Search results

This study examined the antecedents of technostressors as well as how customers' perceived convenience and technostressors of using a check-in/out kiosk influence their behavioral intention in a full-service hotel setting.

Using survey data collected from 630 hotel customers, hypotheses were tested via structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.

The results showed that perceived usefulness of a check-in/out kiosk had direct effects on both technostressors (i.e. work overload and role ambiguity), and that perceived ease-of-use had indirect effects on the technostressors, via perceived usefulness. The findings showed that both role ambiguity and perceived convenience significantly influenced intention to use a check-in/out kiosk. Intention to use was positively associated with intention to revisit a hotel providing the kiosk. These findings were equivalent across the younger and older groups.

Based on the findings, hotels can implement effective strategies to reduce technostressors associated with a check-in/out kiosk and focus on enhancing the factors that influence customer acceptance of the system. This is especially important given the increased emphasis on self-service technology since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research contributed to the relevant literature by developing a check-in/out kiosk acceptance model using a multi-theoretical approach, and empirically testing it within the full-service hotel domain. It fills the knowledge gap regarding the antecedents and outcomes of technostressors in the hospitality research literature by providing empirical evidence.

Hotel labour costs in Malaysia are increasing. This paper aims to explore Langkawi hotel managers’ perceptions about reducing labour costs using various information and communication technology (ICT) innovations.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers from 19 budget and boutique resorts on Langkawi Island, Malaysia. Qualitative data were recorded, transcribed and content analysed using latent coding.

All hotel managers reported using some form of ICT. The purpose for ICT adoption found was to increase productivity and efficiency. A hotel’s customer mix, the need of the organization and the technology budget available influenced the outcome of technological innovation. Langkawi hotels had successfully implemented Property Management Systems (PMSs), but self-check-in/out kiosks were not seen as important as they do not meet their customers’ service expectations.

This study identifies some factors influencing uptake by hotels of technological innovations. This initial qualitative exploration of the technology adoption feasibility in Langkawi suggests that implementation to reduce labour cost is more likely for employee-operated devices rather than customer-operated devices.

This study contributes to the human resource (HR) management literature by providing insight into the reasons hotel managers introduce technology in a developing country context. Results suggests that hotels face challenges in reducing labour costs through technology. These insights may serve to guide policymakers and hotel managers in other developing countries that are planning to use technology to solve their HR issues. Luxury hotels can consider adopting ICT for back-of-the-house operations such as using a HR information system within the HR department and PMS for the hotel overall operation.

These findings can increase the Malaysians awareness of ICT importance, especially in the hotel industry.

The Malaysian national minimum wage order policy was introduced in 2012. This policy has resulted in increased labour costs and suggests a need to adopt ICT. This paper is the first to examine the viewpoints of hotel practitioners as to the viability of this strategy. Whilst many studies on the adoption of ICT in the hotel industry focus on its impact on productivity and firm’s performance using quantitative methods, this study used qualitative methods to explore hotel managers’ perceptions on its feasibility to reduce dependence on labour.

This study explores the potential of cultural heritage product in the promotion of Kenya's tourism. The Ministry of Tourism Strategic Plan 2008–2012 identified the untapped tourism potential in the areas of eco-tourism, culture, conference and cruise as an opportunity for the future of Kenya's tourism. The report isolated inadequate development of the cultural product as a major weakness in Kenya's tourism. Invention in the cultural heritage tourism product (CHTP) would ease overdependence on beach and wildlife tourism for sustainability and leverage Tourist Destination Kenya's (TDK) competitiveness. This can only be achieved if a blueprint for heritage conservation and tourism is developed and implemented. To achieve its objective, this study employed observation, in-depth interviews and a review of secondary data to investigate current CHTP practices. The research was extended to cultural and heritage site visits. The sites were selected in a non-probabilistic manner based on their cultural significance. The study established that Kenya has a rich CHTP which has not been fully exploited for the purpose of tourism. It observed that the promotion of cultural heritage tourism in Kenya is weakened by lack of proper policies and poor perception of culture as a tourism product. It concluded that cultural tourism has the potential to withstand the ravages of COVID-19 due to its structure and nostalgic characteristics. This study recommends a policy framework heralding effective CHTP management and a post-COVID-19 recovery program marked by new protocols. The study is novel in its methodology, choice of sites and COVID-19 reality.

The purpose of this study is to explore how hotels evolve their dynamic capabilities to adjust their technology-based strategy to improve performance and to gain competitive productivity (CP) during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath.

In-depth interviews with hoteliers were conducted to unveil their dynamic capabilities amid the pandemic as regard adjustments and performance of self-service technology (SST)-based strategies. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Data analysis revealed four types of dynamic capabilities (i.e. sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities). Equipped with these capabilities, hotels made minor adjustments to their SST strategies. In general, during an economic downturn, hotels refrained from introducing new SSTs. SSTs introduced before the pandemic were used more frequently and received enhanced customer feedback. The findings further revealed that the factors influencing hotels’ application of SSTs before and after the outbreak of COVID-19 remained similar.

This is the first research integrating CP, dynamic capabilities and strategic management process to explain how hotels adjust technological strategies to recover in a suddenly changed environment. Such a framework enables scholars and practitioners from content-oriented and process-oriented perspectives to make quick but sound strategic management decisions in adapting to turbulent environments. This timely study enriches the expertise of using technology as a recovery strategy and contributes to future research on the practical application of SSTs and crisis management.

The purpose of this paper is to draw upon the theory of consumption values and the experiential value scale to develop a conceptual model concerning hospitality customer’s use of self-service technologies (SSTs) and their impact on consumers’ service experience.

Questionnaires were administered to 220 hotel and restaurant customers. The researchers tested the hypotheses by using descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis.

Both extrinsic and intrinsic attributes of SSTs influence consumers’ satisfaction with SST usage significantly, while the extrinsic attributes play a stronger role. It is worth noting that while the intrinsic attributes have a significant impact on consumers’ transcendent service experience, the extrinsic attributes negatively influence such experience.

The findings help managers create effective strategies to better match consumers’ needs and to deliver more customized self-service experience. The role of SSTs can be expanded beyond functional attributes to satisfy consumers’ curiosity, foster customer–customer interactions and personalize consumer experience.

Although most SSTs research focus on technology adoption intention, features, functionality and benefits to the service provider, this research is among the first attempts to examine the role of SSTs in creating better consumer experience. The bidimensional conceptualization of SSTs experience developed in this research suggests that SSTs in the hotel and restaurant sector should be utilized for reasons beyond their utilitarian attributes: SSTs should be designed to help create a transcendent service experience.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact service innovation has on customers' choices within the hotel and leisure industry. The paper also discusses the influence of the creation of new services on both service development and operational strategy.

The analysis is based on a national survey of approximately 1,000 travelers in the United States, using a web‐based data acquisition approach. The travelers are segmented by reason of travel (business or leisure), and discrete choice analysis is applied to model customer preferences for various hotel service innovations.

Overall, the study finds that service innovation does matter when guests are selecting a hotel, with type of lodging having the largest impact on a customer's hotel choice. In addition, service innovation is found to have a larger influence on choices when guests are staying at economy hotels rather than mid‐range to up‐scale hotels. Also, leisure travelers were found to be more influenced by innovative amenities such as childcare programs and in‐room kitchenettes than business travelers.

The understanding of customers' choices allows managers to better design their service offerings and formulate corresponding operational strategies around customer needs.

This paper examines the addition of innovation to the hotel service concept and is an excellent tool for managers deciding on which innovations to implement.

This study aims to investigate the effects of consumers’ motivations on behavioral intention to use self-service technology (SST) in airline services exploring multimediating effects of flow experience and SST evaluation in Stimulus-Organism-Response model.

An online survey was conducted with quota sampling based on age group who had experiences of SSTs usage at the Incheon International Airport in South Korea. A total of 286 responses were used for the data analysis with structural equation modeling to examine the proposed model and the multimediating effects.

The results showed that consumers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations had positive impacts on their flow experience, SST evaluation and behavioral intention to use airline SSTs. Their flow experience had a positive influence on SST evaluation, and their SST evaluation influenced behavioral intention to use airline SSTs. Consumers’ flow experience and SST evaluation mediated the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations and behavioral intention to use airline SSTs.

It is important for customers to perceive extrinsic motivation such as speed, convenience and efficiency for the smooth process of airline SSTs at the airport. SST evaluation plays a key role to increase customers’ behavioral intention to use airline SSTs.

This study extends the understanding of consumers’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, flow experience, SST evaluation and behavioral intentions to use SST in airline services by building on a model. Especially, findings of the (multi)mediating effects of customers’ perceived flow and SST evaluation on the relationship between motivations and behavioral intention to use airline SSTs might provide better guidelines for managers to incorporate SSTs, to increase operational efficiency and to boost customer experiences.

As social distancing procedures can be facilitated by various hotel technologies, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which consumers develop perceptions of value regarding the use of certain hotel technologies for social distancing in hotels.

Drawing from the social exchange theory, this study conceptualized the benefits of using technologies for social distancing, health risks, social rewards and privacy concerns as antecedents of value of using technologies for social distancing in hotels. The structural model was validated by using data from more than 1,000 nationwide US consumers.

Benefits and consumers’ privacy concerns of using technologies for social distancing in hotels were the strongest predictors of value. Social rewards also had a significant but relatively lower effect on value. Health risks was found to have no influence on value.

The study is the first to examine the role of technologies in mitigating the effects of coronavirus. Thus, it extends the information technology and hospitality literature by examining the role of these technologies in safeguarding individual and public health.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the usage of guest empowerment technologies (GET) with a specific focus on in‐room entertainment technologies.

This study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the application of task‐technology fit (TTF) and technology acceptance models (TAMs) in reference to entertainment GETs.

This paper confirmed that the most popular forms of entertainment GET were in‐room movies and on‐demand services. Most importantly, the analysis of the data revealed that a user's individual experiential characteristics have a significant negative relationship with fit of GET while the technology and task characteristics have a significant positive relationship with fit of GET.

This paper makes a contribution to the current body of literature as it is among the first to utilize a hybrid TTF/TAM in the hotel self‐service environment. As such, it can be utilized by future researchers as a foundation for conducting similar research.

This paper is of value as it is the first academic paper to investigate a variety of forms of entertainment‐based GET. These types of technologies which combine the functionality of self‐service devices while taking into account the user's experience during the design process are in constant and growing demand. As such, technology developers as well as hospitality practitioners will need to rely more and more on this type of research in the future in order to provide consistent levels of quality guest experiences.

This study aims to explain how hotel guests form attitudes toward facial recognition technology in Singapore by integrating technology acceptance model (TAM), privacy calculus theory and personal innovativeness.

A self-administered online questionnaire was developed with measurements adopted from past research. Guests who stayed in four- or five-star hotels in Singapore were recruited via systematic random sampling. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the proposed integrated models.

Results showed that hotel guests performed calculative cognitive processes, weighing the benefits and risks of using facial recognition check-in system. Contradictory to the past research which suggested that trust activates both perceived risk and benefits, this study demonstrated that trust independently directed consumer attention on the benefits gained while risk perception was triggered by privacy concern. Furthermore, the current study revealed that the ease of use of facial recognition check-in system could possibly backfire.

The research indicates that the effort to adopt new technology in the hotel industry is promising in view of the growing millennials and Generation Z population who are digital natives. Furthermore, the current study highlights ways to elevate institutional trust and divert consumers’ attention from risk perception to enhance their positive attitude and behavior toward accepting facial recognition check-in system.

This study integrated TAM with privacy calculus theory and personal innovativeness in examining the acceptance of facial recognition check-in system in the hotel industry in Singapore. This study is also the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to investigate the relationships among privacy concern, perceived risk, institutional trust and perceived benefits, as well as their effects on consumers’ attitudes and behavior toward the biometric system.