The concept of value co-creation brings about changes in tourists’ roles from value receivers to producers. Most existing studies take value co-creation behavior as a single dimension, ignoring the role switching of tourists. Starting from the precise constitution of value co-creation behavior, this paper, utilizing the method of structural equation modeling (SEM), discusses the mechanism of the effects of tourist participation behavior and citizenship behavior on destination loyalty through each sub-dimension of perceived value. The results showed the following: (1) The participation behavior (in-role) and citizenship behavior (extra-role) of tourists affect different value dimensions. (2) The value co-created by tourists presents a hierarchical state from the primary to the higher level. Among the types of value, novelty and social value belong to the primary level while quality, economic, knowledge, and emotional value belong to the higher level. (3) Destination loyalty is driven not only by tourist behavior (in-role) but also by citizenship behavior (extra-role). Based on the perspective of role switching, this paper establishes the theoretical framework of role switching in the era of value co-creation and proposes some strategic suggestions for marketing transformation.
In an era of mobile internet, word-of-mouth marketing has become a powerful tool for optimizing tourist destination marketing. Extensive research studies on the mechanism of word-of-mouth have been carried out. However, there is little research on the mechanism of word-of-mouth concerning tourist destinations in crisis. This article focuses on the influence mechanism of word-of-mouth in the relationship between perceived images and behavioral intentions. A structural equation model was established, with “perceived image” as the independent variable, “word-of-mouth” and “psychological distance” as mediating variables, and “behavioral intention” as the dependent variable. Our study is based on a survey in Southern Xinjiang. The final results show that word-of-mouth plays a mediating role in the relationship between perceived image and behavioral intentions. The moderating effect of word-of-mouth plays two roles in the mechanism of the perceived image on the behavioral intention: the promotion mechanism and the repression mechanism. Tourists’ sense of psychological distance significantly mediates the relationship between perceived image and behavioral intention. The findings enrich word-of-mouth and the marketing theories for the destinations in crisis, which provide enlightening insights for the sustainable development of the destinations in crisis.
Tourist engagement in marketing activities for destinations has been seen as a new driving force for the sustainable development of such destinations and as an effective way to improve their brand equity. Based on the theory of value co-creation and the theory of consumer-based brand equity for destinations, this paper examines the antecedents of brand engagement and the causal paths among them and compares the estimated values of different paths with brand image, brand awareness, and brand quality as the independent variables; brand value and brand trust as the mediating variables; and brand engagement as the dependent variable, taking Shandong Province as an example. The final results show that brand image, brand awareness, and brand quality are all key antecedents of brand engagement; however, they play different roles. The total effect of brand quality is the largest, the total effect of brand awareness follows, and the total effect of brand image is the smallest. Furthermore, the mediating effect of brand value is larger than the mediating effect of brand trust. The results provide empirical support for promoting the management of brand equity for similar destinations and encouraging tourists to participate in value co-creation activities.
1 October 2021 in Polish Journal of Environmental Studies
This study investigates the effect of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity (GTFP) of marine economy in China. Environmental regulation can reduce environmental pollution, and it is the key to sustainable development, but we scarcely know its effects on marine economy. Although environmental regulation increases the cost of economic operation and reduces profits, it also can improve the productivity through stimulating more innovation activities. Therefore, the net effect of environmental regulation on productivity depends on the relative size of the two competitive effects. We present the following evidence on the basis of marine economy in China’s coastal provinces. (1) The GTFP of marine economy shows an upward trend. (2) Environmental regulation from investment and cost perspectives has a positive effect on GTFP of marine economy in the long term but not the short term, which supports the Porter hypothesis. (3) Environmental regulation has a single threshold effect on GTFP with environmental regulation, economic development level, and technological level as the threshold variable, respectively. The influence on GTFP can be significantly positively after crossing the threshold value. This study provides timely evidence and important policy implications for achieving a win-win situation between environmental protection and economic development through environmental regulation.
In the era of the knowledge economy, knowledge management is increasingly important. Knowledge management ability is one of the core factors influencing enterprise competitiveness, affecting innovation performance and sustainable development. To test the impact mechanism of the knowledge management of enterprises on innovation performance, a multilevel structural equation model was established using data from the automobile industry in China, with “knowledge management” (KM) as the independent variable, the three dimensions of absorptive capacity as the mediating variables, and “innovation performance” (IP) as the dependent variable at the firm level. At the cluster level, the innovation milieu of the cluster was introduced into the model. The results show that the three dimensions of absorptive capacity all significantly mediate the relationship between knowledge management and innovation performance. The innovation milieu of the cluster had a direct cross-level effect on the innovation performance of enterprises and a positive cross-level moderated effect on the relationship between explorative learning and innovation performance. These results support the promotion of enterprise innovation ability and the creation of an innovation milieu in the automobile industry in China.
Destination image and safety not only affect tourist decision-making but also the sustainable development of tourist destinations. Some tourist destinations are too vulnerable to defend against emergency tourist crises, and tourists’ perceived safety can be severely biased, which is then deepened by media panic caused by the publication of excessive negative reports. This paper discusses the mechanism of perceived safety and perceived image on tourist behavioral intention, as well as the inter-group difference. Our study is based on a survey in Southern Xinjiang in which the respondents were divided into four groups. Four structural equation models were established with “perceived safety” and “perceived image” as independent variables, “destination trust” and “perceived value” as mediating variables, and “behavioral intention” as the dependent variable. The final results show that a paradox of safety perception exists in tourists’ perception of Southern Xinjiang. The perceived safety differs sharply between the tourists who have traveled to Southern Xinjiang and those who have not. The mechanism of perceived safety on tourist behavioral intention differs from that of the perceived image on tourist behavioral intention. Destination image still plays a key role in tourist traveling decision-making. The findings are of great significance for the restoration of cognitive bias, management, and marketing activities, and the sustainable development in Southern Xinjiang and similar destinations.