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Smart technologies and connected objects are rapidly changing the organizational frontline. Yet, our understanding of how these technologies infuse service encounters remains limited. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to update existing classifications of Frontline Service Technology (FST) infusion. Moreover, the authors discuss three promising smart and connected technologies – conversational agents, extended reality (XR) and blockchain technology – and their respective implications for customers, frontline employees and service organizations.

This paper uses a conceptual approach integrating existing work on FST infusion with artificial intelligence, robotics, XR and blockchain literature, while also building on insights gathered through expert interviews and focus group conversations with members of two service research centers.

The authors define FST and propose a set of FST infusion archetypes at the organizational frontline. Additionally, the authors develop future research directions focused on understanding how conversational agents, XR and blockchain technology will impact service.

This paper updates and extends existing classifications of FST, while paving the road for further work on FST infusion.

Given the dramatic technology led service innovations that are putting pressure on hospitality and tourism businesses, competitive advantage may depend significantly on remaining opportunities for a human element to be incorporated into the customer experience.

This conceptual study provides a synthesis of the past and the future understanding of the importance of service management.

A conceptual framework is provided that extends our understanding of emotion connection and reliance on technology. The examples are given to enrich the discussion.

This study is among the first to highlight and explore the interrelationship between emotional connection and the reliance on technology in the context of hospitality experience.

Online information research on hotels is gradually emerging as a key area of research with the increasing use of social media as a platform for co-creative service innovation (CCSI). The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the key drivers of co-creation intention in the social media context. Understanding relationships between key drivers of customers’ co-creation intention will prove valuable in advancing current knowledge about service innovation using social media. The key drivers examined in this study are – customer innovativeness, attitude toward CCSI on social media, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. This knowledge will be of considerable value for its practical application in the hotel industry.

Data were collected from 346 hotel guests using survey method. Structural equation modeling with a bootstrapping estimation was used to analyze the data.

The results show that customer innovativeness, attitude toward CCSI on social media, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control positively influence both co-creation and adoption intention. Further, it was also found that co-creation intention mediates the relationship between its two driving factors, namely, customer innovativeness, attitude toward CCSI in social media and adoption intention.

The findings provide theoretical implications for hospitality discipline. The findings also provide various strategies hospitality firms can use to co-create service innovation through the effective use of social media.

The relationships examined in the present study have not been tested previously; this is the first attempt of the kind. Thus, the associations established in this study form an important contribution to the existing body of knowledge in co-creation, service innovation and social media literature.

This study has conceptualized and empirically investigated how the psychological empowerment process is generated from a patient's cognitive knowledge and participation at different recovery places that results in a state of empowerment and predicts positive outcomes.

Data were collected from 150 physiotherapy outpatients who have been attending a series of physiotherapy courses at clinic and concurrently progressing with home physio exercise plan. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS software.

The results reveal that psychological empowerment best formed when patient centric knowledge is combined with place-based behavioral experiences that are gathered via healthcare encounters and experience patient gained outside of the clinic. Patients' involvement at different environmental settings contributes to patients' empowerment which further assists their well-being.

Understanding the process of empowerment in different environmental contexts can help healthcare organizations to better design patient empowerment strategies and support patients through the empowerment journey to demonstrate their capability to achieve more effective health recovery outcomes.

Patient empowerment is a concept of growing importance in the healthcare industry, yet the journey about how patients are being empowered within their sphere has not been well studied in the past. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first study that discusses the utilization of patient empowerment must be aimed at both the process and the outcomes. This study provides empirical insights to understand the factors that formulate patient empowerment and predicts positive patient outcomes such as feelings of well-being.

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of destination familiarity on consumers’ evaluations (cognitive image) and feelings (affective image) about the destination, leading to their intention to visit.

The data for this study were collected through a Web-based survey. Based on a sample of 460 respondents, structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results showed that familiarity with a destination not only influences consumers’ cognitive evaluations of the destination but also affects their feelings about it, which translates into their intentions in travelling to the destination. The findings indicate that destination familiarity can enhance consumers’ knowledge about the destination, but more importantly, their affective perceptions can lead to a higher likelihood of visiting a destination.

The findings provide useful guidance for efficient marketing programs to attract more visitors to a certain tourist destination. Destination marketers must assess the level of familiarity of potential travelers in the development, design and promotion of a destination. This understanding will enable the marketers to more effectively communicate with their target markets and allow them to tailor advertising to different segments of their customers based on their familiarity.

The majority of previous studies regarding destination familiarity tend to measure the overall familiarity or experiential familiarity (e.g. a comparison between visitors vs non-visitors) without considering consumers’ indirect familiarity with a destination. This study attempts to conceptualize and empirically test the role of destination familiarity on consumers’ cognitive and affective images and intentions.

本研究的主要目的是探讨消费者的目的地熟悉度对其对目的地的评价（认知形象）和感受（情感形象）的影响, 从而得出消费者的旅游意向。

本研究通过网络调查收集数据, 并以460名受访者为样本, 采用结构方程模型对所提假设进行检验。

结果表明, 消费者对目的地的熟悉程度不仅会影响消费者对目的地的认知评价, 还会影响他们对目的地的感受, 进而影响他们前往目的地的意愿。研究还发现, 目的地熟悉度可以增强消费者对目的地的认知；更重要的是, 他们的情感感知会使他们前往目的地的可能性有所提高。

研究结果可为开展高效的营销计划提供有益指导, 以吸引更多的游客到特定的旅游目的地。目的地营销人员必须评估潜在游客对目的地的开发、设计和推广方面的熟悉程度；在了解了这些之后, 营销人员方可更有效地与目标市场进行沟通, 并根据各个客户群体不同的熟悉程度对其投放定制化广告。

以往大多数关于目的地熟悉度的研究倾向于测量总体熟悉度或经验熟悉度(例如比较游客与非游客之间的差别), 而不考虑消费者对目的地的间接熟悉程度。本研究试图将目的地熟悉度对消费者认知、情感意象和旅游意向的影响概念化, 并加以实证检验。

El objetivo principal de este estudio es examinar los efectos de la familiaridad en las evaluaciones de los consumidores (imagen cognitiva) y sentimiento (imagen afectiva) sobre los destinos, y como influye en su intención para visitarlo.

Los datos de este estudio fueron obtenidos a través de una encuesta web. Apoyado en una muestra de 460 respuestas, se utilizo la modelización de ecuaciones estructurales para testear las hipótesis propuestas.

Los resultados muestran que la familiaridad con el destino no sólo influye en las evaluaciones cognitivas de los consumidores, sino también afecta a los sentimientos de estos, lo que se traslada a sus intenciones de viajar al destino turístico en cuestión. Los resultados indican que la familiaridad con el destino puede mejorar el conocimieto de los consumidores sobre éste, pero lo más importante, es la percepción afectiva, la cual puede liderar una mayor confianza para visitarlo.

Los resultados proveen una guía útil en la eficiencia de los programas de marketing para atraer más visitantes a un determinado destino. Los gestores de destinos deben evaluar el nivel de familiaridad de los potenciales viajeros en el desarrollo, diseño, y promoción de un destino. Entender estás cuestiones, hará a los gestores de destino más efectivos en su comunicación con sus mercados objetivos y les permitirá adaptar la publicidad a diferentes segmentos de clientes, en función de su familiaridad.

La mayoría de estudios previos, respecto a la familiaridad en los destinos, tienden a medir la familiaridad de forma global o experimental (por ejemplo, una comparación entre visitantes y no visitantes) sin considerar el efecto indirecto de la familiaridad con un destino. Este estudio sirve para conceptualizar y empíricamente testar, el papel de la familiaridad del destino en la imágenes e intenciones cognitivas y afectivas de los consumidores.

In the contemporary hospitality industry, superior customer experiences are essential in gaining customer loyalty and achieving a competitive advantage. However, limited research addresses this subject. The purpose of this study is to advance scholarly research on customer experience management (CEM) in the hospitality field by providing a comprehensive overview of the key elements of CEM, a framework for managing customer experience and a rich agenda for research.

An extensive literature review produces a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge of CEM. A synthesis of previous literature reveals the need for additional, contemporary information sources. The study is, therefore, supplemented by invited commentaries on CEM from senior scholars and hospitality managers.

The proposed model takes a holistic perspective on managing a positive customer experience, through collaboration among marketing, operations, design, human resources and strategy, in association with technology and social media.

The literature review and commentaries from leading experts reveal six areas for further research on CEM in the hospitality industry.

This study provides a comprehensive, systematic review of CEM literature and detailed understanding of the mechanisms for managing customer experiences in the hospitality industry. It integrates state-of-the-art CEM knowledge in the generic business context, along with principles of hospitality management, and advances CEM research by emphasizing the need for collaboration among marketing, operations and human resources.

Service industries hold an increasingly dynamic and pivotal role in today’s knowledge‐based economies. The logistics industry is a classic example of the birth and development of a vital new service‐based industry, transformed from the business concept of transportation to that of serving the entire logistical needs of customers. Quantum advances in science, technology, and communication in the new millennium have compelled firms to consider the potential of the so‐called new “resources” (technology, knowledge and relationship networks) that are essential if firms are to operate effectively within the emerging business model, and to utilise the opportunities to innovate and gain market leadership. Through an extensive literature review, this paper examines the factors that nurture innovation in logistics services, identifies the contributions of the new “resources” and, using industry examples, examines the application of these resources to logistics firms as they assume an extended role within the new business model.

While recovering from service failures is often viewed as an operational concern, service providers can also adopt a strategic and conceptual service vision for managing their service recovery. This paper discusses how the management of service failures can be utilised as a catalyst to effectively initiate organization‐wide learning and can serve as a reflection of the firm's market orientation to enhance value. Failure‐recovery, at its inception, acts as an external‐to‐internal trigger that initiates numerous changes (innovations) – operational changes, strategic changes and conceptual changes. These changes guide the implementation of various value enhancing innovations throughout the entire organization and positively affect the firm's service vision and mission.

Service offerings are largely intangible in nature. Customers are thus unable to assess the purchase outcome prior to experience, rendering the risk of possible customer dissatisfaction very high. It is argued that the concept of service guarantees proposed by services management theory can be effectively utilised to reduce the perceived risk of dissatisfaction for the customer in service organisations. Additionally, it is suggested that service guarantees force management to undertake activities which elevate the superiority of the organisation in the eyes of the customer and, thus, the opportunity to transform one‐time customers into loyal ones. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to illustrate how customers’ behavioural intentions can be influenced by the use of a service guarantee; and second, to outline a systematic process that can help service business managers to develop and implement an effective service guarantee. This research highlights the numerous benefits available to service organisations by utilising the service guarantee as a strategic tool. Some of the important management implications are also outlined.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of platforms in diffusing data value across multiple stakeholders.

Seminal theoretical and managerial work has been critically examined in order to justify the need for improving/extending the contemporary understanding of the data value creation process.

The results suggest that existing frameworks and conceptualizations of reciprocal data value provide incomplete understanding of the role of platforms in data value diffusion.

This paper provides service researchers with a better understanding of the role of platforms in data value diffusion. Future research can develop and validate new frameworks that reflect the proposed extended/improved view of data value creation.

Service and hospitality managers will be able to more effectively manage the role of platforms in data value diffusion. Specifically, this paper proposes that, in order for data to become a source of competitive advantage, there must be a symbiotic relationship among all the stakeholders of the data ecosystem.

The authors discuss how data creates value for different stakeholders in the hospitality industry.