HTM Research Colloquium on Tourism, Health, and Quality of Life

2021-2022 | Hospitality as a Humanizing Agent in X Interactions

December 3, 2021, 2:30 pm // ZOOM

Touch vs. Tech in Service Encounter

• Guest Speaker: Dr. Alei Fan, Assistant Professor 
• Description:  The emergence of various service technologies has reshaped how today’s customers interact with the service provider. This research proposes a service matrix delineating various types of service encounters along two dimensions: touch (the extent to which customers directly interact with frontline employees) and tech (the intensity of technology use). Furthermore, the moderating role of relationship type (i.e., communal vs. exchange) is examined in influencing customer evaluations of touch and tech type encounters and the underlying mechanism is identified. The results from the two empirical studies demonstrate the moderating effect of the communal relationship norms and the consequent mediation effect of warmth. This research lays the foundation for the future investigation of different service encounter management practices based on various levels of human factors and technology infusion. For service companies, this research’s findings about the interplay of service encounter types and customer–company relationships will help them to better understand their customers and consequently provide an optimal level of service.
• Moderator: Dr. Liping A. Cai, Professor & Director, Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center

November 12, 2021

A Dialog about Tourism Student Engagement

• Panelist: Dr. Stephen Leitch, Dr. Aletha Stahl, Dr. Amy French
• Description: Within tourism education, there are two generalizations in opposition: (1) That as students and scholars in the field of tourism we inherently value interculturalism – an exchange of cultures. And (2) that we have been taught and are currently teaching in a banking system (i.e. the content expert providing expertise in a traditional style/lectures) that discourages the exploration and exchange of the local community. In this discussion, we open the floor for a dialog on how we can encourage students to be open-minded to exploring their local community outside of the campus and to implement the knowledge learned in the classroom to improve the attitudes and perspectives of the college-community relationship.
• Moderator: Ayrielle Davis-Espinosa, Graduate Program Coordinator
• Co-Moderator: Dr. Liping A. Cai, Professor & Director, Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center

 October 29, 2021

A Light in the Dark – Black Consumer Motivation in Dark Tourism

• Guest Speaker: Dr. Surjeet Baidwan, Associate Professor of Business at Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles
• Description: A presentation based on a qualitative phenomenological study designed to explore Black consumer behavior, namely motivation to visit a contemporary dark tourism site in urban America. This aspect of Black consumer behavior was examined to fill a gap in the literature regarding what motivates Black people to visit places where death and suffering have famously occurred, especially in contemporary contexts.
• Moderator: Dr. Liping A. Cai, Professor & Director, Purdue Tourism and Hospitality Research Center

October 15, 2021

Guest-Host Relationships: Hospitality with or without pandemic 

• Guest Speaker: Dr. Liping Cai
• Description: In this segment of the colloquium, Dr. Cai shared with the participants the outcomes of his recent study on community and destination hospitality. Conceptualizing hospitality as a human science beyond commercial boundaries, Dr. Cai outlined how the hospitality concept and social exchange theory can be synergistically informative to understanding the dynamics of and improving guest and host relationships at a destination community. Dr. Cai also illustrated five principles of hospitality and engaged the participants with four questions: 1) Is the pandemic changing the guest and host relationships (both short-term and long term)? 2) Are there other factors that have changed or changing the relationships? 3) Do the five principles still hold? 4) What is the role of tourism for a (destination) community?

Building Communities with Hospitality - I've got an app for that

• Guest Speaker: Dr. Stephen Leitch
• Description: A presentation about a real-world project with goal to bring communities together.  Learn about a silicon valley technology company that developed an application for community collaboration, relationship building and sustained economic development - all with a focus on hospitality.  See how this is changing behavior and making a difference.
  

October 1, 2021

Hospitality - Western Principles and Chinese Characteristics

• Guest Speaker: Dr. Liping Cai, Doctoral Students Ms. Jianan Lee and Ms. Jade Shi
• Description: Conceptually imported from the West, the definition and boundaries of hospitality programs in China’s post-secondary education remain varied and ambiguous. By investigating westerners’ observations of traditional Chinese hospitality, this study is designed to address the need to articulate the characteristics of traditional Chinese hospitality through a progressive qualitative approach. The findings identified six unique elements of traditional Chinese hospitality, including the presentation and interpretation of food and drink, etiquette and social order, the role of women, music, and performance, decorative colors, and expressive humility. The emphasis on etiquette and social order elevates traditional Chinese hospitality to the shared value influenced by Confucian principles. The recognition and understanding of the social value of traditional Chinese hospitality exhibit the potential to enrich the curricular design of the country’s higher education in hospitality and tourism.  

The First-time Graduate Instructor during the Pandemic – the Good & the Bad

• Dr. Liping Cai, Ms. Ayrielle Davis-Espinosa, Doctoral Students Ms. Jianan Lee and Ms. Jade Shi

September 17, 2021 | International Society of Travel & Tourism Educators Presentation Preparation

Presenters and Topics*: 

• Xinyue Li, Carl Behnke, and Michaela Nuebling: The influence of virtual reality (VR) technology on wine appreciation education
• Jieyu Shi, Liping Cai, Susan Gordon & Alei Fan: Enhancing intercultural competence in hospitality and tourism curriculum

 *In conjunction with the rehearsal of presentations at the upcoming 40 ^th Annual Conference of the International Society of Travel & Tourism Educators (http://istte.org/)

Past Colloquiums