Consumer_Behaviour

Journal Critique of: Pizam, A. & Milman, A. (1993). “Social Impacts of Tourism: Host Perceptions.” Annals of Tourism Research 20 (4): 650-665. Introduction The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions of the residents of Nadi, Fiji, towards the impacts of tourism, specifically whether residents supported the current magnitude of tourism and favoured its expansion. The researchers did not submit formal hypotheses for their study; rather the study was exploratory in nature. Methodology 199 households within the area of Nadi were interviewed by several South Pacific part-time university students during the hours of 3pm-9pm. The instrument utilized in the interviews was a similar questionnaire of an instrument developed for tourism research on Central Florida several years ago revised to include the distinct Fijian cultural and environmental settings. A cluster sample was used when undertaking the research which involved dividing the population of Nadi into groups (clusters) dependant on their exact locality within the region, with a subset of each of the groups being used as a sample. The questions put to the respondents involved different scales. For example the respondent was asked “What are your feelings about the presence of tourists in Nadi'” paired with a Likert scale ranging from “strongly oppose the presence of tourism”, “oppose somewhat the presence of tourists”, “neither oppose nor favour”, “favour somewhat”, to “strongly favour”. The data collected through the interviews was then analysed by way of variance, t-tests and Pearson correlations so as to determine the relationship (and isolate the differences) between respondents demographic characteristics and their level of support for the tourism industry. Results The findings of the study indicate that support for the tourism industry in Nadi is strong among its residents. Only a limited statistical difference between the various demographic grounds in their attitude towards tourism was found. Overall residents of Nadi could still differentiate between the economic benefits and social/legal costs that were associated with tourism while still remaining predominantly supportive of tourism, with many even favouring the expansion of the tourism industry. Evaluation of the study method The study however was limited. Foremost, the researchers erred in their decision to refrain from formulating any hypothesis for their study. This decision could potentially undermine the ecological validity of the study and hinder its ability to be replicated by other researchers. However, it appears that the methodology used in this research allowed for a true representative sample of all locales in Nadi to be achieved. The use of the cluster sample by the researchers ensured that all areas in the immediate Nadi region were represented - the sample was dispersed equally among the diverse nature of the local community to ensure that the sample was representative of those residents living in the central business district, adjoining communities and villages that were some distance from the main town. It should be noted that it is unknown whether the division of the three locality clusters were equally represented geographically or by population which could affect the generalisation of the findings. The use of a sample size constituting 2.65% of the target population may not have enabled a true representation of the residents of Nadi to be achieved. Rather, instead a larger sampling of the area would have increased the accuracy of the researcher’s findings. Additional issues of internal validity The quality of representation among Nadi residents may have been by circumvented by the fact that “only willing respondents” were interviewed. As stated by the researchers themselves, “there was no control over who participated in the study and the results could have been biased by favourable or unfavourable responses.” Moreover the issue of whether respondent’s opinions were correlated to the fact that the region financially benefited from the tourism industry was a major limitation of the study. Of equal concern was the finding that a large proportion of respondents declared themselves as being employed or associated within the tourism industry. A larger sample may have aided the analysis of the data by allowing the research to more readily represent individuals who did not fall in this category, thereby reducing response bias. The researchers state that the scales were given in a variety of settings which could also present a threat to the internal validity of the study - the participants may have been coordinating other activities when answering the survey affecting the accuracy of their responses. The use of a more controlled environment may have helped to combat such problems, improving the accuracy of the findings. Literary perspective From a literary perspective, the study appeared to be largely supported by a discussion of several previous studies on perceptions and attitudes towards tourism enabling the authors to establish an informative underlay to the purpose of the current study. The literature used was cited correctly and accurately acknowledged by the authors. The literature consisted of a contemporary body of knowledge, as evident with the articles cited predominantly having been published within a decade prior to the study being published. Not only did the articles cited appear current, but they also, on their face, appeared to be relevant to the purpose of the study. Each reference was relative to the perceptions and attitudes to the impacts of tourism, tourism development in Fiji, or/and to the social/legal costs associated with the tourism industry. The only reference which appeared an outlier in this regard was: Main, Kathy A (1989) “Airline Development in the South Pacific” . However given its use as background information this error by the authors does not undermine the integrity of the study. The authors also rely and reference their own past studies. It is unknown whether the oldest article cited for this study; Pizam (1978) is a seminal piece, but coupled with the Milman (1988) study, any reader can gauge that the authors share a strong interest and expertise in the area of tourism. Merit of the study From a consumer behaviour approach, this study contributes to a better understanding of consumer behaviour. Namely, the article provides vital statistical information for marketers when appealing to tourism consumers specifically those who may hold a desire to holiday in Nadi, Fiji. Consumers would be interested to know about the attitudes and perceptions of residents of a town by which they may wish to visit. More specifically, marketers can draw on the welcoming attitudes of the Nadi people to tourism to help persuade potential buyers to travel to Nadi. Highlighting to consumers the warm reception they would receive upon choosing Nadi as a holiday destination would assist Fiji in maintaining tourism for their principal foreign exchange earner position. References: 1. Butler, R. W. (1974). “Social Implications of Tourism Development.” Annals of Tourism Research 2 (2): 100-11. 2. Main, Kathy A (1989) “Airline Development in the South Pacific: A turning point. Thesis, Victoria University of Technology, Australia. 3. Masberg, Barbara A. (1998). “Defining the Tourist: Is It Possible' A View from the Convention and Visitors Bureau.” Journal of Travel Research 37 (1): 67-70. 4. Milman, Ady, and Abraham Pizam 1988 Social Impacts of Tourism on Central Florida, Annals of Tourism Research 15: 191-204 5. Neal, J D (2003) The effect of length of stay on travellers perceived satisfaction with service quality. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism 4 (3/4), 167-176 6. Pizam, A. & Milman, A. (1993). “Social Impacts of Tourism: Host Perceptions.” Annals of Tourism Research 20 (4): 650-665. 7. Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R., & Previte, J. (2010), Consumer Behaviour 2e, Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 8. Pizam, Abraham 1978 Tourism Impacts: The Social Costs to the Destination Community as Perceived by its Residents. Journal of Travel Research 16(4):8-12.