A Conceptual Framework of Customized Services for Tourism Industry: Perspective of Emotion and Moderator of Gender

Abstract

Customized services allow travelers to receive services that would meet their unique needs. This study establishes a theoretical framework of customized service for the tourism industry including the emotional and behavioral outcomes of customized service, integrating the moderator of gender. In tourism, the interactions between the traveler and the service provider can generate the feeling of gratitude. However, there is a gap in the literature developing a framework integrating customized service and gratitude in tourism contexts. In addition, there is a lack of research investigating the effect of gender on the differences between 'males' and 'females' emotional responses after receiving customized services. This study attempts to bridge this gap in the literature by constructing a theoretical framework of the relationship among customized service, customer gratitude, customer repurchase intentions, and gender. The framework proposed would provide explanations of the effect of the social interactions between travelers and the service provider in the tourism industry. Furthermore, the study would help explain the impact of customized services on 'customers' repurchase intentions from the perspective of emotions and how men and women differ in their emotional responses after receiving customized services. The framework proposed would assist the tourism industry to take advantage of customized services to retain customers in the company and make those customers loyal to the company.Contribution/Originality: This paper's contribution is establishing a conceptual framework of customized service for the tourism industry. Specifically, the paper proposes the emotional and behavioral outcomes of customized service, integrating the moderator of gender. INTRODUCTIONCustomized services in the tourism industry offer opportunities for companies to provide something unique for the tourists visiting the destination. Based on the literature, service customization requires a certain level of adaptation or tailoring of the service offered to satisfy customers' needs (Shostack, 1987). In tourism, customized services can include offering helpful information according to customers' individual needs. Therefore, it is likely that the tourism industry can take advantage of personalized services to provide what travelers desire (Kotler, 1989). The outcomes of customized services can be the increase of customers' willingness to pay and their retention level (Franke & Schreier, 2008). In the current study, the authors establish a conceptual framework including the emotional response of customized services, the moderator of the relationship between customized service and the emotional reaction, and the outcome of customized services. The framework proposed would assist the tourism