The impact of smart tourism technology and domestic travelers' technology readiness on their satisfaction and behavioral intention: A cross‐country comparison

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of tourism technology, not much has been discovered about the effects of the external aspects of tourism technology with internal inclination of travelers to adopt the technologies. This study attempted to examine the influence of smart tourism technologies (STTs) and travelers' technology readiness (TR) on satisfaction and future behavioral intention. Comparing two smart tourism destinations in the United States and South Korea, this study investigated the cross‐country effects in the relationships among STTs, TR, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. The results revealed that travelers' TR has a more significant impact on satisfaction than STTs. Specifically, travelers' optimism, innovativeness, and discomfort significantly influenced travelers' satisfaction, while STTs' informativeness positively affected travelers' satisfaction. The results of cross‐country comparison indicated that travelers' TR and perspectives toward STTs differently affected their satisfaction with STTs by their destination country. The findings of this study suggest that when implementing STTs in tourism destinations, the destination tourism organizations should identify their target travelers' demographic profile including cultural backgrounds as a way to enhance their level of satisfaction and future behavioral intention.

From the attributes of smart tourism technologies to loyalty and WOM via user satisfaction: the moderating role of switching costs

“…(2020) replicated this second-order construct and measured its effect on memorable tourism experiences. Shin et al. (2021) further examined the effect of these four dimensions on user satisfaction with STTs.…”

“…(2020), the factor loadings of informativeness, accessibility, interaction and personalization were 0.918, 0.664, 0.615 and 0.271, respectively. Since Shin et al. (2021) examined the effects of four dimensions of STTs and four dimensions of technology readiness on user satisfaction, only one dimension of STTs (informativeness) had a significant effect on user satisfaction in all samples.…”

“…(2020) studied how STTs ultimately affect tourists' destination loyalty through travel satisfaction. Shin et al. (2021) studied how STTs ultimately affect tourists' intention to visit the same city again through user satisfaction with STTs available in the selected city.…”

“…Previous studies indicated that STTs play a role in improving travel experience satisfaction (Huang et al, 2017) and tourists' subsequent favorable future behaviors on tourism destinations (Azis et al, 2020). For instance, Shin et al (2021) have examined the effect of STTs on revisit intention. However, there is a lack of studies on tourists' satisfaction with STTs and their further behaviors towards STTs that they are used.…”

Smart Tourism Technologies’ Ambidexterity: Balancing Tourist’s Worries and Novelty Seeking for Travel Satisfaction

“…And online shared photos and videos mediate tourist experience by stimulating fantasies and providing pleasurable memories (Bradley et al, 1992 ; Narangajavana Kaosiri et al, 2019 ; Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2009 ). The use of STT in pursuit of novelty also leads to tourist happiness resulting in travel satisfaction (Shin et al, 2021 ) and thus destination revisit intention (Pai et al, 2020 ). All such uses of STT can lead to an exotic location, an on-the-go schedule, or an off-the-beaten-path activity, all of which can enhance the overall travel experience in a novel way so that the positive impact of novelty seeking on travel experience satisfaction will be strengthened as the degree of STT use increases.…”