An assessment of how mindfulness affect service quality and service experience in Vietnam’s luxury hotels

Thi, Hao Dao (2022) An assessment of how mindfulness affect service quality and service experience in Vietnam’s luxury hotels. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

The development of advanced technologies has penetrated much of contemporary life, altering the way people live, work and travel. It also brings unprecedented challenges and opportunities for tourism and hospitality businesses. The rapid deployment of the Internet and the Web 1.0, as well as the Web 2.0/social media environment, have effectively revolutionized the hospitality and tourism industries (Law et al., 2014). However, in addition to advantages from technologies, common drawbacks of technology application are also found, for example information overload (Frias et al., 2008; Magnini, 2017), technostress (Lee et al., 2014), the problem of “value co-destruction” (Ple & Chumpitaz Caceres, 2010; Sigala, 2017) or de-personalisation of tourist experiences (Tarlow, 2011). Customers seem to be more sophisticated and demanding, the business environment is increasingly competitive, services are starting to look like commodities and service quality is becoming standardized and no longer suffice to establish a competitive advantage. There is a shifting from a service-based to an experience-based economy. Tourism and hospitality industry is also on the way to a more experience-based service industry.
Mindfulness refers to the state of being aware, taking note of what is going on within oneself and outside in the world. Beyond improving welfare (Kiken & Shook, 2011), being mindful increases empathy (Winning & Boag, 2015), reduces cognitive biases (Hafenbrack et al., 2014) and influences the consumers’ decision making process (Chan, 2019). Many previous studies demonstrate positive relationships between mindfulness and consumer behaviours such as more satisfaction, greater learning, or more understanding (Moscardo, 1996; Van Winkle & Backman, 2009). In the recent experience literature, mindfulness has gained traction and been considered as a useful tool for managing customers’ experiences in tourism and hospitality (Barber & Deale, 2014; Chan, 2019; Frauman & Norman, 2004).
The purpose of this study is to develop an explanatory framework that addresses about how mindfulness (MIND) impacts customers’ perception of service quality (PSQ) and service experience quality (PSE) and to differentiate the two concepts PSQ and PSE in the context of luxury hotel segment in Vietnam. Structured questionnaire was used to gather the perceptions of customers on service quality, service experience and measure their mindfulness as well. The survey was conducted in three luxury hotels in Hanoi. In total, a sample of 395 questionnaires was collected, in which 379 was valid for data analysis. Quantitative methods using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory analysis and structural equation modelling with Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) were employed for data analysis. The measurements of PSQ, PSE and MIND have been developed and validated. The interrelationships between the three constructs are examined. The results show that MIND has significant relationships on PSQ and PSE, and PSQ and PSE are distinct constructs in terms of their dimensions. MIND is found to have a stronger impact on PSQ than on PSE, and PSQ has a partial mediating role in the relationship between MIND and PSE. The findings of the research are useful for hotel managers to understand more their guests’ demands in the experience economy which are not only about functional benefits, but emotional benefits from the experiential approach. The findings also help to update the understanding of how an ever-evolving customer-base perceives service quality in such a highly competitive environment of luxury hotels.
The conclusions of Mindfulness help hotel managers understand more consumer behaviour in a complex environment where there seems to much information. MIND, PSQ and PSE are modelled as formative second-order constructs, which provides a better specification for each construct. Limitations of the whole study are acknowledged and recommendations for future research are proposed.

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