With growing demands of decision making in the current era, the impact of the drivers behind individuals’ preferences and institutional strategies becomes prominent. Coined in 2008, nudge is used to describe incentives for individuals’ choices with foreseeable outcomes but without exclusion of alternative choices or reliance on financial stimuli. Consequently, nudge and its application in real-world situations led to a prosperous surge of studies in multiple disciplines. However, we are still facing a dearth of in-depth understanding of the status quo and future directions of research on nudge in a comprehensive fashion. To address the gap in knowledge, the present study adopted a bibliometric analysis of the existing literature related to the investigation and application of nudge by analyzing 1706 publications retrieved from Web of Science. The results indicated that (a) being a relatively newly developed theory, interest in nudge in academia has expanded both in volume and disciplines, with Western scholars and behavioral economists as the backbones; (b) future studies in nudge-related fields are expected to consolidate its current frontiers in individual behaviors while shedding light on new territories such as the digitalized environment. By incorporating state-of-the-art technologies to investigate extant research, the present study would be pivotal for the holistic understanding of the studies on nudge in recent years. Nevertheless, the inclusiveness and comprehensiveness of the review were limited by the size of the selected literature.

The aim of this study is to measure competitiveness of six island destinations in South East Asia. Face-to-face survey interviews with 1644 international tourists from six top island destinations (Langkawi-Malaysia, Bali-Indonesia, Koh Samui-Thailand, Phuket-Thailand, Palawan-Philippines and Boracay-Philippines) were conducted. Seven dimensions namely safety & security, basic infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, nature, man-made attractions, people and hospitality; and culture and traditions were used to measure the relative competitiveness of each destination. The IPA grids indicated different competitive positions of each island, with each island exhibiting unique characteristics and strengths. Implications for both practitioners and policy makers are discussed.

Purpose: Drawing on the transtheoretical model (TTM) into the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) framework, this study aims to understand the factors affecting the intention of Malaysian consumers to boycott products and services from companies perceived to be supporting or funding Israel and identify specific TPB variables that are important at each stage of change.Design/methodology/approach: Data collected were based on an online survey among 177 respondents working in Malaysian conglomerates based in Kuala Lumpur.Findings: The results show moderate intention to participate in the boycott among the respondents with attitude towards boycott, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control of boycott have significant relationship with intention to participate in the boycott towards Israel. The study also found significant linear increases of TPB constructs across the stages of change, which indicated significant influence of all TPB constructs at each stage of change.Originality/value: Consumer boycott is not unheard of in Malaysia, but empirical research in the area is still lacking. As markets expand, the consumers also evolve to become more knowledgeable and ethical in their consumption, sometimes choosing to boycott to coerce the companies or brands to be environmentally, ethically and socially responsible. Findings from this study are expected to benefit NGOs or associations that intend to develop more effective campaigns to encourage consumers to use boycott to drive social or ethical causes.

Geopark has exceptionally touristic values and now becoming an important geotourism attraction. However, geopark competitiveness is largely absent in geopark studies. The present study explores the competitive attributes of two UNESCO Global Geoparks in Asia namely Langkawi and Jeju based on the perspectives of international tourists and tourism practitioners. The mixed method study first used survey by measuring on seven dimensions namely nature & environment, man-made attraction, basic infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, culture & traditions, people's hospitality and safety & security. Samples include 256 and 286 international tourists to Jeju and Langkawi respectively. In-depth interviews were carried out with the tourism practitioners to compare on the competitive attributes of the islands. Using an Importance-Performance Analysis, thematic analysis and Joint Display, results underscore multi-faceted dimensions of tourism competitiveness of the two islands. This study advances the methodological approach in measuring destination competitiveness by integrating the perspectives of both tourists and tourism practitioners.

This research first aims to forecast tourist arrivals to Langkawi, Malaysia from its top three source markets, namely, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, between 2020 and 2022. Using the annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of those three countries, the study seeks to investigate the impact of GDP on tourist arrivals from these countries to Langkawi in the context of post-COVID-19 scenarios. The study uses expert modelers, namely, ARIMA models and Holt’s linear models, to find the best fit model. Then, linear regression analysis was conducted to assess the impact of GDP on tourist arrivals in Langkawi from the said three countries. The results from the Holt linear model predicted a significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals from China and Saudi Arabia from 2020–2022. In contrast, the number of forecasted tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom would be on a decreasing trend from 2020–2022. It is also predicted that GDP growth will influence the tourist arrival trends from China and Saudi Arabia, but not for UK tourists. In other words, a speedy rate of recovery in the number of tourists from the UK to Langkawi is forecasted for once international travel restrictions are lifted, as the world eases into the post-pandemic period.