Dr Rachel Wang

Success in attracting talent in the hospitality industry rests on employers’ ability to project value proposition that closely corresponds with the requirements of its target employees. Despite their importance to the hospitality industry, Gen Z perspectives on employer attractiveness received limited attention in the academic literature. This study applies an employee-centric approach to employer brands to identify motivational structures which determine Gen Z hospitality employer choices. Underpinned by means-end-chain theory, the study uncovers the hierarchical knowledge structures that link employer attributes, the benefits derived from these attributes, and personal values. Findings confirm the usefulness of the means-end-chain theory in generating insights into motivational structures of potential employees. The value structures of Gen Z are psychological, development and social value. Findings are relevant to hospitality employer brands as it allows them to understand how attributes are interpreted by potential employees, and lead to benefits and higher value forms. In turn, this enables employers to tailor their value proposition to match their offer to Gen Z and employers’ resource base.

Five factors are found to influence millennials when buying vegan leather luxuryproducts (VLLPs): sustainability awareness, peer pressure, and the perceived conspic-uousness, quality and aesthetics of these products. Five factors are identified, all pos-itively impacting purchase intention: sustainability awareness, positive friend orfamily opinion on VLLPs, and the perceived conspicuousness, quality, and aestheticsof these products. Brands producing VLLPs and targeting millennials should focus onthese factors while creating a marketing strategy.

Smart technology applications in hospitality can leverage user experience values only if they are motivated to
adopt the provided technology. This study aimed to understand Airbnb guests’ intentions to adopt smart voice
assistants (SVAs) like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Underpinned by social cognitive theory (SCT), a revised self-efficacy-based value adoption model (SVAM) was developed for the study. A survey sample of 255 UK Airbnb guests was analysed using PLS-SEM statistical technique. The results indicate that perceived functional value, perceived emotional value and perceived privacy risk were the significant determinants for Airbnb guests’ intention to adopt SVAs, while the effect of perceived social value was insignificant. Self-efficacy directly influenced SVA adoption intention among Airbnb guests and indirectly via the perceived values. Our multiple group analysis suggests that self-efficacy on perceived functional value contrasted significantly between everyday users and occasional users. This study is one of the pioneering empirical studies investigating guests’ technology adoption behaviour in the Airbnb context. Specifically, the revised SVAM model advances SCT literature and contributes to understanding smart technology adoption associated with Airbnb guests. Also, this study provides practical implications for Airbnb stakeholders to enhance the Airbnb guest experience value by using Airbnb smart technology applications. 

Purpose - Social media influencers (SMIs) play an increasingly important role in influencing youth and their shopping behaviours in digital marketing. Research has examined various but fragmented SMIs, which cause inconsistency in empirical results. This research seeks to categorise the most popular SMIs in luxury fashion and examine their distinctive effects on Gen Z consumption in China.

Design/methodology/approach - We categorise SMIs into four groups based on two dimensions, i.e. network interactivity versus social connectedness. Drawing on the social network theory, we develop the research model. A sample of 400 survey data is collected and analysed using the PLS-SEM technique.

Findings - The empirical results suggest that among the four popular SMIs groups, the effects of celebrities, opinion leaders, and friends and peers on luxury fashion consumption of Gen Z are statistically significant while that of advertisers are insignificant; that friends and peers have the most substantial effect among the others.

Origin/value - The study contributes to understanding SMIs and consumer behaviour in digital emerging markets. By categorising SMIs, this study reconciles inconsistencies in the concept. This study contributes to a better understanding of SMIs and their roles in the digital marketing of luxury fashion consumption.