Merging task‐technology fit and technology acceptance models to assess guest empowerment technology usage in hotels

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the usage of guest empowerment technologies (GET) with a specific focus on in‐room entertainment technologies.Design/methodology/approachThis study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the application of task‐technology fit (TTF) and technology acceptance models (TAMs) in reference to entertainment GETs.FindingsThis paper confirmed that the most popular forms of entertainment GET were in‐room movies and on‐demand services. Most importantly, the analysis of the data revealed that a user's individual experiential characteristics have a significant negative relationship with fit of GET while the technology and task characteristics have a significant positive relationship with fit of GET.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper makes a contribution to the current body of literature as it is among the first to utilize a hybrid TTF/TAM in the hotel self‐service environment. As such, it can be utilized by future researchers as a foundation for conducting similar research.Originality/valueThis paper is of value as it is the first academic paper to investigate a variety of forms of entertainment‐based GET. These types of technologies which combine the functionality of self‐service devices while taking into account the user's experience during the design process are in constant and growing demand. As such, technology developers as well as hospitality practitioners will need to rely more and more on this type of research in the future in order to provide consistent levels of quality guest experiences.

Progress on information and communication technologies in hospitality and tourism

“…Schrier et al (2010) investigate guest empowerment technologies with respect to hotel in-room entertainment and show that in-room movies and on-demand services are the most attractive features for guests. This suggests that it is valuable to add more self-service devices to hotel room services.…”

Consumer acceptance of a revolutionary technology-driven product: The role of adoption in the industrial design development

“…In order to further explain the factors related to consumer perspectives about technology utilization, previous research has extended TTF with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Cane and McCarthy, 2009;Dishaw and Strong, 1999;Gebauer and Gribbins, 2010;Klopping and McKinney, 2004;Kositanurit and Osei-Bryson, 2007;Schrier and Brewer, 2010). Davis developed the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain how perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of a technology helps to establish an individual's attitude toward the technology, their intention to use it and the resulting use behavior .…”

Users' intentions to employ a Point-Of-Sale system

“…According to Klopping and McKinney (2004), this is the reason why the combined model of TTF and TAM has always been applied to predicting management information systems (MIS). For instance, as the service industry has also seen a rise in customer use of technology applications to perform tasks such as self-services (Hui & Wan, 2009;Liu et al, 2012;Schrier, Erdem, & Brewer, 2010), the technology has been given some attention in service literature in recent years. With regard to self-service technology (SST), customers can use SSTs either 904 Y.J.…”

“…For example, Schrier et al (2010) examined a fit of customers' in-room entertainment tasks and guest empowerment technologies (for example, on-demand services, video gaming, mp3 player docking stations, etc.) by an integrated TAM and TTF model.…”