Egyptian Millennial Travellers' Willingness to Adopt and Use Travel Chatbots: An Exploratory Study (original) (raw)
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Predicting the intentions to use chatbots for travel and tourism
Current Issues in Tourism, 2019
As with other businesses, tourist companies are taking advantage of modern technologies. Chatbots are a recent technology that hotels, travel agencies, and airline companies are adopting. Despite this industry-wide implementation, there is no evidence about the factors that explain why consumers are willing to interact with chatbots. This work proposes a model to explain chatbot usage intention. The model and its hypotheses were tested by structural equations with the PLS technique. The study was conducted on a sample of 476 individuals who had travelled on vacation in the previous 12 months. The study reveals that the intentions behind using chatbots are directly influenced by the following factors: the chatbots' expected performance, the habit of using chatbots, the hedonic component in using them, the predisposition to using self-service technologies, the social influences, and the fact that the chatbot behaves like a human. The inconvenience and problems related to communicating with the chatbot were found to have a negative influence. Lastly, the possibility that chatbots could replace jobs had a surprisingly positive influence, and not a negative one.
What makes you continuously use chatbot services? Evidence from chinese online travel agencies
Electronic Markets, 2021
Thanks to artificial intelligence, chatbots have been applied to many consumer-facing applications, especially to online travel agencies (OTAs). This study aims to identify five quality dimensions of chatbot services and investigate their effect on user confirmation, which in turn leads to use continuance. In addition, the moderating role of technology anxiety in the relationships between chatbot quality dimensions and post-use confirmation is examined. Survey data were gathered from 295 users of Chinese OTAs. Partial Least Square (PLS) was used to analyze measurement and structural models. Understandability, reliability, assurance, and interactivity are positively associated with post-use confirmation and technology anxiety moderates the relationships between four chatbot quality dimensions and confirmation. Confirmation is positively associated with satisfaction, which in turn influences use continuance intention. This study examines how chatbot services in OTAs are considered by users (human-like agents vs. technology-enabled services) by investigating the moderating role of technology anxiety.
Tércio Pereira, P. Limberger, F. Minasi S. M. Buhalis, D., (2023): New Insights into Consumers’ Intention to Continue Using Chatbots in the Tourism Context, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, https://doi.org/10.1080/1528008X.2022.2136817 Several industries recognize the potential of Artificial Intelligence to complete tasks. However, there is limited research on chatbots, and a gap in the research on what factors contribute to consumers' intention to continue using them. This research aims to analyze the relationship of the TAM and ISS dimensions, continuing to use satisfaction and brand attachment as mediators, and using the need for interaction with the employee as a moderating dimension. The results indicated that the role of brand attachment increases the model's explanatory power, and the need for interaction with the employee positively favors the relationship between brand attachment and satisfaction.
The Evolution of Chatbots in Tourism: A Systematic Literature Review
2021
In the last decade, Information and Communication Technologies have revolutionized the tourism and hospitality sector. One of the latest innovations shaping new dynamics and fostering a remarkable behavioral change in the interaction between the service provider and the tourist is the employment of increasingly sophisticated chatbots. This work analyzes the most recent systems presented in the literature (since 2016) investigated via 12 research questions. The often appreciated quick evolution of such solutions is the primary outcome. However, such technological and financial fast-pace requires continuous investments, upskilling, and system innovation to tackle the eTourism challenges, which are shifting towards new dimensions.
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, 2022
The Airline Industry is challenged to adopt a new technological innovation to deliver products and services and skillfully manage digital innovation to improve direct channel functions. One is the use of a chatbot for customer services. However, its modernity leads to difficulty in assessing its effectiveness. Thus, this study investigated whether the chatbots in the Airline Industry acknowledge the travelers' actual needs based on the Filipino air travelers' experiences. Based on the results, the chatbots were not that wellused because they cannot yet handle transaction complexity. Nevertheless, as they are still developing, the chatbots' features and capabilities will still be improved over time since they are continuously learning to handle complicated tasks and inquiries from air travelers. Therefore, airline companies should improve their features and capabilities to improve the air travelers' experience in accomplishing travel-related transactions.
Buhalis, D., and Cheng, E., 2020, Exploring the Use of Chatbots in Hotels: Technology Providers’ Perspective Exploring the Use of Chatbots in Hotels: Technology Providers’ Perspective. In: Neidhardt J., Wörndl W. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2020. Springer, Cham. pp.231-242 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36737-4\_26 Virtual assistants, also known as chatbot technology is getting more prominent and is applied widely in many industries. The use of chatbots, advantages, disadvantages, and future implication should be further understood; particularly from a technology provider' perspective. Previous studies, specialised in the hospitality context, focused solely on user's perspective. They have widely neglected the expert's point of view, which creates a gap in literature on the understanding of chatbot implications. The purpose of this study is to explore the use of chatbots in hotels by conducting semi-structured interviews with industry experts (technology providers). This study explores the use of chatbots and the key value the offer through interviews with chatbot experts. The findings show that the use of chatbots receive positive feedback and the benefits of chatbots outweigh the challenges. This will lead to further deployment of chatbot in the industry and the need to develop their abilities in order to achieve their full potential.
Chatbot Adoption in Tourism Services: A Conceptual Exploration
Robots, Artificial Intelligence, and Service Automation in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
To explore chatbots' online conversation processing Experimental Communication The realization that their conversational partners were not human beings did not affect participants. Additionally, chatbots can progress through different chat topics without getting stuck.
Sustainability
WeChat Official Accounts (WOAs)—a feature of WeChat—are thriving. However, studies on travel-related WOAs remain scarce and lack depth. This study aimed to identify the factors that influence usage intentions and travel intentions in regard to travel-related WOAs. Based on the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory, this study developed a theoretical model and examined the model through a web-based questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed through the online survey tool Sojump. After analyzing the obtained data via structural equation modeling, the results revealed that: (1) social, entertainment, and information motivations are the primary factors influencing usage intentions; (2) information and entertainment motivations are important factors influencing travel intentions; and (3) usage intentions positively affect travel intentions and play a mediating role. The findings carry theoretical and practical significance regarding how travel-related WOAs can improve users’ usage a...
How live chat assistants drive travel consumers’ attitudes, trust and purchase intentions
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 2020
Purpose By adopting a social presence theory perspective, this study aims investigate the influence of perceived usefulness of live chat services and of their unique human attributes on customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the context of online travel shopping. Design/methodology/approach Based on a cross-sectional survey research involving 8 travel provider websites and 631 travel consumers, this work applies structural equation modelling to analyse the data. Findings The results illustrate that the perceived usefulness from the communication with a human live chat assistant positively influences customer attitudes and trust towards the website as well as increasing purchase intention. The findings further illustrate the role of the human social cues conveyed by live chat facilities, namely, human warmth, human assurance, human attentiveness and human customised content in positively moderating this effect. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to specific...
Current Issues in Tourism, 2023
The current research examined the link between the informativeness of tourist-chatbot interaction, destination image, and visit intention in two studies. In the first study, 111 participants were asked to interact with ChatGPT about a destination (i.e. Batumi) for 5–10 min. The conceptual model was analyzed using the Structural Equation Modelling framework. Findings suggested that the informativeness of touristchatbot interaction would increase destination image and visit intention. Destination image was also directly and positively related to visit intention. Specifically, destination image mediated the link between the informativeness of tourist-chat bot interaction and visit intention. A second study (N = 184) was conducted, in which the entire procedure was the same as the first study, to test the replicability of the current findings. Consequently, all results remained consistent with the first study. This is the first study to show the mediating role of destination image in the link between human-machine interaction and visit intention in tourism research. Thus, the findings would expand the current understanding regarding the role of human-machine interaction on attitude and behaviour.