Adoption of in-room voice assistants: a cross-cultural study

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore whether five factors drawn from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and UTAUT2 significantly influence customers' intention to use hotel in-room voice assistants (VAs). It further examined culture as a moderator of the relationships between the five factors and customers' intention to use.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from US and Singapore to examine cultural differences in customer acceptance of in-room VAs. All hypotheses were tested via structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.FindingsThe results showed that performance expectancy, social influence and hedonic motivation significantly affected customers' intentions to use in-room VAs, while effort expectancy and facilitating conditions did not. The results confirmed that culture did not play a substantial role in moderating the relationships between these factors and intentions to use.Research limitations/implicationsThis study established that the instrument and structural paths in the research model were equivalent across two samples from different countries. The findings may not generalize to other countries as the data arises from customers in the US and Singapore.Practical implicationsThe findings provide important implications for hotel operators and vendors seeking to enhance customer acceptance of in-room voice technology.Originality/valueThis study addresses the gaps of extant research by developing and testing a research model to better understand the influential factors of in-room VA adoption within the hotel domain.