourism development. In particular, with data collected before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study also examines how resident perceptions of economic and noneconomic benefits of tourism have changed as a result of the pandemic. Findings show that perceived economic benefits and trust in government were significant determinants before and during the pandemic; however, the effects of empowerment seem to be mixed, depending on how controversial gaming tourism was at the time of data collection. Results suggest gaming tourism is viewed more critically during periods of high volume and that when gaming tourism dries up, residents start to become more supportive and to see the economic and noneconomic benefits in a different light.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221076474

[Article Title: Overbooking as a Means to Manage Restaurant No-Shows and Cancellations: A Novel Model Extension/ C. I. Chiang, p.1530-1545]

Abstract: Newsvendor models have been developed to determine the optimal overbooking level of hotel rooms to manage no-shows and cancellations. This research note extends the newsvendor model to a restaurant context by taking into account the “stretched capacity” of restaurants to determine the optimal overbooking levels for restaurant seats. Data were collected from a restaurant in Taiwan to illustrate the model. The percentage of no-shows per day in this restaurant ranged from 11% to 16%. Utilizing its stretched capacity, the restaurant can overbook up to five more seats than the estimated number of no-shows. The extended model will be most suitable for restaurants that largely depend on reservations (rather than walk-ins), such as luxury or fine-dining restaurants. Directions for future research on restaurant overbooking are provided.

https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480211064356