Exploring actor-network theory in a volunteer tourism context: A delicate balance disrupted by COVID-19

Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork and using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the authors trace the interactions of a primary actor and other agents within the context of the volunteer tourist experience at a children's home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This paper has two key objectives;first to sketch the volunteer tourism reality as it is shaped by the actions of different actors, and second to showcase how this sensitively balanced ecosystem was significantly disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Staying true to the ANT approach and ‘following the actor' (Latour, 1993), the authors demonstrate how the volunteer tourist setting is relationally reproduced through the incessant alignment of different human and non-human actors and their sometimes conflicting interests and actions. By taking this radical approach, we reveal the need to reconsider the narrative that views all children in orphanages in the global South as victims and pawns of the ‘orphan industrial complex' and how the children's home in the study offers much-needed support to children and people that have no safety net. The study shows that these actors sometimes unknowingly become part of the network and serve a good cause while acting in pursuit of their own interests.

A Bit(coin) of happiness after a failure: An empirical examination of the effectiveness of cryptocurrencies as an innovative recovery tool

This research provides the first examination of the effectiveness of cryptocurrencies as an innovative recovery tool. Through four experiments, we assess the effects of crypto-compensation against traditional compensation types (voucher/cash) on customer recovery satisfaction. Study 1 findings indicate that crypto-compensation is more effective than voucher and cash in improving customer recovery satisfaction. Further, it shows that consumer innovativeness moderates the effectiveness of crypto-compensation. After establishing the effectiveness of crypto-compensation, Study 2 finds a moderating effect of consumer choice in influencing crypto-compensation effectiveness. Study 3 reveals the differential effect of communicating different crypto-compensation benefits on customer recovery satisfaction. Finally, Study 4 concludes that familiar cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin vs. EOS) best restore satisfaction after a failure and that compensation message framing (i.e., cryptocurrency monetary value vs. real nominal value) moderates this relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.