A comparative study of self-service technology with service employees: a qualitative analysis of hotels in China
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A comparative study of self‑service technology with service employees: a qualitative analysis of hotels in China Chun Liu1,2 · Kam Hung3 Received: 22 May 2019 / Revised: 4 January 2020 / Accepted: 14 January 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The rise of self-service technology (SST) has transformed the lodging industry. Clarifying how hotels and customers can use SST offers insights for hoteliers and fills a research gap regarding SST and the service employees such technology replaces. To accomplish these aims, the researchers held 4 focus groups followed by 60 in-depth interviews with hoteliers and customers, respectively, to explore the role of SST relative to service employees and their influences on SST use. Findings revealed seven comparison dimensions between SST and service employees along with employees’ influences on SST use. SST were more effective than service employees in terms of cost savings, consistent service quality, and provision of hightech customer experiences. However, service personnel tended to outperform SST in communication, ease of use, usefulness, and high-touch experiences. The merits and disadvantages of SST are dynamic and related to interactions among SST, users (hotels), end users (customers), and alternative service agents (employees). Keywords Self-service technology · Service employee · Hotel · Comparison · Prospect theory
* Chun Liu [email protected] Kam Hung [email protected] 1
School of Tourism Sciences, Beijing International Studies University, 100024 Beijing, China
2
Research Center for Beijing Tourism Development, 100024 Beijing, China
3
School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 17 Science Museum Road, TST‑East, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
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C. Liu, K. Hung
1 Introduction The proliferation of technology has drastically altered service delivery in the hospitality industry (Meuter et al. 2005). In the 1940s, hotels began to use telephones for reservation services. In the 1990s, numerous hotels started building websites (e.g., Hilton.com and ChoiceHotels.com), and third-party websites (e.g., Booking.com and Venere.com) focusing on online hotel reservations emerged. In contemporary society, hotels staffed by robots are beginning to appear. The potential of technology to supplement or replace interpersonal services in the hotel industry appears promising (Lee 2016). Self-service technology (SST) has the potential to revolutionize service delivery by enabling customers to have independent experiences with minimal personnel involvement (Meuter et al. 2000; Lema 2009). The possibilities of SST seem endless (Meuter et al. 2000), and hotels are no stranger to this trend; firms continue to invest in SST applications, including self-check-in/check-out systems, self-service ordering gadgets, and robots (Shin and Perdue 2019). Although the SST application in hotels in China started late, it has been developing rapidly in recent years, and China has been a pioneer i
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