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Although research examining loyalty point redemption has focused almost exclusively on fixed exchange rates between points and money (e.g., 100 points = $1), variable exchange rates are observed frequently in practice (e.g., 100 points might equate to more or less than $1, depending on the monetary price and the required points for a flight redemption within the continental United States). Such variable rates are particularly common in loyalty programs in the hospitality industry. In this research, the authors show that the stability of the exchange rate—whether the exchange rate is fixed or variable across offers—systematically influences point redemption. Consumers are less likely to redeem loyalty points and instead spend money when they observe a variable exchange rate between money and points than when they observe a fixed exchange rate, even when the average value of points is the same. This effect is demonstrated in a series of studies across contexts, including an incentive-compatible retail loyalty program and a hotel loyalty program. The findings show that a variable point exchange rate induces more optimism than a fixed exchange rate, reducing point redemption. This effect is moderated by individual differences in optimism and by point expiration date. The authors conclude by discussing the implications for managers of loyalty programs and for consumers. Note : This manuscript was submitted to JMR before Rebecca Hamilton's appointment as Editor in Chief. The editor team that began the review process, Sachin Gupta and Vikas Mittal, finished the review process and final acceptance, per the AMA policy on submissions by journal editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and competitive advantage (CA) has become more critical than ever for firms, particularly in the hospitality and other service industries, during times of crisis. This study sought to investigate the correlation between CSR and CA, with the mediating role of creative behaviour (CB) and the moderating role of creative self-efficacy (CSE). Based on data gathered from 167 employees in the hotel industry in Saudi Arabia, the proposed model was tested using PLS-SEM via SmartPLS software. The results revealed that CSR directly and indirectly affects CA through CB. Importantly, CSE moderates the linkages between ethical and philanthropic dimensions of CSR and CB. This study expands our understanding of the relationship of CSR to CA in the hospitality literature by highlighting its potential mechanism and conditional effect, where the mediating and moderating role of CB and CSE in the relationship between CSR dimensions and firms' CA have been tested. The findings can assist firms in hospitality and other service industries in achieving CA during crises in the developing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the permeation of artificial intelligence (AI) through the tourism and hospitality industry, a comprehensive understanding of its features and service outcomes is important for both academia and practice. In this study, a meta-analytic framework with 23 constructs from 91 research papers was developed. This analysis indicated that AI features can be categorized as sensory, social or functional; and the relationships among these features were revealed. Additionally, these features lead to positive service outcomes via a process involving customers' cognition, affect and relationships with service providers. The research method, AI type and participants' gender moderate the influence of AI features on service outcomes, but stimulants and prior experience do not. These findings enhance the understanding of AI applications and consequences and have managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using machine learning, we examined customers' opinions about the metaverse in the hospitality industry (encompassing hotels, restaurant, gaming, virtual events, tours and travel). A total of 8,855 tweets were collected from Twitter (now called X), and machine learning algorithms such as sentiment analysis and topic modeling were performed using Python libraries to capture the important topics related to metaverse applications. Nearly two thirds of the collected tweets (60.9%) contained a mostly positive general sentiment toward the use of the metaverse. Six important topics emerged from the topic modeling: gaming, virtual events, virtual sightseeing, travel, business and blockchain. Despite numerous studies on the proper integration of the metaverse, VR and AR, to the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies conducted to determine the customer experience of the metaverse in the hospitality industry using social media data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice of service robot has significant impact on human-robot interaction,but with inadequate academic attention to it in robot service failure context. This research focuses on a novel perceptual nonlinguistic tone of robot voice, vividness, and investigates its influence on consumer tolerance to robot service failure. In three experiments, it was found that voice vividness negatively influences consumer tolerance to service failure, with service expectation playing a mediating role. Furthermore, the study revealed that robot appearance cuteness can mitigate the detrimental impact of voice vividness, but this mitigating effect is only effective in scenarios with low service failure severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the conservation of resources theory, this study explores when and how workplace incivility toward expatriates affects their service innovation, which is critical for the success of multinational hotels. Additionally, we examine work engagement as a mediator and expatriate collectivism as a moderator in the above relationship. Data were collected in the hospitality industry in China, and we found that workplace incivility impaired expatriate service innovation through reduced work engagement. Furthermore, our findings revealed that expatriate collectivism could serve as a mitigating factor against the adverse consequences of workplace incivility toward expatriates. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications of multinational hotel management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines interpersonal psychological factors as antecedents and crisis/supportive behavior factors as consequences of organizational job embeddedness (OJE) in the hospitality industry. Workplace fun (WF) and humor (WH) as psychological factors, quitting intention (QI) as a crisis factor, and service recovery performance (SRP) and proactive customer service performance (PCSP) as supportive behavior factors were studied. Data from 333 hotel employees and 40 supervisors were collected through a questionnaire, analyzed using SEM-PLS3. WF and WH serve as a valuable framework for understanding OJE. WH influences WF, which positively impacts OJE. Increased OJE results in SRP and PCSP, reducing QI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of viewing travel vlog experiences on online tourists' travel planning behavior. Based on integrating cognitive emotion theory (CET) and the source credibility model (SCM), this study illuminates the mechanics of inspiration formation and its mediation role between credible vlogger characteristics and travel planning behavior. The study surveyed 423 online tourists in Vietnam who use travel vlogs to plan their travels. The study found that sincerity, professionalism, and attraction all positively affect inspiration, but attraction had the biggest effect. Inspiration partially mediated the relationship between sincerity and travel planning behavior, while the influence of professionalism and attraction on travel planning behavior was fully mediated by inspiration. The study suggests that travel vloggers need to create products that clearly portray their ethos and can connect emotionally with online tourists. Hospitality and tourism businesses should collaborate with travel vloggers to enhance their brand image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important concept that depicts the nature of employee–employer relationship is the psychological contract. Prior research has argued that all forms of extra‐role behaviors suffer once employees' psychological contracts are violated. Helping behaviors are a specific form of extra‐role behaviors that may suffer due to psychological contract violation. We argue that this predominantly negative relationship between psychological contract violation and helping behaviors is because the literature has not adequately examined the different types of helping behaviors. Using the latent moderated structural equation approach with multiwave and multisource data from a survey of 269 full‐time employees and their coworkers from the hospitality industry in Ghana, we show that psychological contract violation is positively related to reactive helping behaviors and negatively associated with anticipatory helping behaviors through anticipatory anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 has offered a painful lesson to the stakeholders of the travel and hospitality industry. To speed up the recovery of the industry, practitioners need to better understand the factors that influence potential travelers' evaluation of infection risk when traveling abroad. Hence, this study proposes time orientation (future and present orientations) as a robust determining factor. Analyzing 614 pre-pandemic and 606 mid-pandemic survey responses, this study consistently found that future and present orientations positively predict the evaluation of infection risk because of the highly perceived value of cleanliness. The presence of the pandemic amplifies the positive prediction of present orientation on the evaluation of infection risk. These findings extend the literature of time orientation by revealing its influence on travel risk and the psychological mechanisms behind it. Meaningful implications are provided for travel operators to identify the potential travelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]