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Peer-Review Record

Evaluating the Current and Future of Corporation and Hotel Industry Performance by Analyzing CEO Messages Using the SBSC Framework Assessment

Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2109; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052109
by Hyeon Kang 1,†, Fan Meng 2,† and Hyung Jong Na 3,*
Reviewer 1:
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2109; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052109
Submission received: 14 December 2024 / Revised: 28 January 2025 / Accepted: 12 February 2025 / Published: 28 February 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

My Comments to the Author

Predicting Current and Future Corporate Performance Through 2 the Analysis of CEO Messages in the Hotel Industry: Using 3 Text Mining and the SBSC Framework

The title:

Line 1-4, I recommend the author to modify the article`s title because it does not give a strong formula through the evaluation performance, so I suggest that he review the scientific material well and make the title more interesting for the reader, for example.

Evaluating the current and future of corporation and hotel industry performance by analyzing CEO messages using the SBSC framework assessment.

It is my suggestion, and the author has the freedom to change the title to be more specific and clearer.

Abstract:

Line 11-22, I recommend that the author rewrite the summary because at the beginning he talked about the objectives of the study and then the results without going into the importance of these studies and what are the problems that face the hotel industry basically so that the reader can be familiar with the circumstances of the article clearly and understandably. Therefore, I recommend that the author before mentioning the objectives and results must mention their importance and what are the problems that face this industry, whether in the present or the future.

Introduction:

Line 109-120, I recommend that the author amend this section to reflect the real objectives of the study through evaluating the hotel industry, with the addition of presenting the problem that affects the performance and evaluation to develop the hotel industry, both present and future.

Line 122, I recommend the author to change previous research and developing hypotheses to a literature review, while keeping the hypotheses required for the review as a basis for developing the study by examining previous studies, as mentioned.

Research Design:

Line 259, Was this period sufficient to evaluate the performance of the hotel industry in terms of financial, customer, and business operations perspectives to develop this industry?

Line 225, I recommend the author to modify the research design to research methodology because it includes all the procedures carried out in the research, starting from the samples and survey to the methods and analyses used in the research.

Line 263-268, I think this paragraph needs clarification because it is related to the first hypothesis from a financial perspective, which is Hypothesis 1: Was there an impact from the point of view of the company’s CEO’s messages in developing the hotel industry from the financial perspective, and were there tools used, such as surveys and customer reactions, or not?

In lines 329-338, the author mentioned that there are shortcomings in the existing BSC framework, not including the social responsibility perspective, the SBSC framework is created by adding corporate social responsibility elements to the existing BSC framework, and this framework is becoming more actively used. Therefore, the question is, is there a positive impact in terms of the social perspective on performance before and after, to develop, knowing that the CEO's methods are fixed?

Line 363-365, On what basis was this hotel chosen as a sample to apply the hypotheses that you imposed, and is the sample sufficient because there are hotels that differ from each other in terms of application and data analysis?

Line 392-398, I recommend the author clarify the difference between the five variables that he relied on during the study in terms of their impact on performance, whether positive or negative, taking into consideration their arrangement in terms of the strength of the relationship, which contributes significantly to developing performance.

Lines 415-518, the author mentioned that Due to the difficulties caused by COVID-19, most companies reported losses, and the sales growth rate was also negative on average.

Also, the first hypothesis that the author referred to is if a hotel company emphasizes a financial perspective, it will positively affect future corporate performance, even if it cannot significantly impact current corporate rate performance. There is a contradiction between the hypothesis and the result that had a very significant impact during the Covid period, so it would have been better to choose samples between what was affected by the Covid period and what was not significantly affected so that we can judge the factors whether they contributed in performance developing and which one for the future.

Lines 452-457, I recommend the author clarify this paragraph. Is it general or specialized? In other words, do the independent variables affect the dependent variable positively or negatively? How does the dependent variable affect the independent variable from the five factors mentioned by the author?

Line 524, Framework, I recommend the author modify the framework to clarify the independent variables and the dependent variable and the extent to which these factors affect the dependent variable and show the positive and negative correlation as the author previously mentioned, the elements are: Finance, Learning and Growth, Customer, Social Responsibility, Internal Business Process, Secure and Safety through positive and negative effects. Also, are there external factors that contributed to the development of performance and change or not?

Lines 536-544, The author mentions that according to Hypothesis 1 which presents the results of an empirical analysis of how companies in the hotel industry affect the current and future performance of companies when strategically emphasizing financing factors and according to the results we can say there is a positive correlation that is increasing and raise the performance. Therefore, I suggest that the author add a column to table 5 or phrases to show the positive correlation and increase the level of performance.

Lines 576-577, The author mention that according to Hypothesis 2 the results of an empirical analysis of how companies in the hotel industry affect current and future corporate performance when strategically emphasizing Customer factors. Therefore, I suggest to the author to add a column to the table 6 or phrases to show that the positive correlation and increasing the level of performance.

Lines 614-616, according to Hypothesis 3, shows the results of an empirical analysis of how companies in the hotel industry affect current and future corporate performance when strategically emphasizing Internal Business Process factors. Also, I suggest to the author to add a column to Table 7 or phrases to show the positive correlation and increase the level of performance.

Lines 741-746, The author mentioned that with the decrease in customer flows due to excessive spending to improve the level of security and safety in hotels, increasing the level of security and safety in the hotel will not directly lead to improving institutional performance except in certain cases. Among the results is whether there is a positive or negative correlation between security and safety and improving performance either in the current or future.

Lines 806-818, I suggest the author transfer this paragraph to the last title Additional test results (CONCOR analysis).

For lines 821-840, I suggest the author add a title conclusion for these phrases.

Lines 844-884: The author suggested changing the title to Recommendations for the Future, which would be brief and highly focused.

 

 

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I think the article needs to be updated and edited to proofread reach high quality and be ready for publication.

Author Response

Our researchers reflected the reviewer's comments in the paper as much as possible. The quality of the paper could be improved by the reviewer's good comments. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for the opportunity to read your manuscript that examines hotel performance based on CEO messaging. Your paper is easy-to-read and follow and offers a unique perspective on ways CEOs can influence performance. I have a few concerns that you may want to address. First, please include the relevant, original citations for the theories you showcase (e.g., principal agent theory; stakeholder resource-based theory; and the theory of justification). These inclusions will help readers to understand the original sources and meaning of these theories, which may be different than the meaning and application in this manuscript. Please spell out ESG (environmental, social, and governance) in your first use of the acronym. Also, please include a limitations and suggestions for future research section that makes mention of generalizability to hotels or businesses outside of Korea and other important factors that corresponded to hotel performance in 2021. COVID was certainly an influence. Finally, please circle back to the theories cited at the outset in the theoretical implications section.

Author Response

Our researchers reflected the reviewer's comments in the paper as much as possible. The quality of the paper could be improved by the reviewer's good comments. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I. Introduction and Literature Review

Expand the Theoretical Framework: While the introduction mentions several relevant theories (principal-agent, stakeholder, resource-based view), it needs a more robust discussion. Clearly articulate how these theories inform the research hypotheses. Show how the choice of the SBSC framework aligns with the theoretical underpinnings of the study. Explain why this study's SBSC is more appropriate than a standard Balanced Scorecard.

Strengthen the Literature Review: The current introduction lacks a comprehensive review of existing literature on CEO messaging analysis in the hospitality industry, specifically using text-mining techniques. The paper must clearly understand and engage with prior research in this area. Identify key studies and highlight the gap in the research that this study fills. What are the limitations of previous studies, and how does this research overcome them? What is novel about the approach in this paper?

Clarify Research Questions and Objectives: The research questions are implicit. State them explicitly and clearly. What specific relationships are being investigated? What are the specific objectives of the study?

II. Methodology

Data Collection and Keyword Selection: Provide a much more detailed explanation of the data collection process. How were the CEO messages obtained? What criteria were used for selecting companies? How were the chosen keywords? Justify the use of the TF-IDF method and specify parameters. Discuss the potential biases in keyword selection and how you mitigated them.

Text Mining Procedure: Expand on the description of the text mining process. What specific natural language processing (NLP) techniques were used? How were "unnecessary words" filtered? The description of the bag-of-words and TF-IDF methods is too brief and lacks crucial detail.

SBSC Framework Application: Explain the process of classifying keywords using the SBSC framework in detail. What are the specific criteria for classifying a keyword under each perspective (financial, customer, internal business process, learning & growth, social responsibility, security & safety)? How were any ambiguities in classification handled?

Econometric Model and Endogeneity: While using the 2SLS model to address endogeneity is mentioned, the explanation is insufficient. Provide a more detailed account of why endogeneity is a concern in this study, how the 2SLS model addresses it, and the results of any diagnostic tests to ensure the validity of this approach. Also, the selection of control variables should be thoroughly justified and their effect discussed.

CONCOR Analysis: This section lacks depth. Explain how the CONCOR analysis was performed (software used, specific parameters employed). The interpretation of the resulting network could be more detailed and linked directly to the hypotheses.

Sample Size and Representativeness: Discuss the sample size and the representativeness of the sample. How were the companies selected, and what is the rationale behind choosing the Korean hotel industry? What are the limitations regarding the generalizability of the findings?

III. Results and Discussion

Robustness Checks: Report any robustness checks performed on the regression results (e.g., alternative model specifications and different time periods).

Detailed Interpretation of Findings: The findings need to be discussed in depth. Provide a more nuanced analysis of the results for each hypothesis, connecting them back to the theoretical framework and existing literature. Discuss any unexpected findings or inconsistencies.

Managerial Implications: While managerial implications are mentioned, the discussion is quite general. Based on the research findings, provide more specific and actionable advice for hotel managers.

Limitations: This section should be expanded to include a discussion of the study's limitations, considering the methodological choices, data limitations, and focus on the Korean hotel industry. Discuss how these limitations affect the interpretation and generalizability of the findings.

IV. Conclusion

Restate Key Findings and Contributions: Summarize the key findings concisely and clearly. Emphasize the study's unique contributions and implications for future research.

Suggest Future Research: Provide concrete suggestions for future research that builds upon this study's findings and addresses its limitations.

V. General Writing and Presentation

Clarity and Conciseness: Improve the clarity and conciseness of the writing throughout the paper. Some sentences are overly long and complex, making it difficult to understand the intended meaning.

Figures and Tables: Ensure all figures and tables are clearly labeled and well-presented. The interpretation of the CONCOR network analysis should be more detailed and easily understood. Consider using visuals to enhance the presentation of statistical results.

Proofreading: Thoroughly proofread the entire manuscript to eliminate grammatical errors or typos.

Author Response

Our researchers reflected the reviewer's comments in the paper as much as possible. The quality of the paper could be improved by the reviewer's good comments. Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Author 

Some amendments were noted and not amended, but the general form of the research paper is acceptable in form and content. Good luck.

                            Thank you 

Author Response

To respond to the reviewer's comment, our researchers are sorry for the late response because we have been thinking about it for a long time.There are many answers to the reviewer's comments, so our authors attach the contents of the reply in a file. "Please see the attachment."

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

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