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Besides the mainstream discussion around customer expectation, this study aims to review would customer surprise be influential in up- and cross-selling. Although hotel customers are becoming more used to robotic services, due to a negative impression of the robot’s lack of warmth, other customers still prefer the human-to-human services. Thus, what happens when up- and cross-selling are delivered by a robot versus human salesperson?

This study designs three experiments to investigate how guests would be surprised by a human or robot salesperson when checking in following a scenario of up- and cross-selling. This paper has three studies and data were collected through an online survey with the United States residents (n = 270).

This study validates that when up- and cross-selling are conducted separately, a human salesperson performs a better job in terms of achieving higher customer surprise, satisfaction, perceived value and reuse intention. When promoting both up- and cross-selling together, a robot salesperson has a more competitive performance in all examined measures.

This study contributes elucidations on a theoretical conception of Appraisal Tendency Framework and extends the idiomatic impression that humans are more favorable than robots when an intensive personal interaction is involved.

This study inspires hospitality practitioners an optimal strategy in adopting human or robot employees for up- and cross-selling. Suggestions for marketing management and service operation with analytical methods are elucidated.

This study not just fills all indicated knowledge voids but proffers theoretical and practical insights.

除了主流关于客户期望的讨论, 本研究探讨了客户惊喜在升级销售和交叉销售中的影响。尽管酒店客户逐渐适应机器人服务, 但由于对机器人缺乏温暖的负面印象, 仍有部分客户更倾向于人与人的服务。那么, 当升级销售和交叉销售由机器人和人类销售人员分别执行时, 会发生什么？

本研究设计了三个实验, 通过场景模拟升级销售与交叉销售, 考察客户在入住办理时对人类或机器人销售人员的惊喜反应。数据通过在线调查收集, 共有270名美国居民参与。

研究验证了以下结果: 当升级销售和交叉销售分别进行时, 人类销售人员在客户惊喜、满意度、感知价值以及再次使用意愿等方面表现更佳; 当同时推广升级销售与交叉销售时, 机器人销售人员在所有衡量指标上表现更具竞争力。

本研究对情绪评估倾向框架（Appraisal Tendency Framework）提供了理论上的阐释, 并扩展了在密集的个人互动中人类比机器人更受欢迎的传统印象。

本研究为酒店从业者在采用人类或机器人员工进行升级销售与交叉销售方面提供了优化策略, 并对营销管理与服务运营提出了分析方法上的建议。

本研究不仅填补了相关领域的知识空白, 还在理论和实践层面提供了重要的见解。

Due to the global labor shortage, the labor-heavy and high turnover hospitality industry is now recruiting from nontraditional sources. This study aims to investigate the views of people in the hotel industry to better understand how people with disabilities can obtain jobs in the hotel industry and how they are treated.

The study used a constructivist approach to grounded theory. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, middle managers and line-level employees at both internationally branded and locally branded hotels and who worked at upscale and midscale hotels to tell their perspectives about recruiting and working with people with disabilities.

Senior managers showed positive attitudes toward hiring people with disabilities but lacked pragmatic considerations about their integration into teams. Middle managers were the most hesitant, primarily due to practical concerns about accommodating their workplace needs. Line-level staff at midscale hotels were more open to working with colleagues with disabilities compared to those at high-end properties.

Limited research has been conducted on the broad perspectives regarding workers with disabilities in the hospitality industry. The study reveals not only the impact of managerial level on managers’ perspectives, but also how hotel class influenced the views of the coworkers and potential coworkers of people with disabilities. These distinctions not only help to advance our theoretical understanding of careers and hospitality labor markets but also inform operators on how to best integrate and recruit people with disabilities.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of hotel aesthetics as represented in online spaces (e.g. online travel agency website) in prospective guests’ evaluation of expected service quality and booking intentions, as well as the interplay between aesthetic and functional values as related to those outcomes.

A scenario-based experimental design is conducted with 203 Chinese respondents. A between-subject two-way multivariate analysis of covariance (high vs low aesthetic value; high vs low functional value), which also controlled for respondents’ individual tendency to appreciate beauty, is used.

Results show that high aesthetic value hotels are more likely to be booked and perceived as able to deliver better services in SERVQUAL dimensions of tangibles, reliability and assurance. There are no significant effects for responsiveness and empathy. Given the presence of the aesthetic effect, hotel functional value has no impact on the outcome variables.

Hotel managers are recommended to employ professional photographer-artists who are aware of the aesthetic value of hotels and can translate this value into information technology-mediated spaces. Such professionals should be able to create a composition that balances the elements of classic (e.g. symmetry vs asymmetry) and expressive (e.g. color) aesthetics.

This research brings out a number of insights from the product experience literature in the hospitality context and points to the limitations of the product visual attractiveness in engendering positive service quality evaluation.

This study aims to fill this paucity of knowledge by exploring and formulating a formative index to measure the up-to-date quality of online food delivery (DEQUAL). The quality measurements for online food delivery have not been well recognized and even little is known after the COVID-19 outbreak. This study fills this paucity of knowledge by exploring and formulating a formative index to measure the up-to-date quality of online food delivery (DEQUAL).

Owing to the explorative nature and the lack of developed quality theory under the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, DEQUAL is conceptualized as a formative construct. This study adopts a mixed-method approach including expert interviews and online surveys to ascertain the underlying structure of DEQUAL.

Using partial least squares structural equation modeling as the analytical method, the results support that DEQUAL is a formative construct with 32 indicators. This study provides a measurement index with robust psychometric properties to assist practitioners in evaluating DEQUAL.

This study contributes a theoretical and empirical-based conceptualization of DEQUAL as a multi-dimensional construct. Supplementing the past studies which commonly applied the reflective approach, this study evinces that the formative approach is also appropriate and thence furnishes the relevance of the formative index in the service management theories.

Practitioners are suggested to apply the validated indicators for service audit and customer relationship management. By systematically monitoring and measuring the online food delivery service quality, restaurants can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

This study offers various insights to the service quality literature in the food delivery service context.

Pet-friendly hotels are growing rapidly. The prevalence of pet adoption has largely resulted from the loneliness due to social distancing that happened during the Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Many hotels around the world aim to become pet-friendly to satisfy the growing demand. Hoteliers believe that the popularity of pet-friendly hotels will continue, as pet owners often treat pets as their kids. This study aims to investigate how pet-friendly hotels need to design and manage pet-friendly services and policies.

Using grounded theory methodology, this research conducts interviews with 25 pet-friendly hotel managers from Hong Kong (HK). The study includes hotels from different hotel categories and classifications. It examines the conceptualization of pet-friendly service design, drawing on a service blueprint.

Building on the service marketing and service blueprint literature, this research provides a synthesis that reflects how pet-friendly hotels can serve both guests with and without pets. The findings reveal that pet-owner’s service expectations are formed on anthropomorphism, that is, an inclination of attributing human features to nonhuman entity. Hotel managers, and particular those who have pets personally understand better how pet-friendly service can be adapted to meet the expectations and requirements of pet owners while accommodating guests without pets. The market of pet-friendly hospitality is growing, with high profit potential from pet owners who are willing to spend generously.

Data were collected from selected pet-friendly hotels in HK through interviews with pet-friendly service providers. The research is qualitative and exploratory in nature. It aims to explore and examine the multilevel pet-friendly hospitality service design from a managerial perspective. This research enriches the literature on anthropomorphism theory, the design of pet-friendly services and the application of service blueprint.

The research offers explicit suggestions for the design of pet-friendly hospitality services. A pet-friendly hotel service blueprint is developed. This can help managers to develop essential pet-friendly policies and service collaborations between internal departments and with external specialist organizations, maximizing the value for all stakeholders.

The study explores a rapidly emerging market and scrutinizes its specific design requirements. It extends theoretical insights by enriching the anthropomorphism theory and broadening the conceptualizations of service blueprint based on anthropomorphism theory.

The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendously affected the hospitality industry. With the experiences of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003 and commitments to ensure guests’ health and safety, many hotels in Asia have actively engaged in updating and implementing new service standards and measures. This study aims to investigate hotels’ service standard changes, processes of management decisions and preparations for the future.

Using grounded theory methodology, this research interviews 24 hotel managers from mainland China and Hong Kong. It examines the differences among hotels with different operation types, classifications and locations, and analyzes the service standards in physical and social services cape.

Building on the service marketing and crisis management literature, this research provides a synthesis that reflects how hotels have coped with the COVID-19 crisis. It depicts the service standard update process during the COVID-19.

In line with the literature in disaster management, hotels experienced the outbreak, response and recovery phases of the crisis management procedure. However, given the severity and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, undertaking particular processes is necessary at every procedure such as following local guidelines and updating local standard operating procedures (LSOPs). This research also expands the literature on the process of adopting new technology in hotels during crisis management.

The paper suggests that hotel managers should update and use well-thought-out standards on the bases of available scientific evidence. For example, hotels should use LSOPs according to the local situations. Hotels are also suggested to exert additional efforts and attention in service innovation, guest experience and enhancing hospitableness.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first efforts to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on hotel operations. It offers empirical evidence from hotel operators who worked against the crisis during the pandemic and provides valuable theoretical contribution to the hospitality service literature as well as managerial implications for hotel operators globally.

The portrayal of female superheroes is not a new phenomenon. To this day Lynda Carter's portrayal of Wonder Woman (1975–1979) is venerated (Hanley, 2014) as one of the first portrayals of a ‘super’ female character swathed in popularity and renowned in comic book lore. More recently, several superhero narratives, with women at the helm, have been adapted for the series format including Supergirl, Batwoman and Jessica Jones.

However, until the introduction of Wonder Woman (Jenkins, 2017), film narratives with a female superhero at the centre have been non-existent. In 2019, Captain Marvel was released as part of the Marvel cinematic universe (MCU). Due to its connection to the MCU and the successful Avengers film franchise, the character Captain Marvel, played by Brie Larson, has a built-in familiarity with audiences.

From its first introduction, it is evident that there is a definitive feminist slant to the character and the narrative of Captain Marvel. Therefore, this chapter analyses the comment threads of three fan-made YouTube videos on Captain Marvel. These videos specifically address the feminist overtone as depicted. Specifically, the chapter considers fan reactions to the representation of feminism. The data are analysed through discourse analysis under the guise of Jacques Lacan's mirror theory and Henry Jenkins's participatory culture. Jenkins further notes the connection between, amongst other aspects, the interpretation and the meaningful participation (2015, p. 2) in the specific fandom. The concept of ‘suspension of disbelief’ will also be used as part of the analysis, as well as Henry Jenkins' participatory culture.

This paper aims to examine the distinctiveness of South Korean social enterprises from a historical institutionalism perspective. From this perspective, the author focuses on the proactive roles played by the government in the process of emergence and formulation of social enterprises in South Korea. The author roots this paper in the concept of the developmental state and examines how this concept applies to newly emerging social enterprises in South Korea.

This paper first introduces the process of South Korean social enterprises’ emergence as an independent phenomenon. The author explains the process with a link to governmental actions, such as the introduction of public programs and government acts. Second, this paper introduces the concept of developmental state which captures the proactive role of the state in social, economic and political development in South Korea. Third, this paper applies the institutional framework proposed by Kerlin (2013) to see how the South Korean social enterprise model can be located from a comparative perspective and how the South Korean model can contribute to the expansion of the existing framework.

This paper finds that the state involvement in South Korea is a reflection of the historical path of the developmental state. The cross-comparison of South Korean social enterprises from a historical institutionalist approach finds that the South Korean case may contribute to the ongoing scholarly debate by suggesting taking a Weberian ideal type of an interventionist state into account for an extension of the proposed framework. This paper also uncovered the strategic approach of the South Korean Government in utilizing this public policy tool by adopting and combining existing social enterprise models.

This paper demonstrates the state’s intents to mobilize economic and societal resources as public policy intervention tools, which can be understood from a developmental state context. This role would be distinct when compared to those in Europe and the USA. This paper has a limitation to restrict its analytical scope to formally recognized social enterprises because it focuses on the role of the state in utilizing social enterprises for public policy agenda: social development and social welfare provision.

As a practical implication, this study might provide an insightful framework for South Korean public policy makers, outlining the contributions and limitations of state-led public policies associated with social enterprises. As seen in the historical path of governmental interventions, governmental public policies do not necessarily guarantee their sustainable community impacts without the consideration of private or nonprofit actors’ spontaneous involvements. The flip side of state-led interventions requires policy makers to become more cautious, as they address social problems with public policy intents.

The majority of current studies on social enterprises in South Korea mainly focus on reporting the quantitative increase in the number of registered social enterprises. Beyond this quantitative description of its achievement, this paper also provides a historical narration and philosophical background of this phenomenon. Additionally, it shows how this artificial government intervention in social enterprises could be accepted from a historical perspective and brought remarkable responses from the private and civil society sectors in South Korea.

The primary aim of this article is to identify theoretical foundations that can be used in research on social media in the context of international advertising research. An additional objective is to identify future research directions for theory building in this research area.

The article draws on the extant literature to identify three key theoretical foundations that can be used in research on advertising in media from an advertising perspective: networking capability; image transferability; and personal extensibility. For each of these perspectives, the current state of knowledge, theoretical challenges, and future research directions are summarized.

The three key theoretical perspectives (networking capability, image transferability, and personal extensibility) provide strong potential for better understanding the advantages and disadvantages of social media use for advertisers. They are also useful for identifying important research gaps that need to be filled in the future.

Research on social media advertising in an international context is still in its infancy, and needs further attention. As few cross‐cultural studies have been conducted, the theories and their application will likely evolve in the future.

A review and conceptual framework pertaining to theoretical perspective used in social media research in an international advertising context has been practically non‐existent. Thus, this article is designed to serve as a solid starting point for future research endeavors.