Abstract
PurposeThis study investigates how customer experience mediates the relationship between online innovation and repurchase intention in the hotel industry in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 167 clients from a two-star hotel in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the relationship between the variables.FindingsResults from the analysis indicate that online innovation positively leads to higher repurchase intentions and better customer experience, affirming that customer experience leads to repurchase intentions. Thus, while online innovation leads to repurchase intentions, the strength of this repurchase intention depends on customer experience. Therefore, customer experience mediates the relationship between online innovation and repurchase intention in the hotel industry.Research limitations/implicationsThis study addressed only the customer's point of view; future studies could investigate the subject from the managers and other stakeholders' point of view to get a holistic view. Also, the sample size could be improved, and the study could be conducted in other African countries for comparison purposes.Practical implicationsThe study shows that online innovation does not automatically lead to increased positive repurchase intention. Hotel managers must, therefore, enforce good customer experience for better profitability.Originality/valueAs far as the researchers know, limited studies have been conducted into how customer experience mediates online innovation and repurchase intention in the hotel industry in Ghana using structural equation modelling. This makes this research unique in Ghana. This study makes an original contribution by measuring the real effect of innovation on repurchase intentions in the hotel industry in Ghana.
Highlights
The growth of the Internet technology pushed businesses into an electronic era, changing how consumers communicate, shop, buy and evaluate products and services (Kim and Lennon, 2008)
The study tested the relationships between online innovation and repurchase intentions, online innovation and customer experience, customer experience and repurchase intentions, as well as customer experience as a mediator between repurchase intentions online innovation and repurchase intentions
The results of the analyses are as follows: H1: Online innovation has a positive influence on repurchase intentions This hypothesis was supported by the data
Summary
The growth of the Internet technology pushed businesses into an electronic era, changing how consumers communicate, shop, buy and evaluate products and services (Kim and Lennon, 2008). Online website influences purchase intention (Lee, 2018; Lehto et al, 2018) None of these studies, innovation and has examined how customer experience mediates the relationship between online innovation and repurchase intentions. The study describes the hotel industry in Ghana, the literature on customer repurchase intention, customer experience and innovations to develop a hypothesis to be tested with data. Customers’ website impressions and experiences, have become significant in the hospitality industry where customers may not have any other means of tangible interaction before the service encounter (Stringam and Gerdes, 2019) This is because customers’ performance expectations of a hotel’s website directly influence the behavioural intentions to continue to use the website or patronise the hotel (Stringam and Gerdes, 2019).
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