Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

Wang, Yonggui; Cai, Xiaomei; Xu, Changliang; Li, Jun (Justin)

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-10-2020-0262

This study aims to explore the antecedents of perceived value and the moderating effect of trust and the relationship between these antecedents and perceived value in the context of the service sector.Design/methodology/approachThe multivariate statistical analysis technique of structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed theoretical model.FindingsThe results indicate that self-efficacy, motivation, social influence, facilitating conditions and emotions have a significant and direct relationship with customers’ perceived value and that trust can enhance the effect of these antecedents on perceived value. These findings have several significant implications for service robot implementation within the service sector.Originality/valueWith the advancement in artificial intelligence and sensor technology, various industries have launched the practice of deploying intelligent robots to build competitive advantages. The use of intelligent robots to assist with the customer service process and improve consumers’ experience within the service sector is becoming more commonplace.

Cheng, Vincent Ting Pong; Guo, Renyu

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-06-2020-0145

Technology-based innovation (TBI) is a primary approach across the hospitality industry to improve customer experience. It is essential to know the critical factors that affect consumers’ acceptance of hotels’ TBI. The effect of consumers’ attitudes toward technology is hypothesized to affect the acceptance of TBI besides commonly used technology acceptance models.Design/methodology/approachA model of attitudes toward technology influence on TBI was constructed and tested by inviting participants to watch a video of a keyless check-in process of a leading hotel chain and then completed a questionnaire. The attitudes toward technology were measured using the technology adoption propensity (TAP) scale.FindingsAttitudes toward technology strongly affect the hotel’s booking intention (BI) used as a proxy for consumers’ acceptance of hotels’ TBI. However, attitudes toward technology can only influence BI through the mediating variables of trust and curiosity.Practical implicationsThe findings provide useful insights, encouraging hotels to positively enhance consumers’ attitudes toward technology when introducing TBI services.Originality/valueMost research on the acceptance of e-commerce technology focuses on consumers’ resulting attitudes or emotions using the products or services. In contrast, this study investigates the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward technology on accepting hotels’ TBI service. The study demonstrated that attitudes toward technology substantially impact the acceptance of hotels’ TBI service. Furthermore, the study provides empirical support on the use of the TAP scale in complex TBI services.

Qiu, Hanqin; Chen, Dongzhi; Li, Qinghui; Peng, Kanglin; Jenkins, Carson Lewis

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-05-2020-0128

This study aims to explore the impact of the belt and road initiative (BRI) on tourism development in China and to identify the factors contributing to the BRI’s effect on tourism development.Design/methodology/approachThis study evaluates the impact of the BRI on tourism development using 2007–2017 panel data from 31 provinces and municipalities in China. The data are analyzed using the difference-in-differences method and the factors contributing to the BRI’s effect on tourism development are identified through an analysis of online reviews by users of a massive open online course offered on the FutureLearn platform.FindingsThe result suggests that the BRI has boosted total tourism revenue and total tourist arrivals in the BRI region comparing with other regions. Four factors contributing to the BRI’s impact on tourism development in China are identified: macro-environmental factors, transit factors, destination factors and tourism policy and promotional factors.Originality/valueThe BRI has had a significant impact on regional tourism development, yet very few empirical studies have systematically examined the impact of BRI on tourism development. Thus, this paper also addresses this research gap by evaluating the extent to which BRI impacts tourism development and contributes to the factors affecting tourism development.

Pantano, Eleonora; Stylidis, Dimitrios

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-01-2020-0023

Patenting behaviour in the tourism sector has received little academic attention due to a wider belief that innovation in tourism commonly involves improving the services in ways that are hardly patentable. This paper aims to address this oversight by focusing on patent analysis as means to evaluate the innovation trends in tourism.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on an analysis of historical series of patents worldwide from 1996 to 2016, this paper explores the trends in the tourism sector by focusing on audio-visual technologies. The study used an evaluation of the 8,785 emerging patents, in terms of co-occurrences, applying hierarchical cluster analysis, factor analysis and multidimensional scaling.FindingsThe findings suggest that there is a gradually increasing interest in innovation in tourism, which is growing faster than most of the other sectors explored here such as transportation and pharmaceuticals. The outputs also reveal the inventive effort of tourism industry in new technologies for developing utility models for tourists.Originality/valueThe study contributes to tourism theory and practice by offering an overview of current/future applications of new technologies in tourism along with future trends, and mapping the main areas that these technologies might affect.

Aureliano-Silva, Leonardo; Leung, Xi; Spers, Eduardo Eugênio

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-06-2020-0143

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of online reviews on consumers’ intention to visit restaurants, with the moderating role of involvement.Design/methodology/approachThe research framework was built on signaling theory, message appeals and involvement theory. To test the proposed framework, three experiments were conducted online with real customer samples. T-tests, ANOVA and SPSS PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.FindingsThe results revealed that online reviews with higher online ratings and emotional appeal led to higher restaurant visit intention. Review appeal significantly moderated the effect of online ratings on restaurant visit intention. Customers with low restaurant involvement were more impacted by emotional comments than by functional comments.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study extends our knowledge on the effects of online reviews moderated by levels of customer involvement. By combining signaling theory with involvement theory, it adds value to the literature on customer online behavior, especially in the foodservice context. The present study has limitations that might provide opportunities for future research. It used evaluations (TripAdvisor scores) and only positive reviews (texts), so customers’ intentions considering negative reviews could not be examined. The level of hedonism concerning consumption in restaurants and prior knowledge regarding restaurant reviews was not controlled for. It is possible that the level of hedonism perceived and prior review knowledge may moderate the customers’ intention to visit the restaurant.Practical implicationsThe present study shows the importance of online comments for the promotion of restaurants that have low evaluation scores. It is essential that restaurant owners and managers encourage potential customers by using comments to elaborate on their marketing strategies and promotion. At the same time, they should invite customers to share their emotional experiences, and not just their views on service efficiency (a functional aspect). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of the internet and mobile devices has become more prominent. Managers could therefore use emotional messages on the restaurant’s website or apps to attract customers with low restaurant involvement. Also, a system to identify the involvement of customers with restaurants could be implemented online or on mobile devices to present specific messages. The present study also recommends the use of online tools as virtual tours, photographs taken from different angles, smiling faces, floor plans and sittings and pre-determined emotional expressions. Also, the restaurant could promote lives on cooking different dishes to motive customer’s interaction and comments. These would help to increase customers’ visit intentions.Originality/valueThis study extends knowledge about the effect of restaurant online reviews (both ratings and appeals) moderated by the level of customer involvement. The present study also adds value to the customer online behavior literature showing that customers with low involvement are more sensitive to emotional content as they use the affective route to process information rather than the central route.

Espino-Rodríguez, Tomás F.; Rodríguez-Díaz, Manuel

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-03-2020-0064

This study aims to examine the impact of the outsourcing of hotel departments on service quality measured through online customer reviews.Design/methodology/approachThree models were developed, considering three important online tourism reputation websites, to establish the relationship between the outsourcing of hotel activities and service quality.FindingsThe results show that in the three databases, hotel outsourcing has a negative influence on online reputation. A higher level of outsourcing reduces service quality, the percentage of recommendations and the value perceived by customers who carry out online reviews of these hotels. In addition, different models were established for each type of department.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents the first empirical study to analyse the relationship between the impact of process outsourcing and customers’ online reviews. It is also the first empirical research to consider the relationship between outsourcing and ratings by hotel end-customers as a performance measure.

Liao, Shu-Hsien; Widowati, Retno; Lin, Ting-Hung

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-06-2020-0137

In terms of service hospitality, recent discussions of value-in-use from the perspective of service-dominant logic have focused on the customer’s determination of value and control of the value creation process. The purpose of this paper is to extend these discussions by exploring the value creation process in the Western-style restaurant in Taiwan, which is developed value-in-eat creation for restaurants. In Taiwan, Western-style restaurants are as popular as Chinese restaurants because of globalization and cultural integration. However, to local restaurateurs and managers, managing a Western-style restaurant in terms of localization and hospitality on value-in-eat creation presents both academic and practical issues. Thus, this paper aims to investigate Western-style restaurant hospitality management alternatives on the value-in-eat creation process in Taiwan using a data mining approach.Design/methodology/approachBased on a market survey, a total of 1,187 questionnaires was incorporated into a database. The questionnaire design is divided into 7 parts with 35 items. All questions are designed as nominal and ordinal (not the Likert scale) scales. Data mining approach, including cluster analysis and association rules, cluster analysis is investigated possible customer profiles and association rules is implemented to explore customer preference patterns and rules on the value-in-eat creation process.FindingsData mining results show two patterns including Pattern 1: meal patterns and customer preferences for restaurant hospitality management and Pattern 2: customer relationship management (CRM) for restaurant hospitality management that customer profiles and preferences on meal patterns, service patterns and CRM are engaged to suggest effective Western restaurant hospitality management alternatives, such as proper bundles for restaurant types, meals, exotic atmosphere and services of hospitalities in terms of a value-in-eat creation process.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study to investigate consumers’ behaviors in Western-style restaurants using the measurement of nominal and ordinal scale for questionnaire development and further to implement a data mining approach on selected data samples. In addition, this study illustrates the patterns/rules of Taiwan customer preferences that best explain the knowledge of how to manage Western-style restaurants from the perspective of customer hospitality using data mining.

Grechyn, Viktor; McShane, Ian

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-01-2020-0025

This paper aims to analyse whether the speed of Wi-Fi in hotels influences customer satisfaction with hotels and the implications of this for the provision of Wi-Fi by commercial and governmental bodies seeking to boost tourism.Design/methodology/approachRegression analysis on data from Australian hotels (191 entries) and 111 responses to a national survey of local government authorities on public Wi-Fi (PWF) provision were combined with a literature review and content analysis of online reviews by hotel customers.FindingsIf Wi-Fi quality rises by 1%, customer satisfaction with the hotel increases by 0.376/100 units. In the areas where hotel Wi-Fi is of better quality, PWF provided by the local government is also of better quality; the reverse statement is also true.Practical implicationsTourists value continuous access to Wi-Fi, whether provided by commercial or public bodies. It is imperative for hotels and local governments seeking to boost tourist activity to invest in quality Wi-Fi networks. However, to assist this, national policies should address spatial disparities in broadband infrastructure revealed in the study.Originality/valueThis study looks beyond a conventional distinction between the private and public provision of Wi-Fi to examine the shared interests of industry and government in this essential component of tourist infrastructure. The study is unique in the English-speaking literature for its focus on the link between the quality of Wi-Fi provision and customer satisfaction, with original results and discussion providing a rationale for investing in quality Wi-Fi networks.

Turulja, Lejla; Činjarević, Merima

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-02-2020-0044

This study aims to apply the stimulus-organism-response framework to uncover the underlying mechanism by which the perceived helpfulness of online customer reviews (OCRs) drives behavioural intentions in mobile travel app commerce. Also, the current study explores how vendor-driven perceived usefulness of a product and its attributes influence the mediated relationship between perceived helpfulness of OCRs (OCRs helpfulness) and behavioural intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe online survey (n = 151) was used to collect the data. The authors used structural equation modelling and the bias-corrected bootstrap method to test the proposed conceptual model for mediation and moderated-mediation effect.FindingsFindings indicate that the perceived OCRs helpfulness has an indirect positive effect, via trust and attitude, on travel app downloading intention. Moreover, results suggest that the presence of vendor cues (vendor-generated informational content about a travel app) does not significantly moderate the mediating effect of perceived OCRs helpfulness on travel app downloading intention.Originality/valueThe present study reinforces the applicability of the warranting principle in the context of travel app commerce by exploring the relative effectiveness of customer-generated and vendor-generated informational content in influencing travel app downloading intention.

Abou-Shouk, Mohamed; Gad, Hesham Ezzat; Abdelhakim, Ayman

2021 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology

doi: 10.1108/jhtt-09-2020-0215

This study aims to explore the factors affecting customers’ attitudes to the adoption of robots in hotels and travel agencies.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modelling was used to test the extended technology acceptance model based on data collected from 570 customers of hotels and travel agencies.FindingsThe findings revealed that hotel customers have more positive attitudes to service robots than their peers in travel agencies.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the literature on robots in tourism and responds to the call to investigate customers’ attitudes to the adoption of robots in developing countries.