IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i21p12221-d672900.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impacts of Perceived Risks on Information Search and Risk Reduction Strategies: A Study of the Hotel Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Yi-Wei Zhang

    (Department of Hotel Management, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea)

  • Jeong-Gil Choi

    (Department of Hotel Management, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea)

  • Armigon Ravshanovich Akhmedov

    (Department of Hotel Management, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Korea
    School of Global Studies, Kyungsung University, Busan 48434, Korea)

Abstract

This study examined the impacts of perceived risks on information search and risk reduction strategies as well as the relative importance of each risk reduction strategy. Multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the sample of South Korean hotel customers and to test the hypotheses of the study. It was found that when hotel customers faced the same kind of risk, they adopted different information search strategies to reduce various risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, ‘following hotel employee’s advice’ was perceived to be the most important information search strategy to reduce risks. This is the first study to compare the differences of perceived risk and information search strategies under the COVID-19 pandemic and normal conditions to help hotels to develop more effective strategies to recover from the pandemic. The results of the study should be interpreted with care since it was based on Korean hotel customers. The influence of cultural differences in perceived risk and information search strategy should be addressed in future studies. The study contributes to the tourism and hospitality information search and risk reduction strategy-related literature and recommends avenues for further research in the field.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi-Wei Zhang & Jeong-Gil Choi & Armigon Ravshanovich Akhmedov, 2021. "The Impacts of Perceived Risks on Information Search and Risk Reduction Strategies: A Study of the Hotel Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-17, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:12221-:d:672900
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12221/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/12221/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mitchell, Vincent-Wayne & Davies, Fiona & Moutinho, Luiz & Vassos, Vassiliades, 1999. "Using Neural Networks to Understand Service Risk in the Holiday Product," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 167-180, October.
    2. Breitsohl, Jan & Garrod, Brian, 2016. "Assessing tourists' cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions to an unethical destination incident," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 209-220.
    3. V.W. Mitchell & L. Moutinho & B.R. Lewis, 2003. "Risk Reduction in Purchasing Organisational Professional Services," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Washer, Peter, 2004. "Representations of SARS in the British newspapers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(12), pages 2561-2571, December.
    5. Choi, Jeong Gil & Tkachenko, Tamara & Sil, Shomir, 2011. "On the destination image of Korea by Russian tourists," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 193-194.
    6. Chew, Elaine Yin Teng & Jahari, Siti Aqilah, 2014. "Destination image as a mediator between perceived risks and revisit intention: A case of post-disaster Japan," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 382-393.
    7. Ritchie, Brent W. & Jiang, Yawei, 2019. "A review of research on tourism risk, crisis and disaster management: Launching the annals of tourism research curated collection on tourism risk, crisis and disaster management," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Boksberger, Philipp E. & Bieger, Thomas & Laesser, Christian, 2007. "Multidimensional analysis of perceived risk in commercial air travel," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 90-96.
    9. Alexander W. Bartik & Marianne Bertrand & Zoë B. Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher T. Stanton, 2020. "How Are Small Businesses Adjusting to COVID-19? Early Evidence from a Survey," NBER Working Papers 26989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Elke U. Weber & Christopher Hsee, 1998. "Cross-Cultural Differences in Risk Perception, but Cross-Cultural Similarities in Attitudes Towards Perceived Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(9), pages 1205-1217, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Yang & Fan, Yawen & Jiang, Lan & Liu, Xiaohui, 2022. "Search query and tourism forecasting during the pandemic: When and where can digital footprints be helpful as predictors?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Fida Hassanein & Hale Özgit, 2022. "Sustaining Human Resources through Talent Management Strategies and Employee Engagement in the Middle East Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Dolores Mensah Hervie & Ernest Amoako-Atta & Md Billal Hossain & Csaba Bálint Illés & Anna Dunay, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Hotel Employees in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fuchs, Galia & Reichel, Arie, 2011. "An exploratory inquiry into destination risk perceptions and risk reduction strategies of first time vs. repeat visitors to a highly volatile destination," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 266-276.
    2. Pueschel, Julia & Chamaret, Cécile & Parguel, Béatrice, 2017. "Coping with copies: The influence of risk perceptions in luxury counterfeit consumption in GCC countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 184-194.
    3. Feng Xu & Xuejiao Lin & Shuaishuai Li & Wenxia Niu, 2018. "Is Southern Xinjiang Really Unsafe?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    4. Mohammad Shabib Khasawneh & Ashraf Mohammad Alfandi, 2019. "Determining behaviour intentions from the overall destination image and risk perception," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 25(2), pages 355-375, December.
    5. Nahid Malazizi & Habib Alipour & Hossein Olya, 2018. "Risk Perceptions of Airbnb Hosts: Evidence from a Mediterranean Island," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Francesca Canio & Elisa Martinelli & Giampaolo Viglia, 2023. "Reopening after the pandemic: leveraging the destination image to offset the negative effects of perceived risk," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2023(2), pages 99-118, June.
    7. Stylidis, Dimitrios & Shani, Amir & Belhassen, Yaniv, 2017. "Testing an integrated destination image model across residents and tourists," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 184-195.
    8. Marija Bratić & Aleksandar Radivojević & Nenad Stojiljković & Olivera Simović & Emil Juvan & Miha Lesjak & Eva Podovšovnik, 2021. "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Tourists’ COVID-19 Risk Perception and Vacation Behavior Shift," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Adam, Issahaku, 2015. "Backpackers' risk perceptions and risk reduction strategies in Ghana," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 99-108.
    10. Mayer, Marius & Bichler, Bernhard Fabian & Pikkemaat, Birgit & Peters, Mike, 2021. "Media discourses about a superspreader destination: How mismanagement of Covid-19 triggers debates about sustainability and geopolitics," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Cho, Sang-Hee & Ali, Faizan & Manhas, Parikshat Singh, 2018. "Examining the impact of risk perceptions on intentions to travel by air: A comparison of full -service carriers and low-cost carriers," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 20-27.
    12. Sanja Kovačić & Mihai Ciprian Mărgărint & Ruxandra Ionce & Đurđa Miljković, 2020. "What are the Factors affecting Tourist Behavior based on the Perception of Risk? Romanian and Serbian Tourists’ Perspective in the Aftermath of the recent Floods and Wildfires in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-22, August.
    13. Md. Kamrul Hasan & Ahmed Rageh Ismail & MD. Faridul Islam, 2017. "Tourist risk perceptions and revisit intention: A critical review of literature," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1412874-141, January.
    14. Elisabetta Reginato & Francesca Cabiddu & Patrizia Modica, 2023. "Le politiche pubbliche a sostegno della crisi da COVID-19 nel settore turistico: un?analisi esplorativa," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(1), pages 95-118.
    15. Chung-Shing Chan, 2021. "Developing a Conceptual Model for the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Changing Tourism Risk Perception," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-12, September.
    16. Judit Temesvary & Andrew Wei, 2021. "Domestic Lending and the Pandemic: How Does Banks' Exposure to Covid-19 Abroad Affect Their Lending in the United States?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-056r1, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised 17 Nov 2021.
    17. Min Gong & David Krantz & Elke Weber, 2014. "Why Chinese discount future financial and environmental gains but not losses more than Americans," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 103-124, October.
    18. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    19. Sohyun Park & Keumsook Lee, 2021. "Examining the Impact of E-Commerce Growth on the Spatial Distribution of Fashion and Beauty Stores in Seoul," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, May.
    20. Erel, Isil & Liebersohn, Jack, 2022. "Can FinTech reduce disparities in access to finance? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 90-118.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:12221-:d:672900. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.