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Outcomes and Challenges of a Cooperative and Intercultural Learning Project: A Critical Analysis
Abstract
Tourism per se is about interactions and relationships with other cultures. Service quality perceptions vary from one culture to another, and cross-cultural host-tourist interactions shape experiences on both sides and inform the development of emerging markets and products. Encountering another culture through social interaction can contribute significantly to cross-cultural understanding and the development of adapted tourism provision. India and Belgium are historically not countries with close ties. However, India is attempting to increase the number of international visitors to the country, and Belgium aims to attract more Indian visitors. In that context, two universities, one from Mumbai in India and the other from Brussels in Belgium, decided to collaborate and develop a joint project aimed at fostering cross-cultural exchanges between their tourism management students. The aim was to sensitise future tourism practitioners, reduce cultural stereotypes and develop adapted, sustainable and responsible tourism products. The programme was initiated in 2014. It consisted of a joint course focussed on profiling the partner universities as well as the development of specifically adapted itineraries. The course was based on direct virtual interactions between the students on a regular basis for a 4-month period. During that time, students interacted through a simulation in which they played, alternately, the roles of tourists and hosts. This chapter will look critically into this joint course experience over recent years. After highlighting the tourism context, the contents of the course and its implementation will be analysed. The learning outcomes and the key challenges of intercultural learning projects are tackled.
... A more suitable approach would require treating positive and negative comments separately because some aspects of service quality may act as satisfiers while others as dissatisfiers, as shown in some conventional service settings (Leisen Pollack, 2008;Park et al., 2020). Lastly, perceptions of service quality vary from culture to culture (Diekmann et al., 2019;Laroche et al., 2004;Narteh, 2018) and the results of studies conducted in one country may not be generalizable to other countries. ...
Purpose-Customer reviews of mobile banking (m-banking) apps contain the most direct and first-hand accounts of customer experiences with m-banking. However, surprisingly little effort has been made to understand m-banking service quality using these reviews. Therefore, this study aims to discover m-banking service quality dimensions from customers' reviews of the m-banking apps through a text mining approach. Design/methodology/approach-Reviews of m-banking apps of 24 banks operating in Pakistan were scraped from Google Play Store. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) method was applied to discover the dimensions of m-banking service quality from 24,529 positive and 29,569 negative useable reviews. Findings-Different dimensions of m-banking service quality are discussed in positive and negative reviews. Positive reviews focus on security, convenience, ease of use, continuous improvement, usefulness and app attributes, whereas negative reviews discuss system availability, responsiveness, faulty updates, login problems and reliability. Research limitations/implications-The results are based only on customer reviews in one country and generalization may not be possible. Moreover, due to the unavailability of demographic information about reviewers, the effect of demographic characteristics on users' perceptions of m-banking quality could not be determined. Practical implications-The study provides managers with useful insights to improve the service experience of m-banking customers. The study also demonstrates how managers can employ text analytical techniques to assess and improve the quality of m-banking services. Originality/value-In addition to enriching the understanding of m-banking quality based on direct and first-hand user experiences, the current study also provides initial evidence for the two-factor structure of m-banking service quality.
... A more suitable approach would require treating positive and negative comments separately because some aspects of service quality may act as satisfiers while others as dissatisfiers, as shown in some conventional service settings (Leisen Pollack, 2008;Park et al., 2020). Lastly, perceptions of service quality vary from culture to culture (Diekmann et al., 2019;Laroche et al., 2004;Narteh, 2018) and the results of studies conducted in one country may not be generalizable to other countries. ...
Purpose
Customer reviews of mobile banking (m-banking) apps contain the most direct and first-hand accounts of customer experiences with m-banking. However, surprisingly little effort has been made to understand m-banking service quality using these reviews. Therefore, this study aims to discover m-banking service quality dimensions from customers' reviews of the m-banking apps through a text mining approach.
Design/methodology/approach
Reviews of m-banking apps of 24 banks operating in Pakistan were scraped from Google Play Store. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) method was applied to discover the dimensions of m-banking service quality from 24,529 positive and 29,569 negative useable reviews.
Findings
Different dimensions of m-banking service quality are discussed in positive and negative reviews. Positive reviews focus on security, convenience, ease of use, continuous improvement, usefulness and app attributes, whereas negative reviews discuss system availability, responsiveness, faulty updates, login problems and reliability.
Research limitations/implications
The results are based only on customer reviews in one country and generalization may not be possible. Moreover, due to the unavailability of demographic information about reviewers, the effect of demographic characteristics on users' perceptions of m-banking quality could not be determined.
Practical implications
The study provides managers with useful insights to improve the service experience of m-banking customers. The study also demonstrates how managers can employ text analytical techniques to assess and improve the quality of m-banking services.
Originality/value
In addition to enriching the understanding of m-banking quality based on direct and first-hand user experiences, the current study also provides initial evidence for the two-factor structure of m-banking service quality.
... General concerns about tourism and cultural identity have been discussed in previous academic works, recognising that 'the tourism sector is deeply connected to intercultural issues' (Diekmann et al., 2019). Di Pietro, Guglielmetti, and Renzi (2018) underlined that culture and cultural heritage are the most important foundation for creating and maintaining values of identity, ownership, and citizenship. ...
Educational school trips may contribute to student visitors' cultural identity by facilitating exposure to new cultural values. This study sought to analyse how native Papuan student visitors from a secondary school in Indonesia make meaning of their own cultural identity, and further, explore their responses to the cultural issues faced by young Papuan generations. The study employed a grounded qualitative methodology, which allowed respondents to voice their own opinions on cultural identity. The results include 3 themes: Becoming more Papuan; Clarifying and understanding the cultural context and; Self-reflection. This study reveals how students in the trips conceptualize cultural understanding as a bridge to their cultural identity. Furthermore, they brought the larger ideas of Papuan identity and community values and demonstrated intention to maintain it through conservation and preservation. Several recommendations are provided for future research in the tourism and education fields to foster cultural experiences for student visitors from different cultural backgrounds.
This case study elaborates on the benefits and challenges of lecturer-led, class-level online international collaboration between two colleges in Korea and China, based on the students’ feedback and the lecturers’ reflections. More specifically, this study reports the content of collaboration as group assignments in 2015 and online joint classes in 2018. Students’ reflections on each task were collected and thematically analyzed. The results show that students perceived enhanced understanding of the topics and each other’s regions through the two collaborative activities. Furthermore, informal interactions among the students from the two different cultures appeared to facilitate intercultural understanding and enhance intercultural competence as a result. Students particularly appreciated the inclusive nature of this educational method, which is not bounded by prior educational achievement and financial restrictions. Reflections from the two lecturers further illustrate the challenges with joint class organization, including class scheduling, aligning course content, language issues, and technical problems. This study addresses consideration for international class collaboration among tertiary educational institutions at the class level in the field of tourism and leisure.
Given the challenges of developing inter-culturally competent, digitally literate, team players amidst a realm of other postgraduate competencies this paper outlines the initiative developed by academic teams from three European institutions. The paper outlines the virtual intercultural collaboration and its development and then reports on the results of a survey conducted with participating students from two years of the initiative. Students' perceptions of the generic value of specific skills sets in virtual team working and intercultural competence are identified as well as their views of the specific project's capacity to develop their own skills in the relevant areas, are explored. The results suggest that since social media, team work and intercultural interactions seem to be ever present dimensions of the contemporary world of work it appears to be important that students encounter meaningful virtual and intercultural learning opportunities during their postgraduate management studies. Finally this paper highlights the value of inter-programme teaching and learning collaborative activities between European higher education institutions.
There can be little debate that culture—the multiple characteristics and backgrounds that shape individ-uals' and organizations' identities, perceptions, atti-tudes, and behavior—strongly influences the suc-cess of business enterprises today. Intergroup conflict constantly threatens the ability of both do-mestic and global firms to operate efficiently, coop-eratively, and fairly. Did a merger between a Japa-nese-owned firm and an American-owned firm fail because of inferior products and inappropriate pric-ing or because the managers were personally incom-patible and the organizations' operating styles too disparate? Did a company's efforts to advance women into management fail because the women were not up to the challenge or because the work environment undermined their performance or per-ceived performance? Business educators cannot sim-ply teach undergraduate and graduate students that cultural differences matter. They must equip stu-dents to understand how cultural differences work and thus how to turn cultural competence into a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural management (also called "cross-cultural management") tend to fall short of this goal. We identify cultural management skills required for success in today's business environ-ment, then examine gaps between those target competencies and current teaching in multicul-tural management, and the source of those gaps in the courses' conceptual foundations. We suggest improving these courses using concepts from, among other places, "domestic" diversity manage-ment courses. In fact, we propose to improve both types of courses by merging them into a unified course designed around the border-erasing con-cept of cultural competence.
Graduates are increasingly expected to work in international contexts, therefore skills in intercultural interaction are crucial. Previous research suggests that overseas students anticipate positive intercultural interaction but are often disappointed, as some home students are unwilling to work in intercultural groups without explicit encouragement. In this study, we investigated interactions in three group work settings with home (UK) and international students in order to explore differing patterns of participation. The findings suggest that in culturally mixed groups, the UK students (particularly males) dominated discussions, with limited input from overseas students. In a group consisting solely of international students, the interactions were much more equal. However, an analysis of influence on group decisions (in terms of proportion of suggestions accepted by the group), suggested that the influence of male home students was lower than their participation would imply. The research suggests that there is a need to plan and manage group work carefully, especially where there are diverse groups of students.
The authors argue that perceptions of service quality vary across cultural groups, as defined by each culture’s position on Hofstede’s dimensions. They explicitly map the relationship between service quality perceptions and cultural dimension positions and draw the implications for international service market segmentation. They also test the hypotheses constituting their theoretical analysis. They show that the importance of SERVQUAL dimensions is correlated with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. They also used the correlation coefficients to compute a Cultural Service Quality Index that could be used to segment international service markets and allocate resources across segments.
Culture shock tends to be an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most ailments, it has its own symptoms, cause, and cure. Many missionaries have suffered from it. Some never recovered, and left their field. Some live in a constant state of such shock. Many recover beautifully. As will be clear from the implications of Dr. Oberg's article, the state of culture shock in which a Christian lives will have great bearing on his temperament and witness.
The primary purpose of this exploratory study is to analyze the contribution of intercultural and interreligious differences to tourist destination risk perception. The premise of the study is that different nations are characterized by different cultures and levels of risk perception with regard to a particular destination. It is hypothesized that people of different religious affiliations demonstrate different levels of risk perception of a specific tourist destination. Also, it is assumed that tourists of various cultures and religious backgrounds differ in terms of risk-reduction strategies. In order to examine the relationships between the two cultural dimensions, nationality and religion, and tourist destination risk perception and risk-reduction strategies 776 face-to-face interviews were conducted with tourists from different countries and of different religious backgrounds. Significant differences were found in the overall risk perception of a given tourist destination and a variety of risk-perception dimensions among tourists of various nationalities. Religious affiliation was found to be associated with varying degrees of destination risk perceptions. There were also statistically significant differences in the use of various risk-reduction strategies among nations and religions. Moreover, the self-perceptions of tourists as "risk-takers" or "risk avoiders" varied along national and religious lines. The paper concludes with a discussion of the research and marketing implications of the study.
This paper studied the impact of simulation as a pedagogical tool on perceived effective learning. The three factors considered had differential impact on perceived effective learning measured in the form of integrated learning and decision making. Data were collected from a sample of students completing their first year of study at a b-school in India. It was found that team dynamics emerged as the most important dimension followed by instructor's role and learning process. The activities in simulation exercises which enhance team cohesiveness and effective role playing are detrimental for the perception of positive effective learning.
Experiential learning approaches such as role-play have been found to be valuable methods of bridging the divide between academic knowledge and practical skills, a problem often cited in tourism and hospitality management education. Such approaches have been found to contribute towards deeper learning by enhancing students' interest, motivation, participation, knowledge and skill development. This paper reports on the implementation of an experiential learning approach designed to encourage and facilitate deeper learning approaches, with the contributing aims of providing students with a more interesting learning experience and a broader set of skills for future employment.
There is considerable evidence to suggest that differences in cultural characteristics exist across the world. Among them, individualistic societies emphasize “I” consciousness, autonomy, emotional independence, pleasure seeking and universalism. On the other hand, col-lectivistic societies stress “we” consciousness, collective identity, group solidarity, sharing, and particularism. A comparative research on the motivation of tourists from different cultures may challenge current tourism research, which mainly focuses on individualism and rationalism. These values of individualism and rationalism result in underestimation of the influence of groups, norms, culture, and emotion or impulse on tourist behavior. There have been few studies which attempt to directly measure cultural characteristics and identity across culture, and to explain how these cultural characteristics play a role in creating distinctive differences in tourist motivation. Thus, this study explores (1) cultural differences underlying individualism-collectivism between Anglo-American and Japanese tourists; (2) examines the relationship of two cultural dimensions to tourist motivation, and (3) suggests management implications facing tourism industry.
This paper discusses the importance of understanding cultural differences for developing positive tourist-host contact and, consequently, enhancing tourist holiday satisfaction and repeat visitation. The cultural differences between Korean tourists and Australian service providers are identified and dimensions of these differences are determined by principal components analysis. The strength of the relationships between the cultural dimensions and their critical indicators is measured by using structural equation modeling Submodel 1. The results indicate that the most critical dimensions of cultural difference between Australian hosts and Korean tourists are: communication and understanding the tourist, display of feelings, interaction and idealism. Their critical indicators are identified. The implications of the results for tourism industry marketers are presented.
A tourism destination is one of the key concepts of institutionalized tourism, but researchers and practitioners still disagree on how it should be defined. When building a destination-wide brand, constructing local geographies, or promoting cooperation among entrepreneurs within a region, we must understand the nature of tourism destinations. We wish to take earlier categorization of destination concepts further by highlighting the assumptions and values that define the rather distinct ideas. Informed by a cultural approach to marketing and an interdisciplinary agenda combining tourism, marketing, and organization studies, we suggest a holistic and grounded approach to multiperspective destination discussion. We therefore identify four different approaches to tourism destinations: (1) economic geography—oriented, (2) marketing management—oriented, (3) customer-oriented, and (4) cultural.We define destination as a set of institutions and actors located in a physical or a virtual space where marketing-related transactions and activities take place challenging the traditional production—consumption dichotomy.
This paper explores differences in perceptions of travel risk and safety, anxiety and intentions to travel among international tourists from Australia, Canada, Greece, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Data were collected from 830 respondents using a structured questionnaire. The results show that there are significant differences in perceptions of travel risk and safety, anxiety and travel intentions among tourists from different countries. Tourists from the United States, Hong Kong and Australia perceived more travel risk, felt less safe, were more anxious and reluctant to travel than tourists from the United Kingdom, Canada and Greece. The marketing implications of the findings are discussed.
This study investigated the learning styles of English learners (Armenian, Hmong, Korean, Mexican, and Vietnamese) in secondary schools. For statistical analyses a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and post hoc multiple comparisons of means tests (Scheffe tests) were used. A sample of 857 cases collected from 20 high schools in California found significant ethnic group differences as well as achievement level differences in basic learning style preferences. Students in this study favored a variety of instructional strategies. They exhibited either major or minor preferences for all four basic perceptual learning styles but significant ethnic group differences in preferences for group and individual learning. All students exhibited either major or minor preferences for kinesthetic or tactile learning. Hmong, Mexican, and Vietnamese students preferred group learning while Armenian and Korean students did not. However, all five ethnic groups (Armenian, Hmong, Korean, Mexican, and Vietnamese) showed either major or minor preferences for visual learning. In addition, middle and high achievers were more visual than low achievers; high and middle achievers preferred individual learning but low achievers did not; and newcomers exhibited much greater preference for individual learning than those who had been longer in the United States Learning styles are broadly described as "cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that are relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment" (Keefe, 1979, p. 4). More specifically, style refers to a pervasive quality in the learning strategies or the learning behavior of an individual, "a quality that persists though content may change" (Fischer & Fischer, 1979, p. 245). Also, learning style is a biological and developmental set of personal characteristics that makes
This paper examines the effectiveness of active learning implemented in two undergraduate programmes at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Several learning activities were implemented during student seminar sessions. The effectiveness of these activities was investigated using questionnaires and interviews to explore student attitudes as well as the Study Process Questionnaire to measure student approaches to learning. Results showed that active learning made a valuable contribution to the development of independent learning skills and the ability to apply knowledge. It also helped to create interest in the curriculum and to prepare students for their future careers. The activities used affected the quality of student learning by shaping the way that students studied and meeting desired learning outcomes. The results are discussed in the context of student approaches to learning and in relation to the programmes' educational objectives.
The Tourism Education Futures Initiative (TEFI) seeks to provide vision, knowledge, and a framework for tourism education programs that promote global citizenship and optimism for a better world. This article provides background on TEFI, its inception, its development and its future. The article argues that a fundamental shift in tourism education is necessary to respond to global challenges impacting tourism at a fundamental level. These shifts demand higher levels of responsibility and stewardship by graduates and industry leaders. TEFI attempts to address the complexity and diversity of the shifts required by educational institutions and industry. TEFI's work began by defining a set of foundational values for tourism education programs worldwide (stewardship, ethics, knowledge, mutuality, professionalism). TEFI is now addressing other important shifts needed to provide an education of quality and relevance to tomorrow's tourism industry.
This article reports on learning experiences from the INNOTOUR project that aims to raise the quality of tourism education by use of Web 2.0 technology, new pedagogy, and values-based education. The article describes the main areas of the INNOTOUR platform, associated teacher training, and examples of course implementation. A discussion on key challenges sets into perspective handling of formal requirements, which incorporation of Web 2.0 tools and learning poses to participants, and alignment of curricula and exam forms to reflect new teaching methods and the Web 2.0 philosophy. In conclusion, reflections are provided on Web 2.0, the forming of identity and contestation of current university practice.
There is very little experimental evidence about whether or not tourists' perceptions of service quality and behavioral intention are alike regardless of culture. To investigate this issue, 282 tourists were administered a questionnaire soliciting their opinions on service quality and behavioral intentions from 26 countries. The results of this empirical study suggested that there was a significant perceived difference toward all dimensions of service quality among three cultural groups. The English Heritage group perceived better service quality than the Asian and European groups. The behavioral intentions on which the significantly different perceptions turned up included “loyalty,” “pay more,” and “external response.” Differences in the behavioral intention variables of “switch” and “internal response,” were not significant across cultures. Then, the relationship between service quality and behavioral intention among three cultural groups was tested by LISREL. The results indicated that tourists from English heritage cultures perceived better service quality than either the Asian and European groups in the dimensions of tangibles, reliability, and empathy, but only perceived better than the Asian group in the dimensions of responsiveness and assurance. Managerial implications of these findings, and recommendations for practitioners and marketers, could be used to allocate managerial resources and develop marketing strategies for dealing with culturally diverse clientele populations.
Crompton, John L., “Motivations for Pleasure Vacations,” Annals of Tourism Research, October/December 1979, VI(4):408–424. The study is concerned with identifying those motives of pleasure vacationers which influence the selection of a destination. It also seeks to develop a conceptual framework capable of encompassing such motives. Empirically nine motives were identified. Seven were classified as socio-psychological, namely: escape from a perceived mundane environment, exploration and evaluation of self, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhancement of kinship relationships, and facilitation of social interaction. The two remaining motives, novelty and education, formed the alternate cultural category. The latter were noted to be at least partially aroused by the particular qualities that a destination offered. By contrast socio-psychological motives were found to be unrelated to destination attributes. Here the emphasis shifted from the destination itself to its function as a medium through which socio-pschological needs could be satisfied. The research data suggest that the tourist industry may usefully pay greater attention to socio-psychological motives in developing product and promotion strategies.
With respect to global leadership development, this article suggests that managers differentially benefit from a given intercultural training or developmental experience — depending on their individual aptitudes (i.e., knowledge, skills, abilities, and other personality characteristics). The main premise of this article is that offering the right people (those with the requisite individual aptitudes) the right developmental opportunities will produce leaders who can effectively perform global leadership tasks and activities.
Exploring other places as a tourist or a short-term sojourner is a chance for pleasure and self-discovery, but also a confusing experience. Often, people refer to culture shock, a theoretical framework with its origin in the sojourner studies of the 50s. Since the publication of a 1984 contribution in Annals of Tourism Research, more field material has surfaced pointing out the inconclusive and partly non-valid nature of the U-curve approach, especially in the context of tourism. In the present article, a new grounded theory framework—the dynamic model of culture confusion—is proposed to overcome the existing void in the theoretical understanding of short-term transitions.RésuméConfusion culturelle:adaptation interculturelle dans le tourisme. L’exploration d’autres endroits comme touriste ou comme visiteur à court terme est une occasion de plaisir et de découverte de soi, mais c’est aussi une expérience déroutante. On parle souvent de choc culturel, un cadre théorique aux origines dans les études de visiteurs des années 50. Depuis la publication en 1984 d’un article dans Annals of Tourism Research, plus de recherches sur le terrain ont fait surface, en mettant en évidence la nature peu concluante et en partie non valable de l’approche de la courbe U, surtout dans le contexte du tourisme. Dans le présent article, un nouveau cadre théorique raisonné – le modèle dynamique de la confusion culturelle – est proposé pour combler le vide de la compréhension théorique des transitions à court terme.
Early service quality research posited that service quality is the gap or difference between “perceptions and expectations” (Parasuraman et al., 1988, J. of Retailing 64(1), 12–40). Recent research by Parasuraman et al. (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 111–124) has argued that “expectations” measurement is necessary in the measurement of the service quality construct. While Cronin and Taylor (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 125–131) have argued the reverse that one need not measure “expectations” to measure service quality. Evidence presented by Cronin and Taylor (1994; op. cit.) was collected in the American context and no cross-cultural samples were involved. This research paper examines the impact of “expectations” on service quality perceptions in the Hong Kong hotel industry which involved cross-cultural samples. Data were collected from hotel guests from different cultures in three major Hong Kong hotels using the SERVQUAL instrument to measure service quality. The study found that significant “expectations” differences exist between cultural groups and that “expectations” did not improve the validity of SERVQUAL.
This study attempts to present the findings of a self-administered survey carried out among 1872 British and German tourists visiting Mallorca and Turkey in the summer of 1998. The prime objective of the study is to determine whether there are differences between satisfaction levels of two nationalities visiting the same destination. In order to test whether findings vary between locations, the survey was administered in two destinations. The analysis of findings indicated that British tourists were more likely to be satisfied with almost all individual attributes than German tourists. In the light of empirical findings and observations, theoretical and practical implications are discussed and obstacles of comparative research dealing with the measurement of tourist satisfaction presented.
Tourism education at universities tends to focus on enabling students for future careers in the industry. Little attention has been devoted to the meaning of tourism education. This paper attempts to promote awareness of overlooked perspectives and critical issues in tourism education by examining two possible approaches to educating future tourism professionals. It discusses tourism education from the perspective of employability as the primary goal. The paper also elaborates on the perspective of providing students with a philosophical and sociological foundation for decisionmaking strategies, as well as for professional preparation.
Using the survey data from two large samples of international and domestic tourists, this study examines, for the first time, the importance of information available at tourism destinations. The research examines two different forms of information: (1) Abundant pamphlets on local places of interest and available in the hotel reception areas and, (2) a 10/15-minute film on local places of interest available on the hotel room TV. This research highlights the great importance that both groups of tourists attribute to the above mentioned forms of information at tourism destinations while stating some similarities and differences between the international and domestic tourists.
The “next wave” in service-learning: Integrative, team-based engagements with structural objectives
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Bridging the divide between theory and practice: Experiential learning approaches for tourism and hospitality management education
- L Ruhanen