Impact of Smart Tourism Technologies on technology engagement, destination experiences, and place attachment from the perspectives of gamification, engagement and self-determination theory
Date
2022-08
Authors
Singh, Smita
Major Professor
Advisor
Lee, SoJung
Tsai, Chin-Hsun (Ken)
Jeong, Eunha
Su, Joan
Olson, Eric D.
Committee Member
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Abstract
With the advent of the latest technologies, destinations are inevitably embracing smart tourism technologies (STT) (Weaver & Moyle, 2019) and are planning to invest more than $41 trillion over the next 20 years to develop smart and intelligent infrastructure to attract tourists (Smart America Challenge, n.d). STT include technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, websites, or mobile applications used by tourists in all phases of their decision-making process and customer journey (Neuhofer, 2015; Khan et al., 2017) and have emerged as an innovative way to communicate and engage customers in a novel and vivid manner (Yim et al., 2017). Tourists’ experiences through STT can take them further to a destination at any point of interaction (Hoarau & Kline, 2014), creating a sense of attachment to the destination (Kim, 2017). Gamification has also been in the spotlight in the technology context wherein self-determination theory plays a crucial role in explaining individuals’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to use gamification in the research context (Tobon et al., 2020).
Considering the importance of tourist experiences and the desire for information technology, destination hospitality and tourism firms are becoming more active and dynamic in delivering STT to create more meaningful travel experiences (Buonincontri & Micera, 2016). STT play an indispensable role in tourism, as most tourists use technologies such as location applications, local restaurant reviews, or mobile payments throughout the whole travel process. Therefore, understanding how STT impact technology engagement, destination experiences, and place attachment is crucial for the tourism industry. Additionally, motivation governs the performance of many behaviors (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Gamification has been found as a motivation strategy to influence individuals (Sailer et al., 2017) and is evolving as a popular method for developing STT (Werbach & Hunter, 2012; Zichermann & Linder, 2013). Through the use of gamification in tourism applications, destination marketers try to provide real-time immersive interactions to intensify the relationship between tourists and destinations (Neuburger et al., 2018). However, gamification is still in its infancy stages in the tourism industry (Xu, Buhalis, & Weber, 2017) and till date, no studies have provided empirical evidence on the influence of tourists' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in using STT at destinations.
Taken into consideration these gaps, the current research utilized the engagement theory and the self-determination theory as the overarching theories to examine the impact of smart tourism technologies on technology engagement, destination experiences, and place attachment, as well as the role of gamification as a moderator in these relationships. The study also analyzed the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to use gamified and non-gamified smart tourism applications at a destination.
STT have been discussed from many perspectives, including accessibility, informativeness, interactivity, and personalization (Huang et al., 2017; Jeong & Shin, 2019; Lee et al., 2018; No & Kim, 2015). The study revealed that attributes of STT (i.e., interactivity, informativeness, accessibility, and personalization) had a positive and a significant impact on technology engagement. Findings also indicated that technology engagement played a major role in enhancing destination experiences and was consistent with previous findings wherein engagement has been found as an important element in building strong customer relationships (O’Brien et al., 2018). Results also proved that high levels of destination experiences can enhance place attachment through the four dimensions place affect, place dependence, place identity, and social bonding (Kyle et al., 2004; Yuksel et al., 2010). Although the group differences were established with respect to the use of STT attributes, technology engagement, destination experiences, place attachment, and users’ motivation (i.e., intrinsic, and extrinsic) but the moderating role of gamification was not identified in these relationships.
Based upon the results, the research provided several important contributions to all its stakeholders. The present study fills this gap by providing empirical evidence of the effects of gamification and users’ motivation in the context of smart technologies and smart tourism and to the best of our knowledge, the research is first of its kind to compare gamified and non-gamified smart tourism technology applications and how STT attributes contribute towards the importance of technology engagement, thereby resulting in providing better destination experiences and place attachment. Prior studies on gamification are primarily based on case studies (e.g., Xu et al., 2017) or theoretical papers (e.g., Skinner et al., 2018), and the present study applies a methodologically rigorous questionnaire based empirical quantitative research using scales validated in previous studies, and thereby using a large sample size for each group.
Given the nature of tourism as an experiential consumption, gamification can be considered as an effective strategy to create unique experiences. The study can be of great relevance to destination marketers who plan to invest in gamified smart tourism technologies to enhance their user engagement and gain a competitive advantage. Tailored experiences through STT can be regarded as an effective strategy to satisfy tourist’ demands and optimize their experiences, as the aggregation of pleasant and memorable experiences and emotions resulting from engagement with STT might reinforce a preference for one destination over another. High-quality smart technology experiences can result in higher levels of satisfaction with travel services and can make the tourist satisfied in their overall travel evaluations (Huang et al., 2017; Kim, 2018).
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dissertation