The survey was conducted face-to-face in the classroom and students asked personally. The two Asian hotel chains are globally not very prominent. Most Western executives stay at well-known global hotel chains (e.g., Accor, Hilton) because they have a corporate contract. Shangri-La and Banyan Tree are not that visible in Western countries. This stays in contrast to Asian executives.
Evidence of claim? Page 4, line 124 states: “European students did not know these two hotel chains and therefore were not pre-conditioned in any way. In contrast the 55 Asian students knew the chains.” Was brand familiarity actually measured, or was it assumed? The claim is very absolute – I wonder if any of them ever travelled internationally – presumably EMBAs would be more worldly or cosmopolitan than this… (d)