1,720,958 research outputs found
Small Towns, Cultural Heritage, ... Good and Evil Queens
No full textThe aim of the paper is to classify a sample of Italian Small Towns for their cultural governance, community engagement, public and private spending, marketing and branding
GoFit Erasmus project: a transdisciplinary approach for exercise, health and tourism
No full textGoFit (Go Functional Improvement and Tourism) program was conceived as an educational tool for experts in sport and exercise science. Its goal is to teach experts important skills to support tourists on the development of healthy habits when they are less busy and more open to suggestions over adapting new healthier habits. The GO Functional Improvement & Tourism (GO FIT) project addresses the gap in learning programs between HEI’s exercise and health experts with both educational and clinical expertise in collaboration with tourism manager’s specialists. The authors discuss the way the GO FIT project is conceived and designed so as to develop a new learning program, by using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) through the development of a web platform and a multimedia application. This transdisciplinary approach for exercise, health and tourism experts aims to achieve relevant and high quality skills and competences in designing the appropriate program for tourists and helping them to adopt a new healthy lifestyle
Performance evaluation framework for destination management organisations: managers' perspectives.
No full textThis study aims to develop a performance evaluation framework for Destination Management Organisations (DMOs). Although tourism researchers (Ritchie and Crouch 2005; Pike 2005; Bornhorst et al. 2010; Morrison 2013; Pike and Page 2014) acknowledge that the organisational performance of a DMO is a key determinant of destination development and competitiveness, existing studies in this area are scarce. Therefore, the major contribution of this study is towards the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the construct of DMO effectiveness, and ultimately the development of a robust DMO performance evaluation framework (PEF). A stronger focus on evaluation of DMO effectiveness is particularly relevant in light of the recent public sector funding cuts in England that have significantly affected DMOs. The thesis is informed by a critical review of the existing tourism destination development and performance management literature. The discussion focuses on the strategic and operational roles of DMOs as key development agents within the contemporary context of destinations in England. Moreover, the study is informed by relevant performance management theories applied in wider private, public and non-profit organisational contexts. The principles of organisational effectiveness in this study are examined by a synthesis of multiple theoretical lenses: goal theory, stakeholder theory and competing values approach. Particular emphasis is placed on existing theory and practice of evaluating organisational effectiveness in the context of small and medium organisations, as well as development agencies, as they are pertinent to the organisational nature of DMOs. The study’s research design is underpinned by an interpretive social sciences paradigm and employs a qualitative methodology. A total of twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior DMO managers across England. Emphasis is on identifying senior DMO managers’ perspectives on the concept of effectiveness and organisational performance. Furthermore, the interviews focus on exploring the key determinants of DMO performance evaluation. The thematic analysis and critical discussion of DMO managers’ views with the relevant literature has led to relevant conclusions that informed the performance evaluation framework as presented in the final chapter of the thesis. The theoretical contributions of the study include the identification of key performance perspectives that enable the comprehensive evaluation of operational effectiveness and strategic impact of DMOs. The findings of this study suggest that DMO effectiveness is defined by the organisation’s rationale for existence and non-profit strategic impetus, which includes supporting the visitor economy by means of strategic value creation and co-creation, strategic leadership for tourism development, and advancing the collaborative governance structures for tourism development. The study ascertains that several features of the specific destination context determine the complexity of destination development and ultimately the emphasis of DMOs in particular performance evaluation perspectives. Nevertheless, it was found that a holistic approach to DMO performance evaluation requires a focus on two key interrelated perspectives: outward-looking and internal. From an outward-looking perspective, DMO performance evaluation primarily focuses on the achievement of strategic tourism development results that the DMO creates or co-creates with its stakeholders. These strategic results (or value) is underpinned by the DMO’s rationale for existence, and is associated with its supporting and leadership role in four destination development areas: identifying the rationale for intervention; designing action plans for the strategic support of tourism; administering the implementation of destination development activity; and, monitoring the impact of development interventions. Internal performance perspectives focus on internal value creation within a DMO in terms of business planning and organisational capability. The former relates to evaluation of business objectives and functions, as well as structures and processes; while, the latter relates to evaluation of resources, skills and competences. Importantly, the interface between outward-looking and internal perspectives of DMO effectiveness is elusive, as internal and external stakeholders co-create value with various levels of contribution at different stages of the process of development. The study specifies the nature and mechanisms of value creation and co-creation across outward-looking and internal perspectives of DMO performance; therefore, it supports an advanced understanding of the dynamics that determine the elusiveness between DMO and destination success. The study has several practical applications for DMO managers and policy makers. The study can help DMO managers conduct systematic and robust performance evaluations of their organisation by combining both outward-looking and internal perspectives of DMO effectiveness. This can help them identify areas for improvement of economy, efficiency, capacity and effectiveness in achieving strategic and operational results. Ultimately, this can lead to improvements in return on investment for DMOs and their resource providers (e.g. funders). The study can help DMO managers and stakeholders determine each other’s contribution to the value creation and value co-creation in destination development activities. This can assist DMOs evaluate their added value or additionality in destination development initiatives, which in turn can support or clarify the rationale for the DMO’s existence. Moreover, the study supports improvements in destination development initiatives by promoting the need for DMO managers to work in partnership with stakeholders and advance unified theories of change and impact chain models for destination development. This way, DMO managers can improve effectiveness in monitoring and controlling the processes of project and programme implementation. The study also helps DMO managers identify gaps in skills and competences for performance monitoring and evaluation. Demonstrating commitment in developing performance evaluation capability, as well being able to demonstrate return on investment can be valuable for DMOs. It enables them to gain credibility, trust and legitimacy, which can lead to improved capacity to develop successful partnerships with key stakeholders. This is then particularly important in the contemporary context of DMOs in England, where they work as key partners within LEPs. In addition, it is valuable in times of scarce public sector funding as strengthening partnerships with key stakeholders can lead to opportunities for revenue generation. Finally, the study can enable policy makers to evaluate DMO performance and rationalise their existence and their roles in the context of sustainable destination development
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
From Finance to Adventure: Using ERM as a Framework in Adventure Tourism
No full textCan ERM be applied as a risk management framework within adventure tourism? The paper is supported by a single-case study into the US aerial adventure industry. Data was collected from 21 interviews of senior managers within the US aerial adventure industry. Interview participants represented public and private organisations, including state agencies, operators and builders. This paper finds that even with the fragmented and dynamic state of the industry, (IERM) could provide the comprehensive and holistic approach to risk management currently lacking. Aerial adventure parks are uniform, yet the risk management procedures are not, meaning the industry is split into separate groups. A need for Industry-wide Enterprise Risk Management (IERM) is therefore identified. This, in turn, will improve public safety levels, the long-term sustainability of the industry as well as provide it with a competitive advantage. Adventure tourism lacks a risk management framework. This paper furthers academic discussion by proposing IERM as a risk management framework. This, in turn, furthers the academic discussion on ERM, by arguing for its utilisation at an industry level, and contributes to the discussion on the management of aerial adventure visitor attractions, an area currently under-researched
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