Emily Ma

Professor Emily (Jintao) Ma


Professor
PhD GCHE CHIA

Academic and research departments

¿Û¿Û´«Ã½ Hospitality and Tourism Management.

About

Areas of specialism

Organizational Behavior in Hospitality ; OCB; Motherhood and Women in Leadership

Research

Research interests

Teaching

Publications

Jing Liu, Emily Ma, Wei Zhong, Bing Hu (2025), In: International journal of hospitality management128104169pp. 104169-12

While the existing research has paid great attention to how organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) benefit organizations, coworkers, and customers as OCB targets, this study examined the potential desirable outcomes that OCBs bring to individual OCB performers. Furthermore, despite the consensus regarding the importance of OCBs, previous research has predominantly focused on their antecedents and motivational mechanisms. Fewer studies, like this one, have been directed at the consequences of OCBs. Drawing on a socially embedded approach to thriving and enablement, this study tested a theoretical model of employees’ OCBs and consequences to themselves. By employing a multi-stage research design, empirical data were collected in three waves from 549 hospitality frontline employees. The results generally supported the theoretical model and suggested that employees’ performance of OCB can positively influence their subjective well-being through the identified affective, cognitive, and relational mediating mechanisms (i.e., workplace thriving and perceived control). Practical implications for hospitality management were also discussed.

Yao-Chin Wang, Hanqun Song, Huijun Yang, Emily Ma, Jintao Ma (2025), In: Journal of vacation marketing Sage

Despite the popularity of service robot integration in restaurants, it is still unclear whether robots and human employees would influence customer experience, particularly customers' restaurant brand relationship-building experience, differently. Taking a role theory perspective and building on the stereotypes literature, this study aims to address this research gap. Further, this study tests the moderating roles of stereotypes of warmth and competence toward robots in the proposed relationships. Using two studies, we examined the main effects of restaurant roles on brand relationship building with a scenario of customers at casual dining restaurants in study 1 and we tested the moderating effects with a scenario of customers at robot-themed restaurants at a theme park in study 2. This study contributes novel theoretical insights on robot roles in branding and provides managers with implications for adopting robots.

Shengtao Xu, Yao-Chin Wang, Emily Ma, Ruixia Wang, Jintao Ma (2020), In: International journal of hospitality management91102666pp. 102666-102666 Elsevier

Although the importance of workplace fun in hospitality organizations has been emphasized by scholars, discussion of the mechanism of a workplace fun climate in collectivistic cultural contexts is still rare in current literature. Therefore, based on a collectivistic perspective, this study aims to examine the effects of a three-component fun climate at work (socializing with coworkers, celebrating at work, and global fun at work) on employee deep acting and work-family conflict. A total of 389 usable survey responses were collected from fulltime hotel employees in China. The results of this study reveal that socializing with coworkers and celebrating at work enhance global fun at work. Moreover, global fun at work significantly reduces employees' work-family conflict and strengthens their deep acting at work. Findings of this study not only contribute to knowledge of understanding workplace fun climate in hospitality literature but also offer valuable practical implications to the hospitality industry.

Jiajing Hu, Yinghui Zhu, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Chen Chen, Jintao Ma (2025), In: The Service industries journal45(13-14)pp. 1187-1213 Taylor & Francis

By integrating the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping and the conservation of resources theory, this paper explores the interactions and the mechanism of perceived subordinate' overqualification and personalities on managers' knowledge hiding in the service industry. Using a multi-stage research design supported by data collected from upscale hotels in China in three waves (n = 453), the results suggests that when perceiving subordinates' overqualification, managers with highly cooperative personality decrease knowledge hiding. Conversely, managers with highly competitive personality increase knowledge hiding. Moreover, self-protection motivation mediates the positive relationship between perceived subordinates' overqualification and managers' knowledge hiding. This study not only contributes to a better understanding of the psychological mechanism of managers' knowledge hiding but also responds to the call for multilevel effects research on overqualification. The study's findings can also serve as important references for hotels' human resources practices to maximize the values and contributions of human capital.

Yun Zhang, Emily Ma, Feng Zeng Xu (2026), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management38(3)pp. 832-851 Emerald Group Publishing

PurposeIntegrating the conservation of resources (COR) and broaden-and-build (B&B) theories, this study aims to investigate how managerial empowerment fosters learning from errors (LFE) and drives employee innovation while considering the conditional effect of proactive personality.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a longitudinal research approach to collect data from 403 frontline hotel employees across three waves. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsManagerial empowerment enhances LFE through the mediating roles of self-esteem and positive affect which, in turn, fosters employee innovative behavior. Proactive personality strengthens the influence of managerial empowerment on LFE.Practical implicationsThe findings offer practical insights for hotels to manage employee errors and foster innovation. Managers should implement strategies that boost managerial empowerment to cultivate employee self-esteem and positive affect, thereby facilitating error-driven learning and innovation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to reframing LFE as a resource reconstruction process. It also revealed a novel "resource accumulation-broadening and building-resource reconstruction" mechanism to explain how managerial empowerment facilitates LFE and innovative behavior.

Huijun Yang, Hanqun Song, Yao-Chin Wang, Emily Ma, Jintao Ma (2026), In: The Service industries journal46(3-4)pp. 284-307 Routledge

Building on the similarity-attraction theory and congruity theory, this research explores how a service robot's ethnic appearance (i.e. congruent vs. incongruent with mainstream ethnicity) and accent (i.e. non-standard vs. standard) influence employees' expected enjoyable interactions and expected service robot helping behavior, leading positive word-of-mouth to work with robots. We tested hypotheses using a scenario-based 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with Chinese restaurant employees (Study 1) and UK hotel employees (Study 2). Both studies reveal that the congruity of robots' appearance with the mainstream population leads to employees' expected enjoyable interaction and service robot helping behavior. Enjoyable interaction has positive effects on employees' word-of-mouth. The moderating effect of service robot accents was supported by the Chinese sample, but not by the UK sample. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of human-robot interactions and highlights the importance of involving employees' perceptions of appearance and functional features when designing service robots.

Huimin Song, Wei Zeng, Jamie M. Chen, Emily Ma (2024), In: Sustainability16(8)3162 Mdpi

This study examined the tourism spatial distribution of nine cities in the Fujian province and assessed the impacts of COVID-19. The modified gravity model found that it was widely dispersed, with uneven and relatively independent tourism development in different cities. The social network analysis showed that tourism connections across cities were significantly reduced after the pandemic. The impacts of brand awareness and transport accessibility on spatial networks were positive in the pre-pandemic period but became negative during the pandemic. In contrast, tourist volume had negative impacts on spatial networks pre-pandemic but had positive ones during the pandemic. Tourism resources and market performance had significantly positive impacts in the post-pandemic era. These findings provide advice on tourism recovery and destination management in coping with future critical events. In the spatial distribution network of the tourism economy in Fujian Province, cities have different positions and roles, so development strategies should be differentiated according to the characteristics of each city. For example, more supportive policies should be introduced to help the tourism development of cities with disadvantages. It also contributes to the theoretical gravity framework in tourism and the research scope of the social networks analysis at the city level.

Huibin Lv, Yang Wei Huan, Qi Wen Teo, Chunke Chen, Tossapol Pholcharee, Akshita B. Gopal, Madison R. Ardagh, Jessica J. Huang, Ruipeng Lei, Xin Chen, Yuanxin Sun, Yun Sang Tang, Arjun Mehta, Mateusz Szlembarski, Kevin J. Mao, Emily X. Ma, Lucas E. Wittenborn, Meixuan Tong, Lucia A. Rodriguez, Letianchu Wang, Chris K.P. Mok, Nicholas C. Wu, Jintao Ma (2025), In: Cell host & microbe33(11)pp. 1916-1928.e6 Elsevier Inc

The ongoing spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b virus in animals and its occasional spillover to humans have raised concerns about a potential H5N1 pandemic. Although recent studies have shown that pre-existing human antibodies can recognize H5N1 neuraminidase, the molecular basis of how this cross-reactivity develops remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a phage display antibody library derived from 245 healthy donors to isolate an antibody, HB420, that cross-reacts with neuraminidases of human H3N2 and avian H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b viruses and confers protection in vivo. Cryogenic electron microscopy analysis reveals that HB420 targets the neuraminidase active site by mimicking sialic acid binding through a single Asp residue. Furthermore, the inferred germline of HB420 is N2 specific but acquires cross-reactivity to H5N1 neuraminidase through somatic hypermutation. Overall, our findings provide insights into how neuraminidase antibody evolves breadth, which has important implications for the development of broadly protective influenza vaccines. [Display omitted] •Human antibody HB420 cross-reacts with neuraminidases from H3N2 and H5N1•HB420 engages the neuraminidase active site via a single Asp residue•Germline HB420 is N2 specific but gains reactivity to N1 through somatic mutation•HB420 provides in vivo protection against both H3N2 and H5N1 Lv et al. isolated a protective antibody against influenza neuraminidase that acquires cross-reactivity to avian H5N1 as a byproduct of affinity maturation against human H3N2. Along with structural analysis, these findings provide insights into the breadth evolution of neuraminidase antibodies, which has important implications for developing a universal influenza vaccine.

Corinna Newton, Kristelle Hudry, Alexandra Aulich, Catherine Bent, Christos Constantine, Kathleen Franks, Nilushi Goonetilleke, Cherie Green, Rabia Ijaz, Emily Ma, Kanisha Patel, Helen Said, Rena Wang, Sarah Wood, Jodie Smith, Jintao Ma (2025), In: Research in Autism126202655 Elsevier Ltd

Early intervention (EI) professionals play an important role in supporting autistic children and their families. When families come from minority ethnic communities, the early autism journey is often more complex than for native-born families for caregivers and professionals alike. Whilst there is growing awareness about parents’ experiences, we have little data from EI professionals on what can be done to improve the experiences, engagement and outcomes for these families. Here, we sought professional insights on their efforts to provide early autism supports for minority ethnic families, namely those from Chinese and South Asian backgrounds. Through a community-partnered participatory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with EI professionals who had experience working with autistic children and their families from Chinese and South Asian backgrounds in Australia (n = 18). Data were analysed using inductive reflexive thematic analysis. Participating EI professionals described the challenge of developing a common language to talk about autism and supports with families, and often had different intervention priorities when compared to parents. They described observing parents’ own unmet mental health and wellbeing needs, which they felt were compounded by shame and stigma associated with autism within their specific communities. Moreover, professionals relayed their powerlessness in effectively supporting parents’ wellbeing due to a funding model focused solely on child goals. Participating professionals felt that the best way to work with families was to start by truly understanding the child, the parent and the family dynamics in order to tailor supports, as well as to encourage community connection and belonging. The insights offered by EI professionals into how early supports can be adapted to better meet the needs of minority ethnic parents and autistic children can inform more equitable policy-level decision-making for service provision. •Professionals described working with minority ethic parents and autistic children.•Finding a common language to discuss autism and create shared goals was difficult.•Professionals told of parents’ mental health needs which they could not support.•There should be open discussions about the merit of varied intervention approaches.•Individualised supports based on truly understanding families were endorsed.

Danni Wang, Emily Ma, Youngsun Sean Kim, Aijing Liu, Adiyukh Berbekova, Jintao Ma (2021), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management49pp. 570-579 Elsevier

Building upon conservation of resources theory and affective event theory, this study broadens the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature by investigating the effects of two forms of OCB on employees' positive emotion, perceived role overload, and quality of work-life (QWL). Based on data collected from 321 hotel employees in China, the study findings indicate that engaging in organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization (OCBO) generates positive emotions, consequently affecting employees' QWL. Similarly, performing organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals in the organization (OCBI) has a positive impact on employees' positive emotions. Moreover, the results reveal a negative relationship between OCBO, and employees perceived role overload, suggesting that employees may achieve resource acquisition and alleviate role overload through OCB. The study findings make valuable theoretical contributions and provide meaningful empirical implications for hospitality organizations.

Meiyun Li, Aaron Hsiao, Emily Jintao Ma, Shang-Jen Li, Jintao Ma (2022), In: Journal of global scholars of marketing science32(3)pp. 398-414 Routledge

Industry convergence has taken place in many different fields, making it a hot research topic. There are studies on industry convergence in the manufacturing industry, the food and pharmaceutical industries, and between manufacturing and services industries. The hospitality industry provides lodging and catering services, which provides a great platform to integrate multiple industries in order to enhance customer experience. However, there has been little focus on industry convergence in the hospitality or hotel industries. Therefore, a better understanding of service convergence innovation from both a systematic and a holistic perspective are needed. The result showed that in order to form effective mechanisms for coordination and integration of service, it was necessary to use systematic digital information technology, which could transfer practical experience into a standardized demonstrable learning database system. The implication of this study is that the illustrations on the factors as well as contexts to foster service convergence practices could facilitate managerial endeavors by hospitality business professionals. Appropriate incentive mechanisms which leverage as well as motivate partnership endeavors should be the core aligning individuals and organization goal instead of imposing regulative order.

David M. Brown, Jintao Ma (2021), In: Internal Marketingpp. 9-68 Routledge

This chapter explores the concepts and expectations underpinning Internal Marketing (IM), tracing the evolution of IM theory and analysing the key tensions within the literature. It begins by defining IM, its roles, and the elements of which it consists. The chapter analyses the nature of transactions and service, and the internal service encounters and other internal exchanges within which service quality may be delivered, transferred, or co-created, before establishing how satisfaction and motivation may contribute towards, and result from, IM. By examining the aims and potential of IM and the importance of organisational vision, commitment, and change, the chapter focus on IM’s potential as an integrative mechanism, its contribution to organisational culture, and its relationship to Human Resources Management. IM enhances customer satisfaction in part by encouraging employees to be oriented towards external customers. The chapter concludes by identifying the main limitations of IM literature and opportunities for future research which can enhance theoretical debate and bring value to practitioners.

Emily Ma, Sujie Wang, Danni Wang, Aijing Liu, Misun (Sunny) Kim, Jintao Ma (2021), In: International journal of hospitality management99103074 Elsevier Ltd

Being a peer-to-peer accommodation host (P2P host) has become a popular career choice in China due to its believed advantages in balancing work and life. This option, however, has blurred the boundary between work and life and has been known to elicit a series of negative consequences in both domains. Building on boundary theory and conservation of resources theory, this study proposed and examined how work-life integration can influence P2P hosts’ perceived work-family conflict, role overload, emotional depletion, and social exchanges with customers. Using data collected from 304 P2P hosts in China, the findings of the study found that work-life integration can lead to higher levels of role overload, work-family conflict, and emotional depletion of hosts, which in turn affect their social exchange with customers. •Work-life integration influences P2P hosts’ work-family conflict, role overload, depletion, and exchanges with customers.•The study is conceptualized based on boundary theory and conservation of resources theory.•Empirical data was collected from 304 P2P hosts in China.•The study contributes to boundary theory and conservation of resources theory.

Yao-Chin Wang, Yuetian Zhang, Emily Ma, Lu Zhang, Yuan Zhang, Huan Ning, Jiang Huang, Su-Ying Pan (2025), In: International journal of hospitality management128104186pp. 104186-9 Elsevier

Based on the broaden-and-build theory, we propose an IT mindfulness-driven model to explain how AI-assisted cross-cultural training the potential has to develop hotel newcomers' cultural intelligence, career adaptability, and career development confidence. Partnered with Jorizon, an information technology firm that designed the AI-assisted cross-cultural training platform, we collected data from 484 hotel newcomers trained via the platform. Findings revealed that hotel newcomers' IT mindfulness was positively related to their experience evaluation on the AI-assisted cross-cultural training, which was positively associated with cultural intelligence. Hotel newcomers' cultural intelligence was positively related to their career adaptability and confidence in their career development. Hotel newcomers' career adaptability was positively associated with their career development confidence. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on an AI-assisted cross-cultural training platform in hospitality.

Jie Gao, Ye Zhang, Shi Xu, Emily Ma (2025), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management37(5)pp. 1765-1783 Emerald Group Publishing

Purpose This study aims to explore work-life integration (WLI) as a crucial mechanism underpinning the transformation of the hospitality and tourism industry from shifts in work paradigms, including rapid technological advancements, flexible work forms, quiet quitting, increasing awareness of well-being, cultural diversity and gender disparity. It further develops the coping strategies and research agenda. Design/methodology/approach Through the bridged lens of the work-life boundary theory and conservation of resources theory, this research critically analyzes the literature on emerging work paradigms and WLI and develops a conceptual framework guiding the systematic examination of the WLI mechanisms underpinning the influence from work paradigm shifts. Findings The analysis reveals the underpinning mechanisms in managing WLI, highlighting the importance of systematic and customized work-life management strategies in adapting to evolving work paradigms. An integrated conceptual framework is developed to guide future research and practical applications. Practical implications This study underscores the critical need for strategic WLI management, emphasizing its importance for sustainable industry development. It also proposes actionable work-life management strategies for stakeholders, aiming for positive outcomes at personal, organizational and industrial levels amid the paradigm shifts. Originality/value The comprehensive conceptual framework uniquely bridged two theories that afford a novel, interconnected and in-depth approach to analyzing how work paradigm shifts reshape the industry. It further broadens the research agenda on WLI, with promising research directions proposed for advancing the understanding of the ever-evolving hospitality and tourism work landscapes.

Aijing Liu, Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, Bill Ryan, Jintao Ma (2020), In: Journal of sustainable tourism28(9)pp. 1390-1408 Routledge

Habits are powerful indicators of people's decisions and behaviors (e.g., Allan, 2019; Verhoeven et al., 2012 ). Based on a survey with 625 frequent travelers in the U.S., this study examines how visitors' daily green behaviors (DGBs) influence their pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) at tourism destinations. It also examined the power of habit by treating it as a moderator to test if different levels of DGB would make a difference in tourists' destination behaviors. The study contributes to the extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior by capturing habit's impact as a non-planned component in the decision-making process, the spillover as well as the accumulative effects of habits in travelers' pro-environmental behaviors at destinations.

Anita Manfreda, Danni Wang, Yun Zhang, Emily Ma, Jintao Ma (2025), In: The Service industries journal45(9-10)pp. 751-778 Routledge

Over the past two decades, the global workforce landscape has witnessed a significant shift, marked by a promising increase in the presence of women in leadership roles. This demographic change has ignited scholarly interest in the topic of Women in Leadership (WiL), particularly within the tourism and hospitality sectors. Despite growing attention, research in these fields is fragmented and lacks a cohesive theoretical framework. Addressing this gap, this systematic literature review analyzes 51 articles focusing on WiL within tourism and hospitality, offering a consolidated view of existing knowledge, identifying prevailing research trends, and critically assessing the current state of WiL studies in these sectors. Our study makes a substantial contribution by developing a comprehensive framework for understanding WiL in tourism and hospitality, aiding in the advancement of the subject within these disciplines. Additionally, it proposes a forward-looking research agenda to deepen the theoretical and practical understanding of WiL.

Xiang Wei, Emily Ma, Pengfei Wang, Jintao Ma (2017), In: China finance and economic review5(1)2pp. 1-16 Springer Berlin Heidelberg

Background This paper aims at explaining the gender wage gap in the labor market from the perspective of leisure participation patterns between men and women. The traditional view is that time and effort spent in childbearing activities are the major sources of gender wage gap. Women, particularly in Chinese society, are the major career of children and share a large portion of housework, thus lacking time for the accumulation of human capital. This directly affects women’s employment status in the labor market as well as wage gaps with men. Methods This study empirically examines the within-job wage differences between men and women in the same occupation and establishment in relationship to their leisure participation patterns. Data were collected via time diary survey from “blue-collar†employees of a Chinese factory, producing parts for cars. Results The results showed that differences of time allocation in social time and passive leisure time between men and women contribute to gender wage gap. The study also uncovered the hidden gender discrimination in a male-dominated society. Conclusion This study calls for institutional arrangements by the Chinese government to acknowledge women’s need and rights in workplace.

Emily Ma, Aaron Hsiao, Jing Gao, Sera Vada, Jintao Ma (2020), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management45pp. 99-112 Elsevier Ltd

Despite the growing popularity of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in hospitality, no significant studies have examined OCB through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). To address this gap, the present study aimed to examine whether norms (hotels' customer orientation) and perceived behavioral control (empowerment practices) can influence hotel employees' OCB toward internal and external customers, and whether culture can moderate the proposed relationships. A quantitative cross-cultural research design was supported with data collected from hotel employees in Australia and the U.S. The results showed that customer orientation (norm) was a universal predictor for all three types of OCBs while empowerment (perceived behavioral control) was only a significant predictor for employees' OCB toward customers. Culture moderated these relationships. The study extended the application of the TPB framework in understanding and predicting employees’ behaviors, opening up more opportunities for the application of the TPB to hospitality.

Sujie Wang, Emily Ma, Musha Shi, Jingjing Xu, Shi (Tracy) Xu (2025), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management37(9)pp. 3004-3021 Emerald Group Publishing

PurposeBuilding on the theory of supportive design, this study aims to investigate the physical and humanistic environmental factors that influence guests' social interactions within peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations.Design/methodology/approachThis study has used a qualitative research design, with 31 in-depth interviews of P2P guests. The grounded theory approach was used to guide data analysis.FindingsThis study reveals that the distinctive supportive design and humanistic elements facilitate social exchanges, encompassing functional, cultural, emotional and spiritual dimensions. These elements also helped enhance social connectivity, leading to favorable behavioral outcomes.Practical implicationsThe findings offer valuable insights for P2P hosts, practitioners and society. By optimizing supportive design, guest interactions, social connections and sustainable community development could be fostered.Originality/valueThis research addressed the literature gaps on the specific impact of supportive design and humanistic elements on social interactions within P2P accommodations.

Huijun Yang, Hanqun Song, Yun Zhang, Emily Ma, Andi Yang (2026), In: Tourism management112105273 Elsevier Ltd

Generative AI chatbots are increasingly popular for tourist destination information searches. However, how communication modalities (text vs. voice), interaction styles (social vs. task-oriented), destination types (hedonic vs. utilitarian), and their interactions contribute to users' perceptions and continuance usage intention remains unclear. Building on media richness theory, this study used a sequential explanatory mixed-methods and multi-study research design, with four scenario-based experiments to examine how the above factors affect tourists' perceived authenticity of GenAI chatbots and continuance usage intention, and a focus group study to validate and contextualize findings. The results indicated that voice communication evokes higher GenAI chatbots' authenticity, which is positively associated with tourists' continuance usage intention. Destination type is a significant moderator, with voice modality producing higher GenAI chatbots’ authenticity than text modality only for hedonic destinations. The moderating roles of destination type and interaction style are clarified, shedding new light on destination marketing theories and practices.

Kai Tian, Sicheng Zhang, Sally Chen, Rugare G Chingarande, Chengrui Hou, Emily Ma, Jarett Ren, Shinghua Ding, Mia Stertzer, Binquan Luan, Shi-Jie Chen, Shi-You Chen, Li-Qun Gu, Jintao Ma (2025), In: PNAS nexus4(9)pgaf233 Oxford University Press

DNA data storage is a promising alternative to conventional storage due to high density, low energy consumption, durability, and ease of replication. While information can be encoded into DNA via synthesis, high costs and the lack of rewriting capability limit its applications beyond archival storage. Emerging “hard drive†strategies seek to encode data onto universal DNA templates without de novo synthesis, using methods such as DNA nanostructures and base modifications. However, these approaches face challenges including complexity, low data density, enzymatic constraints, and reliance on costly instrumentation. Here, we introduce a DNA memory system based on frameshift encoding, inspired by viral ribosomal frameshifting, to enable rapid, cost-effective, and parallel data writing on a universal DNA template, without synthesis, enzymatic processing, or labeling. Information is encoded as checkpoint frameshifts by annealing microstaples of varying lengths at predefined sites along a long template strand. Data are decoded using MspA nanopore duplex interruption sequencing, which leverages a novel unzipping marker we discovered and frameshift-induced current signatures to resolve individual bits while sequentially unzipping tandem template–microstaple duplexes. Importantly, the duplex structure enables efficient, bit-specific rewriting through toehold-mediated strand displacement. This approach presents a scalable and versatile framework for DNA-based hard drives, with potential applications extending into in-memory computing, encryption, and dynamic biomolecular sensing.

Jingjing Xu, Aaron Hsiao, Sacha Reid, Emily Ma (2025), In: Tourism and hospitality research Sage

With the responsibilities of delivering customer service and creating moments of truth, hotel employees' working lives are always difficult and now possibly have become more challenging because of the arrival of a service robot. To obtain an in-depth understanding of hotel employees' perspectives on human-robot collaboration, this study applied a multi-theoretical lens and scrutinized how the robot product levels would influence employees' perceived job duality and workplace well-being. By employing a scenario-based experimental design method and using a sample of 384 hotel receptionists, the results of this research disclose the significant roles of the three different robot product levels in influencing employees' perceptions on social presence and job insecurity. Specifically, both core and tangible product levels offered by robots could significantly influence employees' perceived social presence. While only the core product influenced employees' perceived job insecurity, the tangible and extended products surprisingly manifested an interaction effect. Apart from these, this study also discloses the significant role of cognitive crafting in terms of mediating the relationship between perceived social presence/perceived job insecurity and cognitive well-being. In practice, what is found in this study provides research-based suggestions for the different stakeholders involved in human-robot collaboration and they are namely policymakers, hotel managers, frontline employees and robot designers & manufacturers.

Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai, Yuetian Zhang, Emily Ma, Jintao Ma (2025), In: Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal73(3)pp. 501-511 Institut za turizam

This study examines the role of tourism diplomacy in promoting regional peace from the perspective of the tourist-host relationship. The aim is to assess whether tourism improves or erodes links between two geopolitically connected countries that have been involved in conflicts. Based on interpretive paradigms, the findings confirm that tourism constitutes a form of soft diplomacy promoting mutual understanding. Determining factors of current and future tourism diplomacy are identified: (i) economic dependence, (ii) an open atmosphere, and (iii) physical and psychological distance. Furthermore, the proposed frameworks highlight that the tourist-host relationship extends to a broader social sphere. Additionally, it is suggested that the tourist-host relationship should be expanded to include both parties; the previous host becomes the traveller, and vice versa.

Danni Wang, Emily Ma, Xi Y. Leung (2024), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management61pp. 66-77 Elsevier Ltd

As teaming humans and robots becomes increasingly common in hospitality organizations, it is crucial to understand factors that facilitate and hinder human-robot collaborations. Building upon the Job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, this research examines how service robots' human likeness and job design factors affect hospitality employees’ perceptions and collaboration intentions. Data was collected from 488 hospitality employees through three experiment studies. The results show that employees feel more enjoyment and less stress when working with non-humanoid (vs. humanoid) robots, leading to higher collaboration intentions. Specifically, the adverse impact of robot-human likeness on employees' intention to collaborate is mitigated where task interdependence is high, and role clarification is better. The research findings offer hospitality organizations valuable insights into the types of robots that service employees are more likely to accept in collaborative work conditions. Furthermore, it suggests two job interventions to enhance collaborations between humans and robots.

Anoop Patiar, Emily Ma, Sandra Kensbock, Russell Cox (2017), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management31pp. 134-141 Elsevier

This paper examines hotel management students' perceptions of the quality aspects of a Virtual Field Trip (VFT) technology based learning and teaching tool, and its effect on their satisfaction. With the help of an online VFT tool, students were familiarized with the theoretical concepts of hotel operations, and then exposed to the insights of the actual operations of two hotels. To assess satisfaction, 182 undergraduate students in a large public university in Australia responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, principle component factor analysis and multiple regression techniques. The results suggest that there are three factors of quality promoting students' satisfaction, however, the factor of 'system quality' was found to be the most important predictor for satisfaction when using the technology based learning and teaching tool. Further analysis revealed that international students' satisfaction with the factor of 'content quality' was higher than domestic students. (C) 2017 The Authors.

Ling Zhang, Hailin Qu, Jintao (Emily) Ma (2010), In: Journal of convention & event tourism11(2)pp. 100-118 Taylor & Francis Group

The purpose of this study is to evaluate attendees' perceived importance and performance of two major exhibitions in China and to understand the impact of the performance dimensions on attendees' overall expenditures. The results of the paired-sample t-test found that there were significant differences between attendees' perceived importance and performance of the two exhibitions. The results of the importance-performance analysis showed that 10 out of 21 attributes were in the area of "keep up the good work," 2 were in the area of "concentrate here," 8 were in the area of "low priority," and 1 was in the area of "possible overkill." Principal component analysis on the 21 attributes generated 4 factors. A multiple regression was performed to test the relationship between attendees' satisfaction with the four factors and their overall expenditure. The result showed that two out of four factors-F2: Hotel, Food, and Attractions and F4: Facilities-were significant predictors for attendee's overall expenditure.

Emily Ma, Yao-Chin Wang, Hailin Qu (2022), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly63(3)1938965520981936pp. 334-349 Sage

This study proposes and examines the role server-friendly customers play in the customer-employee exchange stage of service encounters, and how customer-employee exchange relates to employee organizational citizenship behaviors toward customers, colleagues, and hotel organizations. To further explain how service employees could reenergize through the psychological resources gained from server-friendly customers at the point of customer-employee exchange, conservation of resources theory was applied. Hotel employees in the United States and China were sampled to jointly examine our proposed model. Findings of this study contribute valuable theoretical implications by emphasizing the role of customer-employee exchange in the formation of employee citizenship behaviors, as well as practical implications with regard to mentoring employees, thus strategically reenergizing psychological resources and obtaining tacit knowledge of citizenship behavior and its practice.

Siriporn McDowall, Emily Ma (2010), In: Journal of quality assurance in hospitality & tourism11(4)pp. 260-282 Taylor & Francis

This study examined whether international and domestic Thai tourists differ in their demographic characteristics, their evaluation of Bangkok's performance as a tourist destination, their satisfaction, and their intent to revisit Bangkok or to recommend Bangkok to others. A total of 254 international and 266 domestic Thai tourists participated in the study. The results revealed that international and domestic Thai tourists differed in their demographic characteristics, evaluation of Bangkok's performance, satisfaction, and intention to revisit. The linear regression analysis revealed that the tourists' image of Bangkok and its attractions and quality of destination factors contributed to their satisfaction, intention to revisit, and intention to recommending Bangkok to others. The entertainment factor was an additional factor contributed to tourist satisfaction, while the safety and security factor played an important role in intention to revisit and to recommending Bangkok to others.

Xiang Wei, Emily Ma, Kai Jiang, Li We (2019), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management40pp. 21-30 Elsevier Ltd

Using a national survey with 72,533 samples, this study empirically tested whether pre-travel anticipation, actual previous travel experiences and a series of socio-economic and demographic factors could significantly influence the happiness and life satisfaction of Chinese travellers. The comparison between urban and rural Chinese travellers indicated that pre-travel anticipation, current income, expected income, gender, and marital status could positively influence the happiness of urban and rural Chinese travellers who plan to travel. Our results also showed that previous travel experiences did not affect the happiness of either urban or rural Chinese travellers.

Anoop Patiar, Sandie Kensbock, Emily Ma, Russell Cox (2017), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism education29(3)pp. 129-140 Taylor & Francis

This research examines students' experience with an innovative virtual field trip of hotels. Students taking a Food and Beverage Management course participated in this research. The VFT included aspects of managing the food and beverage function of hotels and supplemented the delivery of face-to-face teaching to form a blended learning experience. Personal interviews with 18 students in two stages were conducted to establish their expectations and perceptions of a VFT experience. The level of innovation in this research was evaluated using a mapping framework, designed to gauge the veracity of information and communication technology-enabled innovation for learning. The results revealed that students' learning experience was enhanced by the existence of the VFT environment. Students emerged to be active rather than passive learners, and the VFT environment helped in advancing their fundamental business graduate skills (i.e., problem solving), which is undeniably essential in preparing the hotel leaders of tomorrow.

Jingjing Guan, Emily Ma, Jiaping Bi (2023), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)47(3)10963480211024450pp. 549-573 Sage

Building on three theoretical perspectives, Alchian-Allen theorem, sunk cost fallacy, and mental account theory, this study proposed and tested a model on Chinese outbound travelers' impulse shopping behaviors as determined by sunk cost, information confusion, after-sale risk, and anticipated regret (both downward and upward). Using a sample of 314 Chinese outbound travelers, findings of the study suggested that sunk cost, after-sale risk, and downward anticipated regret significantly influence travelers' impulsive shopping, with downward anticipated regret mediating the relationship between information confusion and impulsive purchase and between sunk cost and impulsive purchase. The study contributes to existing theories and literature for a better understanding of how sunk cost influences outbound travelers' impulsive shopping behavior from three theoretical perspectives, particularly in a Chinese cultural context. The findings of the study also have important implications for destination stakeholders.

Emily Ma, Aaron Hsiao, Jing (Jessica) Gao (2018), In: Asia Pacific journal of tourism research23(2)pp. 200-215 Routledge

Destination attractiveness is an important stream of literature. Australia has been recognized as one of the world's most attractive destinations. This study looked into international students' perceptions of Australia as an attractive international tourism destination as well as their travel intention. A sample of 252 Chinese and Indian international students participated in the study. Students' perceived destination attractiveness and how it influenced their travel intention, pleasure of travel and place attachment were investigated. The study also looked into perception differences between Chinese and Indian students using t-test and hierarchical regressions.

Kaleb Smart, Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, Li Ding (2021), In: International journal of hospitality management94102859pp. 102859-102859 Elsevier Ltd

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global tourism and hospitality industry with drastic results. Hotels have been experiencing unprecedented challenges, leaving many to temporarily or permanently closed. Employing a case study approach supported by both quantitative and qualitative analysis, this study examined how two hotels in Oklahoma City had coped with challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, from day to day operations, health and safety measures to marketing, human resources and cost-saving strategies. The study contributes to the tourism crisis and disaster literature by providing micro-level coping strategies, a literature gap that needs to be addressed, particularly under the current pandemic.

Yafang Bao, Emily Ma, Liqing La, Feifei Xu, Leijun Huang (2022), In: Journal of vacation marketing28(1)13567667211024707pp. 95-116 Sage

Customers choosing Airbnb over a traditional hotel are looking for a different experience. Despite the popularity of Airbnb in China, little research has been devoted to examining customers' perception and experience with this nascent form of accommodation. Through the lens of the expanded Experience Economy Model, and based on 7606 customer comments for 294 listed Airbnb accommodations in Hangzhou, China, this study explored eight aspects of customer experience-namely, entertainment, education, esthetics, escapism, interaction, home-feeling, tangible-sensorial and localness-regarding Airbnb experiences in China. Findings of this study suggested that although all eight aspects were present, there is in general a lack of entertainment and escapist experience in Airbnb accommodations in Hangzhou, suggesting meaningful directions that Airbnb accommodations need to work on. The study contributes to customer experience literature, particularly to the Experience Economy Model and also has important empirical significance.

Aaron Hsiao, Chris Auld, Emily Ma (2015), In: International journal of hospitality management48pp. 102-112 Elsevier

While the impact of organizational diversity on employee work outcomes has received significant research attention, there is a dearth of literature in hospitality settings, particularly in Eastern cultures. Integrating the Social Identity Theory and diversity literature, this study, using data collected from 22 hotels in Taiwan, examined the relationship of perceived organizational diversity with Job Performance (JP), Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) and Turnover Intention. The results indicated that the level of diversity perceived by hotel employees, significantly influenced employee JP and OCB. Ethnicity status also moderated the relationship between the perception of diversity levels and employee turnover intention. Specifically, a negative relationship between perceived diversity and turnover intention was observed among indigenous employees while a positive relationship was observed among non-indigenous employees. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bill Ryan, Emily Ma, Aaron Hsiao, Minyen Ku (2015), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management22pp. 10-18 Elsevier Ltd

This study investigated the issue of work-family conflict (WFC) among university foodservice managers. Multiple regression results showed that Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity were two significant antecedents of WFC. In addition, working on weekends also led to increased levels of WFC. The main finding of the study is that WFC is a significant antecedent of university foodservice managers' intention to leave, indicating that WFC is an important factor that explains the high turnover rate of hospitality employees.

Xiang Wei, Hailin Qu, Emily Ma (2010), In: Tourism analysis15(6)pp. 663-672 Cognizant Communication Corp

The aim of this study is to assess the effects of leisure time on China's long-run economic growth. Two compensation effects of leisure are introduced into the growth model to assess if leisure choice-set affects economic growth in the long term. Time series data covering 23 years (19812003) are used in the study, and a neoclassic growth model is employed to analyze the data. The result shows a weak and negative relationship between leisure time and China's long-term economic growth.

Yan Zhang, Emily Jintao Ma, Hailin Qu (2018), In: Journal of hospitality marketing & management27(5)pp. 583-600 Taylor & Francis

Guided by the Transaction Cost Theory and the Resource Base Views, the study proposed a framework on hotel outsourcing decisions and empirically tested it. Data were collected using a survey from 240 supervisory and management level hotel employees in China who've dealt with outsourcing. The study found that suppliers' cost-efficiency and specialization contribute to the overall efficiency of hotels, which further enhances the perceived overall service performance of outsourcing suppliers and hotels' long-term commitments with outsourcing suppliers.

Juan Du, Emily Ma, Xinyue Lin (2021), In: International journal of hospitality management94102818 Elsevier Ltd

•Globalization has contributed to the formation of diversified teams comprised of people with different characteristics, such as ethnicity, race, gender and other backgrounds, which present new challenges in how we understand and effectively manage teams. As hotels become more diversified, team faultlines will become more common in the workplace.•The study fills in a research gap on team faultlines in hospitality contexts, and empirically tested how the underlying mechanism of team faultlines influences hotel frontline employees’ work engagement by regarding psychological safety as a mediator, using data collected at multiple times.•The study confirmed that inclusive leadership can alleviate the negative impact of team faultlines while facilitating hotel employees’ work engagement. The study provides a more optimistic view that measures can indeed be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of team faultlines, and give certain practical implications for how to effectively manage diversified teams under globalization context. Team faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into two or more subgroups based on individual (diversity) attributes, which negatively influence team process and outcomes. Linking with diversity literature and building on social identity and optimal distinctiveness theories, our study examined a multilevel moderated mediation model on whether, how, and when team faultlines would affect hotel frontline employees’ work engagement using data from 337 Chinese hotel employees nested in 102 work groups, collected at multiple times. The results indicated that team faultlines negatively influenced hotel frontline employees’ work engagement, and that individual perceived psychological safety played a mediating role. Inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship between team faultlines and employees’ work engagement via psychological safety, thus providing a more optimistic view that measures can indeed be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of team faultlines.

Zhenpeng Luo, Emily Ma, Aijun Li (2021), In: The international journal of tourism research23(5)pp. 846-857 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Building on signaling theory and the job demandsâ€resources model, this paper assessed mentorship, training and interpersonal helping's role on employee attitude and performance. Using a sample of 424 millennial young frontline employees from upscale hotels in China, results of this study suggested that training and mentorship positively influence employees' task performance both directly and indirectly (via job satisfaction), and their direct and indirect influences were similar in effect sizes; job satisfaction has a positive effect on task performance, while the moderating effect of interpersonal helping was not confirmed. This study contributes to signaling theory and jobâ€demandsâ€resources model, as well as providing important practical implications to hotel operators.

Xiang Wei, Hailin Qu, Emily Ma (2016), In: Social indicators research127(1)pp. 101-122 Springer Nature

Labor efficiency is a central concept in economics. Although investigators have studied the influence of some variables (e.g., education time and physical capital) on labor efficiency, most studies overlook the impact of leisure time. This investigation examines the relationship between leisure time and labor efficiency in the world's three largest economies: China, the US and Japan. Results revealed a significant correlation between leisure time and labor efficiency, and demonstrate that active leisure participation can improve productivity. The findings also demonstrate that, in contrast to the US and Japan, China, as a typical developing country, has seldom seen an apparent positive effect of leisure time on efficiency, which may partially explained by the type of leisure participation (active or passive).

Ling Zhang, Sen Yang, Danni Wang, Emily Ma (2022), In: Journal of heritage tourism17(1)pp. 91-106 Taylor & Francis

UNESCO designated the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (Guangdong, China) a World Heritage Site in 2007. As a unique ancient cultural site, Diaolou villages attract large numbers of visitors every year. The purpose of this study was to investigate how perceived value and experience with Diaolou villages would influence tourists' satisfaction and re-visit intention. Using a sample of 617 visitors, the study found that social, emotional, brand, functional, and monetary values offered by Diaolou villages positively influenced tourists' satisfaction and behavioral intention. The study contributed to the perceived value literature by validating a multidimensional model of perceived value in ancient village contexts.

Emily Ma, Hailin QU, Rasha Ali Eliwa (2014), In: Journal of hospitality marketing & management23(5)pp. 513-535 Routledge

Building customer loyalty is an important strategy for the success of fine-dining restaurants. Knowing individual customers' differences, especially the distinction between male and female customers in service quality and image perception, as well as satisfaction and loyalty formation, is crucial to attract and retain customers. This study examined the structural relationships among food quality, staff service quality, image, customer satisfaction, and loyalty in the context of fine-dining restaurants with a special focus on gender's moderating effects. The results showed that food quality and staff service quality both contributed to the customers' satisfaction and perceived image of the restaurant. Restaurant image and customer satisfaction explained a large variance in customer loyalty. Gender moderated five out of the six proposed relationships, which supported gender's moderating role in the context of fine-dining restaurants.

Xiang Wei, Hailin Qu, Emily Ma (2018), In: Social indicators research139(3)pp. 1109-1129 Springer Nature

This paper fills the gap through theoretical reasoning and empirical testing of the effects of housework on job performance. Guided by the time allocation theory, the study proposed an optimization model based on the household production function, which indicates that an increase of time spent on housework will improve individual job performance with a progressive increase in the marginal return of housework time to household production. A field study using assembly-line workers in a Chinese manufacturing factory partially supported the proposition, suggesting that workers with longer housework time have accumulated higher character skills, particularly female workers.

Aaron Hsiao, Emily Ma, Chris Auld (2014), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management21pp. 116-126 Elsevier

This article explores differences in perceptions of organisational attractiveness (e.g., job, company and diversity attributes) between Taiwanese indigenous and non-indigenous employees. A mixed method study, framed by social identity theory, was conducted utilising semi-structured interviews and a survey of 305 employees from 22 hotels in Taiwan. Overall, the results indicated that although organisational diversity is important to hotel staff, especially for indigenous employees, this feature was the least well performing organisational attribute across the three types of hotels. Furthermore, hotels with low levels of ethnic diversity did not meet the expectations of employees about some elements of desired organisational diversity attributes (e.g., ethnic composition of the workforce). The results suggest there is a need for managers to better understand employee attitudes about organisational diversity. If organisational diversity is effectively managed, employers may be better placed to implement equal opportunity, affirmative action policies and diversity management strategies that attract and retain employees from both indigenous and non-indigenous backgrounds. (C) 2014 The Authors.

Xiang Wei, Emily Ma, Yu Pan (2022), In: Journal of China tourism research18(5)pp. 1120-1141 Taylor & Francis

Traditional theories of consumer economy suggest that outbound tourism expenditure may inhibit domestic tourism expenditure. However, little is known about whether the effect really exists. This study applied Thaler's Mental Accounting Theory and the Family Utility Function Model to test the relationship between domestic and outbound tourism expenditure using a sample of 1,147 Chinese travelers. The study suggests that outbound tourism expenditure has a promotional effect on domestic tourism expenditure, because: 1) the majority of Chinese travelers' outbound tourism is still characterized by sightseeing tours with shallow experiences, and 2) unsatisfied needs and expenditures in outbound travel can promote expenditures in domestic tourism. The study makes two important theoretical contributions. First, findings of the study helped to solve the disagreement on the relationships between domestic and outbound expenditures by applying the Mental Accounting Theory. Second, it considered characteristics of both tourism products and tourists' experiences' influence on the allocation of travel expenditures. Given the influence of the pandemic which prohibited outbound travel, such a study is timely and has meaningful empirical implications.

Emily Ma, Yulin Liu, Jinghua Li, Su Chen (2016), In: Tourism management perspectives17pp. 50-58 Elsevier Ltd

Given the growing importance of the Chinese tourist market to Australia, an understanding of Chinese tourists' arrival patterns is essential to accurate forecasting of future arrivals. Drawing on 25years of records (1991–2015), this study developed a time-series model of monthly arrivals of Chinese tourists in Australia. The model reflects the exponentially increasing trend and strong seasonality of arrivals. Excellent results from validation of the model's forecasts endorsed this time-series model's potential in the policy prescription and management practice of Australian tourism industries. •We reviewed the growth of China as an important inbound tourism market for Australia in the past three decades•We analyzed monthly tourist arrivals from China to Australian from January 1991 to September 2015•We identified the exponential trend and monthly seasonality of Chinese tourist arrivals to Australia•We compared a set of SARIMA time series models in terms of prediction accuracy•We forecast monthly Chinese tourist arrivals to Australia up to September 2017 and pointed out potential opportunities and challenges facing the Australian tourism industry

Xiang Wei, Hailin Qu, Emily Ma (2012), In: International journal of hospitality management31(4)pp. 1244-1253 Elsevier

This paper applies an economic game theory model to explain the decisive mechanism of organizational citizenship behavior (OCR). The Sub-game Perfect Nash Equilibrium (SPNE) indicates that an employee's unique motivation of OCB is to maximize his or her own performance outcome. The findings also suggest that workload, importance of work to performance outcomes and cost of OCB jointly determine the amount of OCB that each individual employee exhibits. An empirical test utilizing frontline hotel employees was performed (N = 175). Using a partial related test and logistical model, the results supported three propositions, suggesting that the amount of OCR exhibited by each employee is jointly influenced by the workload, cost of OCBs and OCBs performed by coworkers. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hanqun Song, Emily Ma, Mingming Cheng (2022), In: Current issues in tourism25(9)pp. 1432-1450 Taylor & Francis

Building on proxemics theory and social exchange theory, this study investigated how different levels of psychological social distancing, protective wears, and social interactions influence customers' perceived risk, social exchange with service employees and their intention to avoid dining in restaurants under the 'new normal' of COVID-19. Using an experimental design with a total of 404 participants in US, this study shows that regardless of social distancing measures, both protective wear and social interaction levels can significantly influence customers' risk perception and social exchange quality. The study contributes to the tourism and hospitality literature by providing a timely understanding of customers' psychological perceptions, and responses of dining in restaurants during this difficult transition time. More importantly, this study adds hard empirical evidence to the current debate of restaurant re-open measures beyond widely circulating opinion pieces.

Emily Ma, Charles Qu, Aaron Hsiao, Xin Jin (2015), In: Journal of China tourism research11(3)pp. 229-237 Taylor & Francis

China's first Tourism Law came into force on October 1, 2013 with the purpose of regulating malpractices in the tourism industry, in particular coercive shopping, low price, and poor quality tours. It is still not clear how it has impacted on travelers and the relevant stakeholders, such as destinations and travel agencies. As an exploratory study, the authors have identified and analyzed the possible outcomes of the Tourism Law's impacts on various stakeholders and pointed directions for future research on this topic.

Aaron Hsiao, Emily Ma, Christopher Auld (2017), In: Journal of hospitality marketing & management26(2)pp. 144-163 Taylor & Francis

This study investigates employees' perceptions of hygiene and motivation factors in Taiwanese hotels. Using a comparative importance-performance analysis approach, the study also examines the differences between the perceptions of employees in low- and high-diversity organizations. The results reveal that employees in hotels with a high level of organizational diversity reported higher levels of employee job satisfaction than did employees in hotels with low levels. The authors discuss the theoretical and empirical implications of their findings.

Eunbi Jo, Aaron Hsiao, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Sacha Reid (2025), In: The international journal of tourism research27(3)70033 Wiley

The literature on the sharing economy within tourism and hospitality predominantly focuses on the accommodation sector regardless of the evolutionary trends in other sectors. The objective of this study was to examine the status of the urban sharing literature to fill research gaps. A review of 88 studies was performed, and the contexts, methods, and theories were synthesised. The findings revealed the status of urban sharing research. Major themes, theories, methods, and contexts were identified. The study also discussed future research directions to build an understanding of urban sharing research in the hospitality and tourism literature. Our findings suggest a need for more research to understand the dynamics of urban sharing ecosystems. The exclusion criteria limited the study's scope, suggesting greater exploration and the inclusion of non-accommodation sectors to support greater development of the literature.

Xinjian Li, Emily Ma, Hailin Qu (2017), In: International journal of hospitality management60pp. 77-93 Elsevier Ltd

Hospitality literature constitutes a considerable accumulation of data for follow-up studies. This study used CiteSpace to analyze investigations published in three top journals of hospitality research: International Journal of Hospitality Management (2008–2014), Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (2008–2014), and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2009–2014). This application resulted in comprehensive knowledge maps of hospitality research. The study identified major disciplines that provide knowledge and theories for the hospitality discipline as well as contemporary research topics and most influential researchers.

Anoop Patiar, Emily Ma, Sandie Kensbock, Russell Cox (2017), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism education29(1)pp. 1-12 Routledge

This study examined students' expectations and perceptions of quality features of a virtual field trip in a course within a hospitality degree. A quantitative research design was used and data were collected from 182 hospitality students at an Australian university. Descriptive analysis and Importance-Performance analysis were performed to analyze the data. The results revealed that overall students were satisfied with the quality of the learning experience they gained from using the website. Through Importance-Performance Analysis, the study also identified aspects of the website that need to be further improved. The study enriches the literature in electronic-learning and confirms the virtual field trip as an effective tool for supporting the practical components of hospitality education and improving students learning experience. To allow a similar approach to be applied to other courses within hospitality degrees, additional research is required to assess its effectiveness in terms of students' learning experience and educational outcomes.

Emily Ma, Hailin Qu (2011), In: International journal of hospitality management30(3)pp. 680-688 Elsevier Ltd

▶ We proposed and tested a three-dimensional (OCB-O, OCB-I and OCB-C) framework of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) for the hotel industry. ▶ We expanded social exchanges by including leader-member exchange, co-worker exchange and customer-employee exchange. ▶ Three types of social exchanges influence three types of OCBs differently. This study developed and empirically tested a three-dimensional framework of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the hotel industry. Using a social exchange perspective, the study expanded social exchange theory's emphasis on leader–member exchange to include coworker exchange and customer–employee exchange. The three types of social exchanges were tested as motivators for three types of OCB; organizational, interpersonal and customer. The findings support the distinctiveness of the three types of OCB and the importance of social exchanges as motivators for OCBs. This study contributes to the literature on OCB dimensionality in service organizations, as well as social exchange theory's application to discretionary performance in the hotel industry.

Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, Xiang Wei, Aaron Hsiao (2018), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)42(5)pp. 740-771 Sage

This study proposes and empirically tests a holistic framework of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) motivation that uses an altruistic-egoistic continuum. It also tests the structural relationships between altruistic and egoistic motivations and different dimensions of OCB. Analysis of questionnaire data from 398 hotel employee respondents supported eight of nine proposed relationships. Study results indicate a continuum incorporating multiple altruistic and egoistic motivations and suggest that OCB can be stimulated by both altruistic and egoistic motivations. The findings show that managers should facilitate positive social exchange in the hotel, provide constructive feedback regarding the desired performance, and encourage employees to engage more often in OCB directed toward the organization.

Juan Du, Emily Ma, Xinyue Lin, Yao-Chin Wang (2022), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly63(4)19389655211033540pp. 479-489 Sage

This study developed and tested a multilevel, moderated mediation model of whether, how, and when authentic leadership can affect employee work engagement in a hotel context, building on social exchange theory. A two-wave data collection process gathered 440 valid responses of hotel frontline employees from five-star hotels in China. The result supported a positive influence of authentic leadership on work engagement and the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX). Hotel employees' perceived power distance orientation moderated the indirect relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement through LMX. In contrast to previous studies supporting the negative effect of power distance on employee behavior, the present findings suggest that power distance strengthens the relationship between authentic leadership and hotel employees' work engagement. This study contributes to authentic leadership literature and provides insights into how interactions between personal and contextual factors affect authentic leadership's influence on work engagement in hospitality organizations.

Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, Marie Wilson (2016), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)40(4)pp. 399-431 Sage

Despite its known impacts on organizational effectiveness, few studies have investigated organizational citizenship behavior's (OCB's) impact on the individual employee. This study explored the affective and dispositional consequences of OCB for hotel employees and their relationships with turnover intention. A cross-cultural comparison of U.S. and Chinese hotel employees was incorporated into the survey-based research design. The results supported positive emotion, continuance commitment, and workplace social inclusion as consequences of OCBs and mediators in the OCB-turnover relationship, with significant differences by OCB targets. The results also supported culture's moderating role in the relationship of OCB and its consequences. The implications of the findings and directions for future research were discussed.

Juan Du, Emily Ma, Victoria Cabrera, Mei Jiao (2021), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management48pp. 451-459 Elsevier Ltd

Improving employee creativity has become a critical issue for modern hospitality organizations in order to survive in a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment. Based on Conservation of Resources Theory (COR), the current research constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the influence of hospitality employees' positive affect on individual creativity within team context. We conducted a three-wave field survey gathering data from hotel employees in China. Employees' positive affect was positively related to individual creativity and individual's perceived psychological safety mediated the relationship. Interpersonal justice negatively moderated the above indirect relationship, where lower levels of interpersonal justice increased the mediating effect of perceived psychological safety. These findings provide insight into how interactions between individual and contextual factors influence individual creativity with implications on how hospitality organizations can boost up employees' positive affect to improve their creativity.

Jintao (Emily) Ma, Hailin Qu, David Njite, Su Chen (2011), In: Journal of quality assurance in hospitality & tourism12(2)pp. 121-139 Taylor & Francis Group

Chinese food is one of the three most popular ethnic foods in the United States (U.S.). However, relative little research attention has been paid to this segment, especially in the areas of service quality and customer satisfaction. This study is conducted in a Chinese restaurant located in the midwestern U.S. The purpose of this study is threefold: to identify the determinant factors of customers' satisfaction, to determine the relationship between customers' satisfaction and revisit intention, and to examine the moderating effect of culture on these relationships. The study revealed that three aspects of Chinese restaurant service performance determine customers' overall satisfaction, and customers' overall satisfaction is a significant mediator of customers' revisit intention. Finally, culture moderated the relationship between employees' service performance and customers' overall satisfaction.

Yulin Liu, Aaron Hsiao, Emily Ma (2021), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)45(6)1096348020962564pp. 967-997 Sage

Despite the abundance in methodologies for tourism demand modeling, most methods examine demand growth levels rather than growth patterns. The latter, however, can be of great value for destination management to minimize business risks and for authorities to prescribe effective policies. Meanwhile, describing demand growth as a simplex S-shaped life-cycle curve may oversimplify the heterogeneity in visitor flows. There is thus a need for methods that can identify market segments based on demand growth patterns to enable smart destination management strategies and provide theoretical insights. This article introduces a longitudinal profile analysis via multidimensional scaling (LPAMS) as an effective and easy to implement data-driven segmentation tool. This practitioner-friendly quantitative analytic tool is justified in the theoretical background of embracing complexity in business research, data disaggregation, and modeling interdependence in tourism forecasting. The conceptual and procedural details of LPAMS are explained at a level that is comfortably understood by researchers and practitioners, together with methodological comparisons with conventional methods. A demonstration of LPAMS is presented to identify five typical annual arrivals' growth patterns of Australia's 43 main inbound markets over 1991-2016. This study contributes to the methodologies for longitudinal tourism demand analysis and market segmentation techniques.

Xiang Wei, Hailin Qu, Emily Ma (2013), In: Tourism economics : the business and finance of tourism and recreation19(5)pp. 1123-1138 Sage

This study develops and tests a tourism employment model with 17-year time series data in China. The model reveals that tourism employment does not always grow in accordance with the tourism economy. The results indicate that tourism employment in China is driven mainly by the development of tourism-related industries. The results also show that technological progress has a slight negative effect on tourism employment in China.

Yinghua Huang, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Danni Wang (2021), In: Journal of sustainable tourism29(10)pp. 1694-1715 Routledge

Building on prospect theory, construal level theory, and corporate social responsibility literature, this study investigated how messaging framing strategies impact buffet diners' food waste and repatronage intentions using three experimental studies. Findings suggested that framing strategies (gain vs. loss) and point of reference (self vs. others vs. environment) interactively influence diners' behavioral intentions through corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, a gain-framing strategy with self or other-referencing points could enhance perceived CSR and repatronage intentions. However, when the referencing point changes to environment, gain-framed and loss-framed messages result in similar levels of perceived CSR, food waste reduction intentions, and repatronage intentions. Evidence also suggests that the "out of sight, out of mind" phenomenon could occur when it comes to food waste prevention. This study contributes to the literature by delineating the mediation mechanism of perceived CSR between message framing and diners' behavioral intentions. It also shed light on restaurants' food waste management, with implications for designing effective communication messages to enhance diners' engagement in food waste prevention.

Yan Zhang, Emily Ma, Hailin Qu (2012), In: Anatolia : an international journal of tourism and hospitality research23(3)pp. 315-327 Taylor & Francis Group

As one of China's fastest growing outbound travel markets, Shanghai has witnessed a steady growth in outbound travel demand in recent years. The worldwide financial crisis, starting in 2007, negatively affected the global economy. Does the global financial crisis affect Shanghai residents' outbound travel too? Using descriptive analysis and factor analysis, this study explored and identified the preferences and influencing factors of Shanghai residents' outbound travel.

Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, Marie Wilson, Ken Eastman (2013), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly54(3)pp. 308-317 Sage

Most research examining organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has focused on employees' efforts that benefit the organization or the individuals' coworkers. A third dimension that is critical for the hospitality industry is behavior above and beyond the specific job description that is directed at customers. While most OCB studies have considered what behaviors are essential to corporate citizenship, but specific behaviors might be culturally bound. To avoid cultural issues, a more effective approach is to analyze the targets of citizenship behavior, that is, the organization, coworkers, and customers. A study of 240 hotel workers in China found support for a three-leg model of OCB, combining behavior aimed at these targets: at the organization itself, at coworkers, and at customers. Citizenship behavior aimed at the organization includes such activities as promoting a hotel's products and making favorable comments about the property outside of work. Citizenship behavior in support of coworkers includes assisting them as needed and taking time to listen to coworkers' concerns. Customer-focused OCB includes such activities as maintaining a positive attitude at work and performing duties carefully and accurately. Although this study did not expressly measure the results of such actions, previous work has shown increases in guest satisfaction and company revenue when OCB activities are high.

Emily Ma, Mingming Cheng, Aaron Hsiao (2018), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management30(11)pp. 3287-3308 Emerald Group Publishing

Purpose The study aims to provide a critical review of the origin, development and process of sentiment analysis (SA) and a demonstration for hospitality researchers and students on how to perform SA using a sample study. Design/methodology/approach A critical review and sample case demonstration approach was applied. The sample study used Leximancer to perform SA using TripAdvisor review data. Findings A critical evaluation of the most popular SA tools was provided, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. A step-by-step demonstration with data provided makes it possible for readers to learn this technique at own pace. Originality/value By providing a critical review of SA supported with a demonstration case study, this study makes a timely contribution for broader awareness and understanding, as well as the application of SA in hospitality.

Yi-Chen (Bob) Duan, Emily Ma, Charles Arcodia, Aaron Hsiao (2020), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management45pp. 359-369 Elsevier

This empirical research into tourists' motivation for visiting wineries aims to understand the role of cultural value in China's domestic wine tourism. The study focuses on the motivations of tourists from the perspective of culture-related wine value and the process of consumers' psychological recognition by utilizing three-level identity theory. Xiao zi, a Chinese lifestyle, is central to this investigation. A process of semi-structured interviews was utilized. The study has identified the dimensionality of xiao zi and revealed it to be a manifestation of the individualism currently burgeoning in contemporary China which historically has been known for its collectivist nature. The findings also suggest that xiao zi does have an impact on wine tourists' cellar door visitation motivation, and it has presence in three identity levels, relating to personal, interpersonal and group-level appraisals. This article offers a richer and more comprehensive understanding of xiao zi in relation to tourism.

Danni Wang, Melissa A. Baker, Youngsun Sean Kim, Emily Ma (2021), In: International journal of hospitality management98103043 Elsevier Ltd

Building upon equity, expectancy-disconfirmation, and social exchange theories, this research broadens the tipping literature by examining employees’ psychological and behavioral responses when receiving tips that differ in size from expectations, and how managers’ support influences perceptions. Using a 2 (actual-expected tipping discrepancy: higher vs. lower-than-expected tip size) x 2 (manager delivered social praise: presence vs. absence) between-subjects experimental design, the study finds that employees receive higher-than-expected tip size (vs. lower-than-expected tip size) have a higher level of social dignity, which promotes employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The results also support an interaction effect of manager delivered social praise and tipping discrepancy on employees’ social dignity. The results provide important theoretical and managerial implications to the tipping, social dignity, OCB, incivility, and social praise literature. •Employees who receive higher than expected tip size have a greater level of social dignity.•Employees’ dignity and OCB-C intention increase when they receive higher than expected tip size.•There is an interaction effect of manager delivered social praise and tipping discrepancy on employees’ social dignity.

Bob (Yichen) Duan, Charles Arcodia, Emily Ma, Aaron Hsiao (2018), In: Asia Pacific journal of tourism research23(10)pp. 949-960 Taylor & Francis

Wine tourism in China is an emerging market. This study addresses two research questions: the product offering and the tourist experience in this market. Findings of an exploratory study using netnography were examined by combining product levels theory and the experience economy model. The resulting proposed theoretical framework identified the status of China's wine tourism market as situated in the infancy stage. Results revealed the core product needed more customers' involvement, and enrichment of the augmented product, to best position the wine destinations. While, enhancing educational, entertainment, and escapist experiences would benefit the whole experiences and increase future loyalty.

Emily Ma, Yafang Bao, Leijun Huang, Danni Wang, Misun (Sunny) Kim (2023), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly64(2)19389655211052286pp. 184-211 Sage

Integrating two theoretical frameworks, the product level theory and the experience economy model, this research analyzed and compared robotic technology applications and customer experiences in selected case robot restaurants in the United States and China. Guided by the product level theory, we first analyzed in which product/service levels were robots applied in each case restaurant in Study 1. Then in study 2, guided by the experience economy model, we further explored customers' dining experiences and compared if customers' experience differs due to variations in product/service levels that robot applied. The study first contributes to the product level theory by extending its application to the context of robotic restaurants. It also contributes to the experience economy literature, and in particularly, whether applications of robotic technologies at different product levels matter in customers' dining experience. The study included case restaurants both from the United States and China, presenting findings with cultural implications. Given the challenges presented by COVID-19 and the industry is exploring alternative ways for service delivery and food production, such a study is particularly meaningful.

Aijing Liu, Emily Ma (2019), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management41pp. 60-68 Elsevier

This study used a mixed-method research design to investigate Chinese university students' perception of crowding during travel and the positive or negative affect crowding had on their satisfaction. It also explored the strategies Chinese student travelers adopted to cope with crowding during travel. The findings suggested that Chinese college students' perception of crowding did not directly impact their travel satisfaction, but indirectly influenced satisfaction via positive and negative affect. As a result of crowding, most students adopted displacement and product shift as coping strategies.

Emily Ma, Danni Wang, Liang Wang, Aijing Liu (2023), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)47(5)10963480211019104pp. 877-907 Sage

Owing to the service-oriented nature of hospitality organizations, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has drawn increasing attention from hospitality researchers over the last two decades. Taking a systematic and meta-analytical approach, this study presents a comprehensive picture of the status, conceptual and measurement frameworks, fundamental theories, method, antecedents, consequences, and meta-analytical relationships among popular variables. In addition, the study points out research gaps and future directions for hospitality OCB research, drawing on comparison with mainstream OCB literature. In particular, there is a need for more holistic, reliable, and validated OCB frameworks and measures for different hospitality contexts; a need for research on the consequences of OCB at the level of customers, coworkers, and employees; and more rigorous research methodologies. The findings further suggest that the unique characteristics of hospitality organizations not only provide meaningful contexts but also broaden and deepen the scope of OCB theories.

Emily Ma, Hailin Qu, David Njite (2011), In: Journal of foodservice business research14(3)pp. 290-308 Taylor & Francis Group

The purpose of this study was to provide empirical information necessary for filling some gaps in the extant literature on Chinese restaurant service quality in a U.S. setting. Using a case approach, the study investigated customers' perception toward the various service aspects of a Chinese restaurant in the United States. Applying the Importance-Performance Analysis technique, the study also identified the areas of services that require special attention. Several comparisons were made to identify the influence of different demographic characteristics on customers' service quality perceptions.

Emily Ma, Yun Zhang, Feng Zeng Xu, Danni Wang, Misun (Sunny) Kim (2021), In: Tourism management (1982)87104356 Elsevier

Building on agency theory and signaling theory, this study investigated the psychological mechanism of how empowerment impacts hotel frontline employees' self-esteem, perceived trust, and OCBs performed toward both internal and external customers. Using a longitudinal research design with data collected via three waves, the results supported that three out of four dimensions of empowerment had significant and positive influence on employees' self-esteem and perceived trust, both of which are significant predictors for three types of OCBs. The study makes important contributions to literature and suggests that hotel employees feeling empowered can enhance their overall wellness while contributing to their OCB performances. Thus, empowerment should be properly used as a strategy to facilitate employees' contextual performance.

Aaron Hsiao, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Kathleen Lloyd, Sacha Reid (2020), In: Journal of hospitality & tourism research (Washington, D.C.)44(1)1096348019883694pp. 76-108 Sage

The aim of this study was to explore whether Taiwanese hospitality workers' gender moderates the relationship between perceived ethnic diversity levels within their workplace and work-related outcomes at an individual employee level. Data were collected from 371 employees across 26 hotels in Taiwan. The results supported mediation effects of job satisfaction and affective commitment on the relationship between perceived ethnic diversity and employees' turnover intention. Gender moderated the relationships between perceived diversity and job satisfaction, affective commitment and the relationships between job satisfaction and turnover intention. This study highlights the importance of ethnic diversity impacts on employee work outcomes within Asian hospitality organizations, specifically in Taiwan.

Aijing Liu, Emily Ma, Wenzhong Wei, Hailin Qu (2023), In: Journal of destination marketing & management28100778 Elsevier Ltd

Using a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design supported by quantitative and qualitative evidence, this study explored how local residents can trigger tourists' pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) from three theoretical perspectives: social learning, norm activation, and reference group theories. Our findings suggested that residents' PEBs trigger tourists' PEBs by serving as reference groups for tourists' personal norms, helping tourists become aware of environmental consequences, and making tourists learn that they have a role to play in protecting destinations. Tourists may bring this influence back home, turning them from bystanders into regular actioners of PEBs. The study makes important contributions to Norm Activation Theory, Social Learning Theory, and the reference group literature by integrating three theoretical perspectives. It highlights the important roles destination residents can play in influencing and transforming tourists’ PEBs and thus has important implications for local government authorities and destination management companies and professionals. •The study explored how local residents can trigger tourists' PEBs.•Social learning, norm activation, and reference group perspectives were used.•The study used a mixed-method sequential explanatory design.•Both quantitative and qualitative evidence were used.•Tourists can carry forward residents' influence and continue to practice PEBs.

Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai, Emily Ma (2024), In: Marco Valeri (eds.), Innovation Strategies and Organizational Culture in Tourismpp. 45-60 Routledge

The creation of wellness values in wine tourism is at the heart of this chapter based on two distinct value generation approaches: service-dominant and customer-dominant logics that prevail in the service marketing arena, reflecting divergent worldviews. This chapter investigates which logic dominates the establishment of wellness values. Moreover, in attempting to better understand the factors that drive its creation, an inductive technique was used to make four breakthroughs. First, the study of wine tourism has expanded into wellness value development, increasing the scope of both wellness tourism and wine tourism. Second, this chapter reveals that the wellness value of wine is not intentional but rather based on individuals, with wine firms and wineries co-creating this value. Third, "wine," "reality and life" and "intangible culture" are variables found in this study that contribute to the establishment of wellness values. Finally, the proposed framework makes three additional contributions. Meanwhile, online and offline data collection offer a richer picture of the service providers' sphere.

Brigitte Stangl, Yu Li, Emily Ma, Shi Xu, Mai Alsaied (2024), In: Annals of tourism research109103854 Elsevier Ltd

A multi-stage, multi-method approach using participatory research methodology that considers the perspectives of tourism and hospitality professionals, and academic experts is used to develop an integrated model of transferable skills gained by working in the industry. Grounded in career construction theory, this study is anticipated to provide a comprehensive understanding of essential skills in the tourism and hospitality industry. It also aims to reshape the image of working in the industry into a more positive one, emphasizing the opportunities of the sector not only as a career but also as a steppingstone to learn transferable skills needed in different sectors, and ultimately contribute to the long-term and sustainable development of the tourism and hospitality sector. [Display omitted] •Explore transferable skills crucial in tourism and hospitality via a robust multi-method study.•Illuminate key competencies to transform the image of tourism and hospitality work positively.•Contribute to the long-term vitality of the industry by addressing skill shortages and fostering a positive perception.•Provide a nuanced view of essential skills, informing both professionals and the public alike.

Huan Yang, Xinyuan (Roy) Zhao, Emily Ma (2024), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management58pp. 154-163
Emily Ma, Melissa A. Baker, Youngsun Sean Kim, Kawon Kim (2023), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly

Not all recoveries are successful. Previous research mostly focuses on employee service-recovery actions, while limited research examines how customers evaluate the interactions of employees’ diverse appearance features and their performance in service recoveries. To build upon the research gaps, this study examines the two processes of evaluation: inference-based and recognition-based evaluations. To do so, this research examines how service employees’ diversity features (e.g., gender and race) and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) performance influence customer evaluations of service recovery. Using a between-subjects experimental research design, the findings contribute to the diversity, service recovery, and OCB literature by adding new evidence on how recognition-based evaluations of employees’ appearances (gender and race) and inference-based evaluations of behaviors (OCB to customers) can affect customer perceptions of employee competence, trustworthiness, and dignity in service recoveries.

Lakshi Senevirathna, Xin Jin, Emily Ma (2023), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management57pp. 1-12 Elsevier Ltd

Event volunteers are a significant asset for event organisers as they contribute to the successful execution of events. However, organisers face challenges when recruiting and retaining volunteers due to the lack of understanding of factors contributing to volunteering outcomes. Building on the Motivation, Ability and Opportunity (MAO) model, the current study aims to deepen the understanding of antecedents of event volunteer outcomes (satisfaction, intention to volunteer again and Organisational Citizenship behaviour). An online survey distributed via event organisers collected 320 responses from event volunteers in Queensland, Australia. The Structural Equation Modelling underlined the positive effect of event volunteers' motivations on satisfaction. The analysis revealed that event volunteers' perceived opportunities are an antecedent of their satisfaction and intention to volunteer again. Finally, the study found that abilities positively impact event volunteers' organisational citizenship behaviour. Theoretically, the study contributes to the episodic event volunteer literature by systematically identifying the interrelated antecedents of event volunteer outcomes. Managers should consider the impact of MAO elements on volunteering outcomes when attracting and retaining event volunteers.

Hanqun Song, Huijun Yang, Emily Ma (2022), In: Journal of retailing and consumer services68103054 Elsevier Ltd

Building on the linguistic landscape theory and literature on customers' experience with restaurants' authenticity and status, this study investigates whether restaurants' outdoor signs influence customers' perceptions and behavioral intentions. Using an experimental design comprising two studies, supported by data collected from Chinese consumers, we test how display characters and text flow may jointly impact on customers' perceptions of the status and authenticity of ethnic (Japanese and Taiwanese) restaurants, thus influencing their visiting intentions and willingness to pay. We find that display characters influence Chinese customers' perceptions of authenticity and status in both Japanese and Taiwanese restaurants in Mainland China. There is an interaction effect between display characters and text flow on customers' perception of authenticity and status in Japanese restaurants in Mainland China. This study applies the linguistic landscape theory to a restaurant context and examines how such features may influence customers’ perceptions and decisions. The findings have important practical implications on managing customer experiences and perceptions via effective restaurant sign designs. •The study is built on linguistic landscape, restaurant authenticity and status literature.•It tested whether restaurant outdoor signs influence customers' authenticity, restaurant status, and behavioral intention.•Display characters shape customers' perception of both Japanese and Taiwanese restaurants.•There is an interaction effect between display characters and text flow on customers' perception of Japanese restaurants.

Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Jingjing Dai, Emily Ma (2023), In: Sport and Tourismpp. 79-94 Emerald Publishing Limited
Misun (Sunny) Kim, Melissa A. Baker, Emily Ma (2023), In: Tourism management (1982)96104695 Elsevier

Service is entering a 2.0 transformation where service no longer simply involves customer-employee interactions, but customer-technology-employee interactions. However, previous literature predominantly focuses on customers from a marketing approach, failing to incorporate employees' perspective in the face of technology-enabled changes in a service encounter. Building on Job demand-resource model, this study proposes mobile applications as a job resource and examines their impact on restaurant employees. This study conducts interviews and qualitative content analysis in Study 1 and further employs a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design in Study 2. The results indicate that mobile orders may assist frontline employees to invest less cognitive and emotional effort, even in the condition of higher order complexity, leading to enhanced employee workplace well-being. This study newly introduces mobile apps as job resources and a potential way to improve employees' well-being at work. This study contributes both JD-R and the well-being literature with practical implications.

Aaron Hsiao, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Anita Manfreda, Mandi Baker, Jingjing Xu (2023), In: Journal of hospitality marketing & management32(4)pp. 555-577
Jingjing Xu, Aaron Hsiao, Sacha Reid, Emily Ma (2023), In: International journal of hospitality management113103523 Elsevier Ltd

Taking a systematic literature review approach, this study examines research on service robot adoption from hospitality employees’ perspectives. The findings reveal the current status of service robot research on hospitality employees by summarizing publication channels, temporal distribution, classifications of publications, and countries of focus of existing studies. This study also identifies key theories and constructs applied in existing research. Building on these, a holistic conceptual model including key antecedents, mediators, outcomes, and moderators in terms of service robot adoption among hospitality employees is proposed. Furthermore, several key promising research directions have been identified and discussed in this study, which serve as important references for researchers interested in pursuing this topic. •This is a systematic review of robotic applications among hospitality employees.•A comprehensive picture of existing service robot studies is provided.•Key theories and models applied in existing studies are identified and discussed.•A conceptual model of service robot adoption from hospitality employees’ perspectives is proposed.•Several key promising directions for future research are recommended and explained.

Emily Ma, Yun Zhang, Wei Xi, Feng Zeng Xu (2020), In: Global Marketing Conferencepp. 786-789 긶Ä로벌짶Äì‹ë§ˆì¼¶Ä팅경ì˜À´•™ÐëŒ

The study proposed a dual-path model to examine the relationship between customer perceived hotel innovativeness and customers’ interactivity, building the signaling theory. The model was tested with hotel customers from China. The findings suggest that customers’ perceived hotel innovativeness not only has a positive and direct impact on their interactivity, it also indirectly contributes to customers’ interactivity via two indirect paths, one featuring a cognitive-economic motivation pathway and the other featuring an affective-motivation pathway.

Bob Yi-Chen Duan, Emily Ma (2023), In: Journal of vacation marketing Sage

Wellness value is a neglected research area within the field of wine tourism. The connection between wine and wellness in this context is just starting to appear. Using an inductive approach, we established two research questions (RQs) to guide this study. RQ1: Who is concerned with the health-related values of wine tourism? RQ2: What are the dimensions of health-related values in wine tourism? An in-depth and semi-structured interview was conducted. Informants aged 18-45 years, who have health awareness and suffer from wellness problems, are concerned with health-related values in wine tourism. Findings indicated six relevant dimensions: wine health attributes, knowledge, wine destination attributes, mental benefits, social and space needs, and wellness facilities. Further, this study proposes a conceptual framework linking wine-drinking behaviour and destination facilities and attributes with affective and cognitive beliefs that contribute to the overall value of wellness. This proposition shifts the traditional affective and cognitive approach towards values.

Shifeng Wu, Emily Ma, Jiangyun Wang, Dan Li (2022), In: Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland)14(19)12603 Mdpi

The popularization of smart phones has fostered the use of e-hailing apps, which can effectively reduce information asymmetry and provide ease and convenience during travel. Meanwhile, problems such as product homogeneity, slow operation speed, and interface confusion in travel apps also exist, leading to negative user experience. Building on the theory of planned behavior and technology acceptance model, this study examines multiple features of travel apps and their influence on university students' experience and travel intentions. Findings of the study suggest that, compared to the contents of travel apps, the ease of use seems to have a stronger influence on students' attitude, perceived behavioral control, and travel intention. The study contributes to the integration of the technology acceptance model and the theory of planned behavior in travel contexts. The findings also offer meaningful practical implications and recommendations on product and service design to relevant stakeholders willing to offer a better travel app user experience.

Hanqun Song, Yao-Chin Wang, Huijun Yang, Emily Ma (2022), In: International journal of hospitality management106103301 Elsevier Ltd

Cost-saving and sanitation considerations and the challenge of labor shortages have catalyzed the application of service robots in restaurants. Although service robots can perform multiple roles and functions, more research attention is needed in hospitality contexts on how different combinations of using robots and humans at different product/service layers may influence customers’ experiences and behavioral intentions. Building on the literature of product level theory and authenticity, this study empirically investigated this issue with data collected from 364 customers in China. The results show that the use of robots in core and facilitating product levels is less effective in improving consumers’ perceived service and brand authenticity. Consumers’ perceived service authenticity positively influences their brand authenticity and repurchase intention. Consumers’ perceived brand authenticity only positively affects their repurchase intention. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in this paper. •Conceptualizes the use of service robots in multiple product levels, authenticity, and behavioral intentions.•Explores authentic hospitality experiences through the adoption of robotic employees.•Examines both customers’ dining and life domains of authenticity behavioral intentions.•Contributes to knowledge in product level theory between robotic employees and human employees.

Yinghua Huang, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Tsu-Hong Yen (2022), In: Journal of sustainable tourismahead-of-print(ahead-of-print)pp. 1-20 Routledge

This study explores Gen Z diners' perceptions of restaurant food waste generation and prevention, as well as their related moral decision-making. Drawing on the norm activation model and moral disengagement theory, a dual-route process model was developed to depict Gen Zers' the moral judgement for wasting food or not at restaurants. Six online focus groups with Gen Z diners in the United States were conducted and thematic analysis was applied. The findings of this study identified multiple underlying psychological mechanisms (e.g., moral obligation activation vs. moral disengagement) for explaining Gen Z diners' food waste behaviors. Situational factors, cultural factors, and restaurant-related factors all play a key role in the moral judgment process. The findings also revealed what Gen Z diners expect restaurants to do in order to address the food waste problem. This study provides valuable theoretical and managerial implications for tackling the food waste issue. The practical contribution of this study supports the restaurant industry to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 "Responsible Consumption and Production".

Aaron Hsiao, Ying Wang, Emily (Jintao) Ma, Xin Jin (2021), In: Journal of hospitality and tourism management49pp. 624-634 Elsevier Ltd

Building on a three-dimensional cultural competence model and treating customer–employee exchange as a vital form of social exchange, this study examines how different dimensions of cultural competence of service providers and their social investment impact event attendees' perceived destination experience and behavioral intentions in cross-cultural service encounters. Using data collected during a major sports event in Australia, the study found that cultural awareness and skills significantly influenced event attendees' perceived social investment and destination experience, while the role of cultural knowledge was not significant. Employees' cultural awareness and cultural skills had a stronger influence on perceived social investment among international tourists than they did on domestic tourists, but social investment had a stronger influence on domestic tourists' destination experience and revisit intention than it did on that of international tourists. The study contributes to an enhanced understanding of how cultural competence can shape customers’ destination experience. In addition, it introduced a cultural perspective to the social exchange process, contributing to the broadening and deepening of social exchange theory.

Juan Du, Emily Ma, Xinyue Lin (2021), In: International journal of hospitality management98103034 Elsevier Ltd

Building on Trait Activation Theory, this study explored whether, how, and why proactive personality and inclusive leaders can foster creativity at both individual and team levels. Using multi-wave data collected from hotel frontline employees and their supervisors, the study first found that at individual level, proactive personality could influence creativity via psychological safety, with inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship. The study further tested at team level, using lab experiment with hospitality majored students, the relationship between proactivity and creativity. The findings at the team level suggested that teams with highly proactive members exhibited higher levels of creativity than teams without highly proactive members. This research revealed the psychological mechanism of how proactivity contributes to individual creativity, and teams can benefit from having proactive members. •The study explored whether, how, and when proactive personality and inclusive leaders can foster team creativity.•The study employed a mix-method research design, examining individual level relationships and team level relationships.•At individual levle, psychological safety mediated the relationship between proactive personality and individual creativity.•At team level, teams with highly proactive members outperform teams without.

Yafang Bao, Hanjing Jiang, Emily Ma, Zhi Sun, Lihua Xu (2023), In: Sustainability (Basel, Switzerland)15(1)143 Mdpi

The sustainable development of tourism is essential for revitalizing historically and culturally significant ancient villages in China. Despite the longstanding recognition of the relationship between the spatial distribution of village destinations and their sustainable development, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies in village tourism. Using the geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis method and the exploratory spatial data analysis model, this study explored the spatial-temporal features of ancient village tourism over three important time nodes of rural tourism development (in Zhejiang, China), as well as the contributing factors at both the provincial and prefectural city levels. The findings of this study suggested a spatial inequality in the distribution of ancient villages, in terms of tourism development over time. In particular, tourism development was clustered in the southern region, with a noticeable spillover effect. Meanwhile, transportation, source markets, and physical topography are essential factors contributing to this spatial distribution. The study contributes to ancient village tourism development literature and offers meaningful, practical implications for regional governments and business investors.

Misun (Sunny) Kim, Emily Ma, Liang Wang (2023), In: International journal of hospitality management108103356 Elsevier Ltd

Although work-family issues have received nascent attention in the hospitality industry due to their value to stakeholders (e.g., organizations, employees, and their families), the existing literature is not conclusive. And there is a need to seek ways of creating work-family support to help employees balance between work and family spheres. Taking a systematic review approach aided by structured synthesis and meta-analysis across disciplines, this research provides a comprehensive conceptual model of work-family support literature. The model includes formal work-family support policies, supporting theories, and outcomes on multiple levels, thus representing the relational mechanisms of key variables. By doing so, this study presents the current status of hospitality literature. It offers valuable future research avenues: increased academic attention to a need for more research on work-family support policy in the hospitality industry, a call for studies on childcare policies, and a comprehensive perspective of work-family issues by taking into account individual differences of employees, various countries as a research context, and far-reaching outcomes of work-family support policies. •This study assesses the current status of workplace work-family support research.•A systematic literature review on the topic was performed both within and outside of the hospitality discipline.•A conceptual framework on mechanism of key ariables and supporting theories was developed.•Meaningful research gaps in and future research directions are discussed.

Feng Zeng Xu, Emily Ma, Yun Zhang (2023), In: Cornell hospitality quarterly Sage

This study proposes a moderated mediation model of customer-driven hotel employee service innovations. Building on social exchange and social identity theories, we suggest that positive customer-employee exchanges influence employees' service innovations via direct and indirect paths. While the reciprocal nature of social exchanges was used to explain the direct path from customer-employee exchange to employees' service innovation, social identity theory was used to explain the indirect path whereby customers' inputs shape employees' creative role identities, thus fostering innovation behaviors. The study further tests how organization openness serves as a boundary condition, and the results support the moderating role of organization openness, suggesting that while positive customer-employee exchanges help shape employees' self-identification (as being creative) and trigger employees' service innovation, an open organization encourages employees to actively engage in service innovations.

Emily Ma, Bob Duan, Lavender Shu, Charles Arcodia (2020)pp. 3-8

China has become Australia’s most important source market and there are growing number of visitors participated in wine tourism. Using in-depth interviews, the study looked into Chinese tourists’ preferences, motivations and barriers to participate in wineries tours in Australia. The study enriched to literature on wine tourism. It offered practical implications for wineries and destinations to better understand and accommodate Chinese wine tourists’ needs and preferences.

Feng Zeng Xu, Emily Ma, Yun Zhang (2020), In: Global Marketing Conferencepp. 710-714 긶Ä로벌짶Äì‹ë§ˆì¼¶Ä팅경ì˜À´•™ÐëŒ
Aijing Liu, Emily Ma, Yao-Chin Wang, Shi (Tracy) Xu, Tyran Grillo (2023), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management Emerald Group Publishing

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to critically reflect on visually impaired customers' technology assistance needs and the perceptions of existing technologies' performance in the contexts of hospitality and tourism. Design/methodology/approachFollowing a qualitative approach, this study used in-depth semistructured interviews with 19 participants with visual impairments. FindingsPositive and negative sides of technology-assisted experiences in the hotel, restaurant, and travel domains were summarized, and room for improvement was discussed to enhance the quality of life and travel experience of visually impaired customers. Practical implicationsFindings from this study offer actionable implications and future directions to technicians and managers to make hospitality and travel experiences more inclusive. Originality/valueThis timely reflection addresses a critical situation by offering original ideas and calling for more discussion of under-represented groups with visual impairments. Shi (Tracy) Xu can be contacted at: s.xu@surrey.ac.uk.

Wan Yang, Juan Madera, Shi Xu, Laurie Wu, Emily Ma (2023), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management35(11)pp. 3737-3742 Emerald Group Publishing Limited

(2023) critically reflect on diversity and inclusion research in the hospitality and tourism literature by integrating two separate perspectives: human resources and customer behavior. The second study recruits 116 hospitality employees to complete a two-wave time-lagged survey on abusive supervision and gender-leadership bias, followed by questions on external attribution and insubordination two weeks later. The findings reveal three main themes and 10 subthemes related to women’s professional identity, highlighting the importance of work environment, social evaluation, perception of work and demonstrating professional competence. The authors argue that to truly promote diversity, the events industry must acknowledge the role of racial power dynamics and implement interventions to address these issues.

Aaron Hsiao, Eunbi Jo, Emily Ma, Sacha Reid (2024), In: The Routledge Handbook of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Management in the Hospitality Industrypp. 48-61 Routledge

An organization that highlights the necessity to promote ethnic diversity will not only meet the demands of the market for a diverse customer base in a global hospitality setting but will also benefit the employees of an organization, with staff more likely to present higher levels of cultural competency, work motivation, and organizational commitment. Taking a systematic literature review approach, this chapter discusses the concepts of diversity and ethnic diversity and examines the importance of diversity management and ethnic diversity. More importantly, it illustrates a detailed description of status, conceptual frameworks, related theories, measurement scales, methods, antecedents, moderators, mediators, and consequences among common variables, drawing upon a comparison with critical literature on ethnic diversity in the hospitality field. The discussion provides meaningful contexts and broadens and deepens the scope of diversity-related theories. The study contributes to an enhanced understanding of how ethnic diversity can provide more advantages than it does challenges. In addition, it brings a cultural perspective to the common identity process, contributing to the broadening and deepening of social identity theory.

Juan M. Madera, Wan Yang, Laurie Wu, Emily Jintao Ma, Shi Tracy Xu (2023), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management Emerald Group Publishing

This paper aims to provide a critical reflection on diversity and inclusion research from the hospitality and tourism literature. Design/methodology/approach Through conducting a critical reflection, this paper used a thematic analysis focused on integrating the scholarly literature that has developed separately: one focusing on the human resources perspective and another concentrating on customer behavior. This critical reflection bridges the gap between these two perspectives. Findings The authors develop and offer a research agenda for future research drawing from three areas ripe for future research: human resources management, diversity resistance and marketing. They focus on theory-driven research that has practical applications to make hospitality and tourism more inclusive for both the workforce and consumers. Practical implications Meaningful research must be translated into practice, and by addressing these research gaps, organizations can gain insights into diverse worker and customer experiences and create more effective diversity initiatives. Originality/value The current literature often lacks an integrated approach that bridges the gap between the two reviewed perspectives: the human resources management and marketing perspectives. A holistic understanding of diversity and inclusion is vital, as it recognizes the interconnectedness between employees and customers within the context of the hospitality and tourism sector is important for several reasons.

Emily Ma, Huijun Yang, Yao-Chin Wang, Hanqun Song (2022), In: Tourism management (1982)93104610 Elsevier Ltd

The growing popularity of robot-related research contexts in hospitality and tourism calls for in-depth analysis of how different product/service designs strategies integrating robots may influence customers' experiences. Employing a scenario-based 2 × 2 × 2 experimental research design, this study assesses service robots applied at three different product/service levels (i.e., core, facilitating, and augmented). From surveying 378 customers of mid-priced casual restaurants and 312 tourists of a mid-priced theme park restaurant, findings of the study suggest that using robots at all three product/service levels lead to a more positive educational experience but not entertainment experience. The study further extends the literature by positioning dining at a robotic restaurant as an important occasion to showcase the latest technologies to customers. By providing memorable entertainment and educational experiences, customers’ technology readiness could be enhanced, making them more willing to try new technologies. Such a focus brings in unique contributions both in literature and practice.

Liang Meng, Dandan Li, Emily Ma, Juan Du (2024), In: International journal of hospitality management116103625

Hospitality management research pays much attention to how work-related factors affect employees’ extra-role behaviors, while the potential role of work-family factors seems to be neglected. Using a sample of employees and their direct supervisors from several five-star hotels in China, a three-wave survey study was conducted to explore the effects of family motivation on employees' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and voice behaviors, as well as to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The results show that family motivation stimulates employees to see their jobs as a means to obtain financial rewards to support their families (i.e., job instrumentality) and then to be more concerned about their jobs’ security. Further, job security concern would enhance employees’ impression management motives, leading to more OCBs toward different targets while inhibiting voice behaviors. Implications for family motivation and extra-role behaviors research and practice are discussed.

Huijun Yang, Yao-Chin Wang, Hanqun Song, Emily Ma (2024), In: International journal of contemporary hospitality management36(9)pp. 3211-3231 EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LIMITED

Purpose Drawing on person–environment fit theory, this study aims to investigate how the relationships between service task types (i.e. utilitarian and hedonic service tasks) and perceived authenticity (i.e. service and brand authenticity) differ under different conditions of service providers (human employee vs service robot). This study further examines whether customers’ stereotypes toward service robots (competence vs warmth) moderate the relationship between service types and perceived authenticity. Design/methodology/approach Using a 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design, Study 1 examines a casual restaurant, whereas Study 2 assesses a theme park restaurant. Analysis of covariance and PROCESS are used to analyze the data. Findings Both studies reveal that human service providers in hedonic services positively affect service and brand authenticity more than robotic employees. Additionally, the robot competence stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services, service and brand authenticity, whereas the robot warmth stereotype moderates the relationship between hedonic services and brand authenticity in Study 2. Practical implications Restaurant managers need to understand which functions and types of service outlets are best suited for service robots in different service contexts. Robot–environment fit should be considered when developers design and managers select robots for their restaurants. Originality/value This study blazes a new theoretical trail of service robot research to systematically propose customer experiences with different service types by drawing upon person–environment fit theory and examining the moderating role of customers’ stereotypes toward service robots.

Emily Ma, Juan Du, Shi (Tracy) Xu, Yao-Chin Wang, Xinyue Lin (2022), In: International journal of hospitality management107103326 Elsevier Ltd

Building on Agency Theory and Job Characteristics Theory, this study examines how the autonomy of work interacts with individual proactivity and jointly enhances hotel frontline employees’ self-affirmation and performance. Using a longitudinal research design of three-wave data collection, the findings of this study suggested that the autonomy of work enhances employees’ perceived self-efficacy and sense of personal control. Although the perceived sense of control did not lead to employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), self-efficacy can facilitate employees’ OCBs directed toward both internal and external customers. In addition, the autonomy of work’s influence on employees’ perceived self-efficacy and sense of control was stronger among employees with relatively proactive personalities. The study adds empirical evidence to Agency Theory and Job Characteristics Theory and supports the importance of autonomy at the workplace as a necessary factor to encourage employees’ OCBs. •This study examines how autonomy of work and individual proactivity jointly enhances hotel frontline employees’ self-affirmation and performance.•We found autonomy of work enhances individual employees perceived self-efficacy and sense of personal control.•Self-efficacy can facilitate employees’ OCBs directed toward both internal and external customers.•The autonomy of work’s moderation effects was stronger among employees with relatively proactive personalities.

Yao-Chin Wang, Shi Xu, Emily Ma, Fengzeng Xu (2024), In: Cornell Hospitality Quarterly SAGE Publications

Based on trial-and-error learning theory, this study proposes an OCB-C (Organizational Citizenship Behavior towardcustomers)-driven social learning mechanism for the formation of other two types of OCB (OCB-O toward organizationsand OCB-I toward coworkers). In this process, we propose that each of the employee empowerment factors play vitaltrial-and-error opportunities for employees to perform OCB-C, offering employees chances to learn from errors andgain positive affect. A total of 422 respondents were collected from employees at upscale hotels. We found that twoempowerment factors (i.e., work competency and employee impact) supported OCB-C. Engaging in OCB-C not only ledto the increase of learning from errors and positive affect, but also the increase of OCB-O and OCB-I. In addition, whilelearning from errors assisted employees to exercise OCB-O and OCB-I, positive affect helped employees to contributeOCB-O.