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Engaging guests for a greener tomorrow: Examining the role of hotel chatbots in encouraging pro-environmental behavior
Abstract
Over the past two decades, technology adoption has surged, with businesses leveraging innovations like chatbots to enhance customer experiences. Sustainability concerns have also escalated, particularly in the hospitality sector. Recognizing the importance of resource mindfulness and catering to digitally savvy, eco-conscious young consumers, there is a need to find a way to use technology to encourage pro-environmental behavior among hotel guests. Therefore, this study investigates how anthropomorphic chatbot concierges encourage willingness to partake in sustainable practices among young hotel guests. With a sample size of 346, the study confirms a positive and significant relationship between anthropomorphic chatbot concierge and the willingness of guests to partake in sustainable practices, which is mediated by hedonic motivation and positive experience. The findings contribute to the SEEK Model and value theory, offering practical insights for marketers to develop a sustainable competitive edge and cultivate an environmentally responsible brand image.
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In today's technology-driven era, where stress levels are on the rise, consumers are increasingly turning to online browsing and shopping as a means of escaping and coping with reality. This behavioral shift has opened an opportunity for brands to retain consumers in the long run. The present study conceptualizes that the brand can utilize this opportunity to have continued engagement by building interpersonal consumer-brand relationships and an immersive environment. To empirically validate this framework, the study collects data from young consumers (N = 480). The results exhibited that there is a positive and significant relationship between brand anthropomorphism and continued engagement, which is sequentially mediated by immersion and escapism. The study also integrates and extends social exchange, flow, and coping theories, providing practical insights for marketers on the significance of emotional connections and immersive environments in driving continued engagement.
Networking facilitates stakeholder collaboration and partnerships and a richer understanding between stakeholders, benefiting the achievement of sustainable tourism development. This research examines how a network contributes to the success of a shared goal related to environmental sustainability at a local destination. A case study based on social network theory is conducted in Da Nang City – a popular tourist destination in central Vietnam. This research reveals a network of various tourism stakeholders in Da Nang working to protect the natural environment throughout the city. The networking properties are conceptualised, including actors and activities like approaching, connecting, sharing, and coordinating. These interactions create linkages and platforms for information flow and environmental messages travelling from initial actors to a broader set of actors, which encourages community involvement in environmental activities, more environmentally friendly behaviour, and an emotional bond with the destination. With these findings, this research has made a crucial contribution to tourism network research by exploring how stakeholders build sustainability awareness and place attachment through social networking. The study has practical implications regarding the use of networking to facilitate stakeholder involvement in sustainable tourism development.
One of the main challenges boutique hotels and resorts face is the direct outreach to tourists and customers. As a result, these independent hotels often resort to online platforms such as Agoda and Airbnb to expand their customer base. However, this approach comes at the cost of losing revenue to Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) that solely focus on room sales, hindering the establishment of a strong brand image for boutique hotels and resorts. Considering the heavy reliance on OTAs, this paper focuses on the development of GoHoliday, a cross-platform mobile app prototype that aims to bridge the gap between boutique hotels and users. This mobile application seamlessly integrates a booking engine, an AI assistant for trip planning, and an experience-sharing platform, enhancing the app's capabilities alongside other features. By implementing the GoHoliday mobile application, boutique hotels can maximize their reach and establish a distinct brand identity by directly serving their valuable guests with more personalized arrangements.
Purpose: This article reports the results of research that examines the interrelationships between and efficacy of sustainability values and pro-sustainable behaviors of potential tourists. A partially mediated model is postulated and tested to help explain additional error variance in predicting consumers' destination choice decisions in tourism hence voiding a critical research gap. Coined as the “environmentally intellectualist behavior” a new mediator variable is tested to explain additional error variance in human-value models.
Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on data collected from two representative samples of potential tourists from the USA and Canada. Data analyses include exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses that were used to examine the underlying domain structures of sustainability values, followed by a predictive model using SEM (structural equation modeling).
Findings: The study findings suggest that values are salient factors that underlie pro-sustainable tourism and travel behavior. Moreover, the results confirm the existence of a higher-order sustainability construct. The study contributes original insights to the field by demonstrating that there are direct and indirect positive relationships between sustainability values, environmental behaviors, and decisions of consumers who take a pro-sustainable stance when traveling.
Originality/value: By modeling values as antecedents to attitudes and testing interrelationships between sustainability values, and the mediator variables coined as the environmentally intellectual behavior, we developed and tested a predictive model to explain destination- and product choice decisions. The model tested herein advances the value theory in two fundamental ways: first, we demonstrate that sustainability values can be modeled as higher-order factors. Second, values are antecedents to attitude and other variables, therefore must be included in consumer behavior models. Finally, the culture or origin of tourists matters when examining the impact of values on tourists’ choice decisions. Political actions and environmental attitudes can be modeled as mediators to explain additional error variance.
Practical implications: The study provides new insights for hospitality and tourism practitioners who must develop sustainable marketing strategies that align with consumers' values and preferences and that of destination management organizations (DMOs).
Keywords: sustainability, destination choice, decision-making, consumer values, tourist behavior
Citation:
Sirakaya-Turk, E., Oshrey, O., Iskender, A., Ramkissoon, H., Mercado, H. (2023). The Theory of Sustainability: Values and Travel Behavior. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, ahead-of-print.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the factors that influence young green actual consumption behavior (GACB) by examining the relational and technological aspects that are dependent on technology and youth green buying intention (GBI). Additionally, this study endeavors to examine the moderating effect of adolescent green organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) on the association between young consumer GBI and young GACB.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study was collected from a sample of 282 university students located in the southern region of China. A time lag approach was used in this study, with data being gathered during two separate intervals spaced apart by duration of two months.
Findings
The findings of this study demonstrate that both technological and relational factors play a significant role in predicting young consumer GBI, which in turn predicts young GACB. Additionally, the results indicate that GBI is a crucial facilitator in the investigation. Furthermore, the results reveal that young green OCB serves as a significant moderator, enhancing the association between young consumer GBI and young consumer GACB.
Originality/value
The present study provides a novel perspective on the examination of how technology and relational factors impact young consumers, offering a deeper understanding of their intentions and actual consumption behavior. The findings of this study offer both theoretical and practical implications for academics, policymakers, senior managers and practitioners, providing valuable insights into the field.
Anthropomorphism of nature can promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB). However, its underlying mechanism and these age-related changes are unclear. We propose that connectedness to nature and environmental guilt mediate the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature and PEB. The present study tests the hypotheses based on a cross-sectional sample of 1364 residents aged 15–76 years, using structural equation modeling. We found that: (1) environmental guilt decreases, but PEB increases, with age; (2) anthropomorphism of nature decreases in early adulthood and increases in old age; (3) connectedness to nature decreases in mid–late adolescence and increases in early adulthood. Connectedness to nature and environmental guilt have a serial mediating effect in the relationship between anthropomorphism of nature and PEB, with cross-age stability. These findings contribute to enriching the understanding of PEB from the human and nature perspective, and enhancing anthropomorphism of nature that could promote PEB in residents at different ages, through connectedness to nature and environmental guilt.
Environment sustainability is becoming an important social obligation for organizations. As consumers are becoming conscious of the environment conservation, organizations are using technology to increase efficiency while saving labor costs and providing a unique in-store experience, engaging consumers interaction with the brand. Artificial intelligence (AI), that involves machines or applications mimicking human intelligence, is transforming the manner in which the consumers interact with the brands. Applying the theory of anthropomorphism and the psychological ownership theory, this study significantly contributes to the existing literature by investigating the interplay between crucial constructs such as AI anthropomorphism, psychological ownership, and product usage barrier in the context of green brands. Data was collected through a questionnaire from Indian consumers (N = 295). Data analysis was conducted using the SPSS PROCESS macro. The study provides empirical evidence on the significant role of psychological ownership with green brand AI anthropomorphism for building consumer relationships. The findings revealed that green brand AI anthropomorphism creates product usage barriers, but along with psychological ownership, the influence on consumer relationships remains positive.
Anthropomorphism has been identified as an effective marketing and communication tool in the hospitality and tourism industry. However, the application of anthropomorphism is fraught with a variety of definitions, contradictory findings, and different contexts, resulting in a lack of synthesized understanding of anthropomor-phism. This study presents a systematic review of the anthropomorphism research in the hospitality and tourism literature from the past two decades to identify trends in the literature and to propose directions for future research on anthropomorphism. Three streams emerged from the literature: (1) Technology anthropomorphism; (2) Brand anthropomorphism; and (3) Product anthropomorphism. The results indicate that brand anthropo-morphism and product anthropomorphism are understudied in the hospitality and tourism literature despite their theoretical applicability and potential. By identifying limitations in current literature and comparing it with anthropomorphism studies in other fields, this study further draws meaningful directions for future research.
Purpose
This study aims at analyzing the impact of green restaurants' sustainable practices (food safety, food sustainability practices, food quality, and environmental sensitivity) on consumer satisfaction and revisit intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 417 participants who had recently experienced the services of leading green restaurants. The study draws upon the prevailing literature to test a series of research hypotheses through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings of the study have confirmed that sustainable practices such as food safety, food sustainability practices, environmental sensitivity, and food quality significantly influence consumers' satisfaction and revisit intentions. The willingness to pay has been found as a sensitive issue as it moderates the relationship between consumer satisfaction and revisit intention.
Practical implications
This study provides important insights for the businesses operating in foodservice industry. The study suggests important strategies to the restaurant business owners for improving their consumers' satisfaction and revisit intentions. These strategies may help foodservice businesses in building strong brand reputation and a competitive edge over others.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the food service literature by examining the restaurants' environmental legitimacy (food safety, food sustainability practices, food quality, and environmental sensitivity) from consumers' perspective. Moreover, the current study also fills the gap in literature by expanding the knowledge of consumers' pro-environmental behavior in the context of developing nations. Besides, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is among very few studies, which have emphasized on analyzing consumer satisfaction and revisit intention based on their experience in a green restaurant on particular sustainable parameters.
Food retailers are lagging behind other industries in implementing innovative mobile solutions offering their services and purchasing processes on their online platforms. Chatbots can be leveraged as an application to provide customer-centric services while retailers benefit from collecting consumer data. Previous literature on chatbot technology provides evidence that human characteristics enhance the customer experience. This is the first experimental study to investigate consumer attitudes and satisfaction with anthropomorphic chatbots in food e-commerce. A sample of 401 participants was tested to verify the proposed hypotheses. The test group interacted with a standard chatbot without human-like characteristics, while the control group communicated with the anthropomorphically designed agent. The results confirm the vast potential of anthropomorphic cues in chatbot applications and show that they are positively associated with customer satisfaction and mediated by the variables enjoyment, attitude, and trust. The findings suggest that to remain competitive, food retailers should immediately adopt innovative technologies for their omnichannel strategy and incorporate anthropomorphic design cues.
Artificial intelligence (AI) conversational agents (CA) or chatbots represent one of the technologies that can provide automated customer service for companies, a trend encountered in recent years. Chatbot use is beneficial for companies when associated with positive customer experience. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the overall customer experience with customer service chatbots in order to identify the main influencing factors for customer experience with customer service chatbots and to identify the resulting dimensions of customer experience (such as perceptions/attitudes and feelings and also responses and behaviors). The analysis uses the systematic literature review (SLR) method and includes a sample of 40 publications that present empirical studies. The results illustrate that the main influencing factors of customer experience with chatbots are grouped in three categories: chatbot-related, customer-related, and context-related factors, where the chatbot-related factors are further categorized in: functional features of chatbots, system features of chatbots and anthropomorphic features of chatbots. The multitude of factors of customer experience result in either positive or negative perceptions/attitudes and feelings of customers. At the same time, customers respond by manifesting their intentions and/or their behaviors towards either the technology itself (chatbot usage continuation and acceptance of chatbot recommendations) or towards the company (buying and recommending products). According to empirical studies, the most influential factors when using chatbots for customer service are response relevance and problem resolution, which usually result in positive customer satisfaction, increased probability for chatbots usage continuation, product purchases, and product recommendations.
The pursuit of social sustainability has taken center stage in the public discourse in terms of the total cost of doing business, inclusive of economic and environmental factors. As social sustainability continues to become more salient in societal relevance, the organizational treatment of workers and the local community is instrumental in advancing the idea of a fair and equitable society in the quasi-post-pandemic [post-lockdown] context. The present study, drawing on importance-performance analysis conducted among U.S. consumers, sought to determine how they perceived and assessed U.S. restaurants’ social sustainability practices. Theoretical implications revealed an emphasis on individual justice in a highly specific temporal context, while practical contributions advocate for broader community-based social sustainability initiatives in restaurants going beyond simplified public relations-based marketing.
The COVID-19 pandemic and ecological crisis are paving the way for new consumption models based on customers’ conscious choices and the subsequent integration of sustainable policies into retailers’ business strategies. As a consequence, the current consumer trends suggest that more people are becoming aware of their consumption standards and their repercussion on the environment and society. Statistics demonstrate that, in their purchasing processes, these “mindful customers” now search for a sustainable, self-sufficient way of living in harmony with nature. This paper argues that artificial intelligence (AI) is able to facilitate this process in the marketplace. More specifically, mindfulness with the support of AI technologies could be a plausible way to activate sustainable consumption patterns for avoiding overconsumption. The life-changing ability of mindful consumption is reviewed in this paper across domains of sustainability. Using a comprehensive literature review, the paper first outlines the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the mindful sustainable consumption (MSC) approach that fills the literature gap that almost always separates mindful consumption from sustainability. Second, the new conceptual approach is applied through a strategic framework in the field of fast fashion retailing through the use of AI-powered chatbots. In particular, the study defines a new category of chatbots, named sustainability chatbots (SC), which could convey mindful and sustainable consumption choices. The paper highlights that the MSC approach combined with the support of SC could enable marketing managers to create the appropriate context for embedding sustainability into consumer behaviour and fast fashion retailers’ strategies from a value co-creation perspective.
Green consumption is an important component of environmental protection behavior. The behaviors of individual consumers are having unprecedented impacts on the sustainable development of a green society. Previous research has discussed how anthropomorphic beneficiaries of environmental behavior (e.g., nature/earth) impact green consumption behavior and compared the influence of anthropomorphic presence and absence on consumers. However, few have examined the impact of different types of anthropomorphic carriers with environmental benefits (e.g., green product/brand) on consumers. This research explores the matching effects on the willingness of consumers to buy green products between the anthropomorphic image of the brand (cute vs. cool) and advertising appeals (self-interest vs. altruism); in addition, the underlying mechanisms of matching effects are revealed. The results show that, under the self-interested advertising appeal, the cool anthropomorphic image can lead to higher purchase intention of green products due to the mediating role played by the brand capacity trust. However, when exposed to altruistic advertising appeal, the cute anthropomorphic image can enhance brand goodwill trust of consumers and make consumers more willing to buy green products. Finally, this paper discusses the contributions and limitations.
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot marketing efforts (CMEs) in the establishment of relationships between brands and their customers, extending the link between relationship marketing and online consumer behavioral intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected from 1,072 customers in the USA, who used chatbot marketing activities from any of 30 brands leading their industries in messaging innovation. Structural equation modeling is used for data analysis.
Findings
Results show that interaction, information, accessibility, entertainment and customization are important CMEs components. CMEs have significant direct effects on the quality of communication with chatbot agents and indirectly affect customer–brand relationships (CBR) and customer response. In addition, the findings demonstrate that CBR mediates the association between communication quality and customer response.
Originality/value
Implications of this study can enable practitioners to understand the effects of AI on user experiences and provide a guide for the development of CMEs strategies and relationship building.
There has been a recent surge of interest in social chatbots, and human–chatbot relationships (HCRs) are becoming more prevalent, but little knowledge exists on how HCRs develop and may impact the broader social context of the users. Guided by Social Penetration Theory, we interviewed 18 participants, all of whom had developed a friendship with a social chatbot named Replika, to understand the HCR development process. We find that at the outset, HCRs typically have a superficial character motivated by the users' curiosity. The evolving HCRs are characterised by substantial affective exploration and engagement as the users' trust and engagement in self-disclosure increase. As the relationship evolves to a stable state, the frequency of interactions may decrease, but the relationship can still be seen as having substantial affective and social value. The relationship with the social chatbot was found to be rewarding to its users, positively impacting the participants' perceived wellbeing. Key chatbot characteristics facilitating relationship development included the chatbot being seen as accepting, understanding and non-judgmental. The perceived impact on the users' broader social context was mixed, and a sense of stigma associated with HCRs was reported. We propose an initial model representing the HCR development identified in this study and suggest avenues for future research.
Numerous businesses have employed chatbots with a human-like speaking ability to assist customers with online shopping and customer service; however, it is uncertain whether or not these efforts will pay off by consumers engaging with them. Would young, digital-native consumers use chatbots as we anticipated? If so, what would make them use chatbots? Academic investigations into consumers’ perceptions and acceptance of chatbot commerce are lacking. This research tries to address this question by examining the effect of anthropomorphism on consumers’ perceptions of mobile messenger chatbots and its impact on behavioral decision making. The findings confirm that anthropomorphism plays a positive role in shaping consumers’ intentions to purchase through chatbot commerce.
Consumer robots are technically evolving and have a growing presence in our daily lives with enhanced interactive capabilities. While there is insightful literature on robot adoption, so far, research has done less to examine the post-adoption interaction of human-consumer robots. Drawing on trust in technology model and psychological ownership theory, this study proposes a conceptual dual model to explain robot users' post-adoption behaviours, while considers the moderating roles of anthropomorphism and social presence. We empirically corroborated our model by asking from 403 current robot owners to illustrate theoretical paths to their post-adoption behaviours including cognitive absorption and intention to explore. This study contributes to the extant literature of human-robot interaction by proposing a theoretically grounded and empirically tested framework that contextualizes psychological ownership theory, uncertainty reduction theory, and trust in technology model. We also highlight the implications for practitioners to leverage trust and psychological ownership mechanisms together for encouraging users to actively engage with robots.
This study reports on a systematic review of the published literature used to reveal the current research investigating the hospitality industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The presented review identified relevant papers using Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Science Direct databases. Of the 175 articles found, 50 papers met the predefined inclusion criteria. The included papers were classified concerning the following dimensions: the source of publication, hospitality industry domain, and methodology. The reviewed articles focused on different aspects of the hospitality industry, including hospitality workers’ issues, loss of jobs, revenue impact, the COVID-19 spreading patterns in the industry, market demand, prospects for recovery of the hospitality industry, safety and health, travel behavior, and preference of customers. The results revealed a variety of research approaches that have been used to investigate the hospitality industry at the time of the pandemic. The reported approaches include simulation and scenario modeling for discovering the COVID-19 spreading patterns, field surveys, secondary data analysis, discussing the resumption of activities during and after the pandemic, comparing the COVID-19 pandemic with previous public health crises, and measuring the impact of the pandemic in terms of economics.
This study examines the effects of personalization and hedonic motivation on customer experience and its loyalty outcomes in omnichannel retail context. The study develops eight hypotheses which are tested using two survey samples (Finland (n = 2084) and Sweden (n = 2334). In addition, empirical analysis includes 20 semi-structured interviews. The findings support all the hypotheses confirming the positive relationships personalization and hedonic motivation have on cognitive and emotional customer experience components. Further, the positive effects of customer experience on loyalty are confirmed. The results provide both theoretical and managerial insights for improved CX and customer loyalty.
Attracting diner participation in sustainable restaurant practices, such as waste reduction, are highly significant for the environment and in reducing the carbon footprint of food consumption. However, there are concerns as to whether the adoption of sustainable practices in restaurant settings is favored by consumers. To examine such issues we aim to identify, by applying value theory, whether sustainable restaurant practices increase diner loyalty. To do this, this research develops and tests an integrated theoretical model on relationships between sustainable restaurant practices, consumer values (hedonic and utilitarian), environmental concern, and diner behavior. Results reveal that sustainable restaurant practices as a second-order construct of food sustainability and waste reduction influence hedonic/utilitarian values. Sustainable restaurant practices also positively influence diner behavior as a second-order construct of participation in waste reduction practices and loyalty to sustainable restaurants. Diner behavior is affected by hedonic/utilitarian values on waste reduction, which are moderated by environmental concern.
The hospitality industry has undergone significant developments as new modes of environment-friendly tourism and hotels have emerged (including ecotourism, eco-hotels, ecolodges, and green hotels). These new features, however, have not been specifically investigated, especially in a considerably potential tourist destination like Iran. This study sought to develop a model for identifying and prioritizing the indicators that could determine the ecological features of hotels. Following a systematic review, exploratory factor analysis and analytic network process were used to construct a hybrid model and its elements were then prioritized in five-star hotels in the Fars province, Iran. The model consisted of five dimensions (totally including 19 indicators), namely “energy,” “ecological adaptation,” “materials and equipment,” “foods and drinks,” and “cultural-economic activities.” The findings revealed that the “energy” dimension was significantly important, while indicators such as “effective use of water,” “supply and efficient use of energy,” and “use of renewable energies” were the most important indicators, respectively. The results of this study can encourage managers/practitioners in hotel accommodation to concentrate on the indicators that could promote the ecological level of hotels. In doing so, they can consider energy, foods, and beverage indicators in developing green hotels and implement appropriate accommodation with ecotourism standards to attract (inter)national tourists.
This study integrates social exchange theory, the biophilia hypothesis, the hierarchy of effects model, and self-congruency theory to examine how relational benefits and green image influence positive emotion, customer loyalty, and customer green behavior (CGB). Data were collected from 314 respondents via an online marketing research firm and analyzed using SmartPLS 4.0. The results show that customers’ perceptions of relational benefits have a direct impact on both customer loyalty and positive emotions. While green image significantly affects customer loyalty, it does not have a direct impact on positive emotions or CGB. However, green image enhances the positive association between customer emotions and CGB, suggesting that customers are more likely to engage in green behavior when they feel a positive emotional connection with a company they perceive as environmentally responsible. These findings suggest that restaurant firms should implement marketing strategies to improve their green image by emphasizing the value of relational benefits. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
This paper highlights to close existing gaps between customer compatibility and usage intentions, with a special
emphasis on the moderation function of subjective norms and technology affordance-led compatibility factor in
leveraging technology perceptions of usefulness and ease of use to usage intention. Employing Microsoft Form,
626 customers of five-star Egyptian hotels, responded and their responses were checked using SmartPLS v.4.
Findings confirmed that perceived usefulness and ease of use partially mediated the significant nexus between
customer compatibility with chatbot-powered hotel apps and usage intentions. Moreover, the influence of
perceived usefulness is greater on usage intentions when hotel customers have high levels of subjective norms
towards chatbot-powered service apps. On the basis of technology’s compatibility, this study offers mutual
reinforcement, complementary, and corrective roles for subjective norms and customer compatibility in the
hospitality business.
In response to recent research calls on sustainability, innovation and consumer behaviour, in this article, the following objectives are pursued: (1) to empirically test the relationships between the newly introduced variable, the so-called ‘sustainability-oriented service innovation’ (SOSI), ecological knowledge and value co-creation; (2) to observe whether SOSI, ecological knowledge and value co-creation boost customer satisfaction; and (3) to examine the moderating effect of gender on the proposed relationships. The data were collected through a panel of hotel guests applying quota sampling in Spain in 2020. In total, 405 valid questionnaires were obtained. The partial least squares structural equations modelling was used to analyse the data, test hypotheses and conduct a multigroup analysis. The results allow a contribution to the body of knowledge by observing the advantages of simultaneous implementation of sustainability and innovation in the hotel industry through a novel approach such as SOSI. The finding supports the SOSI effect of SOSI on value co-creation. However, it is shown that the effect of SOSI on satisfaction is significant only if value co-creation acts as a mediator. Ecological knowledge is also a significant antecedent of SOSI and satisfaction; however, it impacts value co-creation indirectly through SOSI. Furthermore, significant moderating effects of gender were found in the relationship between SOSI and value co-creation, highlighting the more robust relationship between variables for women. Finally, regarding practical implications, the results reinforce the importance for hotel managers to develop innovative and sustainable actions and interact with the clients to increase their satisfaction.
Purpose
Amidst ongoing digital transformation, the current paper provides a 360-degree overview of technology-adoption in Tourism and Hospitality. By combining and consolidating a wide range of sources, mainly in the tourism literature, the analysis depicts how the complex technological ecosystem often enhances or hinders the successful adoption, integration and interoperability of different technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The critical review method was used to assess, analyse and synthesise existing literature in the area of digitisation in tourism and hospitality. The critical review process included a thematic analysis of the literature, where recurring themes, patterns and trends were identified towards addressing the study’s research questions.
Findings
The analysis identifies current trends, opportunities, challenges and strategies for technology adoption in tourism and hospitality, the implications for theory, practicable executive directions and avenues for further research.
Originality/value
The paper’s main contribution lies in its comprehensive identification, consideration and incorporation of all primary contemporary technological elements, and the ensuing development of a corresponding conceptual charting framework, which illustrates a multifaceted process with practical implications for various stakeholders, including businesses, authorities, consumers and employees.
Water overconsumption by tourists is nowadays a major environmental challenge, raising concerns for both hospitality managers and policymakers, especially in regions facing water stress. Hotels have implemented various strategies for water conservation, yet there remains limited knowledge regarding the comparative effectiveness of technological investments in contrast to other alternatives, such as green nudges, consumer awareness programmes, or environmental training for staff. This paper investigates the effects of several water-saving strategies on the growth rates of water consumption at hotels. Using panel data for 361 hotels in Colombia, we show that consumer awareness programmes, environmental training for staff, and environmental research and development (R&D) do not achieve the goal of reducing hotel water consumption. Importantly, our findings indicate that investments in technologically efficient devices lead to increases in water consumption, a result that is compatible with time-use rebound effects.
The prevalence of chatbots in human–computer communication has significantly increased. Emojis, as a form of emotional disclosure, have gained significant attention for their potential to boost chatbot service satisfaction. However, how and when emoji usage can increase satisfaction toward chatbots is not fully examined. This paper aims to fill this gap and contribute to the rapidly evolving field of human-chatbot communication research. Through three experiments, this paper investigates and explores the role of emojis in enhancing chatbot interactions. The results reveal that emojis heighten chatbot's perceived warmth but do not necessarily augment their competence. This warmth promoting effect leads to boosted service satisfaction and is more apparent when chatbots serve hedonic purposes and are pre-programmed rather than highly autonomous. However, the warmth upshot of emojis is not as potent for chatbots as it is for humans. While this study unravels the intricate pathway of how emojis augment service satisfaction, it also extends the dialogue of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and propels the new wave of the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm. Thus, this research lays down pathways for further studies in understanding the role of emotionally simulated interactions in automated technologies.
Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), chatbots are increasingly capable of simulating human-like conversations. But, is this desirable for strategic communications? Will chatbots be more persuasive if they are more human-like, not only in their appearance but also in their interaction and delivery of advertising content? We explored these questions with a 2 (chatbot profile: human-like vs. machine-like) x 2 (message interactivity: high vs. low) x 2 (ad type: narrative vs. factual) experiment (N = 414). Data reveal that high message interactivity fosters positive attitudes toward the chatbot and the ad by mitigating violated expectancy. Narrative ads promote chatbot advertising through perceived transportation. A three-way interaction revealed that when a chatbot is machine-like in appearance, higher interactivity and adoption of a narrative style of delivery serve to increase ad persuasiveness by heightening social presence. Theoretical and practical implications for chatbot advertising are discussed.
Over the past decade, there has been an upsurge in environmentally and socially conscious consumers. The paradigm shift toward sustainability has obligated businesses to understand the role of consumers' attitudes toward sustainability. This study examines the impact of brand attitude on the intent to purchase recycled products through brand trust and brand commitment. Prior research focused specifically on recycled products and luxury brands; thus, this study endeavors to examine consumer behavior from the perspective of non‐luxury brands within the context of recycling. In doing so, a sample of 333 Indian consumers was used to analyze the formulated hypothesis using mediation analysis in SPSS Process Macro. The findings exhibit that brand trust and brand commitment serve as mediators as well as serial mediators in the relationship between brand attitude and purchase intention toward recycled products. The study advances the literature on recycled products by combining two theories – theory of reasoned action and trust‐commitment theory, and by incorporating a branding perspective into the picture. Besides this, it helps marketers prioritize what is really important for a brand to gain trust and commitment from consumers in this competitive world.
Drawing on action identification and complexity theories, this study explores lifestyle congruency and chatbot identification as drivers of engagement, leading to chatbot advocacy. Data collected from 304 individuals were assessed symmetrically through PLS-SEM. Moreover, configuration causal paths were assessed through fsQCA. Findings reveal the role of chatbot identification in the relationship between lifestyle congruency and customer chatbot engagement. Lifestyle congruency and chatbot identification significantly influence all the dimensions of chatbot engagement. Nevertheless, only customer referrals and customer influence lead to chatbot advocacy. Findings from fsQCA reveal six and seven different paths, leading to high and low levels of chatbot advocacy, respectively. This is one of the first studies to apply both symmetrical and asymmetrical analysis to examine different casual paths to chatbot advocacy.
The present study is grounded in social exchange theory and resource exchange theory. By exploring customers' satisfaction with chatbot services and their social media engagement, it examined the effects of responsiveness and a conversational tone in dialogic chatbot communication on customers. To test the proposed mediation model, we surveyed a representative sample of customers (N = 965) living in the U.S. After examining the validity and reliability of our measurement model, we tested the hypothesized model using structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures. All proposed hypotheses were supported, indicating the significant direct effects of (1) responsiveness and a conversational tone on customers' satisfaction with chatbot services, (2) customers' chatbot use satisfaction on social media engagement, (3) customers’ social media engagement on price premium and purchase intention, and (4) purchase intention on price premium. In addition, we examined satisfaction, social media engagement, and purchase intention as significant mediators in the proposed model. Theoretical and practical implications of the study were then discussed.
Chatbots have become common in digital customer service contexts across many industries. While many companies choose to humanize their customer service chatbots (e.g., giving them names and avatars), little is known about how anthropomorphism influences customer responses to chatbots in service settings. Across five studies, including an analysis of a large real-world dataset from an international telecommunications company and four experiments, the authors find that when customers enter a chatbot-led service interaction in an angry emotional state, chatbot anthropomorphism has a negative effect on customer satisfaction, overall firm evaluation, and subsequent purchase intentions. However, this is not the case for customers in non-angry emotional states. The authors uncover the underlying mechanism driving this negative effect (expectancy violations caused by inflated pre-encounter expectations of chatbot efficacy) and offer practical implications for managers. These findings suggest it is important to both carefully design chatbots and consider the emotional context in which they are used, particularly in customer service interactions that involve resolving problems or handling complaints.
Environmental protection is a central challenge these days. At the same time, digital technologies have experienced tremendous technical progress in recent years and their potentials to support firms’ sustainability strategies and corporate social responsibility efforts are intensively discussed. In this respect, companies search for efficient ways to trigger a change of employee behavior in terms of climate-friendly practices. We propose chatbots as a promising technology to promote the climate-friendly behavior of employees. Following a Design Science Research (DSR) procedure, we develop a chatbot prototype called KlimaKarl to sensitize the workforce to behave in a more climate-conscious way in the everyday office life. We show that chatbots may be a suitable instrument to promote employees’ climate-friendly behavior.
This study aims to determine the impact of personality traits and social experience on Indonesian youngsters’ intention to purchase impulsively from social commerce (SC) platforms. Furthermore, latent state-trait, personal traits and social impact were used to determine the factors influencing this impulsive behavior.
This is a theoretical research model with data obtained from 658 Indonesian youngsters between the ages of 18 and 24. The data were prepared using exploratory and confirmatory factors with the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach used to analyze the direct, indirect and moderating effects.
The result showed that hedonic motivation is the most influential personality trait construct that directly determines youngsters’ purchasing intention, followed by perceived behavior control. Furthermore, their constructs from social experience, namely, subjective norms and peer communication, significantly have an indirect effect on the dependent variable through mediator hedonic motivation and perceived behavior control.
Preliminary studies neglected the social interaction process used by youngsters’ in the impulsive purchase of the SC context. Therefore, this research postulated the associated factors by involving their interplay between personal traits and social experience.
Purpose
Drawing on consumer brand relationship theory, this study aims to investigate online brand engagement, brand trust and consumer brand identification as antecedents of brand love, amongst Generation Y and Z consumers. It explores the role of brand love in predicting consumers’ intention to co-create value and willingness to pay a premium price for the brand, for brands followed on social media.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a study of 332 followers of brands on social media were analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Results highlight the role of brand love in mediating the relationship between antecedents online brand engagement and consumer brand identification on intention to co-create value and willingness to pay a premium price. Consumers who trust the brand are more likely to intend to co-create value and are more willing to pay a price premium and these relationships are enhanced when the brand is loved.
Practical implications
Findings provide guidance for managers seeking to build brand friendship relationships with young consumers through social media. Results caution against a form of “superficial” friendship where the consumer may interact and co-create value online, yet fail to value the brand, evidenced through a willingness to pay a premium price.
Originality/value
The research identifies the critical role of brand love in fostering relationships with brands that young consumers follow on social media. The study reveals that neither online brand engagement nor consumer brand identification will result in co-creation of value or willingness to pay a premium price unless the consumer experiences brand love.
Over the last ten years there has been a growing interest around text-based chatbots, software applications interacting with humans using natural written language. However, despite the enthusiastic market predictions, ‘conversing’ with this kind of agents seems to raise issues that go beyond their current technological limitations, directly involving the human side of interaction. By adopting a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) lens, in this article we present a systematic literature review of 83 papers that focus on how users interact with text-based chatbots. We map the relevant themes that are recurrent in the last ten years of research, describing how people experience the chatbot in terms of satisfaction, engagement, and trust, whether and why they accept and use this technology, how they are emotionally involved, what kinds of downsides can be observed in human-chatbot conversations, and how the chatbot is perceived in terms of its humanness. On the basis of these findings, we highlight open issues in current research and propose a number of research opportunities that could be tackled in future years.
Purpose
To provide better services to customers, especially immediate responses and 24/7 availability, businesses are implementing text-based automated conversational agents, i.e. chatbots on their social platforms and websites. Chatbots are required to not only provide customers with necessary consultancy and guidance but also communicate friendly and socially. Based on the cognitive fit theory, this study attempts to examine the role of chatbot as a decision aid and how the match between information presentation in forms of decisional guidance and communication style and the shopping task influences consumers' perceived cognitive fit and decision performance outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 x 2 x 2 between subject online experiment was conducted to identify which kind of decisional guidance (suggestive and informative guidance) and communication style (task-oriented vs social-oriented style) are the most appropriate for each type of shopping task (searching vs browsing task).
Findings
The findings show that when customers interact with chatbots, they will perceive higher cognitive fit if the chatbots provide them with suggestive guidance and communicate in a friendly style especially when they perform a searching task.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to understand the role of chatbots as a decision aid to customers using the communicative language. This study also tries to explore the cognitive fit theory in a novel way, and we propose the information presentation in forms of communicative language rather than matrices, tables and graphs.
Chatbots are increasingly engaged in retail settings, although research shows that consumers typically prefer engaging with humans over chatbots. Past literature has argued that anthropomorphising chatbots can lead to more effective consumer interactions. The current work further enhances this literature by showing that chatbots can be given human qualities like warmth and competence to enhance positive consumer experiences. However, we find that these exchanges are contingent on consumers’ time orientation. We conduct one pre-test (N = 103), two laboratory experiments (N = 213 and 233) and a third study engaging live chatbot conversations (N = 77) to test the premises of our study. The findings show that present-oriented subjects prefer a warm versus competent chatbot conversation, leading to favourable product decisions. Their counterparts, future-oriented subjects, prefer a competent vs. warm conversation. Brand perceptions further mediate these effects. The findings contribute to the literature on chatbot anthropomorphism and inform managerial decisions.
Many of the world's leading brands and increasingly government agencies are using intelligent agent technologies, also known as chatbots to interact with consumers. However, consumer satisfaction with chatbots is mixed. Consumers report frustration with chatbots arising from misunderstood questions, irrelevant responses, and poor integration with human service agents. This study examines whether human-computer interactions can be more personalized by matching consumer personality with congruent machine personality using language. Although the idea that personality is manifested through language, and that people are more likely to be responsive to others with the same personality is well known, there is a dearth of research that examines whether this is consistent for human-computer interactions. Based on a sample of over 57,000 chatbot interactions, this study demonstrates that consumer personality can be predicted during contextual interactions, and that chatbots can be manipulated to ‘assume a personality’ using response language. Matching consumer personality with congruent chatbot personality had a positive impact on consumer engagement with chatbots and purchasing outcomes for interactions involving social gain.
This study aims to address a gap in the hospitality literature by exploring how the multifaceted and richly blended nature of cultural elements in both Western and Eastern cultures is combined within luxury hotels to meet consumers' needs. A conceptual framework is developed and examined to delineate how cultural travel motivation influences luxury hotel consumers' interest in cultural factors and in turn affects their existential authenticity, hotel image, perceived value, satisfaction, and brand loyalty. A self-administered questionnaire was adopted for data collection from hotel consumers in the Six Senses Hotel Resort in China, registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. It examined cultural motivation, cultural interest, and attitudes to experiential authenticity, hotel image, satisfaction and loyalty. The results enhance the understanding of the mechanism by which cognitive cultural motivation and interest have significant effects on the emotional bonds that can form between consumers’ existential authenticity, hotel image and perceived value.
Purpose
This study aims to compare the relative importance of service quality (SQ), customer satisfaction (CS) and positive emotional experiences (PEE) to determine which is more influential in customers’ intention to spread positive eWOM.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire that had been translated previously into English, German and Spanish and contained scales from previous studies, as well as a new scale created for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) (which was tested before fieldwork commenced), was sent through an online survey to all customers who had stayed in a hotel during the previous three months and were selected from the customers’ database of two international hotel chains that operate hotels worldwide, most of which are middle-upper class establishments that specialize in the holiday market. A total of 3,671 valid questionnaires were obtained, and the research model was tested using partial least squares.
Findings
The findings suggested that, in the context of mid-upscale hotels, SQ is of paramount importance for CS, but by itself, does not guarantee customers’ involvement in generating and spreading positive eWOM. CS, by itself, neither guarantees customer involvement in positive eWOM spreading. However, the provision of services that can generate PEE among hotel guests is a powerful determinant of positive eWOM spreading and also has a very positive effect on CS.
Research limitations/implications
The results are based on a sample selected from customers of mid-upper-class hotels that cater to the holiday segment, and therefore, apply only to customers who use this category of hotel services. Further research should be conducted on mid-lower-class hotels to determine whether the results obtained in this paper can be generalized throughout the hotel industry.
Practical implications
This study provides useful insights for hotel marketing managers by identifying a key causal element that fosters consumer creativity and consumer content creation by spreading eWOM. Managerial practices should strive to provide guest experiences that have the ability to increase emotional outcomes. The results have practical implications for product/service development, communication and customer relationship activities, as well as price and revenue management. Specifically, SME hotels could benefit from an increased volume of positive eWOM to increase their competitiveness.
Originality/value
The antecedents of eWOM have received less attention in research than its effects. Drawing on a large sample of hotel customers, this paper sheds light on the important issue of identifying which factors motivate customers to engage in spreading positive eWOM specifically in the hotel industry. The results also suggested that WOM and eWOM should not be considered strictly equivalent either in their features and effects or in their antecedents.
This study aims to examine the potential predictors of customers’ pro-environmental intention based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework. PLS-SEM was used to tests the hypotheses using a sample of 217 green hotel customers. The results reveal that brand experience and customer inspiration significantly affect pro-environmental intention. Further, the results show customer inspiration significantly mediates the relationship between green hotel brand experience and pro-environmental intention. This study clearly shows the relationship between green hotel brand experience, customer inspiration and pro-environmental intention. Thus, this article contributes to exiting hospitality studies by identifying gaps and proposing a holistic view to understand customers’ pro-environmental intention in the green hotel industry.
Major environmental issues facing our planet are considered to be partly rooted in consumer overconsumption that has resulted from high economic growth. Pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) have been studied extensively in developed Western countries but more research is needed in developing non-Western countries. Additionally, there are increasing calls for research providing broader theoretical and behavioural explanations of consumers’ intentions to adopt PEBs. Therefore, the aim of this research was to examine the factors affecting consumers’ PEBs in Saudi Arabia. Quantitative data (n = 613) were collected using a survey method. The proposed conceptual model and associated hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. The results revealed that consumers’ intentions to adopt direct- and indirect-PEBs are affected by innovativeness, materialism, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern, but not by social influence. Evidence was also found of differences between younger and older respondents. These findings can be used to formulate effective marketing strategies to benefit the environment, society, and sustainable companies in the country.
The paper examines the antecedents of Australian hotel consumer pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). The research investigates three forms of hotel guests’ actual (self-reported) PEB: water-saving, energy-saving, and recycling behaviors. This study employs a hotel-customer survey in Australia (n = 339). A focus on green mindfulness is an innovative feature of the study. Interestingly, the results show green mindfulness to be the dominant predictor of hotel guests’ PEB, followed by the individual’s green habits at home. The findings address current environmental issues in the hotel industry and extend the literature of tourist sustainability on the actual PEB in a hotel context. Practically, this research contributes insights for hoteliers to understand guests’ PEB so that they can improve their green programs.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the effects of different touch points on customer experience, second, effects of customer experience on loyalty intentions, and actual spend, and third, the moderating role of motivation orientation on these effects.
Design/methodology/approach
By recognizing the importance of capturing customer experience assessments at the “time of the experience”, a smartphone technology mobile app was developed for the purpose of this study. Real time customer experience data were collected at individual touch points.
Findings
The results show that the real-time touch point evaluations significantly effect overall customer experience and that these effects significantly differ for utilitarian and hedonic motivation orientations. The effects of technology, atmospherics, employee–customer interaction and service/product interaction touch points on overall customer experience are significantly stronger for hedonic orientation than for utilitarian orientation. In contrast, the effect of process touch point on overall customer experience is significantly stronger for utilitarian than hedonic orientation. Also, favorable overall customer experience evaluations exert significant positive influence on loyalty intentions, and actual spend, and these influences are significantly stronger for consumers with hedonic than utilitarian motivation orientations.
Practical implications
The findings of this study will enable companies to manage customer experience programs effectively by providing an understanding of the distinct touch points that occur along the customer journey and the relative importance of each of these touch points in enhancing customer experience.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical study that offers important insights on the effects of different touch points on customer experience, and on the moderating role of consumer motivation orientations on the touch points – customer experience – loyalty link by using real-time data.