Table 1:
Level of controllability of service dimensions by the service provider.
| Dimensions | Brief definition | Control by the service provider | Authors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Degree of customisation or standardisation/service package structure | Level of adaptation of the service to each customer’s needs and/or desires. | Yes | Salegna and Fazel (2013); Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Silvestro et al. (1992); Bowen (1990); Lovelock (1980); Lovelock (1983); Liu et al. (2008); Shafti et al. (2007); Cunningham et al. (2005); Van der Valk and Axelsson (2015); Ostrom and Iacobucci (1995); Karmarkar (2004); Lovelock (1984); Dotchin and Oakland (1994); Verma (2000); Trinh and Kachitvichyanukul (2013) |
| Degree of customer contact | Level of customer’s presence in the service process. | Yes | Salegna and Fazel (2013); Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Silvestro et al. (1992); Bowen (1990); Shafti et al. (2007); Cunningham et al. (2005); Chase (2010); Van der Valk and Axelsson (2015); Lovelock (1984); Dotchin and Oakland (1994); Verma (2000) |
| Tangibility/Intangibility | Level of physical features in the service. | N/A | Salegna and Fazel (2013); Cunningham et al. (2004); Cunningham et al. (2006); Bowen (1990); Lovelock (1980); Lovelock (1983); Shafti et al. (2007); Cunningham et al. (2005); Parasuraman et al. (1985); Lovelock and Gummesson (2004); Parasuraman (1998); Judd (1964); Lovelock (1984); Grönroos (1983); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011); Kotler and Armstrong (2010); Dotchin and Oakland (1994); Dey et al. (2015) |
| Relationship or interpersonal interaction | Type of relation between the customers and the service provider (formal or no formal). | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Lovelock (1983); Liu et al. (2008); Shafti et al. (2007); Cunningham et al. (2005); Solomon, et al. (1985); Lovelock and Wirtz (2011); Dotchin and Oakland (1994) |
| Nature of service delivery (continuous or discrete transactions) | Level of service continuity between the customers and the service provider. | N/A | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Silvestro et al. (1992); Bowen (1990); Lovelock (1980); Lovelock (1983); Cunningham et al. (2005); Lovelock (1984); Vandermerwe and Chadwick (1989); Lovelock and Wirtz (2011) |
| Riskiness | Level of risk that customers perceive across different types of services. | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Cunningham et al. (2005); Murphy and Enis (1986); Zeithaml (1981) |
| Judgement/Decision | Level of judgement exercised by the contact personnel about customers and the nature of necessary information for accomplishment of a task by the employee. | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Lovelock (1983); Shafti et al. (2007); Cunningham et al. (2005); Mills and Margulies (1980) |
| Switching | Level of easiness of customers to change the service provider. | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Bowen (1990); Cunningham et al. (2005); Lovelock (1984) |
| Effort | Level of energy and value that customers spend in achieving the service. | No | Murphy and Enis (1986) |
| Consumer involvement or customer participation | Level of customers’ contribution to the service process. | Yes | Bowen (1990); Van der Valk and Axelsson (2015); Larsson and Bowen (1989); Karmarkar and Pitbladdo (1995); Trinh and Kachitvichyanukul (2013); Dey et al.(2015) |
| Place orientation or value added back office/front office | The places that the service process use. | N/A | Silvestro et al. (1992); Liu et al. (2008); Shafti et al. (2007) |
| Degree of labour intensity | Level of resources offered by the provider to accomplish the service process. | Yes | Liu et al. (2008); Shafti et al. (2007); Dotchin and Oakland (1994); Verma (2000) |
| Extent of demand/supply imbalances or variety of customer demands | Level of demand fluctuations over time. | No | Lovelock (1980); Lovelock (1983); Lovelock (1984) |
| Diversity of demand | Level of uniqueness of customers’ demands. | Yes | Larsson and Bowen (1989) |
| Physical environment or physical goods and facilities | General, functional, and environment characteristics of the service provider. | Yes | Lin et al. (2013); Lovelock (1980) |
| Product/process focus | The type of emphasis of the service provider can be on the product or on the service process. | N/A | Silvestro et al. (1992); Shafti et al. (2007); Grönroos (1983) |
| Personal quality of an employee: behaviour/contact person/friendliness | The behaviour characteristics of the contact personnel | Yes | Lin et al. (2013); Crosby and Stephens (1987); Ostrom and Iacobucci (1995); Jankalová (2016) |
| Value (pricing and timing) | The price paid for the service and the time spent for acquiring or consuming the service. | No | Lin et al. (2013) |
| Service delivery (collective and individual) | Customers can share time, space, or equipment when consuming the service. | N/A | Ng et al. (2007); Lovelock (1980); Hill (1977); Lovelock (1984) |
| Customer’s service encounter activity sequence | The steps that form the service encounter. | Yes | Collier and Meyer (1998) |
| Number of pathways built into the service system design by management | The steps that form the service encounter defined by the service provider. | Yes | Collier and Meyer (1998) |
| Communication/Communication time | All the forms of communication made between the service provider and the customers. | Yes | Kellogg and Chase (1995); Parasuraman et al. (1985); Mills and Margulies (1980); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011) |
| Intimacy/Attachment | The level of confidence and trust between the service provider and the customers, and employee’s identification with customers | Yes | Kellogg and Chase (1995); Mills and Margulies (1980) |
| Information (richness or asymmetry) | The level of information exchange between the service provider and the customers. | Yes | Kellogg and Chase (1995); Mills and Margulies (1980); Krishnan and Hartline (2001); Zeithaml (1981) |
| Differentiation or divergence | The definition of the service mix in order to distinguish it from competitors. | Yes | Bowen (1990); Shostack (1987) |
| Importance of people/employees | The level of significance that service provider employees have in the service process. | Yes | Bowen (1990); Lovelock (1984) |
| Multi-site vs. single-site delivery | The location of the service delivery. | N/A | Lovelock (1980); Lovelock (1984) |
| Breadth of service package | The number of services that compose the whole service. | Yes | Lovelock (1980) |
| Timing and duration of benefits; permanent effect vs. temporary effect | The duration of the benefits received when acquiring the service. | N/A | Lovelock (1980); Hill (1977) |
| Allocation of capacity to customers | The management of service capacity by the service provider according to demand fluctuations. | Yes | Lovelock (1980) |
| Time-defined vs. task-defined transactions | The definition of the service according to the duration or to the accomplishment of a task. | N/A | Lovelock (1980) |
| Nature of customer/service system interaction | The level of customer interaction in the service system. | Yes | Wemmerlöv (1990) |
| Nature of service (customer–provider interaction) | The effort of acquiring the service can be from customers or from the service provider. | N/A | Lovelock (1980); Vandermerwe and Chadwick (1989) |
| Method of service delivery (nature of interaction and availability) | The way that the service is delivered according to its availability. | Yes | Lovelock (1983) |
| Purpose of delivery/consumption | The core benefit that customers search from acquiring a service. | No | Ng et al. (2007); Parasuraman (1998) |
| Reliability | The ability of the service provider to perform the service as promised, right at the first time. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985); Jankalová (2016) |
| Security/Riskiness | The level of physical safety, financial security and confidentiality that customers perceive across different types of services. | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Cunningham et al. (2005); Murphy and Enis (1986); Zeithaml (1981); Parasuraman et al. (1985); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011) |
| Credibility | The level of trust, believability and honesty of the service provider perceived by customers. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985) |
| Speed or responsiveness | The level of employees’ determination to offer a service. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011) |
| Understanding/knowing the customer | The level of knowledge that the service provider has about customers. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985) |
| Courtesy or empathy | The personnel of contact professionalism, respect, education, consideration, friendliness and polite appearance. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff, (2011) |
| Access/Convenience | The easiness of contact and level of availability that customers require to the service provider. | Yes | Cunningham et al. (2006); Cunningham et al. (2004); Cunningham et al. (2005); Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011); Jankalová (2016); Parasuraman et al. (1985) |
| Competence | The service provider skills, competences and knowledge to provide the service. | Yes | Parasuraman et al. (1985) |
| Complexity/Degree of specifying | The number and difficulty of service performance steps definition. | Yes | Shostack (1987); Karmarkar (2004) |
| Role similarity | The roles of each service provider. | N/A | Solomon et al. (1985) |
| Tie strength with a client | The power of the interaction between the service provider and the customers. | Yes | Smedlund (2008) |
| Service scope (degree of bundling) | Combinations of individual services into one integrated service. | Yes | Kowalkowski et al. (2009) |
| Service focus (level of customer integration) | The type of focus of the service regarding the level of customers’ integration. | Yes | Kowalkowski et al. (2009); Fitzsimmons et al. (1998) |
| Service process | The structure of the service offers regarding service scope and focus. | Yes | Kowalkowski et al. (2009); Lovelock and Yip (1996) |
| Service core | The essential aspects of the service. | Yes | Crosby and Stephens (1987); Iacobucci and Ostrom (1993) |
| Overall satisfaction | The customer’s evaluation of satisfaction with the service. | No | Crosby and Stephens (1987) |
| Heterogeneity | The service is not uniform, it is always performed differently. | Yes | Lovelock and Gummesson (2004); Kotler and Armstrong (2010) |
| Perishability | Service’s inability to be saved, stored or reused. | N/A | Lovelock and Gummesson (2004); Kotler and Armstrong (2010) |
| Price | Customers can be price sensitive, depending on the purchase situation. | Yes | Ostrom and Iacobucci (1995) |
| Degree of routinisation of the service process | The level of technology used on service process to make it more predictable. | Yes | Wemmerlöv (1990) |
| Serviced objects in service process | The service can be processed on goods, people or information/images. | N/A | Wemmerlöv (1990); Dotchin and Oakland (1994) |
| Degree of consumer internal research or Problem awareness | The customers’ knowledge about a service. | No | Davis et al. (1979); Mills and Margulies (1980) |
| Transferability | The easiness of replacing employees in the service workflow. | N/A | Mills and Margulies (1980) |
| Power | The control of critical information by the service provider. | Yes | Mills and Margulies (1980) |
| Physical effect vs. mental effect | Services can make changes on either the physical or mental conditions of the customers. | N/A | Hill (1977) |
| Inventories absent | The lack of inventory in services as a result of intangibility. | N/A | Karmarkar and Pitbladdo (1995) |
| Extent to which customer needs to be physically present | Services that involve the customers in its processing. | Yes | Lovelock and Yip (1996) |
| Usefulness | Customer’s evaluation of the utility of the service. | No | Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011) |
| Knowledge of service providers | The level of information that service providers have about customer’s needs. | Yes | Venkateswaran and Maleyeff (2011) |
| Ease of service generation | The number of skills required to generate the service. | N/A | Chakraborty and Kaynak (2014) |
| Value of service | What the customers spend in a service encounter. | No | Chakraborty and Kaynak (2014) |
| Type of user | The type of customer can be individual or organisational. | N/A | Dey et al. (2015) |
| Environmental orientation | The green attributes and practices that care for environment protection. | Yes | Chen et al. (2015) |
| Ecologic | Eco-friendly practices, activities, and education. | Yes | Ban and Ramsaran (2017) |
| Environmentally friendly and healthy equipment | The use of natural and ecofriendly materials in the service process. | Yes | Bastič and Gojčič (2012) |
| Eco-behaviour of hotel staff | Employee’s environmentally conscious attitude. | Yes | Bastič and Gojčič (2012) |
| Efficient use of energy and water | The implementation of actions to reduce water and energy consumption. | Yes | Bastič and Gojčič (2012) |
Table 2.
Variables included in the questionnaire.
| Main dimensions (variables) | Authors |
|---|---|
| Degree of customer involvement (DCI) | Adapted from Kalamas et al. (2002); Ariffin and Maghzi (2012); and own Elaboration |
| Convenience level (CL) | Adapted from Lee et al. (2016); Ladhari (2012); Rachau et al. (2015); Ayeh and Chen (2013); Ariffin and Maghzi (2012); Manhas and Tukamushaba (2015); Dortyol et al. (2014); and own elaboration |
| Contact personnel performance (CPP) | Adapted from Ariffin and Maghzi (2012); Lee et al. (2016); Asad and Tim (2010); Blešić et al. (2014) |
| Complexity degree (CD) | Adapted from Dortyol et al. (2014); Asad and Tim (2010); and own elaboration |
| Information and communication power (ICP) | Adapted from Chen (2014); Ayeh and Chen (2013); Ladhari (2012); and own elaboration |
| Environment and social responsibility (ESR) | Adapted from Bastič and Gojčič (2012) and own elaboration |
Table 3.
Socio-demographic profile and moderating variables by country of residence.
| PT | ES | FR | IT | RO | BR | MX | UY | BO | CL | NLE | NEL | NENL | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | ||||||||||||||
| 18 to 25 | 59% | 14% | 27% | 12% | 32% | 16% | 25% | 22% | 48% | 17% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 29% |
| 26 to 40 | 31% | 32% | 36% | 40% | 46% | 41% | 31% | 32% | 33% | 37% | 63% | 29% | 50% | 36% |
| 41 to 60 | 11% | 50% | 30% | 44% | 22% | 38% | 39% | 44% | 15% | 35% | 13% | 42% | 50% | 31% |
| Above 60 | 0% | 4% | 7% | 4% | 0% | 4% | 6% | 2% | 4% | 11% | 0% | 29% | 0% | 4% |
| Sex | ||||||||||||||
| Female | 26% | 36% | 29% | 22% | 50% | 42% | 33% | 47% | 43% | 30% | 63% | 46% | 17% | 43% |
| Male | 74% | 64% | 71% | 78% | 50% | 58% | 67% | 53% | 57% | 70% | 38% | 54% | 83% | 57% |
| Education qualification | ||||||||||||||
| Primary | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Secondary | 22% | 3% | 0% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 4% | 18% | 4% | 0% | 4% | 0% | 7% |
| Bachelor’s | 36% | 13% | 6% | 36% | 24% | 17% | 35% | 40% | 48% | 23% | 13% | 29% | 0% | 28% |
| Master’s/PhD | 42% | 84% | 94% | 62% | 73% | 82% | 65% | 56% | 35% | 73% | 88% | 67% | 100% | 65% |
| Annual household income (in relation to country’s average) | ||||||||||||||
| Far below | 3% | 3% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% |
| Below | 17% | 10% | 9% | 1% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 12% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 7% |
| Average | 42% | 38% | 27% | 55% | 25% | 21% | 26% | 29% | 38% | 19% | 50% | 29% | 33% | 32% |
| Above | 36% | 42% | 48% | 42% | 48% | 45% | 57% | 62% | 39% | 53% | 38% | 46% | 33% | 46% |
| Well above | 3% | 7% | 12% | 1% | 23% | 30% | 15% | 7% | 11% | 28% | 13% | 25% | 33% | 14% |
| Work in the tourism/travel industry | ||||||||||||||
| Yes | 6% | 9% | 1% | 3% | 1% | 1% | 3% | 0% | 8% | 4% | 13% | 4% | 0% | 4% |
| No | 94% | 91% | 99% | 97% | 99% | 99% | 97% | 100% | 92% | 96% | 87% | 96% | 100% | 96% |
| Frequency of hotel stay | ||||||||||||||
| I do not stay in hotels | 13% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 14% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| Once per year | 39% | 13% | 15% | 12% | 8% | 16% | 19% | 30% | 32% | 25% | 37% | 13% | 50% | 22% |
| 2 to 3 times per year | 32% | 30% | 32% | 31% | 45% | 38% | 36% | 33% | 36% | 32% | 25% | 29% | 50% | 35% |
| More than 3 times per year | 16% | 53% | 49% | 54% | 45% | 43% | 42% | 34% | 18% | 35% | 38% | 58% | 0 | 37% |
| Hotel category type | ||||||||||||||
| I do not stay in hotels | 13% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3% | 15% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% |
| 1 star | 2% | 0% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% |
| 2 stars | 4% | 2% | 14% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 1% | 0% | 7% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
| 3 stars | 38% | 23% | 50% | 52% | 59% | 46% | 15% | 38% | 38% | 32% | 62% | 33% | 83% | 38% |
| 4 stars | 41% | 68% | 20% | 41% | 32% | 41% | 47% | 54% | 27% | 44% | 38% | 54% | 17% | 42% |
| 5 stars | 2% | 3% | 4% | 0% | 1% | 5% | 34% | 3% | 11% | 14% | 0% | 13% | 0% | 9% |
Table 4.
Consistency and reliability analysis of the dimension degree of customer involvement (DCI).
| Variable | KMO test | Cronbach’s alpha (score reliability) | Item | Component 1 | Component 2 | AVE | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.DCI_acq | 0.522 | ||||||
| 2.DCI_be | 0.706 | ||||||
| 3.DCI_stff | 0.762 | ||||||
| 4.DCI_prof | 0.765 | ||||||
| Degree of customer involvement (DCI) | 0.879 | 0.819 | 5.DCI_lyt | 0.683 | 0.480 | 0.820 | |
| 6.DCI_mach | 0.349 | ||||||
| 7.DCI_cst | 0.696 | ||||||
| 8.DCI_pack | 0.650 | ||||||
| 9.DCI_ad | 0.728 |
Table 5.
Consistency and reliability analysis of the dimension convenience level (CL).
| Variable | KMO test | Cronbach’s alpha (score reliability) | Item | Component 1 | Component 2 | AVE | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10.CL_24h | 0.615 | 0.340 | |||||
| 11.CL_prb | 0.758 | 0.321 | |||||
| 12.CL_eqp | 0.739 | 0.397 | |||||
| 13.CL_cent | 0.318 | 0.620 | |||||
| 14.CL_rom | 0.813 | 0.356 | |||||
| Convenience level (CL) | 0.955 | 0.947 | 15.CL_hom | 0.360 | 0.696 | 0.669 | 0.948 |
| 16.CL_dsg | 0.105 | 0.859 | |||||
| 17.CL_pro | 0.833 | 0.303 | |||||
| 18.CL_cnf | 0.855 | 0.201 | |||||
| 19.CL_sec | 0.865 | 0.256 | |||||
| 20.CL_sub | 0.840 | 0.230 | |||||
| 21.CL_pri | 0.801 | 0.178 |
Table 6.
Consistency and reliability analysis of the dimension contact personnel performance (CPP).
| Variable | KMO test | Cronbach’s alpha (score reliability) | Item | Component 1 | Component 2 | AVE | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22.CPP_frd | 0.463 | ||||||
| 23.CPP_knw | 0.867 | ||||||
| 24.CPP_spc | 0.834 | ||||||
| Contact personnel performance (CPP) | 0.902 | 0.941 | 25.CPP_clm | 0.905 | 0.733 | 0.943 | |
| 26.CPP_prof | 0.898 | ||||||
| 27.CPP_edu | 0.891 | ||||||
| 28.CPP_hel | 0.881 |
Table 7.
Consistency and reliability analysis of the dimensions complexity degree (CD), information and communication power (ICP), and environment and social responsibility (ESR).
| Variable | KMO test | Cronbach’s alpha (score reliability) | Item | Component 1 | Component 2 | AVE | CR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29.CD_buy | 0.751 | ||||||
| 30.CD_ort | 0.639 | ||||||
| 31.CD_cfm | 0.783 | ||||||
| Complexity degree (CD) | 0.910 | 0.895 | 32.CD_spc | 0.797 | 0.532 | 0.900 | |
| 33.CD_do | 0.779 | ||||||
| 34.CD_ins | 0.850 | ||||||
| 35.CD_flex | 0.818 | ||||||
| 36.CD_exp | 0.699 | ||||||
| 37.ICP_pro | 0.696 | ||||||
| 38.ICP_ling | 0.804 | ||||||
| Information and communication power (ICP) | 0.840 | 0.855 | 39.ICP_con | 0.852 | 0.563 | 0.865 | |
| 40.ICP_det | 0.840 | ||||||
| 41.ICP_acc | 0.820 | ||||||
| 42.ESR_clm | 0.569 | ||||||
| 43.ESR_mat | 0.853 | ||||||
| 44.ESR_wtr | 0.893 | ||||||
| Environment and social responsibility (ESR) | 0.917 | 0.929 | 45.ESR_recy | 0.885 | 0.611 | 0.926 | |
| 46.ESR_eco | 0.903 | ||||||
| 47.ESR_pol | 0.862 | ||||||
| 48.ESR_stff | 0.741 | ||||||
| 49.ESR_vol | 0.808 |