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Purpose Even if the relationship between travel bloggers and followers has implications for tourists’ decision-making process, the literature does not individuate the main determinants of this relationship. This paper aims to study the drivers and motivations to follow travel bloggers and the main consequences. Moreover, the paper seeks to highlight the metamorphosis of travel bloggers and their role in the tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was used, and 76 papers were selected. A thematic map of the literature and a summary of key findings are proposed. Findings Although authenticity is the main trigger for following travel bloggers, other factors (e.g. transparency and credibility), if lacking, can erode the relationship with followers. Results demonstrate that hygiene factors are important but that the relationship with followers can be compromised if motivational factors are lacking. Loyalty and the continued use of travel blogs are the main consequences of a relationship based on trust, credibility and engagement. Practical implications Tourism and hospitality managers must define sophisticated segmentation procedures to select the right travel blogger with which to engage for destination promotions. Travel bloggers must clearly define the role that they want to have in the market if they are to instill loyalty in their followers. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that attempts to identify the pillars of the follower–travel blogger relationship in the tourism and hospitality literature.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how firms may be segmented with respect to their attitudes towards the use of mobile instant messaging (MIM) apps (e.g. WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, etc). in their marketing practices to identify the main approaches to the use of MIM in business. Moreover, this paper identifies the key factors which can motivate or hinder the adoption of these digital platforms. Design/methodology/approach Firms are segmented on the basis of their attitudes (perceived usefulness and perceived effectiveness of performance) towards the use of MIM apps in the business. Categories for size, age of the firm and the organization’s predisposition towards MIMs are explored using data from 311 firms and latent class analysis. Threats, triggers and their real usage are also identified to describe the different approaches towards the application of MIM apps in marketing practices. Findings Four clusters are identified – lukewarm, cold, believer and unaffected – along with significant covariates such as the importance of conversation with the client, the use of MIMs in the business, the threats and triggers that can foresee adherence. The results help to understand how to approach the client using social messenger applications. MIM apps can be used for strategic marketing and not only for operative marketing. Originality/value This paper offers a more nuanced understanding of how firms engage through MIM apps by focusing on the firms’ attitudes towards MIM apps. It extends the knowledge on the firms’ reactions to these disruptive technologies and profiles the firms according to their social innovation attitudes, something that has not yet been investigated in the extant marketing literature.

Frame of the research: A managerial perspective of public engagement can help universities to strengthen the communication of university identity from a social, scientific, or accessibility point of view. Purpose of the paper: The goal of this paper is to investigate the concept of the online university public engagement from a managerial standpoint by examining those Italian universities that have engaged in Third Mission activities thanks also to recent ministerial decrees issued on the subject. Methodology: A content analysis of the main official websites of 50 Italian universities was performed. An exploratory factorial analysis made it possible to identify the main approaches to online public engagement. Findings: There are 4 main dimensions of online public engagement that have been communicated on Italian websites (social, cultural, research and widening engagement), each referring to a specific target. A so-called “Cultural engagement” approach emerges which underlines the role of the university as a pole of cultural and artistic attraction. Research limits: The research explores public engagement only in the Italian context. Although the article investigates more than 50% of the Italian universities, it does not allow the extension of the results to the reference population. Practical implications: Research results contribute to the understanding of online public engagement and map the current uses of stakeholder engagement activities in the university context to date. Originality of the paper: The research enriches the knowledge of the online public engagement construct thanks to the identification of a new dimension “Cultural engagement”, that had not yet emerged in international contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which conversation with a chatbot on an official website can change the value perception of products and influence the customer purchase intention. The study also investigates the role of chatbots on brand familiarity and the influence of previous experience of interaction with chatbots on customer buying intention. Two laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of chatbot use on customer purchase intention. Chatbots on websites shift the value perception of hedonic and utilitarian goods towards respectively utilitarian and hedonic values. Chatbots contribute to the brand awareness reducing the effect of familiarity on the customer purchase intention. Retailers should include effective chatbots while operating and designing shopping websites to stimulate the shopping intention of consumers. Companies should design and carefully manage chatbots by monitoring user involvement and quality of customer experience in order to feed a calibrated continuous improvement process on company objectives. The paper represents a first step approach in addressing e-service agents toward the online customer shopping experience. Digital assistants may change the online shopping context increasing the hedonic value experience but at the same time reducing the time for decision making by reinforcing the utilitarian value perception of the utilitarian and hedonic products.

La presentazione illustra i risultati di una ricerca finalizzata a esplorare la competitività delle destinazioni intelligenti e in particolare delle città turistiche smart in Italia.

Purpose of the paper : Italy is one of the most attractive European destinations for FDI inflows worldwide. It has witnessed a rapid increase in mergers and acquisitions, to the point of overcoming the EU 15 mean in the years 2008-2013 (with the exception of 2012) (UNCTAD, 2014). The question of whether governments should foster foreign take-overs is crucial, since the Italian economy has been traditionally founded on “national champions”. The purpose of the paper is to present a broader research project that aims at investigating (at firms’ level) the performance differences of all the mid-sized foreign-controlled firms, compared with the non acquired firms in the manufacturing industry. Methodology : the paper analyzes firms acquired in the period between 1999 and 2009 by using data from Mediobanca Research Department. Findings : first results in terms of composition of the acquired mid-sized companies are shown. Practical implications : the paper defines the different perspectives of analysis describing the managerial effects of foreign acquisitions on the acquired firms, the MNE acquirers, and the target country with respect to the industrial development, the employment and the supply chains of the territory. Originality of the paper : the study uses Mediobanca Research Department database for the first time in order to investigate the topic of cross border acquisitions.

Il contributo illustra i contenuti della sezione del Rapporto sul Turismo italiano dedicata all'analisi della competitività delle destinazioni.

La presentazione illustra i principali risultati della sezione del Rapporto sul Turismo Italiano dedicata alla competitività delle destinazioni.

Il contributo intende esplorare la competitività delle città turistiche italiane dalla prospettiva dello smart tourism attraverso un'analisi di diverse dimensioni che riguardano la capacità delle destinazioni urbane di utilizzare le tecnologie digitali per migliorare la qualità dell'esperienza dei visitatori e al contempo la qualità della vita dei residenti. L'analisi prende in considerazione quattro principali dimensioni della competitività smart nel turismo: attrattività, accessibilità, digitalizzazione, sostenibilità. Tali dimensioni sono rilevate attraverso la raccolta e l'elaborazione di big data con riferimento alle città di Milano, Roma, Firenze, Bologna e Torino fornendo un quadro delle loro caratteristiche in termini di innovazione orientata alla creazione di valore sostenibile per turisti e residenti.

In this paper a new method to improve the mathematical estimation of Quality of Experience (QoE) perceived by the end user of a Voice call over LTE (VoLTE) is presented. The new estimation leads to Mean Opinion Score (MOS) values more realistic than those available on network monitoring processes. The optimization of the QoE is calculated as a function of several QoS parameters, in particular packet loss, network jitter delay and jitter buffer dimension. The improvement has been realized by identifying the QoE and QoS parameters, named respectively Key Quality Indicators (KQI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI), for VoLTE services, and then applying a QoE/QoS mathematical relationship in order to adjust the expected QoE level on the basis of QoS.

According to previous research, in several countries, the achievement of the objectives for tourism development and the better functioning of protected areas is affected by bad governance activities. This paper provides a framework based on the combination between the Viable Systems Approach (vSa) and the actor engagement theory for improving the managerial effectiveness of protected areas. Exploring the case of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, a well-known tourism destination in Southern Italy, we gave empirical evidence of the risks that can occur when the governing body of protected areas does not adopt a systems-based management approach, and therefore cannot handle the complexity of the territory, generate socio-economic benefits for local populations, resolve conflicts with local actors, or advance sustainable tourism goals. Findings suggest that the governing body should adopt specific strategies to engage local actors in decision-making and idea-generation processes. Such strategies could help to integrate resources within the system, co-create value and handle conflicts when the goals are not mutually aligned. Hence, actor engagement is necessary for achieving conditions of systemic consonance and resonance.

La breve introduzione illustra i principali risultati emersi dai contributi e dagli approfondimenti che compongono la sezione dedicata alla competitività delle destinazioni del Rapporto sul Turismo Italiano.

The importance of private organizations for social and economic development has been a motivating factor for understanding the role of public engagement as a lever of competitive advantage.In recent years the public engagement construct was defined and conceptualized differently in public sector. Instead, few papers have analysed the implications of public engagement for private sector. The difficulty to contextualize and conceptualise correctly public engagement for the private sector is liable for the lack of a thorough description of its antecedent factors and main definitions.This research uses a Systematic Literature Review as research method and analyses 21 papers published in the main journals of management. The study found that public engagement and community engagement are the main conceptual approaches used to explain the engagement of private sector with their publics. Social and dialogical dimensions of communication are factors influencing the engagement of the publics in the private sector. This research aims to study public engagement in a management perspective and advance the understanding of this construct also in private organizations.

Il paper si propone di offrire un contributo al dibattito teorico sull’innovazione nei servizi pubblici, verificando l’efficacia interpretativa di alcuni framework sviluppati di recente dalla letteratura che mancano, pero, ancora di sufficienti riscontri empirici. In particolare, il lavoro si basa su due fondamentali riferimenti teorici: il modello multiagente di Windrum e Garcia-Goni (2008), che fornisce una rappresentazione della rete complessa di interazioni fra utenti, fornitori di servizi e policy maker che da vita all’innovazione, e il modello della "collaborative innovation" di Sorensen e Torfing, 2011 che propone una lettura processuale delle modalita attraverso cui tale interazione prende forma e si sviluppa all’interno del network degli attori coinvolti. Grazie alla combinazione di questi due approcci teorici complementari, si possono individuare chiavi di lettura nuove e efficaci per interpretare le dinamiche che caratterizzano il fenomeno dell’innovazione nei servizi pubblici. La validazione del framework di analisi e stata realizzata attraverso lo studio di un caso nel settore della sanita pubblica italiana: un contesto particolarmente indicato per una verifica empirica, a causa della sua elevata complessita operativa e relazionale.

Il lavoro sostiene la tesi che il modello del distretto culturale possa rappresentare un valido riferimento per orientare le politiche di sviluppo locale. Tale modello non costituisce una semplice variante del distretto industriale o del distretto turistico, ma assume tratti distintivi specifici nonché una notevole ricchezza di concettualizzazioni che si differenziano riguardo alle modalitŕ attraverso le quali il distretto crea valore. Esso appare dotato di una sua coerenza di fondo e di una sua originalitŕ, nonché capace di dar vita a dinamiche di sviluppo innovative, grazie alla possibilitŕ di attivare dinamiche di valorizzazione fondate sulla cultura - asset centrale e catalizzatore dei processi di sviluppo - da misurare in un'ottica di lungo periodo e non solo in termini economici, ma anche in termini di creativitŕ, attrattivitŕ del territorio e moltiplicazione del capitale sociale.

Il presente rapporto illustra i principali risultati ottenuti dalla sperimentazione sul campo, attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario volto a valutare le caratteristiche socio-economiche e le preferenze di fruizione per uno o più beni culturali di un campione di intervistati. I risultati empirici ottenuti sono il frutto della combinazione di tecniche di Cluster e di Conjoint analysis.

Ai fini della validazione del modello di billing di tipoPay Per Experience Value(PPEV), è stata progettata un'indagine sul campo per rilevare le preferenze degli individui, nonché di gruppi omogenei di individui, per diversi livelli esperienziali di fruizione. A partire da tali preferenze è possibile, attraverso la Conjoint Analysis (CJA), stimare la disponibilità marginale a pagare, la MarginalWillingness To Pay (MWTP), per ogni livello dei vari attributi di fruizione dell'oggetto di analisi. La MWTP così ottenuta, consente poi di avere una misura del PPEV, ovvero di monetizzare la dimensione esperienziale che l'offerta di fruizione è in grado di trasmettere all'utente finale. Infine, attraverso l'integrazione delle informazioni raccolte dal Sistema Dati Utente sviluppato nell'ambito dell'OR3, è possibile suddividere l'intero campione di intervistati in gruppi omogenei, in modo da ottenere una stima della MWTP e, pertanto, del PPEV anche per diverse categorie di fruitori. In particolare, il percorso di ricerca che ha condotto alla definizione di una tariffazione granulare dell'offerta di fruizione di un NeoLuogo, in base al diverso grado esperienziale percepito dall'utente finale durante la fruizione,si è articolato in più fasi.

The promotion of local economic development processes in a metropolitan area often depends on its ability to attract sustainable tourism flows and to provide a high quality of life for citizens. Both are basic conditions to enhance the competitiveness of an urban context, but their achievement is possible only if territorial planning strategies are focused on the real "experience" lived by tourists and citizens while they get in touch (either virtually or physically) with that place. This is the reason why all the choices made by policy makers, urban planners, and territorial marketing managers should be aimed at promoting the best experience possible for people visiting and living the city. Thus, there is a need for theoretical models able to support practitioners in their efforts for "experience design", which can find in the marketing literature - and in particular in the studies on tourism experience - many interesting conceptual references. This research topic has grown very rapidly in the last years, but at the moment is still characterized by a high fragmentation and a lack of systematic theoretical models. Starting from these considerations, the purpose of the paper is to fill this gap by presenting a conceptual framework specifically developed in order to give a solid basis for the design, management and evaluation of the experiences lived by people when they plan, visit and remember a place.

The high costs connected to the interoperability labs setup is one reason limiting the number of Plug tests every year. The experience done through the various IMS Plug tests has shown the needs to have an enabler to speed up setup time and reduce infrastructural costs. HIVE (Hub for Integration and Validation at ETSI) has been created to cope with these needs. It allows to include in Plug tests setups also production infrastructures like this is happening with Pathfinder (GSMA Carrier ENUM) for the 4th IMS Plug tests. The future of HIVE goes through integration of Teagle principles which can add internet based concept to the interoperability labs enabler.

The development of telecommunication market has increased dramatically during the last ten years, forcing mobile operators to introduce new services for the customers. To do so, the time available for testing decreases drastically, forcing the operators to request always more quality to the manufacturers providing their own network elements. In this scenario, a group called Test Sub Group (TSG) has been created among the mobile operators using ERICSSON CME 20 Switching Systems, with the purpose to bring the operators’ point of view inside Ericsson System Integration activities. In this phase, in fact, the possible improvements have lower costs for both, the supplier and the operators, and high effects on release software quality. In this paper, TSG and its way to work inside the Ericsson process is described, highlighting the benefits for Ericsson and the Operators. The paper continues addressing the methodology used and its application in the context of the Switching Systems R8 release with an example related to GPRS testing. A set of measurements to evaluate process and product quality is described. Some considerations about the validity of the “TSG” model are made, and its applicability to various market situations is analysed.