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-

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

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

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

La experiencia de marca online del destino: aplicación de un modelo sensorial-cognitivo-conativo

Este trabajo analiza la formación de la experiencia de marca online del destino (EMOD) como resultado de las interacciones de los usuarios con las webs oficiales de las Islas Baleares y las Islas Canarias (España). La EMOD se conceptualiza en base a la teoría cognitiva del aprendizaje multimedia (TCAM), donde se tienen en cuenta los impactos sensoriales producidos por los componentes de la web del destino y el posterior procesamiento cognitivo de los usuarios. A través de un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales se propone analizar las relaciones entre la calidad web percibida del destino, la EMOD (sensorial y cognitiva), la actitud hacia la web y la intención de visita y recomendación. Los resultados supondrían implicaciones relevantes para la literatura sobre la experiencia de marca y la gestión de los destinos turísticos.This paper examines the formation of online destination brand experience (ODBE) as a result of users´ interactions with Balearic and Canary Islands official websites (Spain). The ODBE is conceived based on the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), where it is assume that destination website features stimulate a sensorial-cognitive process on users. Through a structural equation modelling, the relations between destination website quality, ODBE (sensorial & cognitive), attitudes toward the web and the intention to visit and recommend are evaluated. The findings could establish relevant implications for brand experience literature and also for destination marketing management.Ministerio de Economía, Industria Y Competitividad CO2015-69103-

Service brand coolness in the construction of brand loyalty: a self-presentation theory approach

As service brands need to find new methods to overcome consumers' distrust of physical spaces in the post-COVID-19 era, we explore how niche and mass service brands can recover their experiential value through perceptions of coolness. In three studies, we evaluate service brand coolness and its consequences for communal–brand connection and loyalty. In Studies 1 and 2, we examine consumers’ thoughts on coolness and communal connection when describing their encounters with service brands. In Study 3, we test the relations among service brand coolness, communal–brand connection, and loyalty. Our findings show that for both niche and mass firms, service brand coolness similarly enhances communal–brand connection and loyaltyThis research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-113561RB-I0

Consumption experiences, authenticity and the sense of coherence in the relationship with brands: a multisectorial approach from the multi-channel and omni-channel perspectives

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Departamento de Financiación e Investigación comercial, Fecha de lectura: 13-01- 2020Esta tesis doctoral forma parte del proyecto de investigación: “La experiencia de compra multicanal en la construcción del valor cliente”, con referencia: ECO2015-69103-R financiado por el Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad del Gobierno de EspañaThis doctoral thesis is part of the research project: “Multi-channel shopping experience in building customer equity”, with reference ECO2015-69103-R, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivenes

Representaciones culturales como experiencias turísticas postmodernas: un análisis desde la perspectiva del marketing experiencial

The paper develops a qualitative and quantitative exploratory study, through an experiential marketing perspective, to analyse the effects of cultural representations on visitors’ experience from the stands of two destinations with a similar tourist offer (Canary Islands and Balearic Island), at the International Tourism Trade FITUR (2015). The findings confirm that cultural representations at the stand (carnival performance, local product testing & destinations ́ images includes on interactives screams) contributed to induce a memorable visitors ́ experience that was positively related (emotional and intellectual dimensions) to travel intention. Se realiza un estudio exploratorio cualitativo y cuantitativo, desde el punto de vista del marketing experiencial, sobre los efectos que producen las representaciones culturales en la visita a los stands de dos destinos similares en cuanto a su oferta turística (Islas Canarias e Islas Baleares), en la Feria de Turismo FITUR (2015). Los resultados confirman que las representaciones culturales en el stand (show de carnaval, degustación de productos locales e imágenes del destino en pantallas gigantes interactivas) contribuyen a la generación de experiencias que muestran una relación positiva y moderada (dimensión emocional e intelectual) con la intención de visitar el destino.