An impact of information security breach on hotel guests’ perception of service quality, satisfaction, word-of-mouth and revisit intentions for masters of science degree
Date
2010
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Importance of information technology for hotel operations cannot be denied.
However, the advantages, that different applications employed in the lodging industry
provide, come together with potential threats. One of them is information vulnerability.
Statistics say that about 55% of the credit card breaches happen in the hospitality industry
(Cougias, 2008 in Haley & Connolly, 2008). The primarily purpose of this study is to
investigate an impact of information security breach on hotel guests’ perceived service
quality, satisfaction, likelihood of recommending a hotel to others and revisit intentions.
574 US travelers participated in the experimental study. The respondents
were exposed to three different scenarios: negative, where an information security breach
happened in the hotel where a person stayed last and guest information was
compromised; neutral, that introduces the case of information security breach where
guest information stayed safe; and a positive one that tells participants about
comprehensive security audit in a hotel where they stayed last which means that
information is properly handled and secured. The results of the study revealed a
significant impact of the treatments on three out of four variables: satisfaction, likelihood
of recommending a hotel to others and revisit intentions.