The Effects of Hotel Employees’ Attitude Toward the Use of AI on Customer Orientation: The Role of Usage Attitudes and Proactive Personality

Abstract

Along with the development and application of artificial intelligence technology, intelligent services are also emerging in the travel industry. Especially in the tourism and hotel industry, many organizations have started to introduce AI to assist their employees. The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of employees’ perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of AI on customer orientation, and further analyze the mediating role of attitudes toward use and the moderating role of a proactive personality. A questionnaire was administered to hotel employees in Liaoning Province, China, and hypothesis testing was conducted using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 22.0. It was found that the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use significantly and positively influenced usage attitudes and customer orientation. The usage attitudes mediated between perceived usefulness/perceived ease of use and customer orientation. Proactive personality moderated the effects of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on usage attitudes. This study not only theoretically enriches the research related to technology acceptance modeling, but also practically provides suggestions for hotel managers to manage their employees after the introduction of AI.