Human staff vs. service robot vs. fellow customer: Does it matter who helps your customer following a service failure incident?

The key to excellent service delivery is to ensure harmonious interactions between service actors. Therefore, in the event of service failure incidents, an understanding of the roles and interactions of these service actors is critical to achieving positive service outcomes. This research addresses the question: How do interactions between customers and these service actors (human staff/automated technological interface/fellow customer) influence their service experience following a service failure? We draw on role theory and answer this question via three experimental studies. Findings show that customers evaluate their service experience less favourably when receiving service recovery from fellow customers rather than firms (human staff and service robots). Furthermore, a firm’s instrumental recovery, rather than informational recovery, leads to a more favourable service evaluation, although this effect is absent when service recovery was given by fellow customers. Findings provide insights into the role of each actor in determining customer service evaluation.     

Does a cute artificial intelligence assistant soften the blow? The impact of cuteness on customer tolerance of assistant service failure

As artificial intelligent technologies have been increasingly applied in tourism and hospitality industry, the service failure caused by artificial intelligence assistant and how to recover them are worth empirical studying. Laboratory experiments were employed to test the impact of cuteness in service failure, with effective manipulation of cute appearance, cute voice and cute language style of artificial intelligence assistant. By utilizing three studies with seven experiments, this research demonstrated the positive effect of cuteness design of artificial intelligence assistant on customer tolerance of service failure and further revealed the two mediating paths (tenderness and performance expectancy) as well as the boundary (failure severity and time pressure) of the cuteness effect. These findings contribute to the knowledge on artificial intelligent assistant service and provide insight for cute design using in tourism and hospitality industry.     

How should I respond to a complaining customer? A model of Cognitive-Emotive-Behavioral from the perspective of restaurant service employees

Many studies on coping have been conducted in diverse industries but within the hospitality industry, studies on how employees cope with customer complaints have only just begun, despite the task being one of the most significant stressors amongst service employees. The aim of this paper was to explore the cognitive appraisals, emotional elicitations, emotional coping behavior and complaint handling behavior of service employees. In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 26 frontline restaurant employees. The results show that service employees engaged in different cognitive appraisals and emotional reactions in response to different customer complaints. Subsequently, they engaged in different emotional coping behaviors including both positive and negative of avoidance and approach. Theoretically, a model was developed to depict a holistic picture of Cognitive-Emotive-Behavioral in a complaint-handling context. The findings might assist industry practitioners to devise better complaint handling and coping strategies to enhance both customer and employee satisfaction.     

Backpackers to Fraser Island: Why Is Ecotourism a Neglected Aspect aof Their Experience?

Abstract

This paper discusses the lack of information and training given to backpackers travelling to Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia, on how to behave in the World Heritage environment of the Island. The data are taken from surveys carried out by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage (DOEH) during 1996-7, and from recent surveys carried out by the Fraser Island Tour Company, Top Tours. The data show that travellers see themselves more as short-term visitors on a “anything goes pass,” rather than as groups who may be more able than most to understand that conservation is required in a fragile environment. As a consequence, some aspects of the environmental management of Fraser Island are made more difficult for the DOEH, and certainly the backpackers themselves do not appear to gain a lot out of the eco- tourism aspects of their experience. To be able to deliver on the promise of environmental management through tourism on Fraser Island the DOEH should not assume fair play on the part of visitors, when these are not given a strong message on the requirements of environmental protection in a world heritage setting. A much more rigorous control mechanism is needed.     

First-class airline travelers’ tendency to seek uniqueness: how does it influence their purchase of expensive tickets?

This study explored first-class airline travelers’ need for uniqueness and its impact on their ticket purchase intentions. More specifically, the study investigated the roles of the three subdimensions of the need for uniqueness (i.e. creative choice, unpopular choice, and similarity avoidance) in the formation of travelers’ attitudes toward first-class flights. Consumer attitudes toward first-class flights are hypothesized to increase status value, first-class attachment, and willingness to pay a premium. Based on theoretical relationships between conceptual constructs, the study proposed and tested a model using data from 202 first-class passengers in the United States. The results indicated that all three dimensions of the need for uniqueness positively affect airline travelers’ attitudes toward first-class flights and thus enhanced outcome variables. Furthermore, it was found that materialism moderated the relationship between status value and first-class attachment.