Browsing by Author "Almeida, Sofia"
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- How about meeting Fernando Pessoa? a journey into hotel brand anthropomorphism and personality on social mediaPublication . Ruppelt, Hans; Almeida, Sofia; Campos, Ana CláudiaCompetition in the hospitality industry is fierce and hotels need to enhance guest engagement in order to remain competitive. Building brand anthropomorphism (BA) and personality is acknowledged as a marketing strategy for achieving this goal. More and more, this engagement is taking place online, with hotels' social media playing a critical role in the process. However, it is acknowledged that there is scarce knowledge on how hotels build BA and personality in online settings. Accordingly, this research aims at examining the implementation of BA and personality in hotels adopting a qualitative approach, by focusing on the study of the case of Lisboa Pessoa Hotel (Portugal) and its use of social media for this purpose. Netnography was applied in the analysis. Results provide evidence that developing BA and personality are strategies with the potential to increase guest engagement. As implications, hotel managers are recommended to attend to the need of humanising their hotel brand. This study is one of the first to examine implementation of hotel BA and personalisation through social media.
- New avenues for business competitiveness: the case of a community of practice in the hotel sectorPublication . Almeida, Sofia; Campos, Ana CláudiaPurpose This paper aims to better understand community of practice (CoP)'s dynamics with a focus on the hotel sector and perceived benefits to members and business performance. Design/methodology/approach This is a case study research focusing on a successful experience within a CoP found in the hotel sector. The study reports in detail how a CoP was created and how it evolved to a digital platform to give birth to a fully co-designed tourism product. It analyzes this CoP's social dynamics, processes of communication and interaction, as well as digital evolution. To collect rich data, method triangulation was applied by mixing quantitative and qualitative analyses. Findings The community is highly participated and valued because it is perceived as a dynamic system contributing to rapid information exchange and diffusion, efficient context for knowledge transfer and individual responsiveness to daily professional activities and challenges. The reasons why members perceive Amigas do Trade as a distinctive community include shared values and attitudes; professional area and position; and group composition. The majority of members acknowledged that belonging to this CoP has helped in making an informed decision with impact on business practice. The sub-theme more intensely participated and discussed concentrated on human resources issues. Research limitations/implications A case study brings useful insights into the understanding of CoP members' behaviour; however, findings are not generalizable to other communities. Practical implications This study contributes in several ways to business practice and management. Hotel businesses pertain to a sector in which CoPs easily thrive. This seems to happen because businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry are highly dependent on networks, people, communication channels and technologies. Engagement with technological platforms is stimulated because of the unproblematic integration of these digital platforms into other technologies members already use in their daily work and life. Moreover, digital platforms are not expensive and potentially increase motivation levels within CoP, and consequently in companies. This example inspires the use of digital platforms to exchange knowledge in other CoPs in the hotel sector. Social implications CoPs are contexts of good interaction within a group of people by nurturing a good value system (comprehending trust, cohesion and good communication climate). Thus, a non-hierarchical and non-biased approach to CoP by managers could be accomplished by fostering an organizational culture based on joint innovation, coopetition and open communication principles. Expectedly, in this respect, intensive use of digital technologies in the business arena will keep playing a key role. Originality/value To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study on CoP applied to the hotel sector. Additionally, it is also the first time a CoP composed only by women working in the hotel sector was analyzed. One other element of novelty links to the fact that a CoP with physical and virtual dimensions was studied, introducing the use of digital platforms to the analysis of CoP dynamics.