What drives customers to use access-based sharing options in the hospitality industry?

Access-based sharing businesses have gained popularity in the hospitality industry. The recent shift of customers’ willingness to share accommodation with a host as opposed to using a private hotel room has many implications for the traditional lodging sector. Sharing firms such as Airbnb effectively use an online platform to match a customer’s multiple needs with individual service providers and are able to create a unique personalised accommodation experience. This study utilised an abductive research approach to examine the theory and business practice through an iterative process. Following a detailed review of the literature, this study proposes a conceptual model to illustrate the relationship between three participants within the sharing context, namely customers, the sharing firms and the service providers and their relationship with online platforms and social media. This study also provides numerous research directions and practical guidelines for scholars and practitioners in the hospitality industry.Keywords: access-based sharing, trust, social media, Airbnb, peer-to-peer, online platform, customer relationshi

The implication of servicescape, emotion and trust to a positive customer service experience: wellness spa context in the U.S.A. / Hyeyoon Choi, Jay Kandampully and Kathryn Stafford

This article examined the antecedents of a positive wellness service experience by identifying factors leading to customers’ positive wellness service experience. This study proposes that servicescape has a positive relationship with the service experience, and that servicescape may strengthen the effects of emotion and trust. The research hypotheses were tested with data collected directly from customers of a spa located in the Midwestern United States. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to estimate how emotion, trust, and servicescape affect customers’ evaluations of spa experiences. An estimation was carried out on the interaction effects between servicescape, emotion and trust. The results indicate that the main effects of servicescape, emotion and trust, were significant, while the interaction effects did not prove to be significant. Trust has the biggest effect on customers’ wellness experience followed by emotion and servicescape. Prior research has not simultaneously addressed the role of servicescape, emotion and trust and their subsequent influence on customers’ emotional evaluation of service experience. This study therefore provides valuable insight to extend present understanding of the simultaneous role of these factors as effective predictors of the evaluation of service experienc

Yükseköğretim Hizmetlerinde Tolerans Kuşağı: Öğrenci Hizmetleri ile İlgili Tanımlayıcı Hizmet Kalitesi Modeli

The present study describes the zone of tolerance for students’ service expectations and determines the student satisfaction level for higher education institutes. It attempts to diagnose the service quality level of administrative units, such as services provided by the registrar, library, faculty/school offices, rector’s office, dormitories, sports and health centre in a university setting. Aconceptual model HEDZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations—‘desired’ and ‘adequate’—and that students use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating higher education services. The findings reveal that students have a narrow zone of tolerance with regards to the services provided by higher education.Bu çalışma, yükseköğretim kurumlarında öğrencilerin hizmet beklentileri ile ilgili tolerans kuşağını tespit etmekte ve öğrenci memnuniyetini ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırmada, yükseköğretim kurumlarında öğrenci işleri, kütüphane, fakülte/yüksekokul idareleri, rektörlük, yurtlar, spor ve sağlık merkezleri gibi idari birimler tarafından sağlanan hizmetlerin kalitesi tespit edilmeye çalışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada HEDZOT başlıklı kavramsal bir model de önerilmiş olup, araştırma sonuçları öğrencilerin hizmet değerlendirilmesi aşamasında iki farklı çeşit beklentiyi – ‘arzu edilen’ ve ‘en düşük kabul edilebilir’ – dikkate aldıkları ve öğrencilerin yükseköğretim hizmetlerini değerlendirmede bu iki çeşit beklentiyi karşılaştırma yaparlarken standart olarak kullandıkları belirlenmiştir. Bulgulardan, öğrencilerin yükseköğretim hizmetleri ile ilgili dar tolerans kuşaklarına sahip oldukları da tespit edilmiştir

Innovation in logistic services and the new business model : a conceptual framework

Service industries hold an increasingly dynamic and pivotal role in today’s knowledge-based economies. The logistics industry is a classic example of the birth and development of a vital new service-based industry, transformed from the business concept of transportation to that of serving the entire logistical needs of customers. Quantum advances in science, technology, and communication in the new millennium have compelled firms to consider the potential of the so-called new “resources” (technology, knowledge and relationship networks) that are essential if firms are to operate effectively within the emerging business model, and to utilise the opportunities to innovate and gain market leadership. Through an extensive literature review, this paper examines the factors that nurture innovation in logistics services, identifies the contributions of the new “resources” and, using industry examples, examines the application of these resources to logistics firms as they assume an extended role within the new business mode

The role of employee wellness programme in the hospitality industry: a review of concepts, research, and practice

In the hospitality industry, employees are critical to firm success, through their intimate interactions with customers to create memorable experiences and relationships. A nascent strategy adopted by many hospitality firms seeks to increase employee engagement and commitment through employee wellness programmes. Despite growing recognition of the concept of wellness in the workplace, limited studies discuss the topic systematically. This nascent research stream requires a better understanding of the role of wellness programmes and their influences on employees, customers, firms, and society. Therefore, this study offers a detailed review and synthesis of key concepts and existing knowledge in the industry, which produces a framework for further research, as well as managerial implications.Keywords: corporate wellness, corporate social responsibility (CSR), employee engagement, customer engagement, profitability, health promotio

A triadic framework for collaborative consumption (CC): Motives, activities and resources & capabilities of actors

Collaborative consumption (CC) is an increasingly prevalent form of exchange. CC occurs within a triangle of actors: a platform provider (e.g., Uber), a peer service provider (e.g., an Uber driver) and a customer. The platform provider’s main role is matchmaking, so that a customer can access assets of a peer service provider. This paper has three objectives. First, this article identifies three criteria to delineate CC from related constructs such as access-based consumption, sharing or renting. Second, it introduces a literature-based framework explicating the roles of the actors in the CC triangle along three dimensions: motives, activities and resources and capabilities. Third, it highlights areas for further research, such as the dynamics of CC, context-dependent motives and the emergence of professional (peer) service providers

Exploring Customer Loyalty Following Service Recovery: The Relationships of Perceived Justice, Commitment, Trust, and Loyalty

Existing research shows that loyalty is a function of customer perceptions of trust and commitment following service recovery. This study proposes and tests an integrative model of customer loyalty following service recovery in the context of social exchange theory. Specifically, this article argues that perceptions of justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) in service recovery influence customer trust-commitment towards the service encounters, which in turn affects customer loyalty. Customers’ trust and commitment in service providers were proposed to mediate the relationship between perceived justice to service recovery efforts and subsequent loyalty intention. Finally, the author discusses important theoretical and managerial implications for service industries