Research Proposal

ARE SENIOR TRAVELERS INFLUENCED BY THEIR

CULTURAL BACKGROUND WHEN EVALUATING HOTEL
ATTRIBUTES IN THAILAND?

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study is to investigate whether there are significant differences in the
hotel attributes ranked as being important by Western as compared with Asian senior
travelers and how closely do differences identified relate to the Hofstede (1980, 2001)
Cultural Dimension studies. Earlier cross-cultural studies involving hotel facilities and
services have found that Asian travelers expect more personalized service, while
Western travelers preferences are for physical attributes.

Conceptual Framework

One of the most common frameworks used for understanding cultural differences is
based on the Hofstede (1980, 2001) study on the measurement of cultural values
(Tsang & Ap 2007). Hofstede (1980, 2001) presented a cross-cultural, business
related study in which he identified four value dimensions that differentiate people
from different countries (Crotts and Litvin, 2003).

Objectives

1. To determine if Asian and Western senior travelers rankings of the importance of
hotel attributes are consistent with Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions theory (1980,
1991).

2. To determine the correlation between this studys findings and earlier studies,
specifically Mattilas study (1999), which explored business travellers cultural
background and the relationships of their ranking of physical environment and
personal service in a luxury hotel setting.

3. To provide some practical recommendations that may assist tourism authorities
and hotel management to better target senior travellers from different cultural
backgrounds. This would enable them to make more efficient use of their
resources when planning specific marketing campaigns.

4. To analyse several associated variables relationships with the cultural dependent
variable


Research Questions

Hypothesis 1:
Western senior travelers will rank the importance of physical environment hotel
attributes higher than their Asian counterparts.

Hypothesis 2:
Asian senior travelers will rank the importance for personal service hotel attributes
than their Western counterparts.

Definitions
Power Distance Index (PDI) that is the extent to which the less powerful members of
organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is
distributed unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from
below, not from above. It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by
the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are
extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international
experience will be aware that 'all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal
than others'.
Individualism (IDV) on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, that is the
degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we
find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to
look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find
societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-
groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue
protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The word 'collectivism' in this
sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state. Again, the issue
addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one, regarding all societies
in the world.
Masculinity (MAS) versus its opposite, femininity, refers to the distribution of roles
between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a
range of solutions are found. The IBM studies revealed that (a) women's values differ
less among societies than men's values; (b) men's values from one country to another
contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different
from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's
values on the other. The assertive pole has been called 'masculine' and the modest,
caring pole 'feminine'. The women in feminine countries have the same modest,
caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and
competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between
men's values and women's values.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty
and ambiguity; it ultimately refers to man's search for Truth. It indicates to what
extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in
unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising,
different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of
such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the
philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth; 'there can only be one
Truth and we have it'. People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more
emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty
accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to;
they try to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level
they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side. People within these
cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplative, and not expected by their
environment to express emotions.
Long-Term Orientation (LTO) versus short-term orientation: this fifth dimension
was found in a study among students in 23 countries around the world, using a
questionnaire designed by Chinese scholars It can be said to deal with Virtue
regardless of Truth. Values associated with Long Term Orientation are thrift and
perseverance; values associated with Short Term Orientation are respect for tradition,
fulfilling social obligations, and protecting one's 'face'. Both the positively and the
negatively rated values of this dimension are found in the teachings of Confucius, the
most influential Chinese philosopher who lived around 500 B.C.; however, the
dimension also applies to countries without a Confucian heritage.

Background

There are substantial costs involved with investments in the hotel industry (Dolnicar
& Otter 2003), both in the physical properties and the marketing of the hotels.
Therefore, studying which facilities and services travelers appreciate can assist both
the hotel and tourism industries to better allocate their resources.

The international tourist industry has increasing numbers of inbound tourists from
different cultural backgrounds, therefore understanding the impact of cultural values
(Tsang & Ap 2007) on service provision is an increasingly important consideration. In
recent years many studies have examined the impact that cultural background has on
service provision expectations in the hotel and tourism context. There is limited
research available on the impact cultural background has on preferred hotel attributes
including service and facilities.

Tourism and hotel researchers generally agree that the senior segment of the travel
market is increasing in importance because they have high levels of leisure time, are
comfortable traveling in off-peak seasons, and are the wealthiest age group in Europe,
the USA and J apan (Cetron, DeMicco & Davies 2006). Therefore, being able to
increase their appeal to the senior traveler markets in a variety of countries will
greatly assist developing countries, particularly those with a significant economic
reliance on tourism, for example Thailand.

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) projects the tourism related employment
of Thailand will grow to 9.5 percent in 2014, increasing from 8.4 percent in 2005. In
addition, WTTC reviewed the importance of tourism on the Thai economy which was
about 821.2 billion baht, or 11.7 percent of GDP in 2005, while that of other South-
East Asia countries and the rest of the world were at 7.5 and 10.6 percent
consecutively. Importantly, WTTC estimates that tourism will increase from 11.7
percent of Thailands GDP in 2005 to 12.6 percent in 2014.

Preliminary Literature Review

A study of the role of culture in the service evaluation process (Mattila 1999) suggests
that Asians are more focused on the importance of personal service while Westerners
rate items related to enjoyment and pleasure as more important than their Asian
counterparts. Mattilas study specifically explored the impact of cultural background
of business travelers in a luxury hotel setting.

In their 2003 study Which Hotel Attributes Matter, Dolnicar and Otter reviewed 21
empirical studies investigating the importance of hotel attributes published between
1984 and 2000 in hospitality, tourism research and business journals. However, only
one of these studies involved senior travelers. This was the Ananth, DeMicco, Moreo
& Howey study in 1992 of young and senior members of the Alumni Association of
the Pennsylvania State University.

Tourism and hotel researchers generally agree that the senior or senior segment of the
travel market is increasing in importance. However, a common definition for this
cohort is needed for cross-cultural study comparisons (Littrell, Paige & Song, 2004).

Traditional social convention defines the mature/senior segment as those people aged
65 years and over (Lago & Poffley, 1993), however tourism and hospitality
researchers are focusing on different age groups beginning with people aged from 50
years and over. Reece (2004); Shoemaker (2000) and others, take the senior cohort to
be those 55 years and over, while Prideaux, Wei & Reis (2001) explain that the
Australian government does not have a common definition for a senior.

Horneman, Carter, Wei & Ruys included people 60 years and over when profiling
Senior Travelers from an Australian perspective and Tidswell & Lee focused on a
segment of the Korean population, 60 years and over, in their study of senior Korean
attitudes towards leisure travel and the constraints they face. A study of Taiwanese
senior travelers (Wang, Chen & Chou 2007) defined seniors as individuals being 50
years old or above.

As these and other studies show, the definition of the senior/senior traveler segment
differs in research focusing on different cultures. What is agreed, however, is the
increasing importance of the senior/senior traveler to the tourism and hospitality
industry. A decreasing working population will lead to a decline in the important
business traveler market (Donaldson and Taylor,1996). The Internet is rapidly
becoming a more efficient and cheaper option for international business via web
meetings and conferences, therefore the strategies for future marketing in tourism and
hospitality must improve as a matter of priority.

The focus of the available literature is on senior travelers from countries of Western
cultural heritage. A number of authors have studied the accommodation needs and
desires of country specific senior travelers; Ruys & Wei studied the accommodation
needs of senior Australian travelers, Ananth et al examined 57 hotel attributes using
both young and senior members of the Alumni Association of the Pennsylvania State
University, Callan & Bowman surveyed of 104 senior British travelers.

There have been several studies that investigate culture and leisure activities (Hull &
Revell 1989; Phillip 1993) and Cross-Cultural perceptions of quality service attributes
(Tsang & Ap 2007; Furrer, Shaw-Ching Liu & Sudharshan 2000). Tsang and Ap
found that the quality of interpersonal relationships was an important element in
Asians travelers evaluation of service encounters, while Westerners focused on goal
completion, efficiency and time saving. However, limited research has been carried
out in the area of cultural differences regarding senior travelers perception of the
importance of specific hotel attributes, services and facilities. Vieregge et al 2007,
used regional differences (Europe, Americas, Asia, Oceania and Others) as one
segment of their senior travelers sample, the other segments were Gender, Age and
Length of Stay. However, cultural background was not included and the vast majority
of the participants (95%) were from Western countries.


Method

Participants
The study requires a sample population that consists of both Western and Asian senior
travelers in approximately equal numbers. The Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok,
Thailand will be an ideal location due to the large number and variety of international
travellers.. Passengers on flights departing from Thailand will be selected on a
random basis from the target demographic group (Asian and Western over the age of
55 years).

For the purpose of this study the definition of senior travelers is those people 55 years
and over because this definition is consistent with a number of earlier studies of senior
travelers (Reece 2004; Shoemaker 1989, 2000; Callan & Bowman 2000; Mintell 1991
and Vieregge at el 2007).

Research Instrument

The respondents will be asked to indicate the importance value they personally
associate with each of the hotel attributes listed. A five-point Likert style scale will be
used, with 5 labelled extremely important and 1 labelled extremely unimportant.
This type of scale has been used in numerous other hotel attribute studies (Weaver &
Oh 1993; Schaefer, Illum & Margavio 1995; McCleary, Weaver & Hutchinson 1993;
Saleh & Ryan 1992).

The attributes included in the questionnaire have been consistently rated as important
in previous desired hotel attribute studies including; Ananth et al 1992; Vieregge et al
2007; Callan & Bowman 2000; and the review of 21 studies published between 1984
and 2000 by Dolnicar & Otter in 2003.

The questionnaire has been translated from English into J apanese, Chinese and
Korean to provide participants from those countries, who are not able to confidently
communicate in English, the opportunity to participate. The researcher believes that
there will be an adequate number of participants available from countries with a
predominately Western culture, therefore translations into European languages will
not be necessary.

Data Collection

A pilot test of data collection has been undertaken to assess the response to the
questionnaire; comprehension and ease of completion, as well as the suitability of the
venue. The security operations department of the airport has been consulted and given
permission for the researcher and research assistants to undertake the project in the
airport departure area.

Data Analysis
The findings will be based on Asian and Western cultures, with a respondents
citizenship being the identifying factor of their culture, and sub-sets of Age and
Gender also included. Frequency counts will be conducted on the behavioral and
demographic data with median and modes used to create a profile of the respondents.
Mean and standard deviation will be used to summarise the key features of the ranked
data and multiple regression will be used to identified significant relationships
between the dependent variable and the independent variables.

Managerial Implications
If the hypotheses are validated, the findings of this study will contribute to the
positioning and advertising strategies of many service organisations that cater for
business (Mattila 1999), tourist and senior travelers of both Asian and Western
cultural backgrounds. Advertising campaigns that focus on the availability of
personal service will be more effective in Asian countries, while campaigns focusing
on hotel facilities providing fun and enjoyment can be used in Western countries.

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Callan, R.J . and Bowman, L. (2000). Selecting a Hotel and Determining Salient
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