The influence of optimism and innovativeness on customers' perceptions of technological readiness in five-star hotels

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of innovation and customer optimism on the ease of using self-service technologies. A total of 940 respondents from 46 hotels answered a survey questionnaire. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select participating hotels from five tourist regions in Egypt. Descriptive statistics are computed to show the level of agreement towards technological innovation and optimism. Regressions are then estimated to test the effects of innovation and optimism on perceived technological accessibility. With respect to technological innovation, survey participants generally enjoyed learning about new technology products. Similarly, the respondents were highly optimistic about the use of technology. Regression results indicate that technological innovation and customer optimism towards technology are positively correlated with the perceived accessibility of self-service technologies. The effective application of self-service technologies in hotels is not well understood in the current literature, despite the implications for higher-quality customer experiences. This study contributes to the fields of hotel/tourism and consumer technology research. The continuing challenges and fierce global competition that have emerged in today's business environment, especially in the hotel industry, were bound to shed light on the subject of customers' perceptions of technological readiness in fivestar hotels in Egypt, which can be perceived as an issue of great importance for hotel management.