A counterweight is offered to models of consumer choice which assume products as homogeneous and regard choice as the outcome of cognitive processes of information search. Having shown that the purchase of experiential products is inherently risky, findings from a study of the holiday travel...

Against a background of the potential suitability, yet limited adoption, of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in small hospitality businesses, reports the findings and conclusions of a study of five small businesses in the hospitality industry which had adopted NVQs. Discusses the...

This article highlights the ambiguities and debates surrounding the meaning, application, purpose and concomitants of the concept of empowerment presented in the service management literature and argues that these flow from the attempt to reconcile the need for control to secure employee...

It is frequently argued that, as a consequence of radical organizational change, the role of first-line manager (FLM) has shifted from supervision to team leadership/co-ordination or business unit management. After reviewing the nature of these claims and the debate about the relationship...

This paper addresses the divergence between the widespread rhetoric of empowerment and limited reality of empowerment programmes. Having demonstrated the ambiguities and contradictions in the concept of empowerment to be found in the management literature and, hence, the amenability of the...