Say hello to the newly minted Dr. Bozana Zekan and Dr. Tina Tiller!

MODUL University would like to congratulate two members of the MODUL family on receiving their doctorate degrees! Researcher and Lecturer Bozana Zekan and former Researcher and Lecturer Tina Roenhovde Tiller from the Department of Tourism and Service Management, both earned a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU). 

At MU since 2008, everyone from our first Bachelor cohort to current MU students know Bozana from teaching courses such as Tourism & Hospitality Business Analysis, International Destination Management, HR Management & Management Development, Organizational Behavior & CSR, and Philosophy of Science (as of the upcoming fall semester).

Outside the classroom, Bozana heads the annual TourMIS Workshop that MODUL University Vienna organizes together with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the European Travel Commission (ETC) and European Cities Marketing (ECM) and is currently involved in the research projects with the UNWTO and World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) together with MODUL University president Dr. Karl Wöber and Dr. Irem Önder – all in pursuit of her primary research interest: destination management.

Bozana’s doctoral dissertation titled “Identifying Efficient Tourism Destinations and Modeling an Optimal Benchmarking Approach in a DEA Environment” was written under the supervision of Dr. Wöber, the abstract of which can be found below.

''Bozana’s dissertation addresses the subject matter of tourism destination performance measurement and investigates the applicability of non-parametric frontier analysis in the field of city tourism, says Dr. Wöber. ''The topic is touching a still relatively immature field of interdisciplinary study and practical expertise. In the past, city tourism development and management was solely evaluated by economic indicators. Only recently, sustainable urban tourism has begun to be seen by different stakeholders differently, which makes destination performance measurement and comparisons more complex. Developing a clear understanding of how to measure and to compare the various social, cultural and economic impacts of city tourism is the main contribution of Bozana’s excellent dissertation''.

When asked to reflect on this long journey, she said that “it was both challenging and exciting at the same time and I really feel I have learned a lot, especially when it comes to methodologies. I am very grateful as I had an outstanding support from my supervisor and my colleagues and friends from MODUL who were cheering me along the way. It still feels unreal though, it will take time to sink in :-)”

Starting in August, Bozana will take on the position of Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer.

From 2010-2015 Tina lectured in the bachelor programs and wrote her thesis ''Reconceptualizing Slow Travel: A Grounded Theory Approach'' on the phenomenon of Slow Travel under the supervision of Dr. Andreas Zins, who was impressed with her work:  ‘’the rich and fascinating outcome of Tina’s data interpretation has the potential of triggering more focused and new literature reviews and reflections and stimulates further thinking.’’

Congratulations Bozana and Tina!

ABSTRACT BOZANA ZEKAN  “Identifying Efficient Tourism Destinations and Modeling an Optimal Benchmarking Approach in a DEA Environment”

This dissertation looked into identification of the optimal benchmarking variables for European city destinations and proposed such model within a DEA framework. The literature review has highlighted quite a number of knowledge gaps that are present within the under-researched domain of destination benchmarking to date, the most compelling probably being that there is no consensus among tourism researchers concerning the common performance measures for destinations. Moreover, oftentimes the variables modeled were chosen evidently due to the data availability without involving the actual stakeholders, which raises the question of value and overall purpose of such benchmarking efforts.

Thus, this dissertation took a step back and at first ventured into involving the city tourism organizations/convention and visitor bureaux (CTOs/CVBs), the main representatives of European city tourism, in the decision making process on the selection of variables. One of the main outcomes of this study was a comprehensive list of 22 indicators, which also corroborated the argumentation raised in the literature concerning the great number of attributes one must take into account when benchmarking the destinations. Further, it was also shown that: (1) not every variable was equally important for CTOs/CVBs as the individual weightings were generated for every city by applying the unfolding analysis; and (2) several distinct weight patterns were observable in the sample, as demonstrated with the hierarchical clustering. Yet, a systematic, reproducible solution was derived for the identification of the single ‘typical’ weight pattern in case one is stubbornly attempting to enforce one. 

The second study that concerned the actual benchmarking of European cities was initiated by modeling the before mentioned indicators. Multiple DEAs (output-oriented and non-oriented) were run for 3 individual years, the result of which was identification of the efficient (i.e., more competitive) and inefficient (i.e., less competitive) city destinations, benchmarking partners, and virtual benchmarks. Furthermore, the original model was altered both in terms of sample and indicators, and the impact on the efficiency scores observed again for the same time period, hence, adding an interactivity note to the analyses. Lastly, the third study showed the impact of the managerial judgment in benchmarking of cities by inspecting the results of non-weighted and weighted DEAs for corroboration/ discrepancies, and pointed toward the importance of taking the stakeholders’ judgment into account – an area that is indisputably fully unexplored within the destination benchmarking domain to date.

Overall, what differentiates this research from any other efficiency/competitiveness frameworks proposed in the literature is the fact that the current approach was modeled with the input of the main stakeholders and as such is not only fully operational, but is also a meaningful and valuable tool for them to use on the continuous basis. This makes the entire benchmarking endeavor worth pursuing and is everything but redundant. Moreover, adding the interactivity note to the main model along with the managerial judgment/weights has opened the new paths when it comes to the interpretation of the efficiency scores and has pointed toward the further possibilities one can explore with DEA.

ABSTRACT TINA TILLER ''Reconceptualizing Slow Travel: A Grounded Theory Approach''

This research focuses on a relatively new concept in tourism called Slow Travel, which has gained increased attention in academia in the last decade. The need for a unifying concept was the inspiration for the researcher to investigate the practises associated with Slow Travel in attempt to build a descriptive theory. Slow Travel has been introduced as a possible counterweight to conventional, unsustainable tourism (Dickinson and Lumsdon, 2010). It is believed that the behaviours of the travellers have less severe impacts than those of conventional mass tourists, and as such interest in the phenomenon has been growing. Characteristics of Slow Travel that have been emphasised thus far in tourism literature includes local travel and staying at one place rather than putting a lot of destinations into the holiday itinerary (Molz, 2010); motorised, avoidance of high speed transportation unless in the form of public mass transportation such as trains and buses/coaches (Dickinson and Lumsdon, 2010); and emphasis on the experience of the total journey where the traveller should be engaged with and enjoy all the components making up his/her trip - be it accommodation, transportation or activities (Dickinson and Lumsdon, 2010). Environmental concern has also been marked as a potential element, even if this has yet to be verified (Lumsdon and McGrath, 2011).

By taking a descriptive approach to forming a theory on Slow Travel the author avoided the potential pitfalls of focusing only on the elements that so far have been focused on, leaving many open questions about the actual behaviours of Slow Travellers. The researcher made use of Straussian Grounded Theory Methodology, which enables the building of new theory based on findings in the data collected. This methodology applies a process of abductive reasoning which “entails considering all possible theoretical explanations for the data, forming hypotheses for each possible explanation, checking them empirically by examining the data, and pursuing the most plausible explanations” (Charmaz, 2006, p. 104), repeated in several stages of data collection until a theory has reached saturation. Straussian Grounded Theory has a specific analytical procedure which was followed in all stages of data collection.

In the case of this research, three stages of data collection were needed to complete a saturated theory on Slow Travel. Stage 1 consisted of a field work study in which the researcher applied participant observation and semi-structured interviews of the participants of a two week long cycle trip in Vietnam. This stage served as a pilot study to the following stages. Stage 2 consisted of analysis of blogs written by self-defined Slow Travellers, with an inclusion period of blog posts published within an 18 month time frame from January 2012 until June 2013. Stage 3 consisted of interviews with travellers which fit the characteristics of the Busy Bees, a type of Slow Traveller identified in Stage 2 which did not reach saturation through the data analysis in the second stage.

Two types of Slow Traveller were identified, termed Soul Searchers and Busy Bees. The key driver of the Soul Searchers is the desire for personal development through their experiences as Slow Travellers. What allows them the opportunity to seek out such experiences is largely their social situation, as they are in transitional stages in their lives where they have no family or work obligations at home. Their activities as Slow Travellers result in personal growth and identity formation. The key drivers of the Busy Bees includes the quest for relaxation through slowing down the pace of their life while on holiday, and seeking an understanding of the world. They differ from the Soul Searchers not only in their behaviours, but also in that they are settled down with work and/or family, and therefore cannot leave their place of residence for a long period of time.

This paper sheds light on the Slow Travel phenomenon, particularly on the actual behaviours of Slow Travellers and provides theoretical insights which is grounded in the organic data produced by Slow Travellers. The theory is presented in five chapters, including background on Slow Travel, literature relating to the theory, methodology, findings from the data analysis and finally a discussion on the new theoretical concepts of Slow Travel. This thesis has made a valuable contribution to a field where the definition was lacking in acceptance, and the basis for recognising a Slow Traveller was missing. After the completion of this work, it is now possible to identify a Slow Traveller based on his or her preferences, motivations and behaviours during travel.

Keywords: Slow Travel, Slow Tourism, identity formation, personal development