Customer engagement behaviors and hotel responses

The current customer-centric business environment requires hospitality firms to pursue strategies steering customer behaviors beyond transactions, which are frequently referred to as customer engagement behaviors (CEBs). The present study focused on one particular type of customer engagement behaviors: user-generated hotel reviews. Specifically, this study examined potential customers’ perceptions of CEBs and hotels’ management responses to CEBs. The results of an experimental study showed that customers’ perceived motivational drivers underlying CEBs vary with their targets and positive CEBs enjoy more favorable evaluations than negative CEBs. For management responses to CEBs, the perceived motivational drivers were determined by the specificity of responses and the valence of CEBs. The effectiveness of specific management responses was rated higher than that of generic responses to negative CEBs. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings also are discussed.

► We examined customer engagement behavior (CEB) phenomenon manifested in online interactions among focal customers, hospitality firms, and potential customers.
► We identified motivational drivers of CEBs and hotel firms’ management responses to CEB as perceived by potential customers.
► Potential customers perceived positive CEBs as more helpful and credible than negative ones.
► While the type of management responses to positive CEBs did not affect potential customers’ evaluation of the responses, specific management responses to negative CEBs gained more trust and delivered higher perceived communication quality than generic ones.