This study proposes and tests a model of travelers' self-service technology adoption to explain why travelers choose self-service technologies over service staff. Desire for interaction with service staff serves as a countervailing construct against technology-related perceptions and a subsequent technology adoption decision. Based on a resort hotel industry and data from a national sample, the proposed model provides cogent explanations for the two service transaction options' counteracting nature (self-service technologies vs. the service staff) toward the traveler's technology adoption in business transaction situations. The study shows the differently conceptualized role of the customer's desire for interaction. The proposed model allows service providers to examine the customer's willingness to adopt or avoid using self-service technologies and to determine a proper combination of technology and staff deployment.
As technological advances profoundly impact on business and marketing strategy, self-service technologies (SSTs) surface as an alternative or as a replacement of human-based service transactions (Rust & Espinoza, 2006). SST adoption benefits include labor cost reduction over time (Chang and Yang, 2008, Erdly and Chatterjee, 2003 and Walker et al., 2002), creation of competitive niches and differentiation (Meuter and Bitner, 1998 and Slifka, 2010), and improvement in consumer service and operational efficiency (Carline, 2007, Curran et al., 2003, Dabholkar, 1996 and Meuter et al., 2003). Operators and managers remain hesitant to adopting SSTs due to their significant drain on resources if SSTs are not accepted by consumers (Curran and Meuter, 2005 and Meuter et al., 2003). Service organizations fear losing customer–employee interactions may inhibit service recovery efforts, shatter social bonds between consumers and the organization, reduce up-selling opportunities, and cause service staff resentment of the technology (Beatson et al., 2006, Bitner, 2001, Curran et al., 2003 and Meuter and Bitner, 1998).
In the hospitality and tourism industry, SST applications have increased substantially in recent years. Traveling consumers today encounter many SSTs such as airport self check-in kiosks, electronic tourist guides, tourism information kiosks, self-service systems in dining facilities, hotel self check-in, and automated hotel check-out (Kincaid and Baloglu, 2005, Riebeck et al., 2008 and Stockdale, 2007). Stockdale (2007) uses the label “self-service tourist” to refer to travelers experiencing a wide variety of technology applications online and offline, before (information search), during (actual visit), and after visitation. Tourism operation managers need to know how the two competing choices–SSTs vs. the service staff–affect travelers. Under what conditions will travelers adopt or reject SSTs?
This study shows how the traveler's intrinsic desire for interaction-based service encounters counteracts perceptions and adoption of SSTs as a method of service transactions. In particular, this study enriches the Technology Adoption Model's (TAM) by introducing an intrinsic factor, the desire for human interaction and related constructs such as the traveler's desires for privacy, autonomy, and effectiveness. Extending the literature, this study models both perceived usefulness of SSTs and desire for interaction as key mediating variables. How do the traveler's perceived usefulness of SSTs and desire for human interaction mediate the effects of perceived ease of use and technology-related instrumental desires toward SST adoption?
