Consumer Waiting Behaviour: Priority Passes in Tourism Services
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 ADVERTIMENT. L'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi doctoral i la seva utilització ha de respectar els drets de la persona autora. Pot ser utilitzada per a consulta o estudi personal, així com en activitats o materials d'investigació i docència en els termes establerts a l'art. 32 del Text Refós de la Llei de Propietat Intel·lectual (RDL 1/1996). Per altres utilitzacions es requereix l'autorització prèvia i expressa de la persona autora. En qualsevol cas, en la utilització dels seus continguts caldrà indicar de forma clara el nom i cognoms de la persona autora i el títol de la tesi doctoral. No s'autoritza la seva reproducció o altres formes d'explotació efectuades amb finalitats de lucre ni la seva comunicació pública des d'un lloc aliè al servei TDX. Tampoc s'autoritza la presentació del seu contingut en una finestra o marc aliè a TDX (framing). Aquesta reserva de drets afecta tant als continguts de la tesi com als seus resums i índexs. ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis doctoral y su utilización debe respetar los derechos de la persona autora. Puede ser utilizada para consulta o estudio personal, así como en actividades o materiales de investigación y docencia en los términos establecidos en el art. 32 del Texto Refundido de la Ley de Propiedad Intelectual (RDL 1/1996). Para otros usos se requiere la autorización previa y expresa de la persona autora. En cualquier caso, en la utilización de sus contenidos se deberá indicar de forma clara el nombre y apellidos de la persona autora y el título de la tesis doctoral. No se autoriza su reproducción u otras formas de explotación efectuadas con fines lucrativos ni su comunicación pública desde un sitio ajeno al servicio TDR. Tampoco se autoriza la presentación de su contenido en una ventana o marco ajeno a TDR (framing). Esta reserva de derechos afecta tanto al contenido de la tesis como a sus resúmenes e índices. WARNING. Access to the contents of this doctoral thesis and its use must respect the rights of the author. It can be used for reference or private study, as well as research and learning activities or materials in the terms established by the 32nd article of the Spanish Consolidated Copyright Act (RDL 1/1996). Express and previous authorization of the author is required for any other uses. In any case, when using its content, full name of the author and title of the thesis must be clearly indicated. Reproduction or other forms of for profit use or public communication from outside TDX service is not allowed. Presentation of its content in a window or frame external to TDX (framing) is not authorized either. These rights affect both the content of the thesis and its abstracts and indexes. UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES DOCTORAL THESIS Director: Dr. Gerard Ryan Department of Business Management Reus, 2015 UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 "....El tiempo es la sustancia de que estoy hecho. El tiempo es un río que me arrebata, pero yo soy ese río” ".... Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which carries me, but I am the river” Jorge Luis Borges UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 Acknowledgements I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my advisor Dr. Gerard Ryan who has conveyed a spirit of adventure, enthusiasm and hard-work with regards to research. Without his guidance and persistent help this dissertation would not have been possible. Thanks to Dr. Mireia Valverde and Dr. Mar Pàmies for their constant support and guidance throughout these years. A very special thanks to the Faculty of Business and Economics and the Business Department of the Rovira i Virgili University for providing me with human and economic resources that have made this thesis possible. It’s also my responsibility to thank everyone who knowingly or otherwise, has provided support, encouragement and assistance along the way. I gratefully acknowledge the tremendous support and motivation from my family, friends and especially my colleagues who had been of great help in the accomplishment of this thesis. I also want to thank Dr.Miguel Majón for his help and guidance regarding the quantitative methodological issues and Dr. Michael Blazey for the opportunity he gave me to do my international research period at California State University, Long Beach, USA. i UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 Summary Consumer waiting behaviour: Priority passes in tourism services Gilda Hernández-Maskivker Waiting times are a common phenomenon in tourism contexts. Numerous examples and daily occurrences, such as waiting to check-in at a hotel, for a table at a restaurant, or to board a flight, demonstrate some of ways consumers spend their time waiting for tourism and hospitality services. Due to capacity limitations of a given service, waiting times may be unavoidable. For example, waiting in lines are normal components of enjoying rides and shows in a theme park. Added to this, waiting is associated with lower levels of customer satisfaction, lower service evaluations, loss of clients and bad reputation. Thus, correct management of waiting times is crucial to maintaining positive tourist experiences. In spite of more than thirty years of research on waiting times, not much is known from a consumer behaviour perspective about those who are willing to pay extra to avoid waits and those who are not. Despite being a widely used system, little attention has been paid to priority systems and the factors that influence consumers when they purchase the service. There is a lack of empirical research in a natural setting that addresses this issue. From this identified gap, the main objective of this thesis is to determine in a theme park context factors that characterize consumers who are willing to pay extra to avoid waits (express pass holders) and consumers who are not (non- express pass holders). For this empirical work, a case study of the largest theme park in Spain, located in Catalonia, and their clients was performed. Analysis of collected survey data using logit models was conducted in order to characterize both groups according to their factors of influence. Model A was designed to consider only external factors of influence, Model B only internal factors of influence, and finally Model C includes both groups of factors in order to have an integral view of purchase decisions. The results of the models show that Model C has a greater overall explanatory power to the other two models. In the more effective model (Model C), the visit day, how customers find out about the express pass, the number of people in the party, the culture, the attitude toward the express pass, the attitude toward waiting times, prior experiences purchasing an express pass, prior experience visiting theme parks, the expectation of average waiting time, the perception of waits shorter than expected and the visit motivation (thrill motivation and leisure visit motivation) appear as significant variables that allow characterization of both groups (pass and non- pass holders). In this manner, not all consumers interpret waiting times and the systems to avoid them in the same way and, consequently, they should be addressed in different ways. Analysing the purchase behaviour of the express pass from an integral approach of the consumer behaviour leads a better characterisation of market segments and allows companies to rethink priority systems and marketing strategies. ii UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI CONSUMER WAITING BEHAVIOUR: PRIORITY PASSES IN TOURISM SERVICES Gilda Maria Hernández-Maskivker Dipòsit Legal: T 1357-2015 Content Table Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. i Summary .............................................................................................................................. ii Content Table ...................................................................................................................... iii List of figures ...................................................................................................................... vii List of tables ........................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1. Introduction 1.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Objectives of the study ................................................................................................. 2 1.2. Justification of the study ............................................................................................... 2 1.2.1. Theoretical and academic reasons ................................................................. 3 1.2.2. Practical reasons ...........................................................................................