Research interests
- Attracting good foster carers
- About 24,000 children live in out-of-home care in Australia. Non-profit organisations devoted to finding good foster parents for children face two problems: (1) the number of parents willing to foster a child is decreasing, and (2) 50% of long-term foster parents “return the child” before the end of the intended term. This presents a typical marketing problem: how to identify the right “customers”, attract them and keep them loyal. We work with foster care agencies to (1) identify factors predictive of fostering success; (2) develop a test battery to support foster care agencies’ recruitment; (3) identify different segments of potential foster parents; and (4) identify effective communication channels to attract them.
- Market Segmentation Methodology
- Market segmentation is a key business strategy. Yet, many fundamental problems in segmentation analysis remain unresolved. For example, whether segmentation reveals true segments or constructs artificial ones, which technique recommends the ideal number of clusters, and which visualisation tool best conveys segmentation results to users. Despite half a century of segmentation research, these problems remain in the “too hard” basket. Meanwhile, users apply segmentation analysis without understanding the fundamentals, leading to serious misinterpretations of results. We develop tools for all stages of the segmentation process addressing these problems and thus increasing the validity and user friendliness of segmentation studies.
- Measurement in the Social Sciences
- Social science theories can be accepted or dismissed solely as a matter of which types of beliefs measure is used. Yet, the fundamental question of which is the most valid way to measure beliefs remains unanswered. We study alternative belief measures, and empirically compares the predictive validity of traditional and novel measures.
- Sustainable Tourism
- While the tourism industry strongly contributes to Australia's national revenue, it endangers Australia's natural resources. Profit maximization aims conflict with nature protection. We account for that industry-inherent conflict and aim at a solution that enables guarding resources within this profit-oriented context by (1) identifying market segments that are both profitable and interested in protecting Australia's environment, and (2) understanding them in sufficient detail to make them accessible targets. As a result qualitatively different tourists and not necessarily fewer tourists could be attracted, thus weakening the trade-off between revenue and nature protection to the long term benefit of Australia.
- Tourism crisis and disaster recovery
- We propose a way for the tourism industry to protect itself against unpredictable external shocks, such as 9/11 (which led to a drop in tourism arrivals to the USA of 7%), SARS (which reduced Japanese outbound tourism by 55%), and the GFC (which caused a 4% drop in international tourism arrivals). We identify people who are highly committed to tourism and less likely to cancel travel plans in response to disasters.
- Tourism marketing
- We study a wide range of tourism marketing topics, including how to best conduct market research to gather valid information about the market, how to best segment markets and select target segments, and how to efficiently mine big data available to tourism businesses in order to increase revenue.
- Water from alternative sources
- The use of alternative water sources is inevitable for Australia’s sustainable water future. However previous experience has shown that public resistance represents the biggest hurdle in the successful implementation of alternative water schemes. Sara’s research with colleagues aims to understand the mechanisms leading to public acceptance of alternative water sources, in particular the role of knowledge and information. This research contributes to public acceptance research by determining whether knowledge reduces fears about alternative water sources and by developing and testing alternative formats of public information campaigns.
Publications
- Brosnan, Kylie, Babakhani, Nazila and Dolnicar, Sara (2019) “I know what you’re going to ask me” Why respondents don’t read survey questions. International Journal of Market Research, . doi:10.1177/1470785318821025
- Babakhani, Nazila, Randle, Melanie and Dolnicar, Sara (2019) Do tourists notice social responsibility information?. Current Issues in Tourism, . doi:10.1080/13683500.2018.1561653
- Randle, Melanie, Zhang, Ye and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) The changing importance of vacations: Proposing a theoretical explanation for the changing contribution of vacations to people’s quality of life. Annals of Tourism Research, . doi:10.1016/j.annals.2018.11.010
- Babakhani, Nazila, Leisch, Friedrich and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) A good graph is worth a thousand numbers. Annals of Tourism Research, . doi:10.1016/j.annals.2018.10.007
- Dolnicar, Sara, Knezevic Cvelbar, Ljubica and Grün, Bettina (2018) Changing service settings for the environment: how to reduce negative environmental impacts without sacrificing tourist satisfaction. Annals of Tourism Research, . doi:10.1016/j.annals.2018.08.003
- Miller, Leonie, Randle, Melanie and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) Carer factors associated with foster-placement success and breakdown. The British Journal of Social Work, . doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcy059
- Randle, Melanie, Miller, Leonie and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) What can agencies do to increase foster carer satisfaction?. Child & Family Social Work, 23 2: 212-221. doi:10.1111/cfs.12402
- Robinson, Richard N. S., Getz, Don and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) Food tourism subsegments: a data-driven analysis. International Journal of Tourism Research, 20 3: 367-377. doi:10.1002/jtr.2188
- Brosnan, Kylie, Grün, Bettina and Dolnicar, Sara (2018) Identifying superfluous survey items. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 43 39-45. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.02.007
- Fielding, Kelly S., Dolnicar, Sara and Schultz, Tracy (2018) Public acceptance of recycled water. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 1-36. doi:10.1080/07900627.2017.1419125
Memberships
- Elected Fellows of the Council for Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education (CAUTHE, elected 2018)
- Elected Fellows of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism (IAST, elected 2013; limited to 75 fellows globally)
- Elected Fellows of the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST, elected 2013)
Distinctions
- 2017 The US-based Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Distinguished Researcher Award (2017) for ground-breaking research that positively impacts the tourism industry, and outstanding service to the tourism research community. In the Association’s 48-year history this award has been given to only four people.
- 2017 Award for Excellence in Higher Degree by Research Supervision, The University of Queensland
- 2017 Peter Keller Best Paper Award for the contribution that best integrated theoretical contribution and practical relevance at AIEST 2017
- 2016 Slovenian Ambassador of Science (2016). This is the highest honour the Republic of Slovenia bestows on expatriate Slovenian researchers in recognition of global excellence, impact, and knowledge transfer.
- 2016 Market Research Society Silver Medal awarded for the best paper published in the International Journal of Market Research in 2015
- 2016 Charles R. Goeldner Article of Excellence Award (best paper in the Journal of Travel Research in 2015)
- 2016 Emerald Best Contribution Award for the best conference paper at the Annual Conference of the Association of International Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST)
- 2015 Peter Keller Best Paper Award for the contribution that best integrated theoretical contribution and practical relevance at the Annual Conference of the Association of International Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST)
- 2014 Tony Wheeler Award for Best Paper at the Annual Australian Market and Social Research Society Conference
- 2014 Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) Service Partnership Award
- 2014 Finalist, Australian Water Association Research Innovation Award
- 2014 Best Paper Award at the Annual Conference of the Association of International Scientific Experts in Tourism (AIEST)
- 2011 Research Excellence Award for Senior Researcher (University of Wollongong)
- 2011 Nominated for Supervisor of the Year (University of Wollongong)
- 2011 Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2010 Research Publication Excellence Award (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2010 Research Grant Excellence Award (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2009 Commendation for Outstanding Supervision (University of Wollongong)
- 2008 Emerald Literati Highly Commended Award for Excellence
- 2007 Researcher of the Year (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2007 Most Downloaded Paper Award (First Place) (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2006 Commendation for Outstanding Supervision (University of Wollongong)
- 2006 Most Downloaded Paper Award (Second Place) (Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong)
- 2006 Best Paper Award, “Marketing Research and Research Methodology” track at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference
- 2006 European Journal of Marketing Best Paper Award at the Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference
- 2005 Paper of the Year Award (Australasian Marketing Journal)
- 2004 Charles R. Goeldner Article of Excellence Award (Journal of Travel Research)
- 1996 Best Ph.D. thesis award (Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien)
- 1996 Doctoral performance award (Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien)
- 1994 Graduation performance award (Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien)
Major research grants
| Title | Agency | Year | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer value and disability services: The impact of increased autonomy (Randle, M., Miller, L. Dolnicar, S., Connor-Brown, G. & Maunsell, D.) |
ARC Linkage Grant LP150100476 | 2015-2019 | $326,506 |
| Encouraging voluntary purchasing of carbon offsets | ARC Linkage | 2015-2018 | $175,000 |
| Better destination image data through lower cognitive load measures (with Gruen, B., Puleston, J., Brosnon, K., Harris, P., Molloy, E., Kirk, K., Lee, L.T., Robbie, L.E. & Mawn, C.) | ARC Linkage Grant | 2013 | $150,000 |
| Reducing the Australian tourism industry’s vulnerability to external shocks - identifying and understanding disaster-resilient tourists (with Gretzel, U.) | ARC Discovery Grant, 2011 | 2011 | $200,000 |
| Market segmentation methodology: attacking the 'Too Hard' basket (with Leisch, F. & Gruen, B.) | ARC Discovery Grant, 2011-2015 including a QEII Fellowship | 2010 | $1,460,000 |
| Succession planning at universities: program for preparing early leaders (PROPEL) (with Vialle, W. & Castle, R.) | Australian Learning and Teaching Council Grant | 2009 | $220,000 |
| The role of community connectedness in retaining skilled migrant women in Australia (with Lyons, L.T. & Ville, S.) | ARC Linkage Grant 2007-2010 | 2007 | $76,880 |
| Identifying, attracting and retaining successful foster parents (with Rossiter, J.R., Ciarrochi, J., Munro, A.B., Gunasekara, M.S. & Neveling, D.J.) | ARC Linkage Grant 2007- 2012 | 2007 | $480,000 |
| Response style heterogeneity in empirical marketing research (with Leisch, F.) | ARC Linkage International Grant | 2007 | $40,404 |
| A cognitive model for identifying optimal measures of belief (with Rossiter, J.R.) | ARC Discovery Grant | 2007 | $219,000 |
| Water for Australia’s future – reducing fears and increasing acceptance of alternative water sources through public information (with Hurlimann, A.) | ARC Discovery Grant | 2007 | $350,000 |
| Social Innovation Network (with Wright, J.) | University of Wollongong, Research Networks, 2007 | 2007 | $150,000 |
| Critical Assessment of Implementing Desalination Technology (with Xu, P., Drewes, J.E., Cath, T., Schaefer, A., Ruetten, J. & Howe, C.) | American Water Works Association | 2006 | $200,000 |
| Advanced issues in market segmentation research (with Leisch, F. ) | ARC Linkage International Grant 2005-2007 | 2004 | $22,460 |
| Harnessing Eco-Friendly Markets to Protect our Natural Resources - Towards A Demand-Driven Paradigm of Sustainable Tourism (with Crouch, G.I. & Mazanec, J.A.) | ARC Discovery Grant 2005-2007 | 2004 | $160,000 |
| Is brand image instability a measurement artifact? (with Rossiter, J.R.) | ARC Discovery Grant 2005-2007 | 2004 | $350,000 |
| University of Wollongong University, Internationalisation Committee Grant Scheme | World Expeditions and the University of Wollongong, URC New Partnership Grant Scheme | 2004 | $8,000 |
| Modelling and Exploring Tourism Consumer Choice: Strengthening the Knowledge Base for Improved Strategic Decision Making in the Australian Tourism Industry (with Crouch, G., Devinney, T., Huybers, T., Louviere, J. & Oppewal, H.) | CRC for Sustainable Tourism | 2003 | $45,000 |
| Attracting Bushcare volunteers - managing heterogeneity of volunteering motivations in a multicultural region by integrated market structure analysis (with Formosa, P.) | ARC Linkage Grant in Cooperation with Wollongong City Council | 2003 | $97,000 |
| Tourism research knowledge network | Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour. This project was applied for within the framework | 2002 | $350,000 |
| Evaluating geographical target markets for Lower Austria as tourism destination – an aggregated portfolio approach (with Grabler, K.) |
Niederösterreich Werbung, the regional tourism organization of Lower Austria | 2002 | $12,500 |
| Evaluation criteria for non-profit organization – how to operationalise the achievements of the Austrian National Tourism Organisation (with Wöber, K.) | Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour | 2000 | $25,000 |
| Market research for a new market driven hotel star grading system in Austria (with Otter, T.) | Austrian Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour and Austrian Economic Chamber | 2000 | $50,000 |