How do employees and customers perceive the impact that Covid-19 has had on sustainable technological innovation in hotels?”

Reseasch Question 

How do employees and customers perceive the impact that Covid-19 has had on sustainable technological innovation in hotels?”

Keywords: employees impact, customers impact, Covid-19, Hotels, Sustainable technological innovation

1.Summary

2.Introduction

3.Literature Review (Synthesis, Analysis, Evaluation, Critique)

GUO:

3.1. Perceived Health Risk

In consumer research, the theory of perceived risk refers to that consumers perceive risk in their decision-making behaviors because of the uncertainty that can potentially cause negative consequences (Shin, H., & Kang, J.,2020) On the other hand, other research focuses on a relationship between job insecurity and job engagement, job insecurity is an important factor that impairs the psychological health of employees and reduces motivation (Jung, H., 2020).  Most recently, Shin,H., Kang, J (2020) clarified that health risk indicates tourists’ or hospitality customers’ perceived risk to their physical health as a result of uncontrolled events associated with terrorism, political situation, natural disasters, and pandemic. Not only the customers are facing perceived health risks due to the Covid-19, but also the employees. During disasters, high performance employees are considered valuable assets for the firm (Hao, F.,2020). For hotels located in the center of the pandemic and involved in the anti-pandemic battel, it is critical to ensure the physical health, psychological well-being, position and income of the front-line staff (Hao, F.,2020).

As mentioned, uncertainty is the cause of perceived risk. There are two types of uncertainty in risk assessment: aleatory and epistemic uncertainty (Hao, Y,2020). First, epistemic uncertainty, which is also called internal, functional, subjective, or reducible uncertainty, emerges from a lack of knowledge (Yoe, 2011). Such as financial risk (not meeting consumers’ financial needs), psychological risk (damaging consumers’ self-image), performance risk (failing to deliver benefits to customers), social risk (losing customers’ social status), time risk (not performing on time), and satisfaction risk (not being satisfied with the performance of products or services) (Mitchell, 1998; Sönmez and Graefe, 1998). Second, the intrinsic and unpredictable variability of the physical universe causes aleatory confusion, for exmaple, the risk of being sick or contracting those forms of diseases. For accidental risks, people’s ability to predict risks needs to be improved in future research.

3.2. Innovation in technology as a risk-reducing technique

Traditionally, various types of risk-reduction strategies are proposed, such as purchasing branded products or insurance, testing products, using money-back guarantees, and seeking endorsement from trusted sources (Yeung et al., 2010). Previous research opinions cannot be applied to respond to the risk of a pandemic. However, technology is at the core of solutions for combating the COVID-19 and re-opening tourism and the economy (e.g. mobility tracing apps, robotised-AI touchless service delivery, digital health passports and identity controls, social distancing and crowding control technologies, big data for fast and real time decision-making, humanoid robots delivering materials, disinfecting and sterilizing public spaces, detecting or measuring body temperature, providing safety or security), while technology is seen as a panacea to our COVID-19 driven-needs to normalise surveillance, to ensure health and safety, to collect and analyse personal data for fast decision-making (Sigala, M.,2020).

3.2.1 Self-service technology

Technology innovation refers to a combination of innovations associated with technology developments, with the objective of improving existing products or services in an incremental way or creating new ones in a radical way (Zeithaml et al., 2017; Wooder and Baker, 2012). Self-service technologies (SSTs) surface as an alternative or as a replacement of human-based service transactions (Rust & Espinoza, 2006). 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, Meuter and Bitner, 1998). However, SST applications have increased substantially during the Covid-19 pandemic time in the hospitality and tourism industry. 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 (Oh, H., Jeong, M.,2013). Restoring customer confidence is critical to tide through a crisis (Hao, F.,2020).

3.2.2 Technical contradiction

Paradox research, as a meta-theory and/or methodology, can also be very instrumental for informing and supporting COVID-19 tourism research (Sigala, M.,2020). For example, the circumstances of COVID-19 (e.g. stay at home lockdowns, social distancing) have necessitated and accelerated the use of technologies by both tourists (e.g. information about travel restrictions, online crisis communication, online COVID-19 alerts and hygiene measures) and businesses (e.g. online food delivery, virtual dining, virtual wine experiences, festivals/events, virtual visits of museums, destinations), however, persistent ‘paradoxes’ (e.g. increase use of social media and loneliness, democratisation of information accessibility and information darkness, technology and (small) business empowerment/equalizing competition rules) are questioning the effectiveness of such technology solutions (Sigala, M.,2020). On the other hand, the adoption of new technology systems can reduce perceived health risk by transforming hotel service experiences in a way to both reduce social interactions and improve cleanliness(Shin, H., & Kang, J.,2020). However, the enthusiasm of employees will be affected, because a large number of employees are being laid off. Will the guest experience and emotional connection be affected by the lack of staff services?  What’s more, does the inequality in the use of Internet technology prevent senior customers from patronizing hotels?

3.3 Sustainable Service Innovations

Service innovations are also increasingly characterized by technical elements as technological developments have greatly influenced the design of service-based business models across industries (McPhee et al., 2015). Hotel practitioners need to ensure that the adoption of automation and robotics does not necessarily result in the elimination of human roles, but rather, the creation of new roles in other areas to counteract the displacement. These practices will also help hotels maintain high service quality with employees who play roles that are more creative (Shin, H.,2020). Employee-customer interaction is crucial for customer experience, and hence customer satisfaction (Chand, 2010; Choi and Chu, 2001). Therefore, while using technology, sustainable development is also required in the direction of human resources.

The Literature Review is not a chronological catalog of all of the sources you found that relate to your research topic and question. Such a catalog is more along the lines of an annotated bibliography (see Pre-Assignment Part #2) and not a Literature Review. Rather, it is an evaluation, integrating the previous research together, and also explaining how it integrates into the proposed research program. All sides of an argument must be clearly explained, to avoid bias, and areas of agreement and disagreement should be highlighted.

It is not a collection of quotes and paraphrasing from other sources. A good literature review should also have some evaluation of the quality and findings of the research.

A good literature review should avoid the temptation of impressing the importance of a particular research program. The fact that you are undertaking the research program suggests that it is important. However, readers of your research need to be given the opportunity to judge the importance of your research for themselves. You want to show that your research is a serious academic endeavour and not pseudo-science. The literature review shows that your research is based on sound, peer reviewed, research and that you have taken the time and effort to justify the importance of conducting this research.