Indian Journal of Marketing

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Can Consumer Citizenship Behavior be Created Using Service Robots in Luxury Hospitality Services?


Affiliations
1 New Delhi Institute of Management, Tughlaqabad Institutional Area, New Delhi -110 062, Heard Island and McDonald Islands
2 FOSTIIMA Business School, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110 077, India
3 Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore - 453 771, Madhya Pradesh, India
4 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


Purpose : This study sought to increase an understanding of consumer citizenship behavior through the service quality of AI-mediated service robots (SR) in the luxury hotel context. Since the expectations and demands from luxury customers are different, this paper studied the effect of service quality provided by robots on customer citizenship behavior.

Methodology : In the initial phase, qualitative research was conducted by interviewing people who had experienced SR in luxury hospitality settings. The second phase of the study was conducted based on the respondents’ themes. In the second phase, video clips of robots performing tasks like concierge and front-desk employees were shown to understand the customers’ perceptions.

Findings : The study’s findings showcased the importance of communication quality between the inorganic service agent and humans. Simultaneously, the factors like problem-solving and trendiness did not have a positive impact on service quality. However, an interesting finding was that the perception of robot service quality positively affected consumer citizenship behavior in the luxury hotel context.

Practical Implications : Luxury hotels have deployed SR in their operations in developed economies. Luxury hotels are renowned for their service quality, and by deploying SR, they are entering a new service industry domain. The results of this study showcased that communication ability, competence, and quality are significant factors in perceiving high-service quality by luxury consumers.

Originality/Value : The research explored the impact of service robots in the luxury hospitality industry on consumer citizenship behavior toward the hospitality organization. The study empirically validated the essential factors for creating citizenship behavior among luxury patrons.


Keywords

Service Robots, Luxury Hotel Services, Service Quality Perception, Consumer Citizenship Behavior.

Paper Submission Date : June 5, 2022 ; Paper sent back for Revision : September 15, 2022 ; Paper Acceptance Date : October 3, 2022 ; Paper Published Online : April 15, 2023

User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Ahearne, M., Bhattacharya, C. B., & Gruen, T. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of customer-company identification: Expanding the role of relationship marketing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(3), 574 – 585. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.90.3.574

  • Alexis, P. (2017). R-Tourism: Introducing the potential impact of robotics and service automation in tourism. “Ovidius” University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, 17(1), 211–216. https://stec.univ-ovidius.ro/html/anale/RO/2017/Section-III/16.pdf

  • Arbib, M. A., & Fellous, J.-M. (2004). Emotions: From the brain to robot. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(12), 554 – 561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.10.004

  • Barry, B., & Crant, J. M. (2000). Dyadic communication relationships in organizations: An attribution/expectancy approach. Organization Science, 11(6), 648–664. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2640375

  • Belanche, D., Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Schepers, J. (2020). Service robot implementation: A theoretical framework and research agenda. The Service Industries Journal, 40(3–4), 203–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2019.1672666

  • Bowen, J., & Morosan, C. (2018). Beware hospitality industry: The robots are coming. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 10(6), 726–733. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-07-2018-0045

  • Buhalis, D., Harwood, T., Bogicevic, V., Viglia, G., Beldona, S., & Hofacker, C. (2019). Technological disruptions in services: Lessons from tourism and hospitality. Journal of Service Management, 30(4), 484–506. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-12-2018-0398

  • Čaić, M., Odekerken-Schröder, G., & Mahr, D. (2018). Service robots: Value co-creation and co-destruction in elderly care networks. Journal of Service Management, 29(2), 178–205. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-07-2017-0179

  • Chiang, A.-H., & Trimi, S. (2020). Impacts of service robots on service quality. Service Business, 14, 439–459. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-020-00423-8

  • Choi, Y., Choi, M., Oh, M., & Kim, S. (2020). Service robots in hotels: Understanding the service quality perceptions of human-robot interaction. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(6), 613–635. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2020.1703871

  • Chung, M., Ko, E., Joung, H., & Kim, S. J. (2020). Chatbot e-service and customer satisfaction regarding luxury brands. Journal of Business Research, 117, 587–595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.10.004

  • Clokie, T. L., & Fourie, E. (2016). Graduate employability and communication competence: Are undergraduates taught relevant skills? Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 79(4), 442–463. http://doi.org/10.1177/2329490616657635

  • Edvardsson, B., Frow, P., Jaakkola, E., Keiningham, T. L., Koskela-Huotari, K., Mele, C., & Tombs, A. (2018). Examining how context change foster service innovation. Journal of Service Management, 29(5), 932 – 955. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-04-2018-0112

  • Ekinci, Y. (2001). The validation of the generic service quality dimensions: An alternative approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 8(6), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0969-6989(00)00037-0

  • Enz, C. A., & Siguaw, J. A. (2000). Best practices in service quality. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 41(5), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/001088040004100531

  • Epley, N. (2018). A mind like mine: The exceptionally ordinary underpinnings of anthropomorphism. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 3(4), 591–598. https://doi.org/10.1086/699516

  • Filimonau, V., & Brown, L. (2018). ‘Last hospitality’ as an overlooked dimension in contemporary hospitality theory and practice. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 74, 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.02.019

  • Garg, A. K. (2018). Measuring service quality and its relationship with customer patronage at a car dealership in South Africa. Indian Journal of Marketing, 48(9), 55–65. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2018/v48/i9/131442

  • Garvin, D. A. (1984). What does “Product quality” really mean? Sloan Management Review, 7(1), 25–41.

  • Grönroos, C. (1984). A service quality model and its marketing implication. European Journal of Marketing, 18(4), 36–44. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004784

  • Groth, M. (2005). Customers as good soldiers: Examining citizenship behaviors in internet service deliveries. Journal of Management, 31(1), 7–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206304271375

  • Hemmington, N., Kim, P. B., & Wang, C. (2018). Benchmarking hotel service quality using two-dimensional importance-performance benchmark vectors (IPBV). Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 28(1), 2–25. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-06-2017-0103

  • Huang, M.-H., & Rust, R. T. (2018). Artificial intelligence in service. Journal of Service Research, 21(2), 155–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670517752459

  • Ivanov, S. (2020). The impact of automation on tourism and hospitality jobs. Information Technology & Tourism, 22, 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-020-00175-1

  • Ivanov, S. H., & Webster, C. (2017). Adoption of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation by travel, tourism and hospitality companies – A cost-benefit analysis. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3007577

  • Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1480–1486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.014

  • Krishnamoorthy, V., Karthikeyan, P., & Prakash, N. (2016). An examination of the relationship between service quality and patients’ satisfaction in the hospital industry. Indian Journal of Marketing, 46(11), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2016/v46/i11/104732

  • Kumar, A., & Malik, G. (2022). Structural equation modeling of airlines service quality: A study of airlines industry in India. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 15(6), 28–45. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2022/v15i6/170025

  • Kuo, C.-M., Chen, L.-C., & Tseng, C.-Y. (2017). Investigating an innovative service with hospitality robots. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(5), 1305–1321. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-08-2015-0414

  • Lee, M. K., Forlizzi, J., Rybski, P. E., Crabbe, F., Chung, W., Finkle, J., Glaser, E., & Kiesler, S. (2009, March). The snackbot: Documenting the design of a robot for long-term human-robot interaction. In, HRI ’09: Proceedings of the 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction (pp. 7–14). https://doi.org/10.1145/1514095.1514100

  • Lee, S. M., & Lee, D. (2020). “Untact”: A new customer service strategy in the digital age. Service Business, 14, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-019-00408-2

  • Lee, S., & Choi, J. (2017). Enhancing user experience with conversational agent for movie recommendation: Effects of self-disclosure and reciprocity. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 103, 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.02.005

  • Mattila, A. S. (1999). The role of culture in the service evaluation process. Journal of Service Research, 1(3), 250–261. https://doi.org/10.1177/109467059913006

  • Mende, M., Scott, M. L., van Doorn, J., Grewal, D., & Shanks, I. (2019). Service robots rising: How humanoid robots influence service experiences and elicit compensatory consumer responses. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(4), 535–556. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243718822827

  • Mohr, J. J., & Sohi, R. S. (1995). Communication flows in distribution channels: Impact on assessments of communication quality and satisfaction. Journal of Retailing, 71(4), 393–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-4359(95)90020-9

  • Monty, B., & Skidmore, M. (2003). Hedonic pricing and willingness to pay for bed and breakfast amenities in Southeast Wisconsin. Journal of Travel Research, 42(2), 195–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287503257500

  • Murphy, J., Gretzel, U., & Pesonen, J. (2019). Marketing robot services in hospitality and tourism: The role of anthropomorphism. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(7), 784–795. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2019.1571983

  • Murphy, J., Hofacker, C., & Gretzel, U. (2017). Dawning of the age of robots in hospitality and tourism: Challenges for teaching and research. European Journal of Tourism Research, 15, 104–111. https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v15i.265

  • Nair, P. R., Sahay, M., & Anbuudayasankar, S. P. (2017). Investigation through system dynamics for the benefits of ICT intervention in distribution. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 10(8), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2017/v10i8/117427

  • O’keefe, D. J. (2015). Persuasion: Theory and research. Sage Publications.

  • Oliver, R. L., & DeSarbo, W. S. (1988). Response determinants in satisfaction judgments. Journal of Consumer Research, 14(4), 495–507. https://doi.org/10.1086/209131

  • Pandey, P. K, Verma, P., & Trayambak, S. (2020). Empirical analysis of interrelationship between service quality, consumer involvement, and consumer satisfaction. Indian Journal of Marketing, 50(4), 25–42. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2020/v50/i4/151571

  • Parasuraman, A., Berry, L. L., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1991). Perceived service quality as a customer-based performance measure: An empirical examination of organizational barriers using an extended service quality model. Human Resource Management, 30(3), 335–364. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.3930300304

  • Qiu, H., Li, M., Shu, B., & Bai, B. (2020). Enhancing hospitality experience with service robots: The mediating role of rapport building. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 29(3), 247–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2019.1645073

  • Shetty, B., Bhandary, R., Chandra, S. R., & Shetty, A. D. (2018). Antecedents to customer loyalty in the restaurant industry: A millennial perspective. Indian Journal of Marketing, 48(7), 23–35. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2018/v48/i7/129720

  • Shukla, A. K. (2009). Trends of marketing management in tourist attractions. Indian Journal of Marketing, 39(5), 28–34. https://indianjournalofmarketing.com/index.php/ijom/article/view/36983

  • Singh, H., Saufi, R. A., Tasnim, R., & Hussin, M. (2017). The relationship between employee job satisfaction, perceived customer satisfaction, service quality, and profitability in luxury hotels in Kuala Lumpur. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 10(1), 26–39. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2017/v10i1/109101

  • Spitzberg, B. H. (2006). Preliminary development of a model and measure of computer-mediated communication (Cmc) competence. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 629–666. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00030.x

  • Tasci, A. D., & Semrad, K. J. (2016). Developing a scale of hospitableness: A tale of two worlds. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 53, 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2015.11.006

  • Tung, V. W., & Au, N. (2018). Exploring customer experiences with robotics in hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(7), 2680–2697. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-06-2017-0322

  • Tung, V. W., & Law, R. (2017). The potential for tourism and hospitality experience research in human-robot interactions. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(10), 2498–2513. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-09-2016-0520

  • Tuomi, A., Tussyadiah, I. P., & Stienmetz, J. (2021). Applications and implications of service robots in hospitality. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 62(2), 232–247. https://doi.org/10.1177/1938965520923961

  • Van Dolen, W., De Ruyter, K., & Lemmink, J. (2004). An empirical assessment of the influence of customer emotions and contact employee performance on encounter and relationship satisfaction. Journal of Business Research, 57(4), 437–444. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00277-1

  • Van Doorn, J., Mende, M., Noble, S. M., Hulland, J., Ostrom, A. L., Grewal, D., & Petersen, J. A. (2017). Domo arigato Mr. Roboto: Emergence of automated social presence in organizational frontlines and customers’ service experiences. Journal of Service Research, 20(1), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670516679272

  • Walls, A., Okumus, F., Wang, Y., & Kwun, D. J.-W. (2011). Understating the consumer experience: An exploratory study of luxury hotels. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20(2), 166–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2011.536074

  • Woo, M. (2019). Assessing customer citizenship behaviors in the airline industry: Investigation of service quality and value. Journal of Air Transport Management, 76, 40–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2019.02.006

  • Yi, Y., & Gong, T. (2008). The effects of customer justice perception and affect on customer citizenship behavior and customer dysfunctional behavior. Industrial Marketing Management, 37(7), 767–783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.01.005

  • Yi, Y., & Gong, T. (2013). Customer value co-creation behavior: Scale development and validation. Journal of Business Research, 66(9), 1279–1284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.02.026

  • Yuan, C. L., Kim, J., & Kim, S. J. (2016). Parasocial relationship effects on customer equity in the social media context. Journal of Business Research, 69(9), 3795–3803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.12.071

  • Zhang, Z., Ye, Q., & Law, R. (2011). Determinants of hotel room price: An exploration of travelers’ hierarchy of accommodation needs. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(7), 972–981. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596111111167551

  • Zolkepli, I. A., & Kamarulzaman, Y. (2015). Social media adoption: The role of media needs and innovation characteristics. Computers in Human Behavior, 43, 189–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.10.050


Abstract Views: 106

PDF Views: 0




  • Can Consumer Citizenship Behavior be Created Using Service Robots in Luxury Hospitality Services?

Abstract Views: 106  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Gautam Agrawal
New Delhi Institute of Management, Tughlaqabad Institutional Area, New Delhi -110 062, Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Savita Sodhi
FOSTIIMA Business School, Dwarka, New Delhi - 110 077, India
Amiya Kumar Mohapatra
Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore - 453 771, Madhya Pradesh, India
Krishna Raj Bhandari
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Abstract


Purpose : This study sought to increase an understanding of consumer citizenship behavior through the service quality of AI-mediated service robots (SR) in the luxury hotel context. Since the expectations and demands from luxury customers are different, this paper studied the effect of service quality provided by robots on customer citizenship behavior.

Methodology : In the initial phase, qualitative research was conducted by interviewing people who had experienced SR in luxury hospitality settings. The second phase of the study was conducted based on the respondents’ themes. In the second phase, video clips of robots performing tasks like concierge and front-desk employees were shown to understand the customers’ perceptions.

Findings : The study’s findings showcased the importance of communication quality between the inorganic service agent and humans. Simultaneously, the factors like problem-solving and trendiness did not have a positive impact on service quality. However, an interesting finding was that the perception of robot service quality positively affected consumer citizenship behavior in the luxury hotel context.

Practical Implications : Luxury hotels have deployed SR in their operations in developed economies. Luxury hotels are renowned for their service quality, and by deploying SR, they are entering a new service industry domain. The results of this study showcased that communication ability, competence, and quality are significant factors in perceiving high-service quality by luxury consumers.

Originality/Value : The research explored the impact of service robots in the luxury hospitality industry on consumer citizenship behavior toward the hospitality organization. The study empirically validated the essential factors for creating citizenship behavior among luxury patrons.


Keywords


Service Robots, Luxury Hotel Services, Service Quality Perception, Consumer Citizenship Behavior.

Paper Submission Date : June 5, 2022 ; Paper sent back for Revision : September 15, 2022 ; Paper Acceptance Date : October 3, 2022 ; Paper Published Online : April 15, 2023


References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom%2F2023%2Fv53%2Fi4%2F172687