How the destination image is presented in terms of the content and the selected media is known to have a considerable influence on consumers. In the current study, we examined the effect of destination images of Japanese hot spring hotels through photographic images taken by actual hotel guests on intended customer engagement behaviors (CEB) and their evoked conceptualization of the hotels. By showing photographic images of two types of hot spring hotels (traditional/contemporary) to participants from the United States (Phase 1, n=154) and Japan (Phase 2, n=677), we found that the image of traditional hot spring hotels induced higher evaluations and stronger CEB. When participants were clustered based on their travel motivations, we also found that, in both inbound and domestic markets, more engaged tourists gave higher evaluations and stronger CEB. The results suggest that the relationship among key constructs tested in this study validates the conceptual perspective on the theory application of destination image and CEB to hotel operations. From a practical perspective, hotel managers should carefully reconsider the primary drivers that attract tourists to visit the site and stay at their hotel. In addition, when developing promotional materials, managers should also consider key features in the photographic image to create a desirable destination image to attract tourists to visit and recommend the property to others.

We examined whether hybrid consumers exist in the commodity food market by comparing food products in general, fresh pork and precooked pork patties using an online questionnaire (N=200). The same consumers changed their selection criteria depending on the type of commodity food product they were considering, reflecting hybrid consumer attitudes.

This study examined discrepancies in the brand image of a Japanese frozen food company perceived by the company’s employees and its consumers. Using a hypothesized model leading to brand loyalty, structural differences between the company’s employees’ (internal) and consumers’ (external) brand images were revealed: the two images did not structurally match.