Co-creation in hotel service innovation using smart phone apps: an empirical study

Purpose The purpose of this study is to extend and revise the basic technology-based service (TBS) adoption model in luxury hotels in India using smart phone apps, and to analyse the impact of the guests’ innovativeness, willingness to co-create, need for interaction and involvement on their adoption intention towards co-creatively developed new services. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected through online and field surveys from luxury hotel guests, resulting into 229 valid responses. A data analysis was done by applying the confirmatory factor analysis along with structure equation modelling. Findings The findings of this study indicate that both guests’ innovativeness and need for interaction with service staff significantly affect their involvement. A guest’s willingness to co-create acts as a partial mediator between his/her innovativeness and intention to adopt co-creatively developed new services. Research limitations/implications Use of smart phone apps by hotel guests to co-create new services and their intentions to adopt such services have been examined in the context of luxury hotels in India only and thereby limits generalization of results to other industry and country contexts. Practical implications The findings of this study would look to guide policy planners and hotel managers for implementing technology application in the co-creative hotel service innovation. Originality/value The need for interaction and customer involvement have been added as two supportive variables to the basic TBS model to analyse the adoption intention of luxury hotel guests. This is a new addition to existing literature, as majority of empirical studies in this field are from industries other than hospitality and with differing contexts.