Improving consumer commitment through the integration of self-service technologies: A transcendent consumer experience perspective

An increasing number of hospitality firms have integrated self-service technologies (SSTs), yet limited studies exist concerning consumers' experience of using SSTs. The present research theorizes SSTs experience as a bi-dimensional (i.e., extrinsic and intrinsic) construct and tests its impact on consumer commitment (i.e., affective, temporal, and instrumental commitment). This research further examines the potential mediating effect of transcendent consumer experience (TCE) on the tested relationships. Results of Structural Equation Modeling using a sample of 223 hotel and restaurant consumers reveal that TCE fully mediates the impacts of SSTs' extrinsic attributes on the instrumental commitment as well as the impacts of SSTs' intrinsic attributes on the instrumental and the temporal commitment. In contrast, TCE partially mediates the impacts of SSTs' extrinsic attributes on the affective and the temporal commitment as well as the impacts of SSTs' intrinsic attributes on the affective commitment. The paper concludes with theoretical implications and managerial implications.