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Effects of customer inoculation on artificial intelligence service failure

Lu (Monroe) Meng (Department of Marketing, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China)
Jiuqi Chen (Department of Marketing, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China)
Mengya Yang (Department of Marketing, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu, China)
Yijie Wang (Department of Marketing, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK)

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN: 0959-6119

Article publication date: 24 September 2024

374

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of customer inoculation strategies in the context of AI service failures in the hospitality and tourism industries. Furthermore, it examines how these strategies can enhance customer complaint behavior and satisfaction with service recovery, thereby improving the overall service experience.

Design/methodology/approach

Four distinct studies were conducted: Study 1 investigated the influence of customer inoculation on complaint behavior post-AI service failure. Study 2 assessed the impact of service remedies on customer satisfaction. Study 3 explored the implications of initial purchase and usage intentions. Finally, Study 4 validated the findings using a large-scale online survey.

Findings

The results indicated that customer inoculation significantly increases customer complaint behavior and satisfaction with service remedies following AI service failures. They also showed that this relationship is mediated by psychological distance. Furthermore, customer inoculation positively affects initial purchase and usage intentions, demonstrating effectiveness at various customer engagement stages.

Practical implications

This study enriches the literature on AI hospitality service failure and recovery by introducing the novel concept of customer inoculation. Additionally, it significantly contributes to the inoculation theory literature, which covers diverse fields. Practically, this study proposes an efficient and low-cost strategy for marketers.

Originality/value

This study introduces the concept of customer inoculation in the context of AI service failures, a novel approach in the hospitality and tourism literature. It provides empirical evidence of the efficacy of the strategy, bridging a crucial gap in understanding customer behavior in the face of technological disruptions.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant (2022M722628), the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant (72302192), the National Social Science Foundation of China Grant (23FYB061), the Sichuan Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (SCJJ23ND437) and the Western Rural Revitalization Research Center (WRR202312) awarded to the first author.

All authors contribute equally.

Citation

Meng, L.(M)., Chen, J., Yang, M. and Wang, Y. (2024), "Effects of customer inoculation on artificial intelligence service failure", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2024-0140

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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