Self-Service Technology in the Hospitality and Tourism Settings: A Critical Review of the Literature

Abstract

Self-service technology (SST) and its applications are changing the way the hospitality and tourism industry provides products and services to their customers. Although the use of SST is a remarkable change for service providers because its use can meet customers' pursuit of an efficient life, research provides a sufficient overview of how the usage of SST influences customers' service experience in the tourism and hospitality settings remains lacking. Thus, this study aims to provide an understanding of previous SST research and a basis for exploring the influential factors regarding SST adoption. To achieve this purpose, SST papers in leading hospitality and tourism academic journals were reviewed. Although the number of articles is limited, content analysis allows the authors to understand a phenomenon and identify research topics and methods in SST studies. Also, this study contributes to existing SST literature by providing future research guidelines.