Chapter 6 Extension to B2E Mobile Tourism Service Classification
6.2 Research Method for B2E Mobile Tourism Service Classification
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ation purpose, multi-dimensional perspectives are adopted to take into account managerial and functional features simultaneously. Both manage
services from previous litera
paper aims at identifying, classifying, and evaluating useful mobile services for employees in the tourism industry. For the classific
ment and operational perspectives are taken into consideration. Four management levels considered include strategic planning, management control, knowledge management, and operational control (Laudon and Laudon, 2004). On the other hand, three functional concerns include mobile information & communication services, location-based services, and context-aware services (Barnes, 2004; Cil et al., 2005; Giaglis, Kourouthanassis, and Tsamakos, 2002; Grun et al, 2008; Liebowitz, 2007; Rangone and Renga, 2006; Tarasewich, 2003; Vetter, 2001). Major functions of mobile services such as communication and collaboration, location-based information retrieval and decision support, as well as context aware information search, decision support, learning and knowledge management that deal with location, time, personal and social features, are jointly taken into considerations. For the evaluation purpose, three criteria including importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit effectiveness are adopted to evaluate and rank identified/classified mobile tourism services (Yu, 2005).
6.2 Research Method for B2E Mobile Tourism Service Classification
Research methods used in the B2E mobile tourisms service classification included literature reviews & a case study, two focus group discussions with total thirteen senior students major in tourism, and five semi-structured field interviews with local travel agencies.
To examine which B2E mobile tourism services were valuable to the travel agencies, three analysis stages were carried out. In the first stage, the B2E mobile tourism services were identified from previous researches and a case study of a large travel agency. An initial list of B2E mobile tourism services as well as the initial B2E mobile tourism service classification framework was proposed. In the second stage, semi-structured focus group discussions were brought into the B2E mobile tourism service classification research agenda to uncover which B2E mobile tourism service fitted into which slot of the B2E mobile tourism service classification framework. Senior students major in tourism were asked to use their tourism knowledge and internship experience to act as full-time travel agency employees to discuss and formulate the B2E mobile tourism service classification framework. In the last stage, semi-structured field interviews were conducted to evaluate the importance, feasibility, and cost/benefit effectiveness of the proposed B2E mobile tourism services as well as the soundness and fitness of the proposed B2E mobile tourism service classification. Details of the research processes for the B2E mobile tourism service classification were as follows.
Stage 1: B2E mobile tourism service identification process
During stage 1, the aim was to develop an initial list and classification framework of B2E mobile tourism services by taking results from literature reviews and by examining the tourism industry characteristics via a case study of a large travel agency. With the desired mobile values in mind, we summarized the B2E mobile tourism
tures and built the scenario descriptions. To ensure developing a comprehensive list of
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professionals in Taiwan. One school founded the oldest Department of Tourism Management in 1968 and the oldest Graduate Department of Tourism
aiwan. Students in either school were required to have ng for one summer term to one semester. Both departments enco
and the internship duration ranged for one summer vacation to six months. These experiences
e in-depth mobile services, a broad range of previous studies were reviewed. We compiled and rephrased the descriptions to simplify them and to ensure that these B2E mobile tourism services were relatively generic and consistent with previous research results. An initial list of B2E mobile tourism services based on the desired mobile values were selected and reworded for the tourism environment. These included B2E mobile tourism services such as mobile tour quality control and mobile learning. Based on the literature review and case study, an initial multi-dimensional B2E mobile tourism service classification framework was also developed in this stage with the concepts of management levels and functional design perspectives being taken into account.
Stage 2: B2E mobile tourism service classification process
During stage 2, the aim was to classify the summarized B2E mobile tourism services using the proposed B2E mobile tourism service classification framework through focus group discussions. Focus group sessions were formed by selecting senior students major in tourism management or travel management at two universities with fame for cultivating comprehensive tourism
Management in 1989 in Taiwan while the other school was the first Institute of Technology for higher education in northern T
tourism internships lasti
uraged their students to obtain tourism-related licenses like tour guide licenses before graduation. Thus, senior students at these two departments were appropriate candidates of focus group participants.
Phone contacts with the department offices were followed by formal invitation emails.
Invitation emails stating our B2E mobile tourism service research purpose and the criteria for focus group participants along with the focus group procedures and questions as attachments were sent to the official department email addresses. Tape recording of the focus group discussions for research purpose only was clearly stated in advance in the invitation emails.
The participants were ensured that there was no individual information shown in our final report. Only summary of the discussions were reported. This study also ensured that the confidential tape-recordings would not be released. Both department heads agreed to announce this focus group activity, to help facilitate the focus group participant screening and to offer the discussion room for free.
The criteria for focus group participants were as follows. All of our participants were required to be senior students. All of our participants were required to have e-commerce and mobile phone usage experience. All participants were required to complete the internship, helped participants to understand the research issues and participate in th discussions.
At first, twenty volunteers agreed to schedule in three focus group sessions, but seven people were not able to attend the focus groups. The drop rate was 35%. Since it was a voluntary research activity, and there was no monetary reward for attending the focus groups, it was reasonable to have some no-shows. Because the focus groups were designed to be
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corded with participants’ agreement. The same moderator directed both focus group discussions. The moderator attempted to facilitate a lively discussion among lanned and conducted. All questions were carefully and clearly worded for participants to understand our
rism services were classified into suitable management-function slots. The report of the integrated B2E mobile tourism service classification results was furth
r of people actually appeared was beyond it. The focus groups were designed to be homogeneous to be more focused on developing the B2E mobile touri
s group gave each participant more time to discuss and thus was better for reliable results. The recording of focus group
relatively homogenous, the no-shows had little effects on the research sampling. Finally, thirteen volunteers were recruited to participate in two focus group sessions, and each focus group represented one department from one school. Two focus groups were formed with four and nine respectively, and each focus group lasted about two and half hours.
The focus group participants read a description of the B2E mobile tourism service study sent to the department offices prior to participating in the focus group sessions. The focus groups were conducted on site to provide a familiar and relaxed atmosphere. All focus group discussions were re
focus group participants. A moderately structured focus group session was p research and to elicit participants’ responses in a nondirective manner.
During the focus group discussions, the purpose of this B2E mobile tourism service study along with the concept of B2E mobile tourism services was introduced to the attendees.
Then, the participants were asked to talk about their internship experiences, and to discuss related works as employees in travel agencies. The moderator also probed for additional details to gain some consensus on what dimensions should be included in a B2E mobile tourism service classification framework. The managerial and functional concerns were elucidated and discussed, and the initial B2E mobile tourism service classification framework was presented and modified. Then, based on the modified B2E mobile tourism service classification framework with four management levels and three functional design concerns, identified B2E mobile tou
er confirmed by all participants of the focus groups.
Reliability was ensured because the participants were representative and competent to answer the research questions. During the focus group sessions, broad and deep discussions were carried out until no more new information emerged. The findings were stable within and consistent between focus groups. Identifying and recruiting participants also had great impacts on the validity and reliability of the focus group research. The criteria for selecting the focus group participant candidates ensured that the participants were competent to answer the research questions. Even the number of participants invited was carefully designed under the research’s control, but the numbe
sm service classification framework, so the absence of certain participants did not lead to serious shortcomings in this B2E mobile tourism service research results. However, it did have some effects on the size of focus groups. While the optimal size of focus group was recommended to be six to ten people, the focus groups in this study consisted of four and nine each. The rather small group was the result of some no-shows of participants. However, the smaller focu
discussions ensured all verbal communication was not missed. Finally, the confirmation from participants on the B2E mobile tourism service classification results ensured the accuracy and completeness.
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tourism service had a precise definition with a detailed scenario description to make sure that the pto test. This research ensured the construct validity because the research instruments including the moderator and the d
e moderator was also required to announce the rules for the focus group discussions
-benefit effectiveness of the proposed B2E mobile tourism services as well as the completeness, clearness, and appropriateness of the B2E mobile tourism service classification framework. Two evaluation
Focus group discussions had a high level of face validity and content validity because it allowed analyses of thoughts, attitudes and opinions by face-to-face group interaction.
Internal validity was ensured because the research questions were carefully designed to be key points based on a comprehensive literature reviews and a case study. Ea
roposed B2E mobile tourism services were consistently and clearly understood by the focus group participants. Moreover, the concept of what a B2E mobile tourism service classification wanted to accomplish was carefully detailed and clarified. Finally, adequate time slot was located to research issue discussion. Relevant, valuable and converged conclusions drawn from the discussions ensured the internal validity of our study.
Construct validity existed when the research instruments accurately reflected the concepts being studied as that the study actually tested what it purported
iscussion guide were carefully assessed. First, both focus groups were conducted by the same moderator following the discussion guide. The chosen moderator was a part-time lecturer and had experience leading discussions and interpreting verbal, emotional and physical responses. The moderator was responsible to cover each of the research question, to ask for clarification or further discussion and, eventually, to offer a brief summary during the focus group discussions. The moderator needed to be a good facilitator, but not to be dominant as to bias or inhibit discussions. The moderator needed to pay special attention to overly enthusiastic or aggressive participants as well as bored or inattentive participants.
Moreover, the discussion guide was carefully developed in written format and iteratively refined. The sequence and time allocation of research questions were carefully designed. The email address collections and agreements of the audio-taping during the focus group warm-ups were clearly stated in the discussion guide. Th
to avoid unequal participations at the beginning of the focus group sessions. Thus, the discussion guide and the moderator were qualified as the research instruments to ensure construct validity of our study.
The recruitment of full-time employees from the travel agencies was harder than expected for 2.5-hour focus group discussions, so the senior students major in tourism were chosen as focus group participants. Even though the research results were from discussions among students, the research findings and conclusions were applicable to the tourism industry for the following reasons. First, the research results were evaluated by five top managers from major travel agencies in Taiwan during the following review stage. Secondly, these senior students major in tourism management would be full-time employees within one year after graduation. The completion of tourism internship ensured that they were familiar with industry environment. Finally, the sampling was representative, and the recruitment process was carefully designed and scheduled.
Stage 3: B2E mobile tourism service evaluation process
During the final stage, a review process by five domain experts from the tourism industry was conducted to verify the importance, feasibility, and cost
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final B2E mobile tourism service classification result was obtained based on the level of agreefore the field interviews. The company websites was checked for two main purposes. First, the company back
’ dates of entering business, the first company was nch offices in China, Japan and U.S.A. It is a traditional travel agency being famous for full product lines of were carried out. First, the domain experts were requested to evaluate the importance, feasibility, and cost-benefit effectiveness of the identified B2E mobile tourism services. The 5-point Likert scale was used, ranging from “5=strongly agree” to “1=strongly disagree”. If the average score on the importance rating was lower than 3, the corresponding B2E mobile tourism service was deemed insignificant importance and thus removed from the B2E mobile tourism service classification. Secondly, the fitness of the B2E mobile tourism service classification was also evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from “5=strongly agree”
to “1=strongly disagree”. For services with average scores lower than 3, respondents were asked to provide comments about how to make the B2E mobile tourism service classification more reasonable and to further redirect the B2E mobile tourism service classifi
ement among the domain experts. Appendix 5-6 respectively shows the details of the evaluation questionnaire of B2E mobile tourism services and B2E mobile tourism service classification framework in Chinese.
The field interview candidates were chosen based on the following criteria. First, the company had a Taiwanese general travel agency license, better with branch companies or branch offices. The large-scale tourist enterprise were more sensitive to emerging challenges like mobile commerce, and they usually had more fund and qualified personnel compared to medium and small-scale ones. Second, the company had good reputation for high service quality. Records of related awards and honors from our government were used as filters of good credits. Third, location convenience of the company headquarters was also considered for face-to-face field interviews.
The initial contact list of 80 travel agencies with general licenses was downloaded from the official website of the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taiwan. All of the 80 travel agencies were located in Taipei. To limit our scope, 13 branch companies were excluded. So, the revised contact list had 67 candidates. Data from previous case studies and company official websites were collected and studied b
grounds like company history and awards were recorded and studied. Secondly, the complexity of the official websites gave hints to the IT preferences of the companies.
We tried to start with big companies, so we called 20 companies with huge initial capital amount for initial contact. If the companies were willing to consider the field interviews, the invitation letter, the interview questions, and the survey questions were emailed or faxed to the companies. Even though most managers appreciated the promising future of mobile commerce, however, some felt not ready to talk about B2E mobile tourism services. Finally, we interviewed with 5 travel agencies.
According to the travel agencies
established in 1961. It has twenty-five local branch offices and six oversea bra
both inbound and outbound tours. The second company was opened in 1977. It has eighteen local branch offices and twenty-seven service sites in Taiwan, China, Australia, and U.S.A.
Its e-tourism website is known for tour package variety and 3C (content, community and commerce) services. The third company was established in 1980 with three local branch
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feasibility, and cost-benefit effectiveness the proposed B2E mobile tourism services during the field interviews. After the B2E mobile tourism servi
sults in detail.
pport, and competence enhancement. The mobile services with values of efficiency and effectiveness were mobile communication services, mob
offices. It is famous for high-quality tours, especially the customized tour packages for incentive tours. It has no freelance tour leaders, and their tour leaders are also tour guides. Its main product line is the outbound tours to Japan. The fourth company was established by a newspaper mother company in 1999. It has one branch office now and focuses only on direct sales. The last company was opened in 2000. It has seven local branch offices. It is a leader in e-tourism market offering personalized tour packages for users with high income, high educational levels and high web surfing experiences. It even sells travel necessities like baggage, international phone cards, cameras, and local food on its website.
The respondents included a vice president, senior and middle level managers, and employees with tour leader/tour guide backgrounds. Each field interview lasted about one and half hours to two hours. First, we explained the research purpose to them. Then, they were asked to provide comments about the proposed B2E mobile tourism services. Thirdly, they were asked to score the importance,
ce evaluation, interviewees were asked to eliminate duplicate or similar items and to integrate them if possible. Finally, they were asked to evaluate the appropriateness of the mapping of individual B2E mobile tourism service with the B2E mobile tourism service