Eleonora Pantano’s research while affiliated with University of Bristol and other places

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has impacted the tourism industry at the global level for years. The UNWTO (2020) reported that COVID-19 led to a fall of 180 million fewer international tourist arrivals and a US $195 billion loss in export revenues from international tourism between January and April 2020. In 2022, UNWTO (2022) revealed that international tourism remains far below pre-pandemic levels. The reason is that health risks are likely to remain in many travellers’ minds, leading to a persistent unwillingness to travel (Duro et al., 2021). Indeed, scholars in the tourism discipline agree that tourism decision-making in risky contexts remains important research (Kim et al., 2022; Sigala, 2020). For instance, Matiza (2020) highlighted that travellers’ behaviour associated with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis is an urgent discourse within contemporary tourism research. Along these lines, an in-depth understanding of travellers’ risk perceptions and risk-taking behaviour is essential for the tourism industry to adjust its market strategies to recover the tourism economy in the post-COVID-19 era.

Purpose Few studies have examined technology-enhanced atmospheres for strengthening customer experience and brand engagement in physical store settings. This study builds on the social presence theory to test for the first time the moderating effects of virtual social presence on customer responses, through AR adoption in-store. Our study aims to understand the impact of technology-enhanced in-store atmospherics (TEISAs) with emphasis on AR elements and virtual social presence on customer experience and engagement behaviours (CEBs) in luxury settings. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses are developed and a survey using 566 responses were collected using Qualtrics. T -tests, two-way ANOVA and structural equation modelling were used for analysis of CEBs. Moreover, using PLS-SEM, we test whether virtual social presence moderates this relationship in a cross-country context; Britain and China, two of the largest economies for luxury growth. Findings The findings demonstrate that TEISAs have a positive impact on emotion and perceived value, with virtual social presence moderating this relationship. The cross-cultural comparison results show that the impact of TEISAs on emotion and perceived value is stronger for British than for Chinese millennials. Originality/value Our model is the first to incorporate technology into various store atmospherics, to employ virtual social presence as a new moderator, and to provide empirical evidence on the effects of AR on customer experience and CEBs in the real-time luxury retail environment. This study is also the first to consider virtual social presence on social media as a moderating variable.

Humanlike robots are increasingly employed to provide frontline services. They are frequently designed with stereotypically feminine or masculine humanlike features which affect or bias consumer behavior in service encounters. This systematic review of 118 peer‐reviewed journal papers aims to comprehensively capture the current status of the field and identify important research gaps requiring further investigation. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses protocol, a comprehensive framework is developed to conceptualize the process of customer interactions with humanlike service robots, depicting how humanlike service robots influence consumer behavior. Specifically, we identify interaction antecedents, consumer processing factors, outcomes of the interactions, and strengthening/attenuating factors. Based on the framework, the review concludes by identifying issues that future research should seek to solve to contribute to the field. This paper provides a deep understanding of service robot anthropomorphism in marketing and consumer research and proposes a future research agenda to advance knowledge of the field.

Despite the growing body of research on urban tourism in the field of tourism and hospitality, only a limited number of studies have delved into the role of city breaks in tourism and analyzed the tourist experience in city break travel. The primary objective of this study is to identify and conceptualize city break tourism and provide guidance for contemporary analyses of city break travel experiences. Specifically, this study aims to: (1) identify the characteristics of city break travel and develop a conceptual framework for city break tourism based on these features; (2) explore the factors influencing city break tourist experiences. To achieve these goals, a systematic review of city breaks has been conducted in the tourism and hospitality sectors to gain a comprehensive understanding of city break tourism. The study contributes both theoretically and practically to the field.

Purpose Technologies are dramatically reshaping various aspects of the store space, modifying design, services and usage. Accordingly, several studies tackled technology impact on each of these aspects, investigating design, service and usage singularly, but lacking a holistic viewpoint. Thus, this paper aims to identify the different dimensions of the store space (levels) and assess the impact of technology introduction on store space dimensions (levels). Design/methodology/approach The research employs a qualitative approach based on direct observations of apparel brand stores located in London between March and April 2023. Data collection followed a structured observation protocol covering store information, adopted technologies and their effects across various store space levels, i.e. consumption activities, service environment and customer experience. Findings Results show that the store space can be defined as the sum of different dimensions consisting of consumption activities, service environment and customer experience. Accordingly, technology introduction holistically influences each of the three store space levels as follows: (1) first, technologies redefine how activities are performed or alters the location where certain activities are consumed; (2) within the service environment, technologies replace traditional elements, fill empty spaces and enhance the atmospherics; finally, (3) customer experience is enhanced in hedonic and/or utilitarian terms due to technology adoption. Originality/value This paper defines the space as a dynamic entity, providing a deeper understanding of how the store space is produced, from a holistic point of view and the role of retail technology in this process.

This research analyses managers’ perceptions of the multiple types of artificial intelligence (AI) required at each stage of the business‐to‐business (B2B) service recovery journey for successful human–AI collaboration in this context. Study 1 is an exploratory study that identifies managers’ perceptions of the main stages of a B2B service recovery journey based on human–AI collaboration and the corresponding roles of the human–AI collaboration at each stage. Study 2 provides an empirical examination of the proposed theoretical framework to identify the specific types of intelligence required by AI to enhance performance in each stage of B2B service recovery, based on managers’ perceptions. Our findings show that the prediction stage benefits from collaborations involving processing‐speed and visual‐spatial AI. The detection stage requires logic‐mathematical, social and processing‐speed AI. The recovery stage requires logic‐mathematical, social, verbal‐linguistic and processing‐speed AI. The post‐recovery stage calls for logic‐mathematical, social, verbal‐linguistic and processing‐speed AI.