{"title":"Co-creating safe and satisfying tourist experiences: The roles of self-protective and destination-protective behaviors in adventure mountain tourism","authors":"Ziyang Li , Lirong Kou , Yaqing Zhang , Honggang Xu , Hui Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101377","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101377","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The global adventure tourism market is rapidly expanding and increasingly becoming a form of mass tourism. With the increasing safety concerns of adventure tourism, dual-actor responsibility receives attention. The objective of this study is to investigate how tourists' self-protective behavior and their perceived protective behavior of the destination (i.e., facility and management protections) influenced their overall satisfaction based on Expectation-Confirmation Theory and Co-creation Theory. A mixed-methods approach was conducted to collect data. The findings reveal that self-protective behavior does not directly enhance satisfaction. Rather, only when tourists perceive destination-protective behavior, in terms of both facility and management protections, and gain a corresponding sense of safety, can a satisfactory experience be achieved. Besides, in adventure mountain destinations, self-protective behavior can be understood through three key aspects: information, equipment, and actions. Tourists perceive facility protection from the destination via features such as rest platforms, guardrails, and stone steps, while management protection is reflected in staff, instruction, and policies. Together, these elements co-create the tourists' experience of safety and satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering the co-creative mechanism through which individual and destination protective behaviors jointly shape safe and satisfying tourist experiences. It also provides valuable managerial implications for enhancing tourists’ safety and satisfaction in adventure and mountainous tourism settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101377"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145730666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reducing portion size misperception and food waste in restaurants through contrast-based menu communication","authors":"Yaou Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101400","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101400","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Grounded in the theoretical perspective of information asymmetry, drawing on signaling theory and contrast effect theory, this research investigates how contrast-based menu design can reduce consumer over-purchasing and waste in restaurants. Two empirical studies were conducted targeting Canadian consumers. Study 1 used survey data to demonstrate that menu miscommunication contributes to portion size misperception, and over-purchasing and waste, effects amplified in unfamiliar restaurants. Study 2 employed an experiment to test the effectiveness of a contrast-based menu compared to text-only and image-based menus. Results show that contrast-based design significantly reduces portion size misperception and subsequent over-purchasing and waste. This research extends the signaling theory and contrast effect theory in the context of food waste management. It offers actionable insights for hospitality practitioners seeking to reduce consumer-generated food waste. By addressing a critical global sustainability issue, this work contributes evidence-based solutions with implications for both environmental and societal well-being.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101400"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146022907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hui Zhang , Jun Wen , Keji Huang , Metin Kozak , Yunyun Fan
{"title":"The “original face”: Visitors’ experience in Buddhist pilgrimage tourism through the lens of Zen thought","authors":"Hui Zhang , Jun Wen , Keji Huang , Metin Kozak , Yunyun Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101387","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101387","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the visitors' experience while participating in the Dachaotai in Mount Wutai through the prism of Chinese Zen philosophy. Data was collected through participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and online texts. This study subsequently analyzed the data within the framework of the means-end chain model through which four attributes, six consequences, and three values were identified. The results showed that an attribute-consequence-value hierarchical value map of the original face could be constructed, and the formation process of visitors' original face was deduced. The value stratum of the experience regarding visitors' original face primarily encompassed “Free flow of thoughts”, “Being in one's own mind”, and “Epiphany”,which could be interpreted within the principal tenets of Zen Buddhism. The research findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge about Buddhist pilgrimage tourism and bridge the gap that exists between Chinese Zen philosophy and tourist experience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101387"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145823829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relational or institutional embeddedness? Selection of embedding strategies for farmers’ tourism entrepreneurship","authors":"Jiaxin Guo, Xiaolong Ma, Wentong Jia, Wenzhengze Guan","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101427","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101427","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Embeddedness is a fundamental mechanism for rural tourism entrepreneurship. While the significance of embeddedness has been emphasized in previous studies, microlevel analyses of the embedding process and embedding strategies remain limited. Using farmers' tourism entrepreneurship in Wangjiazhai village, China, as a case study, this study explores farmers' selection process and their underlying logic in adopting relational and institutional embeddedness strategies in tourism entrepreneurship. The findings indicate that farmer’ tourism entrepreneurship is an endogenous embeddedness that involves the utilization of pre-existing community networks and their commercial reconstruction. Within the community-led collective entrepreneurship model, farmer entrepreneurs sequentially select institutional embeddedness, “relational-institutional” mixed embeddedness, and relational embeddedness as their predominant strategies across entrepreneurial firm's life cycle stages. Their strategic selections follow an “individual entrepreneurial capabilities—relational/institutional marginal benefit—embedding strategy” logic. Entrepreneurial capabilities exhibit moderating effects on strategy selection, specifically, enhanced entrepreneurial capabilities among farmer entrepreneurs weaken institutional influence while amplifying the marginal benefits of relationships. This study extends the application of embeddedness in tourism research and provides insights for promoting rural tourism entrepreneurship among community farmers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101427"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147447118","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lixiao Geng , Mingxi He , Weiquan Chen , Shichang Liang , You Li
{"title":"Joint or solo? How temporal landmarks affect tourism consumption decision preferences","authors":"Lixiao Geng , Mingxi He , Weiquan Chen , Shichang Liang , You Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101366","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101366","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Joint consumption or solo consumption can offer tourists different experiences. Based on regulatory focus theory, this research explores how temporal landmarks influence tourists' preference for solo versus joint consumption. Through four studies, the results demonstrate that start temporal landmarks activate tourists' promotion focus, which increases their preference for solo consumption; end temporal landmarks activate tourists’ prevention focus, which increases their preference for joint consumption (Studies 1–2). Tourism activity type moderates the above effect. When the activities are challenging, tourists prefer solo consumption at start temporal landmarks and prefer joint consumption at end temporal landmarks. However, when the activities are relaxing, the effect is not significant (Study 3). This research contributes to the literature on temporal landmarks and consumption decision preferences, expands the application range of regulatory focus theory. It also provides actionable suggestions for tourism companies to promote consumption at different time points.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101366"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145732666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michelle Russen , Lisa Nicole Cain , Miranda Kitterlin-Lynch
{"title":"Beyond the tip credit: Modernizing business models for equitable wage practices","authors":"Michelle Russen , Lisa Nicole Cain , Miranda Kitterlin-Lynch","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101394","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The political and legal landscape in the United States surrounding the use of tips as wages has long been debated. However, many cities and states are moving toward the abolition of the tip credit, a law that allows restaurants and bars to pay below the federal minimum wage. This study aimed to investigate how restaurants and bars may be sustainable during the transition away from using the tip credit. Interviews and correspondence with 13 restaurant and bar owners and operators were conducted using interpretivist qualitative research informed by community engagement. Analysis revealed contingency theory as a useful interpretive framework. Results indicated six business models as alternatives to the tip credit: (1) inclusive tip pooling, (2) service charges, (3) revenue sharing, (4) transparent hourly wages, (5) hourly leadership, and (6) increased base rates. Some organizations used one model as the sole business model, while other organizations implemented multiple models.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101394"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145902324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Kahulugan ng Kabuhayan: conceptualising a practice-based meaning of informal tourism work","authors":"Kyrie Eleison (Kyle) Muñoz , Richard N.S. Robinson , Greg Marston","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101419","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101419","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research has shifted attention toward the subjective meanings workers attach to their labour. While valuable, extant literature has centred on individual and subjective meanings of work, often overlooking the broader sociocultural dimensions that shape these meanings. Using a six-month cross-indigenous ethnographic approach and Filipino practice-based methods, we hence examine the social-relational practices of 52 informal tourism workers in Palawan, Philippines, to explore how they derive meaning from their work. Findings reveal that workers associate their labour with meanings of collective identity, struggle, and strength expressed through normative, dialogic, and embodied practices grounded in the native virtue of <em>pakikipagkapwa</em> (shared inner self). These collective meanings challenge individualistic understandings of work and underscore the significance of culturally embedded social practices in tourism labour. We propose an empirically-informed framework grounded on the sociocultural practices that shape meaningful work and policy-relevant insights into the social value of informal labour in tourism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101419"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146778289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yunfei Xing , Jinrui Liu , Yuming He , Justin Z. Zhang
{"title":"What resonates most? An investigation on the factors of customer satisfaction in senior living communities","authors":"Yunfei Xing , Jinrui Liu , Yuming He , Justin Z. Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101423","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101423","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Senior living communities (SLCs), specialized residential facilities designed to support older adults, have attracted increasing scholarly and practical attention amid rapid global population aging. As demand for these SLCs grows, prospective residents and their families increasingly rely on online customer reviews as a critical source of information to inform their decision-making. Drawing upon expectation-confirmation theory, this paper proposes an explainable machine learning model that integrates eXtreme Gradient Boosting and Shapley Additive exPlanations algorithms to investigate the impact of key variables on customer satisfaction in SLCs. In addition, we employ text clustering and multiple correspondence analysis to uncover dominant experiential themes and stakeholder-specific concerns embedded in online review narratives. Our findings reveal that care services make the largest marginal contribution to customer satisfaction and identify 37 clustered topics reflecting diverse expectations across facility types and customer segments. By integrating interpretable artificial intelligence with ECT, this study offers both methodological advances and actionable insights into satisfaction formation in institutional care settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101423"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147278888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur , Ying-Syuan Lin , Chang-Hua Yen
{"title":"Scale development and validation for tourist transformation: A theoretical integration approach","authors":"Sheng-Hshiung Tsaur , Ying-Syuan Lin , Chang-Hua Yen","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101425","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2026.101425","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tourist transformation is travel-stimulated positive change in a tourist's values, attitudes, and behaviors. Little study has measured outward-directed and self-directed changes in tourists by using scales developed through the integration of transformative learning and existential transformation theory. Therefore, two studies were conducted. Study 1 developed a scale for tourist transformation and identified six dimensions of such transformation: inner reflection, knowledge acquisition, values change, self-behavioral change, external behavioral change, and life attitude change. Study 2 investigated the associations between the antecedents and consequences of tourist transformation. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101425"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147392292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluating pride applicants: The moderating role of sex and perceived similarity on hiring managers’ evaluations of gender-nonconforming applicants","authors":"Dongwon Yun , Renata F. Guzzo , Cass Shum","doi":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101378","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.101378","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite recent legal and social changes associated with gender-nonconforming individuals at work, there is scant recent research on hiring managers' evaluations of gender-nonconforming applicants. Drawing on the similarity-attraction theory, this research investigates how and when gender-nonconforming displays affect hospitality hiring managers’ perceptions and evaluations of job applicants. Three between-subject experiments in the context of screening and interviewing applicants for front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house positions demonstrate a consistent three-way interactive moderated mediation effect. Gender-nonconforming displays increase likability, especially among similar female and non-similar male applicants. Hiring managers make favorable evaluations (in suitability and recommendations) when they like the applicants. This is among the first studies on how hospitality hiring managers evaluate gender-nonconforming applicants, offering practical implications on selection practices in the hospitality industry while extending the similarity-attraction theory.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51445,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management","volume":"66 ","pages":"Article 101378"},"PeriodicalIF":7.8,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145785799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}