How Chatbot Language Shapes Consumer Perceptions: The Role of Concreteness and Shared Competence.

Política de acceso abierto tomada de: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/13968 (submitted version)In service settings, chatbots frequently are associated with substandard care, depersonalization, and linguistic misunderstandings. Drawing on assemblage theory (i.e., the examination of how heterogeneous parts, through their ongoing interaction, create an emergent whole with new capacities that the parts themselves do not have), the authors investigate how chatbots’ language concreteness—the specificity of words used during interactions with consumers—can help improve satisfaction, willingness to use the chatbot, and perceived shopping efficiency. Across three experiments, the findings reveal a psychological mechanism driven by concrete chatbot language that makes chatbots seem competent and reinforces consumer self-competence, in turn boosting satisfaction, willingness to use the chatbot, and perceived shopping efficiency. This pattern of results contributes to consumer behavior by providing evidence of the chatbot language concreteness effect on consumer–chatbot interactions. For practitioners, the authors outline conversational designs that could help optimize implementation of chatbots in customer service.The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the TED2021-129513B-C22 project, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación), and the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (grant numbers 130519B-I00, AEI/10.13039/501100011033, PID2020-113561RB-I00)

Find a flight for me, Oscar! Motivational customer experiences with chatbots.

Purpose. Drawing on the self-determination theory, the assemblage theory, and customer experience literature, we aim to develop a framework to understand motivational customer experiences with chatbots. Design/methodology/approach. We employ a multimethod approach to examine the interaction between individuals and airlines’ chatbots. Three components of self-determined interaction with the chatbot (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) and five components of the customer–chatbot experience (sensory, intellectual, affective, behavioral, and social) are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Findings. The findings confirm the direct influence of self-determined interaction on customer experience and the direct effects of these two constructs on participants’ attitudes toward and satisfaction with the chatbot. The model also supports the mediating roles of customer experience and attitude toward the chatbot. Practical Implications. We offer managers a broad understanding of individuals’ interactions with chatbots through three elements: motivation to use chatbots, experiential responses, and individuals’ valuation of whether the interactions have amplified (or limited) the outcomes obtained from the experience. Originality/value. We contribute to the hospitality and tourism literature with a hybrid approach that reflects on current theoretical developments regarding human- and interaction-centric interpretations of customer experience with chatbots.This research was funded by the (a) Plan Andaluz de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación de la Junta de Andalucía, Grupo SEJ-567; (b) the Universidad de Málaga, Andalucía Tech, Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia (Spain); and (c) the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-113561RB-I00

Destination website quality, users’ attitudes and the willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences

Purpose – An official destination website (ODW) is a key component for tourist’s decision-making processes. ODW acts as a direct channel where users may share experiences and opinions about previous or future travels. At the same time, it drives user participation in destination branding activities. In this context, it is crucial to identify how the destination website, using Web 2.0 technologies, could motivate user’s participation with the brand. The purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate a model that posits the destination website quality as a determinant factor to predict users’ attitudes toward the website and their willingness to participate in co-creation experiences. Design/methodology/approach – Using a combined qualitative and quantitative method, this paper provides an exploratory research that examines the role of destination website quality on attitudes toward the website and the willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Findings – Findings confirm that there is a direct and significant relationship between website quality, attitudes toward the website and willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Moreover, attitudes toward the website partially mediate relationships between destination website quality and willingness to participate in online co-creation experiences. Originality/value – The literature of value co-creation is trying to identify which factors drive consumer’s participation with brands across different consumption contexts. This study provides evidence that confirms, from a tourism destination website point of view, that website quality is one of these key factors that motives user’s co-creation with a destination.This research was funded by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, with the National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation ECO2014-59356-P, and also with the research project ECO2015-69103-

Linking the online brand experience and brand credibility with tourists' behavioral intentions toward a destination.

Política de acceso abierto tomada de: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/17162 (submitted version)Even though concepts such as brand experience and online brand credibility are critical in destination marketing strategies, there have been no previous studies that have analyzed their relationships and influence on tourists’ behavioral intentions. This paper develops a multimethod approach using a projective technique, an online experiment, and a multigroup analysis with five official destination platforms (the website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube). The results confirm positive direct and indirect relationships among online destination brand experience (BE), perceived online destination brand credibility (PODBC), and users’ behavioral intentions toward the destination (intentions to visit/recommend). The multigroup analysis that was conducted revealed that users who had not visited the destination shaped their behavioral intentions by assigning a greater importance to the online destination BE than did those who had physically visited the destination. Conversely, users who had visited the destination showed a higher intensity in the path between PODBC and behavioral intentions.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, Grant Number: ECO2015-69103-R, and by Universidad de Málaga, Andalucía (Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia) (Spain)

Tourism Consumption through Smart Devices: Bridging Tourist-Smart Object Assemblage and the Non-Representational Theory

Drawing on non-representational theory, we investigate tourists’ interactive experiences when planning tourism consumption with smart speakers. We employ an interactionist/performative approach through two qualitative studies to interrogate consumers’ information production, expressive roles, and information-processing styles during interactions with smart speakers in a pre-consumption stage

Experiential Marketing in FITUR: Analysis of two destinies competitors, Canary and Baleares Islands

Se realiza un estudio exploratorio cualitativo y cuantitativo, desde el punto de vista del marketing experiencial, de la visita a los stands de dos destinos similares en cuanto a su oferta turística principal (las Islas Canarias y las Islas Baleares) en la Feria de Turismo Internacional (FITUR). Los resultados confirman que el arketing experiencial no es un área de gestión específica en la promoción de los destinos analizados, aunque las evidencias empíricas demuestran que existe una relación positiva y moderada entre la experiencia vivida en el stand (actividades emocionales e intelectuales desarrolladas dentro del stand) y la intención de visitar el destino.The paper develops a qualitative and quantitative exploratory study, through experiential marketing perspective, to analyse the visitors’ experience from the stands of two destinations with a similar touristic offer (Canary Islands and Balearic Islands) in the International Tourism Trade (FITUR). The findings confirm that experiential marketing is not integrated as a specifically management area in destinations promotion, although the empirical evidence indicate that visitors experience (emotional and intellectual dimensions) was positively related to travel intention

Destination brand authenticity: What an experiential simulacrum! A multigroup analysis of its antecedents and outcomes through official online platforms

Tourists’ intensive use of information and communication technologies when planning travel has forced destination marketing organizations to design online simulacra of destinations in multiple formats. We focus our study on official online destination platforms to analyze preliminary experiences with destination brands and the online perception of authenticity. Previous consumption studies have theorized that consumers’ encounters with products/services are antecedents of their perceptions of authenticity. In the tourism literature, however, the link between online destination experiences and online destination authenticity constitutes a research gap. To fill that gap, we used a multimethod approach to develop a causal-predictive model by which we observed that the online destination brand experience directly affects destination brand authenticity. The findings also show that both of these constructs directly and indirectly influence users’ behavioral intentions toward the destination. We examine the moderating role of various official online destination platforms to enrich the theoretical and managerial implications discussedThis work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness: [Grant Number ECO2015-69103-R

How Chatbot Language Shapes Consumer Perceptions: The Role of Concreteness and Shared Competence

In service settings, chatbots frequently are associated with substandard care, depersonalization, and linguistic misunderstandings. Drawing on assemblage theory (i.e., the examination of how heterogeneous parts, through their ongoing interaction, create an emergent whole with new capacities that the parts themselves do not have), this paper investigates how chatbots’ language concreteness––the specificity of words used during interactions with consumers––can help improve satisfaction, willingness to use the chatbot, and perceived shopping efficiency. Across three experiments, the findings revealed a psychological mechanism driven by concrete chatbot language that makes chatbots seem competent and reinforces consumer self-competence, in turn boosting satisfaction, willingness to use the chatbot, and perceived shopping efficiency. This pattern of results contributes to consumer behavior by providing evidence of the chatbot language concreteness effect on consumer-chatbot interactions. For practitioners, we outline conversational designs that could help optimize implementation of chatbots in customer service

“Ask Google Assistant Where to Travel” Tourists’ Interactive Experiences With Smart Speakers: An Assemblage Theory Approach

The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to reframe interactions among tourists, destinations, and service providers in multiple ways. Yet, there is scant empirical evidence on how individuals develop their relationships with IoT devices and how this technology can serve tourists in planning and deciding on particular destinations or services. Drawing on the assemblage theory, we investigated tourists’ interactive experiences when planning trips with and without smart speakers. Methodologically, we employed an interactionist/performative approach that included three qualitative studies to examine tourists’ information production, expressive roles, and information processing styles during interactions with smart speakers in the pre-visit stage. The analysis was driven by grounded theory and utilized computerized psycholinguistic techniques to enrich our research implications for theory, methodology, and tourism management

Residents’ fresh start mindset and attitudes towards tourism after a natural disaster: the case of the volcano in La Palma

Although past research on natural disasters has investigated tourists’ perceptions and behaviours, few studies have explored residents’ attitudes, motivations and mindsets in rebuilding a destination after a natural calamity. Building on consumer behaviour research, we examine the role of the fresh start mindset as a psychological mechanism for residents that must overcome the consequences of natural disasters in tourist destinations. We conducted a quantitative study using a survey with a sample of 460 residents of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) during the volcanic eruption of 2021. The results show that residents’ fresh start mindset influences post-disaster tourism activities and shapes their perception of the positive and negative impacts of the tourism industryThis work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación del Gobierno de España: [Grant Number PID2020-114788RB-I00]