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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the corporate response of Chinese railway companies after the deadly Wenzhou train accident in China which happened on July 23, 2011. Few studies on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries have looked into whether the information disclosed by companies is satisfactory with sufficient response after a major incident has happened.

Five companies with the largest market value in the Chinese railway industry involved in the production of trains and railway systems connected to the “7.23” incident were taken as the observations in this study. Information published by the companies and the media related to the accident, including CSR and sustainability reports, company Web sites, news and press releases and Internet postings, were investigated in detail in a qualitative manner.

The findings show that disclosure of information related to the “7.23” incident was very low or almost inexistent in the observed companies. For those that claimed that they had followed CSR reporting standards and guidelines, the disclosed information appeared to be insufficient to reveal practical information and fulfill stakeholders’ requirements. The study also sheds light on the corporate reporting behaviors of Chinese state-owned enterprises by applying legitimacy, stakeholder and institutional theories to the unique social and political environment in the country.

This paper critically reveals the poor corporate response after the “7.23” incident in Chinese railway companies. The case serves as an example for the companies to ponder on what improvements are called for in terms of social reporting and relevant corporate actions after a major accident. Also, the study contributes to the CSR disclosure literature concerning developing countries by examining the case of China and the little studied railway industry run by the state.

Collecting information from and interacting with customers through mobile platforms for personalization purposes have become a trend. While mobile-based value co-creation has attracted wide research attention, a noticeable gap exists regarding what might potentially affect the firm–customer interaction process through which value is co-created. This paper aims to explore how customers exchange information and communicate with firms through mobile applications for value co-creation purposes in a travel context.

Based on a constructivist research paradigm, this study adopted a qualitative research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed following narrative analysis approach.

The findings highlight the contextual factors (individual characteristics, trip characteristics and computer-mediated communication characteristics) that facilitate and inhibit the firm–customer interaction process. Practitioners are suggested to put more efforts on creating stimuli for interactions and managing customer expectation.

This study goes beyond technology adoption and focuses on customers’ post-adoption stage. The findings shed light on the important role of the service provider in facilitating effective interactions for value co-creation with customers.

This study focuses on the interaction process, rather than the antecedents and outcomes of mobile-based value co-creation. It contributes empirical evidence on how customers co-create value and why some situations present better opportunities for successful value co-creation.

基于移动资讯科技的价值共创：影响客户体验的情景因素

通过移动资讯科技平台收集客户信息并与客户互动从而提供个性化服务和体验已成为一种趋势。尽管基于移动资讯科技的价值共创已经吸引了广泛的研究关注, 但是什么潜在因素可能会影响企业与客户为了共创价值而进行的互动的过程仍未被确定。这项研究探讨客户如何在旅行环境中透过移动应用程式与服务提供商交换信息和进行交流, 以实现价值共创的目的。

本研究基于建构主义研究范式, 采用了定性研究设计。通过半结构化访谈收集数据, 并根据叙述分析方法进行数据分析。

调查结果突出了有助于和抑制企业与客户透过移动科技互动的情境因素（个人特征、行程特征和电脑媒介传播特征）, 建议业界人士在促进互动和管理客户期望方面付出更多的努力。

本研究关注企业和客户的互动过程, 而非着重于价值共创的前提和结果。它提供了经验性证据解释客户如何与企业共创价值, 以及为什么某些情况为成功实现价值共创提供更好的机会。

有别于过去着重探讨影响技术采用因素的研究, 本研究关注客户的采用后阶段。调查结果阐明了服务提供商在促进与客户进行有效互动从而与客户共创价值的重要角色。

El valor de la co-creación basado en dispositivos móviles: Factores contextuales sobre la experiencia de los clientes

Resumen

Basado en un paradigma de investigación constructivista, este estudio adopta un diseño de investigación cualitativa. Los datos se recopilaron a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas y se analizaron siguiendo un enfoque de análisis narrativo.

Recopilar información e interactuar con los clientes a través de plataformas móviles con fines de personalización se ha convertido en tendencia. Si bien la co-creación de valor basada en dispositivos móviles ha atraído una amplia atención en la investigación, existe una brecha notable con respecto a lo que podría afectar potencialmente en el proceso de interacción empresa-cliente a través del cual se co-crea valor. Este estudio tiene como objetivo explorar cómo los clientes intercambian información y se comunican con las empresas a través de aplicaciones móviles con fines de creación conjunta de valor en el contexto de los viajes.

Los resultados enfatizan los factores contextuales (características individuales, características del viaje y características de la comunicación mediada por ordenador) que facilitan e inhiben el proceso de interacción empresa-cliente. Se sugiere a los profesionales del turismo mayor esfuerzo para crear estímulos en las interacciones y gestionar las expectativas del cliente.

Este estudio va más allá de la adopción de tecnología y se centra en la etapa posterior a la adopción del uso de la tecnología por parte de los clientes. Los resultados proyectan luz sobre el importante papel del proveedor de servicios a la hora de facilitar interacciones efectivas para la creación conjunta de valor con los clientes.

Este estudio se centra en el proceso de interacción, más que en los antecedentes y resultados de la co-creación de valor basada en dispositivos móviles. Aporta evidencia empírica sobre cómo los clientes co-crean valor y por qué algunas situaciones presentan mejores oportunidades para la co-creación de valor exitosa.

The cruise industry has used technology to attract more millennials than ever before. The progression of social media has transformed the way young individuals gather information for their travel decision-making. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effects of the characteristics of social media – Instagram – on millennials’ trust in and attitudes toward social media content and their behavioral intentions.

A self-administered survey was designed to test the study model, and 323 responses collected were deemed valid for main data analysis.

The results revealed that perceived enjoyment of content is a powerful antecedent of trust, attitudes and behavioral intentions. Content quality is a strong predictor of trust but has no meaningful effect on attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Theoretically, this study contributes to the research in the tourism literature on social media and cruise marketing based on integrating into the technology acceptance model, the characteristics of social media content and trust based on commitment-trust theory. This study can help cruise operators use Instagram to influence millennials and suggests significant implications based on social media interactions with millennials.

While the importance of human touch for maintaining a tech–touch balance has been stressed, little knowledge exists regarding how such human elements should be incorporated in service settings dominated by technologies. This study aims to examine the outcomes of human touch levels across different travel stages in a hotel stay context.

Data were collected through a survey on 900 participants. Latent class analysis was first conducted to categorize the sample into groups based on human touch levels. Hypotheses were then tested using regression-based moderation analysis with the PROCESS macro for SPSS.

Human touch level negatively predicts perceived risk, which is negatively associated with satisfaction. These effects are particularly significant at check-in and check-out stages. Informational privacy significantly moderates the effect of human touch level on perceived risk. Such interaction effects were spotted at the booking and check-out stages.

This study contributes to theory by revealing the role of human touch elements in technology-driven service scenarios and provides practical guidelines for hotels on sharpening service experience by integrating human touch and technology elements.

Through integrating the service encounter framework and concept of customer touchpoints, this study takes a different approach that integrates both “tech” and “touch” by investigating the effects of customer-owned touchpoints in each core stage of a hotel stay journey.

Mobile instant messaging (IM) has been increasingly adopted by hotels to communicate with customers. This study aims to explore communication between hotels and customers and identifies the factors that affect hotel customers’ intention to use mobile IM to communicate with hotels.

A two-stage exploratory sequential mixed-method design, which combines semi-structured interview and policy-capturing method was applied.

The findings indicate that customers are more likely to use mobile IM to communicate with hotels for non-urgent matters; before and after a stay; and if customers are accustomed to using mobile IM for work and non-work purposes in daily life.

This study goes beyond traditional theories to capturing communication-related factors that affect customers’ IM use in a hotel context.

The findings indicate why hotel managers should avoid relying on IM as the dominant communication channel.

This is among one of the first studies that explore customers’ communication needs and communication media choice in hotels.

Through critically reflecting on existing research on information and communication technology (ICT) in hospitality, the purpose of this study is to propose recommendations for future research to further narrow the theory-practice gap.

Personal experiences along with evidence from the literature provide a foundation for discussion, which is further enriched by integrating industry practitioners’ points of view.

Single-perspective and technology adoption studies have dominated ICT research in the hospitality literature. Technology effectiveness has often been measured indirectly. Oversimplifying technological issues has limited the generalizability of research findings.

Future studies are suggested to go beyond examining technology adoption, embrace multi-perspective approaches and incorporate a wider range of situational and contextual factors.

Through a unique perspective, this study highlights the limitations of previous ICT research in the hospitality literature and provides suggestions for future research to better meet the needs of practitioners. The arguments presented are not purely from an academic standpoint, as they have been endorsed by senior industry executives.

Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence related to sensory marketing, this study aims to offer meaningful insights for hospitality operators and provides future research directions on sensory marketing in hospitality.

Building on an extensive review of sensory marketing studies across disciplines, this paper presents critical discussions of the theories and findings on the five senses in the context of hospitality.

The critical synthesis and discussion indicate that sensory marketing is highly relevant and applicable to operations in various hospitality sectors such as hotels and restaurants. Still, empirical evidence is required to lend support to the discussions. Although scholarly interest in sensory marketing has surged in the past decade, some research streams, such as sensory incongruence, cross-modal correspondence and sensory intensity, have yet to be extended. These under-researched areas provide directions for future hospitality research.

Through discussions of empirical evidence related to the five senses, mental simulation, cross-modal correspondence and sensory congruence, this paper provides implications for managing customers’ sensory experiences and behavior in hospitality settings.

Despite the increase of research on sensory marketing in the past decade, its full implications in the context of hospitality remain unknown. Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the hospitality literature, this paper offers research directions for a systematic expansion of sensory marketing.

With the rapid development of sharing economy, travelers are facing choices between conventional hotels and the peer-to-peer sharing accommodation in urban tourism. The purpose of this study is to examine how travelers form their preferences in such choice situations and whether/how their preference formation mode would change with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A relative preference model was constructed and estimated for both domestic and outbound tourists, based on two waves of survey data collected before and after the COVID-19. The results of this study were compared to derive the evolution of preference formation patterns.

A set of 15 key value attributes and personal traits was identified, together with their differential effects with the pandemic. Their divergent effects between domestic and outbound trips were also delineated. Based on these findings, the competitive edges and advantageous market profiles were depicted for both hotel and sharing accommodation sectors.

This study contributes to the knowledge of tourists’ preference between accommodation types and adds empirical evidences to the impact of the pandemic on tourist behavior patterns. Both hotel and sharing accommodation practitioners can benefit from the findings to enhance their competitiveness.

This study aims to investigate how hoteliers leverage mobile technologies to shape services that allow customers to create their own unique and personalized experiences.

Guided by service-dominant logic and sociomateriality, this study analyzes hoteliers’ reasoning behind the design of mobile-based services through qualitative research. Data were collected from interviews with hotel managers representing best-practice companies in the industry.

The findings provide a rich description of mobile-based value co-creation in the hotel context. They delineate hoteliers’ understanding of mobile technologies as a means to co-create value, their strategic considerations and the forms in which value is expected to be co-created.

This study unearths the new roles of hoteliers, unique forms of value co-creation and their underlying structures in the specific context of mobile-based value co-creation. Practical implications based on industry best practices are provided for hospitality companies seeking to innovate by co-creating value with customers using mobile technologies.

This research paper contributes to the hospitality literature on IT-enabled service innovation and value co-creation by comprehensively explaining the underlying structure and design of co-created experiences facilitated by mobile-based services.

Chatbot users’ communication experience with disembodied conversational agents was compared with instant messaging (IM) users’ communication experience with human conversational agents. The purpose of this paper is to identify what affects users’ intention to reuse and whether they perceive any difference between the two.

A conceptual model was developed based on computer-mediated communication (CMC) and interpersonal communication theories. Data were collected online from four different continents (North America, Europe, Asia and Australia). Partial least squares structural equation modeling was applied to examine the research model.

The findings mainly reveal that media richness and social presence positively influence trust and reuse intention through task attraction and social attraction; IM users reported significantly higher scores in terms of communication experience, perceived attractiveness of the conversational agent, and trust than chatbot users; users’ trust in the conversational agents is mainly determined by perceived task attraction.

Customers’ evaluation of the communication environment is positively related to their perceived competence of the conversational agent which ultimately affect their intention to reuse chatbot/IM. The findings reveal determinants of chatbot/IM adoption which have rarely been mentioned by previous work.

Practitioners should note that consumers in general still prefer to interact with human conversational agents. Practitioners should contemplate how to combine chatbot and human resources effectively to deliver the best customer service.

This study goes beyond the Computer as Social Actor paradigm and Technology Acceptance Model to understand chatbot and IM adoption. It is among one of the first studies that compare chatbot and IM use experience in the tourism and hospitality literature.