Evaluating research performance in tourism

In the last few years considerable attention has been paid to research output within the scientific culture, which is disseminated in many different ways. It is commonly believed that scientific output is communicated and largely measured by means of publications, particularly quality is derived from the journal where an article has been published. Plenty of studies have been undertaken to determine the quality of this scientific communication medium. Surveys mainly relied on citation analysis or expert opinion. Publishing in scientific journals is a service offered to a variety of customers with its quality being solely determined by the customer himself. Consumer behaviour theory aims at finding ways and methods for explaining the behaviour of the consumers. Based on the cognitive factors of consumer behaviour (information, learning and perception), a theoretically elaborated four-factor Structural Equation Model is proposed and empirically tested to explain perceived journal quality. The book seeks to provide a greater understanding of journal development and assessment by discussing current issues in evaluating research performance in tourism and by gaining new insights into the quality judgments of hors with regard to scholarly journals. Besides the many ranking studies undertaken so far, the book takes a different perspective by objectively measuring the quality of scientific journals. Although findings are basically consistent with earlier research, the survey is unique in its focus on the behavioural aspects of tourism scientists and in the way of developing a model to assess the perceived quality of journals.