The better I feel,the better I can do: The role of leaders’ positive affective presence

This study adopts the affect theory of social exchange to examine the influence of leaders’ positive affective presence on employees’ service performance via employees’ energy at work and the moderating role of service climate. Based on 383 dyads of leaders and their employees in the hospitality industry, the results reveal that leaders’ positive affective presence has a positive effect on employees’ service performance. Employees’ energy at work mediates the relationship between leaders’ positive affective presence and employees’ service performance. Service climate enhances the relationship of employees’ energy at work and service performance, which in turn strengthens the indirect effect of leaders’ positive affective presence on employees’ service performance via employees’ energy at work.     

How to enhance hotel guests’ acceptance and experience of smart hotel technology: An examination of visiting intentions

Smart hotel is a novel concept in the hospitality industry, and few studies have examined hotel consumers’ intentions to visit smart hotels. This study investigates the relationship between technology readiness (TR) and technology amenities (TA) as antecedents to visiting intentions, using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Based on an online survey with 648 valid responses, the results indicate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are correlated with TA, but not with TR. Furthermore, TR affects intentions to visit smart hotels, but TA does not. The findings enrich the hospitality literature and have practical implications for hospitality marketers designing technology-related marketing strategies to maintain competitiveness. This study contributes to raising awareness of the importance of technological amenities and services for the future visiting intentions of hotel consumers.     

Leveraging human-robot interaction in hospitality services: Incorporating the role of perceived value,empathy, and information sharing into visitors’ intentions to use social robots

Social robots have become pervasive in the tourism and hospitality service environments. The empirical understanding of the drivers of visitors' intentions to use robots in such services has become an urgent necessity for their sustainable deployment. Certainly, using social androids within hospitality services requires organisations' attentive commitment to value creation and fulfilling service quality expectations. In this paper, via structural equation modelling (SEM) and semi-structured interviews with managers, we conceptualise and empirically test visitors' intentions to use social robots in hospitality services. With data collected in Singapore's hospitality settings, we found visitors' intentions to use social robots stem from the effects of technology acceptance variables, service quality dimensions leading to perceived value, and two further dimensions from human robot interaction (HRI): empathy and information sharing. Analysis of these dimensions' importance provides a deeper understanding of novel opportunities managers may take advantage of to position social robot-delivered services in tourism and hospitality strategies.     

What's in a tip? The creation and refinement of a restaurant-tipping motivations scale: A consumer perspective

According to Segrave (1998), since the late 1800s, the study of tipping has provoked debate in a range of abstract dimensions such as economics, sociology, and psychology. To date, the research on the topic has been largely qualitative in nature, while addressing motivating themes (service, social norm, and future service considerations) in isolation from one another. Following a thorough examination of the literature, there is a definite lack of research on the development and testing of a more holistic quantitative scale aimed at identifying the motivational Gestalt driving actual consumer tipping behavior. Therein lies the major theoretical contribution of this study, namely the development and testing of a Tipping Motivations Scale, which over two separate analyses, supports a number of drivers of consumer tipping motivation.In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the empirical dimensions of consumer tipping motivations. The results obtained indicate a reasonable fit between the data and the proposed model across both analyses. This was repeated on two separate occasions and the results largely remained consistent. The findings point to the key role of service in driving the consumer's decision to tip. Other important factors included social conformity, the issue of future visitation, and server actions. Further research is needed to explore whether these dimensions remain constant among other sample groups and across different tipped professions.     

Do customers exhibit engagement behaviors in AI environments? The role of psychological benefits and technology readiness

Although service environments have become increasingly smart due to the infusion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, little research has examined AI environments and their influence on customer behaviors. This research investigated this issue in the context of services. We explored the direct effects of AI environments (compared with the traditional environment) on customer engagement, the role of customer technology readiness (TR) as a moderator, and ideal self-congruity and trust as mediators. Three studies were designed, and data from situational experiments were analyzed. The moderated mediation analysis suggested that customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) occur when customers with higher TR-optimism perceive ideal self-congruity in a conspicuous AI environment (vs. a conspicuous traditional environment). Additionally, customers with higher TR-optimism are more likely to have trust and perform CEBs for lower anthropomorphism in a conspicuous AI environment. The research findings make theoretical and practical contributions to technology applications, service environments, and customer relationship management.     

Sensing the virus. How social capital enhances hoteliers’ ability to cope with COVID-19

In this study, we propose a broad conceptual model that incorporates social capital dimensions and problem-solving routines to understand the determinants behind hotel managements’ perception of and ability to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic—and thus, to innovate their service offering. We provide empirical support for the notion that, due to uncertainty about reopening after lockdown, the hospitality sector has found existing problem-solving routines to be of little use. Although the local community has been unable to form a shared vision around the pandemic, hoteliers have nevertheless relied on their network of relationships to sense the crisis and find their own ways to adapt. Interestingly, we find that overreliance on trustworthy relationships can diminish the ability to sense a crisis objectively. Our results not only shed light on sensemaking in the hotel industry, but also grapple with the theoretical nature of sensemaking as a socially constructed process.     

Effects of podcast tours on tourist experiences in a national park

This study examines the influence of podcast tours on tourist experiences. Based on theoretical accounts that human voices convey rich social information, this study proposes that podcast tours increase perceived social presence and mindfulness that lead to enhanced tourist experiences and environmental stewardship. A field experiment was conducted at a national park using MP3 players containing podcast tours based on four experimental conditions: 2 information source compositions (single vs. multiple narrator voices) × 2 narrating styles (formal vs. conversational). The results support that even if communicated through audio-only media, the human voice creates a positive social context for meaningful interaction which influences tourist experiences and stewardship. Mindfulness was also found to be an important construct affecting the quality of experiences. The findings support the usefulness of podcast tours as interpretative media.     

The underlying dimensions of tipping behavior: An exploration, confirmation, and predictive model

Tipping is unique in that the customer provides a major portion of the employee's wage. Because tipping is voluntary and because it usually occurs retrospectively of the service rendered, tipping practices have stimulated historic interest from both economic and psychological perspectives. This research extends the body of knowledge on tipping by integrating recent advances in motivational research which support the existence of a universal, multifaceted model of intrinsic motivation. Inasmuch, the present research investigated the underlying motives for tipping under various conditions of service. Findings supported the existence of six underlying behavioral dimensions associated with tipping: (a) Heuristic Model, (b) Impress Others, (c), Reciprocal Reward, (d) Social Obligation, (e) Generosity, and (f) Control Service. Each of these six corresponded closely with the basic motivators proposed by the multifaceted model. Results from a hierarchical linear regression confirmed the overriding influence of heuristics on tip amounts under various service conditions.     

To dine or not to dine? Collective wellbeing in hospitality in the COVID-19 era

The hospitality industry has been hard hit by the ongoing pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. As restaurants develop comprehensive reopening plans, consumers may still have mixed feelings about simple things such as going out for a meal. This paper explores wellbeing perceptions of restaurant diners. Based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews, this paper reveals that wellbeing in hospitality is a collective concept comprised of multiple domains of a service system, including macro, meso, and micro levels. Furthermore, this paper provides strong support to show that wellbeing is not only sought collectively, but also is determined by consumers’ wellbeing perceptions of both themselves and others around them, and thus contributes to the wellbeing literature in the hospitality domain. Finally, this paper identifies potential concerns regarding crowding and behaviors of other guests, which extends the hospitality literature on perceived territoriality. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.