Abstract

The current state of literature surrounding the business-to-business (BTB) exchange in the meetings, incentives, conventions, and events (MICE) industry is limited. Likewise, the manner in which meeting planners forge their intentions to repurchase was unknown until the present study was conducted. The following research focused on the role of the hotel convention service manager (CSM) in the BTB exchange with the meeting planner to understand the role they play in the meeting planner's decision to repurchase. Since hotel CSMs have not been assessed in previous literature, one of the major contributions of this study was that it established a set of functional competencies on which to evaluate hotel CSM performance in on-the-job tasks. The current study also introduced an emotional competence evaluation by means of asking meeting planners to evaluate hotel CSMs on well-being, emotionality, self control and sociability, in the face of client interaction. It was found that both forms of competency performance significantly contribute to the planner's perceptions of relationship quality. The current state of the literature was also ambiguous surrounding relationship quality in the BTB exchange. It was well established that relationship quality was most commonly composed of at least two dimensions: trust and commitment. However, because this study investigated the BTB exchange in an individual-individual context, likability was added as a new dimension of relationship quality. The second order factor structure of relationship quality was confirmed, and post-hoc tests revealed that a meeting planner's perceptions of emotional and functional competence in the exchange, appears to hinge on the quality of that relationship, when the meeting planner is evaluating their intentions to repurchase with the property and the hotel CSM. In fact, repeat purchase intentions with the hotel CSM were found to supersede intentions with the property, thereby establishing hotel CSMs as directors of repeat business for their respective employer (property). To accomplish this study's objectives, a mixed-mode methodology was employed. Qualitative analysis was conducted after collecting data via semi-structured interviews and focus groups to establish the functional competencies of hotel CSMs and create a generic scale for assessing those competencies. Quantitative analysis was preceded by a survey composed of five sections: functional competence, emotional competence, relationship quality, repeat purchase intention, and demographics. Data was collected from meeting planners, which resulted in a usable sample of 324 responses. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on functional competence to understand its underlying latent structure. A robust reliability analysis and a priori testing was employed prior to conducing confirmatory factor analyses, which were followed by structural equation modeling to test the proposed theoretical model. The results showed the following. Functional and emotional competence were positively related to relationship quality, respectively. The second order factor structure of relationship quality was established, composed of the following first order factors: trust, commitment, and likability. Finally, perceived relationship quality is positively related to repeat purchase intention with the property and with the hotel CSM. The study offered a number of theoretical and practical implications, and limitations and directions for future research were also discussed in the final chapter.

Graduation Date

2016

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Breiter Terry, Deborah

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

Rosen College of Hospitality Management

Degree Program

Hospitality Management

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0006688

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0006688

Language

English

Release Date

2-15-2020

Length of Campus-only Access

3 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Location

Rosen College of Hospitality Management

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