Abstract
PurposeThis paper aims to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have redefined the hospitality industry. It develops a theoretical framework to evaluate its impact on employee engagement, retention and productivity levels, stemming from its potential implications for service quality and customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachBased on the exploration of relevant literature, role theory and service-profit chain were used to develop – role-service-profit chain.FindingsRole-service-profit chain is an analytical tool which has strong implications for investment and deployment analysis of the new technologies in hospitality and tourism businesses. It proposes how managers can evaluate how the role expectation of technological innovations relate to service quality and customer satisfaction through its impact on employee-related outcomes (such as employee engagement, retention and productivity), and assess the corresponding impact on profitability and growth, in the context of their own unique internal environment and position in the market.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough an empirical assessment of the hypothesised relationships in the model is required to evaluate and validate it in the hospitality industry, role-service-profit chain presents promising implications for tourism and hospitality practice and future research.Practical implicationsRole-service-profit chain is an analytical tool from which managers can make improvements on talent and talent management practices and adjust expectations and behaviours in ways that facilitate improvements in service quality and customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThis paper makes an important contribution to hospitality and tourism literature, as it explores how AI technologies implemented to improve on talent and talent management practices impact on service quality and customer satisfaction, and develops analytical tools by which this may be evaluated.
Highlights
The international hospitality and tourism industry is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industry
With normative consensus and conformity as its central concepts used to explain social j j PAGE 54 JOURNAL OF TOURISM FUTURES VOL. 7 NO. 1 2021 integration (Jackson, 1998), role theory emphasises the significance of organisations as socio-technical systems
Prentice et al (2020) further demonstrate that artificial intelligence (AI) service quality significantly contributes to overall service quality in the hospitality industry through employee service quality, that calls for better understanding of how AI technologies can influence or affect service quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry through employee-related outcomes
Summary
The international hospitality and tourism industry is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing industry. Stemming from its potential implications for service quality and customer satisfaction, the need for better understanding of the impact of AI technologies on employee engagement, retention and productivity levels, is of considerable interest in hospitality and tourism research (Ivanov and Webster, 2017; Bowen and Whalen, 2017; Ruel, 2018; Cain et al, 2019; Prentice et al, 2020). It is a framework which offers managers analytical tools to evaluate and understand how the role expectation of technological innovations relate to employee engagement, retention and productivity levels, which enables them build service quality and customer satisfaction from these levers, and assess the corresponding impact on profitability and growth It aims to enhance evidence-based decision-making on investments and deployment of the new technologies in hospitality and tourism businesses and enable improvements on talent and talent management practices. The paper closes with its contribution and implications for research and practice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call