Customization Process Research Articles

Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on hotel services: A conceptual framework on technological innovations and employee well-being

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> This present article offers insight into the impacts and implications of COVID-19 on the service delivery process for hotel customers. The objective also reflects on how technological innovations may mitigate those impacts and contribute to employee well-being. Keeping in mind the above, a conceptual framework has been developed that clearly and critically depicts the COVID-19 impact on technological innovation and its subsequent influence on hotel employees well-being. <strong>Design/methodology/approach:</strong> This research paper strongly outlines the current theoretical background on hotel services impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The author also investigated the current trends in hotel guest services influenced by technological innovations. The present data and industry report have been used to formulate the conceptual framework linked to employee well-being. <strong>Findings:</strong> This study proposes an underlying theory and research plan on technological innovation that facilitates hotel service delivery while keeping COVID-19 and social distance in mind and thereby contributes to comprehensive employee well-being. <strong>Originality/value:</strong> This article would be a pioneering study seriously investigating the impact of COVID-19 on hotel service delivery engulfed by the various technological innovations and contributing towards employee well-being at macro and micro levels.</p>

Impeding green customization: the roles of negative perceptions, environmental responsibility and claim type

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the impact of environmental responsibility (ER) on consumers' green customization intention (GCI), as well as the separate and joint moderating effects of consumers' negative perceptions and environmental claim type (ECT) on the relationship between ER and GCI.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, two online experimental questionnaires and one between-subject lab experiment were conducted to test all hypotheses.FindingsThis study found that high-ER consumers are more likely to choose environmental options in the product customization process (versus low ER). The effect of ER on consumers' GCI is moderated by consumers' negative perceptions of green consumption (e.g. green skepticism and perceived environmental premium (PEP)). Additionally, ECT's joint moderating effect and consumers' negative perception of green customization consumption can be decreased by a substantive (versus associative) claim type in message framing.Practical implicationsThe findings provide new insights into the factors affecting consumers' GCIs and have significant practical implications. First, consumers' different ER levels should not be neglected when examining the value of green customization. Second, consumers' green skepticism and PEP could reduce consumers' GCI. Third, the use of substantive environmental claims may also be particularly helpful for companies' communication strategies regarding consumers' low-level negative perceptions of green options.Originality/valueWhile previous studies state “environmental responsibility” as a key characteristic of general green consumption, the authors extend that to a green customization process and connect that with consumers' negative perceptions and ECT. In addition, the separate and joint moderating effects of consumers' negative perceptions and ECT were examined. Thus, these findings refine the existing understanding of the relationship between ER and green customization.

Design affordance in VR and customization intention: Is customer inspiration a missing link?

Virtual reality (VR) has become one of the most popular technologies in the context of customization. However, little is known about whether, how and why the use of VR affects consumers' willingness to purchase customized products. Applying the “affordances–psychological outcomes–behavioural outcomes” framework and organismic integration theory (OIT) in this study, we propose and test a model of the motivations of customer inspiration and customization intention. Our model was empirically tested through a survey of 421 customers with experience using IKEA's VR customization in three cities along the southeast coast of China. The results suggest that design affordance in VR during a customization process involves three dimensions: aesthetics, functionality, and symbolism affordance. Specifically, we find that customer inspiration mediates the relationship between design affordance in VR and customers' customization intention. Moreover, consumers' technology readiness positively moderates the relationship between design affordance in VR and customer inspiration. This study therefore highlights the important role of customer inspiration in customizing products or services and expands the research on design affordance in the context of VR.

Hedonic adaptation to preferential treatment: the moderating effect of the structural characteristics of loyalty programs

PurposeAs internet dividends are gradually disappearing, loyalty programs have become the panacea for monetizing traffic, attracting new customers and retaining existing customers. Improving their effectiveness has thus become key to enterprises’ market competitiveness. However, member customers’ hedonic adaptation to this relationship strategy undermines its effectiveness. Based on the hedonic adaptation theory, this study aims to analyze the process of member customers' hedonic adaptation to preferential treatment in loyalty programs and explore the boundary conditions of alleviating this effect.Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed 271 member customers in China and tested the hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis.FindingsPreferential treatment suffers from hedonic adaptation to member customer engagement and customer gratitude, and customer tenure is a key condition for these effects. Customer gratitude is an intermediary mechanism that explains the hedonic adaptation effect of preferential treatment to member customers engagement. In addition, the structural characteristics of loyalty programs form the boundary condition that alleviates hedonic adaptation. The authors found that high-tier and -payment strategies are more likely to mitigate hedonic adaptation of preferential treatment to customer gratitude.Originality/valueThis study elucidates the factors that influence the effectiveness of preferential treatment and provides constructive insights into customer relationship management and for improving enterprise performance.

Investigating the use experience of restaurant service robots: the cognitive–affective–behavioral framework

This study investigates the approach behavior of the respondents by using the cognitive–affective–behavioral framework in the context of restaurant service robots. An online survey was conducted among customers who had patronage experience visiting service robot restaurants in Taiwan. A total of 230 valid samples were employed for the final analysis using the maximum likelihood estimation method. The hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. Furthermore, a multigroup analysis based on the visit experience (frequency of visit) and generation was conducted. Cognitive components such as competence and coolness positively influence affective components such as emotions and satisfaction. Approach behavior, the behavioral outcome, is positively influenced by emotions and satisfaction. Likewise, emotions positively influence satisfaction. This study highlights the sequential relationship in terms of cognitive, affective and behavioral perspectives in the decision-making process of customers after their encounter with service robots at restaurants.

Value based marketing: Examining the role of leadership support in promoting neuromarketing

Neuromarketing is a branch in the field of commercial marketing communication. Neuromarketing closely relates to neuropsychology and market research for studying the cognitive thinking process of customers and their responses to the marketing stimuli. Presently no study has investigated the moderating role of firm leadership support in promoting neuromarketing applications in their firm. However, there is a huge interest among researchers and industry practitioners to understand this phenomenon and how leadership support can sponsor and invest in neuromarketing related programs in their marketing departments. Against this background, the objective of this study is to examine the role of firm leadership support in promoting neuromarketing and the consequences of it. With the help of marketing theories and literature, a theoretical model has been developed. Later, the model is validated using the CB-SEM technique using 372 responses from employees in marketing departments of various firms. The study finds that there is a significant and positive impact of neuromarketing on customer loyalty, improving business value, and marketing performance of the firms, which in turn significantly impacts the competitive advantage of the firms. The study also finds that leadership support plays an important role in promoting neuromarketing related applications in the firms.

A Manhattan distance based hybrid recommendation system

Many online service providers use a recommendation system to assist their customers' decision-making by generating recommendations. Accordingly, this paper proposes a new recommendation system for tourism customers to make online reservations for hotels with the features they need, saving customers time and increasing the impact of personalized hotel recommendations. This new system combined collaborative and content-based filtering approaches and created a new hybrid recommendation system. Two datasets containing customer information and hotel features were analyzed by Recency, Frequency, Monetary (RFM) method in order to identify customers according to their purchasing nature. The main idea of the recommendation system is to establish correlations between users and products and make the decision to choose the most suitable product or information for a particular user. As a result of the exponential growth of online data, this vast amount of information for use in the tourism industry can be leveraged by decision-makers to make purchasing decisions[20]. Filtering, prioritizing, and beneficially presenting relevant information reduces this overload. There are following three main ways that recommendation systems can generate a recommendation list for a user; content-based, collaborative-based, and hybrid approaches[1]. This paper describes each category and its techniques in detail. RFM Analysis is used to identify customer segments by measuring customers' purchasing habits. It is the process of labeling customers by determining the Recency, Frequency, and Monetary values of their purchases and ranking them on a scoring model. Scoring is based on how recently they bought (Recency), how often they bought (Frequency), and purchase size (Monetary). Experimental results show that the accuracy of behavior analysis using Manhattan distance-based hybrid filtering is greatly improved compared to collaborative and content-based algorithms.

Decentralized E-KYC Blockchain Network for Central Bank

Abstract: Know Your Customer or KYC processes are the backbones of a financial institution’s anti-money laundering efforts. KYC processes are mandatory in most of Europe and India. Almost all countries have their own process for identifying and keeping a record of their citizens like the USA has Social Security Protocol. According to current estimates, the amount of KYC spending rose to up to $1.8 Billion in 2021 on a global level. Despite the importance of the process, KYC continues to operate inefficiently. KYC processes are labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks. It is estimated that 80% of KYC efforts go in gathering information and processing while only 20% of efforts are evaluating and monitoring focused. This centralization of data is causing an inefficient KYC process and creating issues like :- Misidentification of fraudulent data , Inability of tracking customers, customers entering fake data(address, age etc) , delayed processing time and very high cost of processing. Reimagining KYC Using Blockchain Technology will enable seamless and secure data exchange at a fraction of the cost. A decentralized blockchain network will Facilitate near real-time data exchange. Blockchain when used with other technologies can indicate great potential to help organizations reduce the cost and time linked with the KYC process. The introduction of blockchain in KYC brings data on a decentralized network which also has its own pros like distributed data collection ,higher operational efficiency , validation of accuracy of the information. The customer will build their profile on the DCT KYC network. There are multiple options to store the data like Centralized encrypted servers, DCT platforms like IPFS(Interplanetary File System). Customers will perform transactions with Financial Institutions by giving them access to users profile( restricted non-appendable access),Using hashing and cryptographic processes the data would safely be called and returned to the DCT network . Thus making sure the whole process is immutable .

3D Deformation Capture via a Configurable Self-Sensing IMU Sensor Network

Motion capture technologies reconstruct human movements and have wide-ranging applications. Mainstream research on motion capture can be divided into vision-based methods and inertial measurement unit (IMU)-based methods. The vision-based methods capture complex 3D geometrical deformations with high accuracy, but they rely on expensive optical equipment and suffer from the line-of-sight occlusion problem. IMU-based methods are lightweight but hard to capture fine-grained 3D deformations. In this work, we present a configurable self-sensing IMU sensor network to bridge the gap between the vision-based and IMU-based methods. To achieve this, we propose a novel kinematic chain model based on the four-bar linkage to describe the minimum deformation process of 3D deformations. We also introduce three geometric priors, obtained from the initial shape, material properties and motion features, to assist the kinematic chain model in reconstructing deformations and overcome the data sparsity problem. Additionally, to further enhance the accuracy of deformation capture, we propose a fabrication method to customize 3D sensor networks for different objects. We introduce origami-inspired thinking to achieve the customization process, which constructs 3D sensor networks through a 3D-2D-3D digital-physical transition. The experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves comparable performance with state-of-the-art methods.

Exploring the factors that influence customers’ willingness to switch from traditional hotels to green hotels

ABSTRACT This research is designed to illustrate the process of customers’ switching behavior from a traditional hotel to a green hotel by applying a pull-push-mooring theory and an exploratory mixed methods design. The push factors, including environmental policy, social media effects, and social norms, drive customers away from traditional hotels, while the pull factors, including personal norms, perceived health benefits, and emotional well-being, attract customers to green hotels. The mooring factors, including inertia and switching cost, show a vital moderating effect. This study provides a conceptual mechanism that clarifies factors that drive customers’ green behavior in the hotel industry.

Comparative Study of Dental Custom CAD-CAM Implant Abutments and Dental Implant Stock Abutments.

The implementation of CAD-CAM systems in dentistry has significantly influenced the evolution of dental implantology and implant-supported prosthetics within the past three decades. Implant-supported prostheses are comfortable and aesthetic. The prosthetic abutment has also faced a rapid design evolution, from the individualization of standard stock abutments offered by various manufacturers to a modern customization process using CAD-CAM technology. This paper presents a comparative study between 20 dental custom CAD-CAM implant abutments and 20 dental implant stock abutments, based on a set of measurements performed on the digital casts obtained from 24 cases of prosthetic rehabilitation on implants. The statistical analysis (Mann-Whitney U test) revealed significant differences between these two types of abutments: the incisal margin line diameter dimensions for custom abutments were significantly improved compared to standard abutments at the cervical level (U = 343.00, z = 3.868, p < 0.0005) and the incisal/occlusal level (U = 352.00, z = 4.112, p < 0.0005), while the inclination angle of the custom abutments relative to the 0-axis was significantly smaller than that of standard abutments (U = 115.50, z = -2.286, p = 0.022). The use of custom abutments leads to an increase in the final size of the abutment, an improvement in the retention of the prosthetic work, and reduces the angulation of the abutment in relation to the implant axis, thus decreasing the risk of unscrewing or fracturing the dental screw.

An Overview of Industrial Robots Control and Programming Approaches

Nowadays, manufacturing plants are required to be flexible to respond quickly to customer demands, adapting production and processes without affecting their efficiency. In this context, Industrial Robots (IRs) are a primary resource for modern factories due to their versatility which allows the execution of flexible, reconfigurable, and zero-defect manufacturing tasks. Even so, the control and programming of the commercially available IRs are limiting factors for their effective implementation, especially for dynamic production environments or when complex applications are required. These issues have stimulated the development of new technologies that support more efficient methods for robot control and programming. The goal of this research is to identify and evaluate the main approaches proposed in scientific papers and by the robotics industry in the last decades. After a critical review of the standard IR control schematic, the paper discusses the available control alternatives and summarizes their characteristics, range of applications, and remaining limitations.

Enhancing IoT Data and Semantic Interoperability Based on Entity Tree Embedding Under an Edge–Cloud Framework

Internet of Things (IoT) devices and services have become increasingly ubiquitous in recent years as they greatly facilitate our daily life. To promote IoT data and semantic interoperability, we propose an edge–cloud framework. The edge end is responsible for handling customized data processing tasks and transferring the processed data, while the cloud end deals with semantic information processing. Additionally, we present an entity tree embedding algorithm at the cloud end to convert IoT entities and attributes into embedding vectors in a tree-structured way. Consequently, entity embeddings could reflect the semantic information at both Class and Property levels, which ameliorates our previous entity embedding method, leading to better embedding results and clustering effects. Finally, the entity tree embedding algorithm and the corresponding compression algorithm are evaluated. Results indicate that the Whitening algorithm is the best method to compress embedding vectors. More importantly, the entity tree embedding algorithm captures both the semantic and structural information of entities and attributes. Additionally, the clustering experiments show that the proposed embedding algorithm achieves better clustering results compared with the original entity embeddings and the uncompressed averaging method.

Measuring customers’ satisfaction and loyalty in Thai wellness spas

ABSTRACT This study develops a framework to explain the loyalty formation process of customers of Thai wellness spas. It examines the process of determination used by customers regarding their perceived value of the spa experience, satisfaction, desire, and loyalty intentions, which depend on the experiences they gain from wellness spa services. The proposed framework and hypothesised relationships were evaluated using structural equation modelling. Data were gathered by surveying 550 Thai wellness day-spa customers in Bangkok, Thailand. The conceptual model satisfactorily fit the data, and the mediating roles of value, satisfaction, and desire were identified. The wellness spa service experience, the perceived value of the spa experience, satisfaction, desire, and loyalty intentions showed significant correlations with each other. Overall, the results indicated that satisfaction is the most salient variable in building customer loyalty intentions. This study employed multidimensional approaches to the attitudinal loyalty phase and successfully built on the existing literature on sequential loyalty frameworks. Its important theoretical and practical implications stem from a highly holistic view of the formation process of Thai wellness spa customers’ loyalty.

Proposal for a new customization process for a data-based water quality index using a random forest approach

As the water quality index (WQI) represents water quality, it is crucial to customize the WQI for a specific purpose. In this study, to better represent water quality data using WQI, a random forest (RF) approach was used to derive the parameter weight and calculate the WQI according to the watershed and its use. Eight parameters (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, suspended solids, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and total organic carbon) were evaluated using a total of 220,103 data points collected from 900 monitoring sites throughout South Korea between 2011 and 2020. The estimation of parameter weights, key elements in developing the WQI model, was performed through the variable importance estimation method that can be derived from the RF model. The parameter weights were derived based on various spatiotemporal datasets, and it was confirmed that the spatiotemporal differences in weights according to data characteristics represented the regional and seasonal water quality characteristics. Consequently, a customized WQI representing water quality characteristics could be calculated using data-based weights, and it is expected that a data-based customized WQI could be developed to better match the previous WQI to the purpose and target source.

SACU and Trade Facilitation: A Post-Covid Pandemic Legal Analysis for Improved Efficiency

The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) prioritizes trade facilitation as one of its primary objectives in its founding Agreement (Article 2 (a)), implementing programmes to increase trade through expedited movement, and release and clearance of goods in the region. The oldest Customs Union in the world anticipated increased trade-flows following the entry into force and implementation of the progressive World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA), and operation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Its aspirations, however, were dampened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which presented supply side challenges and slowed customs processes. Members introduced critical legislative measures to reduce or stop the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and initiate needed trade-facilitations interventions at a national and regional level. SACU also played a role in this regard, albeit a minimal one, through Council decisions. This raises the question of the SACU’s effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, its relevance in its functions, institutional structural readiness to address pandemics and regional emergencies, and future role it will play in this regard. This article examines trade-facilitation related responses from the institution following the outbreak of the pandemic, and adequacies/inadequacies of the said measures. The article, lastly, proposes trade-facilitation related approaches the SACU could adopt to improve efficiency for future pandemics and other global emergencies. SACU, Trade-Facilitation, Customs, Covid-19, Southern-Africa, Africa, AfCFTA, WTO, WCO, Tariff

Characterization of Dentures for a Natural Esthetic Result: A Case Report

Background: Dental implants offer many viable clinical solutions, but there are patients when they cannot be chosen as the optimal plan. Conventional removable prostheses still come up as a functional option, and several techniques have been developed so that their appearance can be esthetically enhanced and, in certain circumstances, even customized. Case report: This paper presents a clinical case where new conventional dentures were manufactured for both jaws. The patient was complaining about the “artificial” appearance of the pre-existing restorations and was also diagnosed with depression, which was an extra challenge to be dealt with. Attention was also given to individualizing the esthetic performance utilizing materials and techniques for the characterization and customization of the dentures for a natural-like result, in accordance with all the clinical factors that influence the restoration in edentulous patients. Conclusion: As shown in the presented case, complete dentures remain a viable treatment plan. Especially via the process of characterization and customization, higher patient satisfaction and easier acceptance can be achieved.

Total Quality Management (TQM) Influence on the Service Quality of Services Companies in China

This conceptual paper explores the influence of Total Quality Management (TQM) on service quality in Chinese service companies. The paper aims to investigate the specific TQM practices implemented by these companies and examine the impact of TQM on service quality. The paper begins by discussing the importance of TQM in the service industry and its potential benefits for Chinese service companies. It highlights the need for customer focus, employee empowerment, process standardization, performance measurement, and continuous improvement in achieving service quality excellence. Through an examination of existing literature and empirical studies, the paper finds that TQM practices positively impact service quality in Chinese service companies. TQM implementation leads to improved customer satisfaction, enhanced customer loyalty, and overall organizational performance. The adoption of customer feedback mechanisms enables companies to understand customer needs and tailor their services accordingly. Employee empowerment and involvement contribute to higher levels of employee motivation and commitment, resulting in improved service quality outcomes. Process standardization ensures consistency and efficiency in service delivery, while performance measurement systems enable companies to monitor and evaluate service quality against benchmarks. The paper concludes that TQM practices have a significant positive impact on service quality in Chinese service companies. It emphasizes the role of leadership commitment in fostering a culture of quality and sustaining the focus on service quality throughout the organization. The findings of this conceptual research highlight the importance of embracing TQM principles to enhance service quality and gain a competitive edge in the market.

The Role of Soft Total Quality Management Towards Operational Performance at PT SIER

Every firm needs to adapt in the global business environment so that can still sustain in the midst of intense competition. One of the tools that can be used is using soft Total Quality Management (TQM). The purpose of this research is to analyse the role of soft TQM implementation towards operational performance at PT Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (SIER). The variables that are used are soft TQM elements, that is, top management commitment, continuous improvement, training and education, customer focus, process management, workforce management, and supplier relationship. This research uses quantitative method through questionnaire. The population in this research are PT SIER employees with the level of position as an officer from logistics, SIER strategic business unit, and supporting service division. The sampling technique that is used is proportional stratified random sampling that then results the total sample of 72 people. Data is analysed using SEM-PLS method with SmartPLS 3 software. Based on the results of the research can be concluded that from all elements of soft TQM only top management commitment, customer focus, and supplier relationship that are found have positive and significant effect towards operational performance at PT SIER. Keywords: total quality management, soft total quality management, quality management, operational performance, industrial estate

A Model-Driven Approach for Software Process Line Engineering

It has become increasingly preferable to construct bespoke software development processes according to the specifications of the project at hand; however, defining a separate process for each project is time consuming and costly. One solution is to use a Software Process Line (SPrL), a specialized Software Product Line (SPL) in the context of process definition. However, instantiating an SPrL is a slow and error-prone task if performed manually; an adequate degree of automation is therefore essential, which can be achieved by using a Model-Driven Development (MDD) approach. Furthermore, we have identified specific shortcomings in existing approaches for SPrL Engineering (SPrLE). To address the identified shortcomings, we propose a novel MDD approach specifically intended for SPrLE; this approach can be used by method engineers and project managers to first define an SPrL, and then construct custom processes by instantiating it. The proposed approach uses a modeling framework for modeling an SPrL, and applies transformations to provide a high degree of automation when instantiating the SPrL. The proposed approach addresses the shortcomings by providing an adequate coverage of four activities, including Feasibility analysis, Enhancing the core process, Managing configuration complexity, and Post-derivation enhancement. The proposed approach has been validated through an industrial case study and an experiment; the results have shown that the proposed approach can improve the processes being used in organizations, and is rated highly as to usefulness and ease of use.