Sustainability

Research

16 pages, 579 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Relationships among Brand Experience, Perceived Product Quality, Hedonic Value, Utilitarian Value, and Brand Loyalty in Unmanned Coffee Shops during the COVID-19 Pandemic

by Jun-Ho Bae and Hyeon-Mo Jeon

Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11713; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811713 - 18 Sep 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8366

Abstract

This study aims to find the antecedents that enhance consumer value and brand loyalty to unmanned coffee shops (UCS) that provide unmanned services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis developed and tested a series of hypotheses based on data collected from 463 customers [...] Read more.

This study aims to find the antecedents that enhance consumer value and brand loyalty to unmanned coffee shops (UCS) that provide unmanned services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis developed and tested a series of hypotheses based on data collected from 463 customers who had visited UCS in South Korea. The influence of brand experience and perceived product quality on customers’ hedonic and utilitarian values were examined, and the utilitarian values were found to have a significant effect on brand loyalty. This result signifies the importance of brand experience and perceived product quality in inducing consumers’ perceptions of value and brand loyalty in the context of unmanned services. The study’s design and results differ from those of previous brand experience studies on manned stores in the food service industry. Therefore, this study contributes to hospitality literature by applying brand experience theory, which has been applied to research on human and unmanned services. In addition, it makes an important contribution by presenting practical implications for the sustainable management of the food service industry during the COVID-19 era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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17 pages, 855 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can International Students’ Risk Perception and Place Image Create an Advantage in Safeguarding Place Loyalty in Post-COVID-19 Tourism?

by Nahyun Lee and Bong-Seok Kim

Sustainability 2022, 14(17), 10633; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141710633 - 26 Aug 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1783

Abstract

International students enrolled in the long term are considered habitual residents. They act as hosts to their friends and relatives, generating word-of-mouth recommendations and revisiting the host country. In order to facilitate inbound tourism in post-COVID-19 tourism, it is necessary to understand their [...] Read more.

International students enrolled in the long term are considered habitual residents. They act as hosts to their friends and relatives, generating word-of-mouth recommendations and revisiting the host country. In order to facilitate inbound tourism in post-COVID-19 tourism, it is necessary to understand their risk perception, place image, and loyalty and provide meaningful insights for tourism markets. This study explores how social and personal risk perception of COVID-19 and cognitive and affective place image explain place loyalty. International students for degree programs comprised the sample population for this study. Findings revealed that social risk perception negatively shapes cognitive and affective place image, while personal risk perception only explains affective place image. Both cognitive and affective place image significantly affects place loyalty and mediates between social risk perception and place loyalty. The research provides new evidence on the risk perception of COVID-19, showing that internal factors such as social and personal risk perception may cause somewhat different results contrary to previous studies. Although gender moderates the relationship between cognitive place image and loyalty, the influence of gender on the theoretical and empirical relationships between risk perception, place image, and loyalty is not significant for international students. Implications for theory and practice, limitations, and future studies are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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14 pages, 501 KiB

Open AccessArticle

How Does Experiential Value toward Robot Barista Service Affect Emotions, Storytelling, and Behavioral Intention in the Context of COVID-19?

by Se-Ran Yoo, Seon-Hee Kim and Hyeon-Mo Jeon

Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 450; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14010450 - 1 Jan 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3971

Abstract

This study aims to examine the antecedents of storytelling and intention to a behavioral robot barista coffee shop (RBCS) by exploring experiential values and emotions. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on data collected from 300 customers [...] Read more.

This study aims to examine the antecedents of storytelling and intention to a behavioral robot barista coffee shop (RBCS) by exploring experiential values and emotions. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on data collected from 300 customers who had visited a RBCS in South Korea. In the verification, the atmosphere showed the greatest influence on positive emotion, followed by consumer return on investment (CROI). These results mean that atmosphere, CROI, and escapism are important to induce positive emotion and behavioral intention for robot barista coffee shop. This is the first study to examine consumers’ experiential value regarding non-face-to-face robot service in the food service industry. This design is different from previous experiential value studies on human services in the hospitality industry. By integrating artificial intelligence and digital innovation into food service, this study broadens the scope of research in consumer behavior, making a significant theoretical contribution to the literature. Furthermore, this study proposes practical implications for sustainable coffee shop management in a COVID-19 environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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16 pages, 464 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experiential Value, Satisfaction, Brand Love, and Brand Loyalty toward Robot Barista Coffee Shop: The Moderating Effect of Generation

by Young Joong Kim, Jung Sook Park and Hyeon Mo Jeon

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 12029; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112029 - 30 Oct 2021

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 8565

Abstract

This study applies experiential value, satisfaction, brand love, brand loyalty, and generation to identify consumer behavior toward robot baristas providing new non-face-to-face services during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on the data collected [...] Read more.

This study applies experiential value, satisfaction, brand love, brand loyalty, and generation to identify consumer behavior toward robot baristas providing new non-face-to-face services during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the analysis, a set of hypotheses was developed and tested based on the data collected from 404 customers who had visited a robot barista coffee shop (RBCS) in South Korea. The results show that playfulness had the most positive effect on satisfaction, followed by service excellence and consumer return on investment (CROI). Satisfaction had a positive effect on brand love and loyalty. This result indicates that playfulness, service excellence, and CROI are important for inducing brand love and brand loyalty of customers toward RBCS. Moreover, generation plays a moderating role between satisfaction and brand love, and between brand and brand loyalty. This research design and the results differ from those of previous studies on experiential value that have focused on human services in the hospitality industry. Consequently, this study contributes to the hospitality literature by applying the experience value theory, which has been mainly applied to research on human services, to non-face-to-face service research, and to identifying its role. Additionally, it makes an important contribution by presenting practical implications for the sustainable management of the food service industry in the COVID-19 era. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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14 pages, 651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Resilience of Tourists’ Repurchase Intention during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Shared Accommodation Sector

by Yan Wang, Kang-Lin Peng and Pearl M. C. Lin

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11580; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132111580 - 20 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3896

Abstract

The economy has suffered unprecedentedly during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the shared accommodation sector. This study aims to discover the pandemic consumer behavior model for the recovery of the sector as well as investigate the economic resilience of tourists’ behavior to prevent and [...] Read more.

The economy has suffered unprecedentedly during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the shared accommodation sector. This study aims to discover the pandemic consumer behavior model for the recovery of the sector as well as investigate the economic resilience of tourists’ behavior to prevent and control the normalized pandemic. Most of the resilience literature discussed the level of economic and industry revitalization. There are relatively few studies on the individual level of tourists’ resilience. Therefore, we applied the adjusted theory of planned behavior with pandemic-related intrinsic factors to construct the research model, which is analyzed by the SEM approach. The results show that perceived risk affects tourists’ perceived value, trust, and behavioral attitude when repurchasing shared accommodation during the pandemic. The repurchase intention is indirectly affected by the behavioral attitude and perceived value. We concluded that the perceived risk of the pandemic could be resilient with respect to the perceived value, trust, and behavioral attitude for the repurchase intention of the shared accommodation for the sector to recover. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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13 pages, 871 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relative Effects of Physical Environment and Employee Performance on Customers’ Emotions, Satisfaction, and Behavioral Intentions in Upscale Restaurants

by Kisang Ryu, Hyun Jeong Kim, Hwangyu Lee and Bongheon Kwon

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9549; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179549 - 25 Aug 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6025

Abstract

This study explored the structural relationships among the physical environment, employee performance, and diners’ emotional states, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, applying the Mehrabian–Russell’s theoretical framework in upscale restaurants. Empirical data were collected from 275 upscale restaurant patrons. The results showed that both intangible [...] Read more.

This study explored the structural relationships among the physical environment, employee performance, and diners’ emotional states, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions, applying the Mehrabian–Russell’s theoretical framework in upscale restaurants. Empirical data were collected from 275 upscale restaurant patrons. The results showed that both intangible (employee service) and tangible (physical environment) factors have significant impacts on diners’ emotional responses (pleasure and arousal), and these emotional responses affect customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. This study found that the physical environment exerted a greater impact on arousal than employee behavior while employee behavior had a greater impact on pleasure than physical environment. In addition, arousal was found to have a positive influence on pleasure. We discussed managerial and theoretical implications based on these findings. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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18 pages, 327 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Consumers in the Foodservices Market

by Iwona Kowalczuk, Dagmara Stangierska, Jerzy Gębski, Agnieszka Tul-Krzyszczuk and Edyta Zmudczyńska

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7403; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137403 - 1 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2820

Abstract

The dynamic development of e-commerce in the foodservice market has been observed in recent years (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), both in Poland and in other countries. The purpose of the study was to determine the characteristics of e-foodservice customers, identify their motivations [...] Read more.

The dynamic development of e-commerce in the foodservice market has been observed in recent years (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic), both in Poland and in other countries. The purpose of the study was to determine the characteristics of e-foodservice customers, identify their motivations for ordering food online and the nutritional consequences of such actions, as well as recognize the influence of consumers’ s-commerce activity on their foodservice market behavior. The study was carried out using the CAWI method on a sample of 1018 adult Poles. With the use of cluster analysis, three consumer segments were distinguished: frequent e-commerce users (221), moderate users (400), and sporadic users (397). The results indicate that frequent users of e-commerce in the foodservice market are slightly more often young and educated men who work full-time, have a higher than average income, and live in a large or medium city. In their own opinions, frequent users are the most concerned about proper nutrition, but despite such declarations, their nutritional quality is inferior to other groups. Compared to other segments, they are the most socially active and show the greatest commitment to s-commerce activity, which influences their purchasing intentions and behaviors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

15 pages, 1196 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Importance of Safety and Security Measures at Sharm El Sheikh Airport and Their Impact on Travel Decisions after Restarting Aviation during the COVID-19 Outbreak

by Thowayeb H. Hassan and Amany E. Salem

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5216; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095216 - 7 May 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6199

Abstract

Travel decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic might be substantially influenced by destination-based attributes, in particular, health safety measures at airports. In the current study, we aimed to assess the effects of the perceived importance of safety measures at the Sharm El Sheikh airport [...] Read more.

Travel decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic might be substantially influenced by destination-based attributes, in particular, health safety measures at airports. In the current study, we aimed to assess the effects of the perceived importance of safety measures at the Sharm El Sheikh airport on the intention of international passengers to revisit the destination, which might reflect their behavioral control for traveling to other tourism destinations. A total of 954 international travelers were asked to fill out a survey to reveal their travel risk perceptions, the importance of airport safety measures, and their future intentions to revisit the destination, and the data were integrated in an SEM model. The results showed that passengers with low-risk perceptions and highly perceived importance of logistic and sanitization procedures, as well as traveler- and staff-related safety measures, were more likely to exhibit greater intentions to revisit the city and lower intentions to cancel or change future travel plans to other touristic regions. Health safety at airports should be stressed in future strategic plans by governmental authorities and stakeholder activities to mitigate the psychological barriers of tourists. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post COVID-19: Sustainable Strategic Management and Consumer Behavior in the Hospitality/Tourism Industry)

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