Bishnu Sharma

This study identifies the human resource practices used in the hospitality and tourism industry through the review of articles published in the hospitality and tourism journals (45 articles, 10 journals) and the other non-hospitality journals (26 articles, 17 journals). The review suggests that key HR practices used in the industry are recruitment/selection, performance management, compensation, training and development, employee empowerment, employee recognition and reward. The study also identifies the focus of past HR research in the hospitality and tourism industry. HRM practices, employee turnover, employee retention/intention to stay or leave, job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, work family conflict/work life balance/work family issues/flexible working/employee well-being, customer satisfaction/firm performance among others have been the dominant aspects of past research. The study also presents a range of gaps in HR research in the hospitality and tourism industry for potential future research.

This study investigates the demographic difference in local communities' perceptions of positive and negative emotions, trust in the government in organising the event, trust in the organising committee in organising the event, their level of attachment and support for the FIFA World Cup held in Brazil in 2014. The data for this study was collected from 12 cities in Brazil which were involved in hosting the World Cup games using a survey approach. Demographic variables used were gender, city of residence, age category, numbers of years lived in a city, marital status, occupation, education, income and ethnicity. The study found significant differences in their perceptions by the city of their residence. Significant differences were also noted in the negative emotions by all the demographic variables considered in this study. However, not all of them were significant for their level of trust, support and attachment to the event.

This study investigates the relationship between the level of trust the local residents have to the relevant government and non-governmental bodies, residents' level of emotions and attachment with their level of support for the FIFA World Cup 2014 held in Brazil. For collecting the data for this study, a survey was carried out from a sample of residents (n=3786) located in 12 cities in Brazil that were involved in hosting the World Cup games. The results suggest that positive emotions, attachment, and trust have a significant positive relationship with their support for the event and negative emotions have a significant negative relationships with their support.

This study investigates the relationships between local residents' attachment and their emotions 'positive and negative' towards the World Cup, residents' emotions and their perceptions of impact from the FIFA 2014 World Cup Games, and residents' perceptions of impact and their support for the event. For conducting this study, data collection was carried out using a stratified random sampling approach from a sample of residents (n=3770) located in 12 cities in Brazil that hosted the World Cup games during the spring of 2014. The LISREL 8.7 structural equation analysis package was used to analyse the data. The results suggest that there is a direct relationship between residents' attachment and both positive and negative emotions towards the event; between positive emotions and both the perceptions of positive impacts and the perceptions of negative impacts and so forth. The study also identified a direct significant impact between positive impact perceptions and support for mega-event and between positive negative perceptions and support for mega-event.

Alcohol abuse has been a matter of concern among university students in many countries including Germany (Martin et al., 2009; Health, 2006; Collins & Lapsley 2008; Lewis & Thombs 2005). It has several negative consequences which include violent assaults, accidents, vomiting, unprotected sex, unwanted sex, fatalities, drunk driving, injuries, and suicide (Ray, Turrisi, Abar, & Peters, 2009; Wilson, Pritchard, & Schaffer, 2004). The belief that people hold about the effects of drinking alcohol is called alcohol expectancies (Shell, Newman, & Xiaoyi, 2010; George et al., 1995). Positive alcohol expectancies include beliefs that drinking will result in increased level of assertiveness, increased sociability, enjoyable, and tension reduction; and negative expectancies include increased risk and aggression, and negative self-perception (Zamboanga & Ham, 2008; Bot, Engels, & Knibbe, 2005; Barnow et al., 2004). Expectancies of adolescents are associated with drinking and alcohol consumption levels when adolescents start drinking (Bot et al., 2005). The level of self-esteem, on the other hand, can go up and down based on the individual's perceptions of success or failure (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991). A person with high self-esteem has 'self-respect, considers himself a person of worth' and the person with low self-esteem 'means that the individual lacks respect for himself and considers himself unworthy' (Rosenberg, 1979, p. 54). Those individuals who have a low self-esteem and are experiencing some kind of stress or anxiety tend to use alcohol to relax and cope with anxiety (Glindemann, Geller, & Fortney, 1999). However, the studies based on self-reported drinking, alcohol expectancies, levels of self-esteem and consequences are 'limited or contradictory or otherwise inconclusive' (Glindermann et al., 1999, p. 61). Therefore, this study investigates the following research questions: RQ1: What are the key dimensions of university students' alcohol expectancies? RQ2: Is there a relationship between university students' alcohol expectancies and their self-esteem? And, RQ3: Is there a relationship between university students' alcohol expectancies and consequences?

The pattern by which functional areas activities that comprise entrepreneurial strategy are organized will differ among businesses based on the immediate and wider environment in which they operate, that is, their industry and economic settings. We examine the interrelationships among functional area activities in their association with entrepreneurial strategy in a progressive textile manufacturing industry located in China. Using the Partial Least Square analytical technique and a sample of 248 Chinese small businesses, we find that networking features prominently alongside market-based activities of customer retention management and technology as determinants of entrepreneurial strategy. We also find that activities in these three functional areas mediate the association between other functional area activities such as HRM, operations, planning, and finance and entrepreneurial strategy. In a social-based system where relationships are important, the development and maintenance of network ties as well as attention to customers and innovation are critical to pursuit of entrepreneurial strategy.

In recent times there has been a heightened awareness of environmental sustainability and climate change and how this affects individual behaviours and practices. Explanatory models have been based on theories of planned behaviour which postulate that environmental beliefs influence environmental behaviours and practices. However, much of the prior research shows that there is a disconnection between beliefs and practices, i.e., although many people state that they are concerned about the environment, they do not necessarily behave as if they are. The purpose of this study was to investigate this phenomenon through a survey of green consumers (n=218) in Australia. The findings show that many environmental beliefs were significantly associated with environmental practices including those that involved paying higher prices or reducing their standard of living to protect the environment.