Is personalization of services always a good thing? Exploring the role of technology‐mediated personalization (TMP) in service relationships

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Despite the strong intuitive appeal of personalization (through employees or, increasingly, through the use of software applications), relatively little is known about its role in managing service relationships. This study aims to explore the burgeoning area of technology-mediated personalization and its effects on customer commitment to service relationships. Design/methodology/approach -A theoretical perspective based on integrated reviews of service research and relationship marketing is developed and used to guide the exploration of personalization effects with qualitative data. Findings -Personalization is not always good enhancement to service: its effects have contingencies and vary across the categories. Continuity personalization seems to be a promising area for researchers and practitioners.Research limitations/implications -Personalization effects should be rigorously studied. Continuity personalization seems to offer a promising area for future research. Practical implications -The intuitive belief about personalization is probably misleading. Whether or not personalization strategies help service relationships depends on their capacity to generate positive inferences on dimensions of performance, benevolence, and value provision. Out of the three types, continuity personalization offers a promising strategic option for managing ongoing customer relationships if well implemented. Originality/value -The counter-intuitive insights into personalization effects on relationship continuity address issues of theoretical and practical concerns.

Smart technologies for personalized experiences: a case study in the hospitality domain

“…Consistent with previous research, the personalization of products and services matching customer requirements is critical (Shen & Ball, 2009), requiring the collection of preferences, needs and requirements for present and future use to deliver personalized experiences (Piccoli et al, 2003). What matters is the "accumulation of knowledge about a consumer's needs and the utilization of that knowledge" in order to deliver high customer satisfaction (Niininen et al, 2007, p.267).…”

“…For tourism, as a highly competitive market, this means that dynamic timing in service development and agile and flexible service delivery will become a success factor for competitiveness (Rust & Oliver, 2000). In their work about technology-mediated personalization, Shen and Ball (2009) point out that continuity personalization is one of the areas offering most potential for the future, albeit not being easy to realise in practice. The findings of the case study demonstrate that the HGRM platform represents a smart technology that allows for mobile access, data aggregation and real time synchronization of information and hence allows for continuous learning of guest personalization at any time.…”

“…The significance of the concept of personalization has been acknowledged in the literature, such as mobile services personalized for tourism (Poslad et al, 2001), mobile tour guides for personalized routes (Schmidt-Rauch & Schwabe, 2013), user personalized content destination marketing (Matloka & Buhalis, 2010) as well as technology-mediated personalization (Shen & Ball, 2009). This study, by exploring the opportunities of smart technology for personalized experiences, is in line with previous research, which claims that information technologies can be used to foster richer (Tussyadiah & Fesenmaier, 2007) and more personalized experiences (Niininen et al, 2007;Sandström, Edvardsson, Kristensson & Magnusson, 2008).…”

“…personalization (Shen & Ball, 2009), tourists are willing to share personal information if personal recognition is facilitated and better services are provided (Buhalis & Law, 2008). The General Manager of the Hotel Lugano Dante underlines that collecting information constitutes a key requirement of the platform in order to establish a better guest profile, developing a relationship, making guests feel special, anticipating their needs and in turn creating an enhanced experience in multiple service encounters and touch points of their stay.…”

“…The systematic aggregation of customer information to facilitate service personalization is paramount (Shen & Ball, 2009). The findings of the case study indicate that the Hotel Lugano Dante allows for the collection of information throughout the entire service chain, prior to the guests' arrival, during the hotel-stay and in the postdeparture.…”