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Service
Service innovation, customer innovation,
satisfaction and behavioural customer
satisfaction
intentions: a conceptual framework
Ngan Tuyet Truong
School of Business and Management, RMIT University,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Received 13 February 2019
Revised 17 April 2019
30 December 2019
Duy Dang-Pham 2 March 2020
School of Science and Technology, RMIT University, 10 June 2020
Accepted 16 June 2020
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and
Robert James McClelland and Mathews Nkhoma
School of Business and Management, RMIT University,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework to investigate the influences of
innovative services on customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. As service innovation has been
focusing on the influences of product and technology innovation, this paper provides another insight
into service innovation.
Design/methodology/approach – The proposed conceptual framework is based on findings from
reviewing key theories and concepts, together with relevant literature in the service operation management,
service innovation and hospitality management.
Findings – The proposed conceptual framework can be used to test empirically and explicate
customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions towards service innovation of the hospitability
operations. There are seven determinants can influence customer satisfaction: innovative mechanic
clues, innovative humanic clues and innovative functional clues to influence customer transaction-
specific satisfaction; complexity, meaningfulness, novelty and affordability to influence customer
overall satisfaction. Customer expectation is formed by social factors, information, knowledge and
their need to influence their actual perception, and the comparison between customers’ expectation
and actual perception cause their satisfaction. The relationships amongst transaction-specific
satisfaction, overall satisfaction and behavioural intentions can explain customer satisfaction
comprehensively as a process of before, during and after their perception.
Practical implications – This paper highlights the importance of innovative service delivery and
customers’ evaluation to contribute to creating service innovation. A synthetic definition of service
innovation emphasised can help practitioners to define key determinants to effectively influence
customer satisfaction and their behavioural intentions. Thus, marketing strategy aligned with
operation management, can be practised appropriately.
Originality/value – This study provides key determinants to influencing customer satisfaction of service
innovation through innovative service delivery in the hospitality operation, based on key theories and
relevant literature.

Keywords Service innovation, Customer satisfaction, Theory of planned behaviour,

Service-dominant logic, Innovativeness, Diffusion of innovation theory, Hospitality operations, Journal of Hospitality and
Expectation-confirmation theory, Service clues Tourism Technology
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1757-9880
Paper type Conceptual paper DOI 10.1108/JHTT-02-2019-0030
JHTT 摘要
服务创新、顾客满意度、和行为意向：一个理论模型
研究目的 – 本论文建立一个理论模型, 以研究创新型服务对顾客满意度和行为意向的影响。随着服
务创新逐渐成为产品科技创新的焦点, 本论文针对服务创新提出一个新的角度。
研究设计/方法/途径 – 本论文采用审阅服务运营管理、服务创新、和酒店管理的关键理论和概念,
提出理论模型。
研究结果 – 本论文提出的理论模型可以进行实际测试, 以检测酒店运营中服务创新相关的顾客满意
度和行为意向。研究表明, 影响顾客满意度的因素有七个：创新性硬件因子、创新性人文因子、创新
性功能性因子以影响顾客交易方面的满意度、复杂性、有意义性、新意、以及可负担度以决定整体
顾客满意度。顾客期待是由社会因子、信息、知识、和其影响实际感官的需求、以及顾客期待和实
际感知之间的差别。交易性满意度、整体满意度、和行为意向之间的关系能够全面解释顾客满意度,
其在感知前、中、和后的过程中。
研究实际意义 – 本论文强调了创新性服务流程和顾客评价对服务创新的重要性。本论文综合文献
给出服务创新的概念能够帮助从业人员找到有效影响顾客满意度和行为意向的关键因素。因此, 制定
出配合运营管理中的营销策略。
研究原创性/价值 – 本论文根据审视关键理论和相关文献, 提出了酒店运营中营销服务创新的顾客满
意度关键因素。
关键词 服务创新、创新性、顾客满意度、服务导向型、酒店运营、期待-确认理论、创新扩散理
论、计划行为理论、服务提示

1. Introduction
Since 2011, boutique hotel sector has appeared as an emerging trend in Southeast Asia
which leads to high demand for defining key determinants of success (Lye, 2017; Andrews,
2018; Noble, 2018). In China, reports have shown that boutique hotels are sprouting as a very
lucrative market contributing to the growth of the hospitality industry (Lye, 2017). Hotel
operators are positioning themselves by being more innovative with competitive prices for
customers (Lye, 2017). Vietnam is also a promising tourism destination which has been
taking advantage of the trend to maximise customer preference for a unique experience
(Andrews, 2018). Meanwhile, boutique hotel market in Singapore seems to be maturing and
finding determinants for customer delight (Lye, 2017; Noble, 2018).
Scholars have shown that customer behavioural intentions are influenced differently
depending on how satisfied they are with the offered services. Transaction-specific
satisfaction refers to customer perception of every individual encounter with the
services, whereas overall satisfaction refers to customers’ accumulated evaluation
towards the services (Jones and Suh, 2000; Gao and Lai, 2015). These types of
satisfaction have been shown to influence customer behavioural intentions towards the
services of hospitality operations (Gao and Lai, 2015; Lee et al., 2017). Transaction-
specific satisfaction was found to have larger impacts than the overall satisfaction (Gao
and Lai, 2015; Lee et al., 2017). However, in the context of service innovation, Ordanini
et al. (2014) argued that customer evaluation of the innovation as overall satisfaction
was more important than the transaction-specific satisfaction to influence their
intention of returning.
This paper proposes a conceptual framework to measure customer satisfaction of service
innovation of hotel operations that influence on behavioural intentions. The conceptual
framework is proposed based on expectation-confirmation theory (or disconfirmation
theory) (Oliver, 1977), theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), diffusion of innovation
theory (Rogers, 2010) and service clues (Berry et al., 2006). The structure of the paper is as
follows: The research background and literature review will be presented to justify the
research motivations and establish a framework of theoretical constructs in Section 2.
Second, the paper will provide a set of propositions and methods that suggest further
investigations in Sections 3 and 4. Finally, the conclusion and potential implications of the Service
proposed conceptual framework will be discussed subsequently in Section 5. innovation,
customer
2. Literature review
Recent studies have shown that perceived innovativeness is more rewarding in encouraging
satisfaction
customers’ favourable behaviours than perceived improvement. Customers tend to have
favourable intentions when evaluating the benefits of the innovation such as solving the
existing problems, fulfilling their needs distinctively, or experiencing a way of delivering
services that is perceived novel (Skålén et al., 2015; Sakamoto, 2019; Wang, 2019). Customers
evaluate the usefulness, meaningfulness and affordability of the offered service before deciding
to use it (Ordanini et al., 2014; Skålén et al., 2015). They also tend to evaluate the innovative
features of a product based on the usefulness, meaningfulness and compatibility (Ordanini
et al., 2014). Customers consider the costs and benefits of accepting the innovative features of
products or services (Ajzen, 1991). The innovation should be worth customers purchase for
experiences which can be reflected through reasonable price (Wang, 2019). The above studies
have focused more on investigating customer evaluation and adoption of product innovation
context rather than that of service innovation context. Thus, it is worthy to investigate how
customers would evaluate the innovative attributes in a human-based service context, of which
hospitality is a typical example, to encourage customers’ favourable behaviours.
The complexity of customer perception and evaluation of innovation still has not been
well captured by studies, especially in the hospitality field (Ordanini et al., 2014; Lee and
Cheng, 2018; Wang et al., 2018). Furthermore, there is a call from service innovation
literature to develop new theories (Witell et al., 2016). Service-dominant logic believes that
beyond organisational knowledge and technological elements, service innovation can be
created by customers’ contribution and the innovativeness of service delivery. Customers
purchase not only for the innovation of product but also for the value, performance and
experience the innovation created in such exchanging process (Lusch and Nambisan, 2015).
Therefore, the intangible nature of services and customer evaluation needs to be integrated
to construct a comprehensive service innovation theory (Vargo and Lusch, 2007; Gustafsson
et al., 2012; Lusch and Nambisan, 2015).
Customer satisfaction of service innovation is an emerging research topic that has gained
attention from scholars and practitioners, especially in the private and social domain of the
hospitality industry (Jones et al., 2013; Ordanini et al., 2014; Lashley, 2015). However, a limited
number of studies have been carried out to provide a comprehensive framework that describes
the influence of innovative service attributes on customer satisfaction. Studies in this domain
have been undertaken to identify the influence of service attributes on customer perception, and
required further studies to expand the knowledge (Jones et al., 2013; Bodet et al., 2016; Baek
et al., 2019). Practitioners are also investigating for determinants that influence customer
satisfaction to create and retain customer base for the boutique hotel sector in Southeast Asian
countries (Khosravi et al., 2014; Ahmad et al., 2017; Andrews, 2018; Hussein et al., 2018).

3. Theoretical framework
A review of the literature motivates our proposal of the conceptual framework was
presented in the previous section. In general, there is a need to not only define determinants
of service innovation that influence customer satisfaction but also to investigate the
influences of perceived innovation on behavioural intentions in the context of boutique hotel
sector. Therefore, this paper proposes a theoretical framework to investigate the issues
based on expectation-confirmation theory (Oliver, 1977), theory of planned behaviour
(Ajzen, 1991), diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2010), service clues (Berry et al., 2006)
JHTT and the relevant literature. The following topics are to demonstrate the determinants of
customer perception and evaluation towards service innovation and their relationships with
behavioural intentions.

3.1 Perceived innovative service clues as transaction-specific satisfaction

According to the expectation-confirmation theory, customers have their expectations
towards the performance of the operations, and the actual perception when interacting with
the event will form customer disconfirmation belief to the operation. Customer expectation is
considered as the key antecedent and disconfirmation is a function that can be used to
predict customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions (Oliver, 1977). Also, customer
perception is influenced not only by the nature of the product and its physical attributes but
also by the attributes of the service-delivery process (Oliver, 1977). Customers will have
different levels of satisfaction or dissatisfaction regarding the service quality in every
service encountering experience. The service experience of each process is defined as
transaction-specific satisfaction (Bitner and Hubbert, 1994).
Berry et al. (2006) suggested that customer perception of service can be grouped into
categories of service clues, which consist of mechanic clues, functional clues and humanic
clues. The mechanic clues concern the sensory presentation of the service. The functional
clues reflect how customers experience the technical quality of the offered service as its
presence or absence. They show the accuracy or efficiency of services that customers
perceive and evaluate. Humanic clues reflect the service provider’s appearance and
behaviour in delivering the values of the service. Scholars and practitioners have applied the
service clues concept in hospitality marketing management to understand how customers
perceive and assess the services (Berry et al., 2006; Chua et al., 2014; Truong et al., 2017).
Based on the above discussion, customers expect the innovative services of the
hospitality operation they are going to encounter. The expectation is formed from their
accumulated experiences, knowledge and information about the innovation, but not yet fully
developed to have an actual favourable or unfavourable assessment and reaction towards it.
At the time a customer encounters with services, their belief disconfirmation manifests to
influence their attitude and satisfaction to the innovative services of the operation. The
innovative service attributes can be delivered and perceived through the categories of
innovative mechanic clues, innovative functional clues and innovative humanic clues which
directly influence customer transaction-specific satisfaction.
3.1.1 Customer satisfaction of innovative humanic clues and behavioural intentions. The
innovative humanic clues in hotel operations refer to the quality of delivering services to
customers with new techniques. Innovative humanic clues can be reflected through the
ability they adapt, organise and respond to customer demand for very detailed customised
services. For instance, hotel operating staff that have the ability to solve problems, which
goes beyond their roles are highly appreciated by the customers, have been seen as a
technique to stimulate customer positive emotions (Khosravi et al., 2014; Ahmad et al., 2017).
The service staff should subtly and attentively observe to understand customers’ hidden
needs. Also, staff with high EQ to be able to manage temper well is considered an excellent
value in delivering services (Chun Wang et al., 2016). Several studies have pointed out that
customer satisfaction of innovative humanic clues influenced their behavioural intentions.
They are more open for conversations, feedback and plan to return in the future (Chua et al.,
2014; Haddad et al., 2015; Ali et al., 2016; Ahmad et al., 2017; Truong et al., 2017). Other
studies indicated that customers tend to recommend the quality of service they perceived to
other relatives such as friends and family members (Haddad et al., 2015; Ali et al., 2016;
Ahmad et al., 2017). Consequently, satisfaction of innovative humanic clues can lead to Service
customers’ favourable behavioural intentions. innovation,
P1. Customer satisfaction of innovative humanic clues influences behavioural customer
intentions. satisfaction
3.1.2 Customer satisfaction of innovative mechanic clues and behavioural intentions.
Innovative mechanic clues in hotel operations refer to the ambient values that deliver a
surprising experience to customers. The leisure travellers prefer to experience the values of
ambience that reflected through entertainment lounges, the nearby sight-seeing and the
attractiveness of interior design (Tsai et al., 2015). Physical materials, namely, facilities and
furniture, or the indoor and outdoor architecture can deliver the concept that stimulates
customer curiosity of culture where the hotel operation is located (Henderson, 2011; Lee and
Cheng, 2018). Recently, hoteliers are suggested to consider putting local culture art into the
design to create an innovation that impresses customer perception of ambience. The
innovative ambience is supposed to deliver unforgettable memories, a unique experience of
comfort that influences customer satisfaction not only physically but also psychologically.
The memorable scents should also be considered to satisfy customer expectation for
innovation in the hotel (Shahi and Goswami, 2018). The artistic servicescape with serene
music, pleasing sounds of bird or insects, natural-based elements, fresh air with the scent of
flowers were found to stimulate customer’s sensory experiences (Cheng et al., 2016). Using
artistic values to deliver a new experience to customers has been considered as a new
strategy in hospitality operations (Wang et al., 2018). Studies also indicated that customers
can be satisfied or delighted depending on sensory attributes of the service ambience, the
level of satisfaction can lead to behavioural intentions such as making recommendation or
returning (Ali et al., 2016; Cheng et al., 2016; Ahmad et al., 2017; Shahi and Goswami, 2018):

P2. Customer satisfaction of innovative mechanic clues influences behavioural

intentions.
3.1.3 Customer satisfaction of innovative functional clues and behavioural intentions. The
innovative functional clues in hotel operations refer to the employment of new technological
products and programs, or new services to assure customer the convenience and safety.
They should enhance the innovative experience as well as encouraging information and
knowledge exchanges between the service providers and receivers. Information and
technology communication programs have been shown to influence customer satisfaction
by improving the service of rooms, customised and personalised services, food and beverage
as well as back and front office interactions (Ordanini et al., 2014; Cetin and Walls, 2016;
Chevers and Spencer, 2017). Also, technology programs can help streamline the
communication between the service providers and receivers for the purpose of socialising,
actively participating in the service experience. Technology-enabled multi-interface services
were suggested to design customised and personalised services based on customer
expectation (Chevers and Spencer, 2017). The active participation can encourage customers
to stay longer, be willing to pay more or to recommend the service to others. Additional and
personalised services have been found a new technique that leverages customer satisfaction
into delightful level. The additional services such as spa, art, painting and cooking session,
are the services that positively influence customer perception of service quality (Khosravi
et al., 2014; Cetin and Walls, 2016).
Studies have found that customers who were delighted with technology and service
innovation would likely to generate favourable behavioural intentions. The positive
JHTT emotions and memorable experiences created to influence customers’ engagement for more
feedback and recommendation to others (Ordanini et al., 2014; Rosenbaum and Wong, 2015;
Chevers and Spencer, 2017). Customers also found to have returning intentions and willing
to repurchase for the experience that they have had (Wang et al., 2018).

P3. Customer satisfaction of innovative functional clues influences behavioural

intentions.

3.2 Perceived innovativeness as overall satisfaction

Diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 2010) and theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)
are the two prevalent theories that have been employed to explain and predict a group’s
reaction towards innovation. Scholars and practitioners are interested in the diffusion of
innovation theory due to its explanation on how to improve the perception and acceptance
of innovation. Meanwhile, theory of planned behaviour has been used to predict customers’
intention to adopt the innovation (Han, 2015; Rosenbaum and Wong, 2015). Diffusion of
innovation theory measures the innovation of product based on five determinants from
customers’ perspective which are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability
and observability (Rogers, 2010; Ordanini et al., 2014). These determinants have been
modified to efficiently measure customers’ evaluation and adaption of innovation in many
specific contexts. Particularly, Ordanini et al. (2014) used the three determinants to measure
customer evaluation on the innovation of services in hospitality context. The scholars
modified and hypothesised that customers evaluate the innovation of services based on
novelty, meaningfulness and complexity (Ordanini et al., 2014). On the other hand, explained
by theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), the antecedents to influence those
determinants can be the subjective norm and individual’s attitude as well as perceived
behavioural control. Particularly, customers evaluate the feasibility of their action to
experience innovation as perceived behavioural control (Wang, 2019).
Innovativeness refers to how customers evaluate the service innovation in general.
Perceived innovativeness can be considered as the other type of satisfaction, which is the
overall satisfaction. This notion is different from the transaction-specific satisfaction to the
extent that customers will be more likely to give comments and evaluation on a global
impression, showing the total experiences and the attitude that they had with the
performance of services (Ordanini et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2017). Customers will have
the transaction-specific satisfaction in every occasion they encounter with the services, but
the overall satisfaction will have more influence on customer behaviour towards the services
(Gao and Lai, 2015; Lee et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2018). Hence, besides having a perception of the
service clues, customers have their evaluation and comments as the total experiences
towards the innovativeness of the operation, which influence their behavioural intentions.
3.2.1 Customer satisfaction of novelty and behavioural intentions. Novelty refers to the
general assessment of customers towards the benefits of learning and exploring offered by
the hotel operating staff. Customers expect to experience new services whose functions
should be consistent with other ones, and satisfy their expectation for exploration and
learning (Khosravi et al., 2014; Ordanini et al., 2014). Tourists, who are the customers of
hotels, always tend to explore new culture and sensory values in many aspects (Ariffin and
Maghzi, 2012). Customers with a high level of novelty seeking, when first visit a destination,
will be delighted by exploring the attractions and services, the delightful feeling will more
likely influence favourable behavioural intentions such as returning, willing to pay more for
services and word-of-mouth (Assaker et al., 2011; Ariffin and Maghzi, 2012; Ordanini et al.,
2014). Thus, to keep stimulating customers’ novelty seeking for returning to the place,
service operators are suggested to consider various categories of novelty sources such as the Service
discovery of new places, attractions and service techniques. innovation,
P4. Customer satisfaction of novelty influences behavioural intentions. customer
satisfaction
3.2.2 Customer satisfaction of meaningfulness and behavioural intentions. Meaningfulness
refers to customer general assessment of the usefulness of the innovative services.
Meaningfulness stands for the degree to which the innovation is evaluated as helpful and
consistent to the potential adopters, and capable of their needs. New services with
memorable experience showed to give customers delightful feeling, which creates emotional
bonding with the service staff and the hotel brand (Azevedo, 2010; Torres and Kline, 2013).
Visiting boutique hotels, customers said that they felt homely with nostalgic ambience, and
memorable experience (Khosravi et al., 2014). Social activities such as art and handcraft
courses offered by the hotels also brought them exciting opportunities for exploring and
learning beside the values of destination (Torres et al., 2014). Customers’ experience is in
delight level when their expectation for the newness, creativeness and novelty is also useful
in practice (Siu et al., 2013; Ordanini et al., 2014; Ali et al., 2018). The meaningful experience
that customers have with new services or products creates a bonding relationship, which
tightens the engagement of customers with the service provider (Siu et al., 2013). As a result,
customers also seem to be willing to pay a higher price for meaningful services or products.
Studies also found that customers would like to return to the destination that provided a
novel and meaningful experience that allows them to satisfy their desire for exploring and
learning (Siu et al., 2013; Ali et al., 2018).

P5. Customer satisfaction of meaningfulness influences behavioural intentions.

3.2.3 Customer satisfaction of complexity and customer behavioural intentions. Complexity
refers to the total assessment of customers on physical and mental effort to spend for
experiencing the innovative services of the hotel. Besides focusing on the innovative
ambience, hoteliers have optimised the applicability of technology to enhance customers’
experience of convenience and safety during the stay. Information technology in hotels have
been found to understand customer preferences for accurate personalised service, which
helps to leverage customer satisfaction (Nieves and Segarra-Ciprés, 2015; Peña et al., 2016;
Horng et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2018). Furthermore, customers with high level of creativity
and opening for learning would enjoy the complexity of the innovation. Researches have
shown that customers enjoy the technology-based self-services for prompt and easy services
such as reservation, check-in, check-out and so on (Kattara and El-Said, 2014; Rosenbaum
and Wong, 2015; Pierdicca et al., 2019). The complexity of changes and new facilities should
be well adapted by the service staff so that they can provide guidance as well as giving
customers information about the differences to positively influence customer satisfaction.
Customers found to have favourable intentions towards the service operation such as
returning and recommending the services (Kattara and El-Said, 2014; Pierdicca et al., 2019).
Thus, the higher the satisfaction of technology, the more favourable behaviours customers
would have towards the service operation.

P6. Customer satisfaction of complexity influences behavioural intentions.

3.2.4 Customer satisfaction of affordability and customer behavioural intentions.
Affordability refers to the total assessment on the availability of conditions and
resources that enable customers to experience innovative services. Price is one of the
cues that customers base on to evaluate their experience of the service that leads to
JHTT their behavioural intentions. Experiencing the innovation is an uncertain value, and
regarding what is given up to obtaining that experience, customers will shape their
attitude towards the offered innovative services (Wang, 2019). Customers do not know
or remember the actual price of a specific product or service they spent for, but they
assess the price in ways that are meaningful to them. Consequently, customer price
perception is increasingly concerning hoteliers with their innovative operation concept
to both satisfy the customer and optimise the operation performance (Haddad et al.,
2015; Wang, 2019). The value of innovative service should be co-created with customers
which mean the price should be proposed to customers (Lusch and Nambisan, 2015).
Behavioural intentions after experiencing the innovation can be giving feedback,
recommending, willing to pay more or returning towards the services (Parasuraman,
2010; Ordanini et al., 2014; Lusch and Nambisan, 2015; Wang, 2019). Thus, customers
will assess the costs and benefits for experiencing the innovative hotel services and
giving feedback about their perception of price paying for the service.

P7. Customer satisfaction of affordability influences behavioural intentions.

3.3 Transaction-specific satisfaction, overall satisfaction and behavioural intentions

Jones and Suh (2000) stated that transaction-specific satisfaction and overall satisfaction
had separate and different influences on behavioural intentions; yet they are relevant to
one another in some cases. Overall satisfaction can act as a full or partial moderator, or
mediate the relationship between transaction-specific satisfaction and behavioural
intentions (Jones and Suh, 2000). Bodet et al. (2016) found that overall satisfaction plays
an important role in influencing customer loyalty and re-purchase intention, whereas
the transaction-specific satisfaction affected overall satisfaction but not behavioural
intentions. In contrast, other studies discussed that transaction-specific satisfaction
could directly impact on loyalty, word-of-mouth recommendation and re-purchase
intention regardless of the influence of overall satisfaction (Gao and Lai, 2015; Truong
et al., 2017). Thus, it is possible that customer perception of innovative service clues and
customer evaluation on the innovativeness of the hotel operation can separately
influence customer behavioural intentions; yet in some cases, there can be a
relationship between transaction-specific satisfaction and overall satisfaction to
influence customer behavioural intentions.

P8. Transaction-specific satisfaction influences overall satisfaction.

4. Conceptual framework
Based on the prevalent theories and relevant literature, the previous section allows the
authors to draw a set of propositions. The conceptual framework containing these
propositions is shown in Figure 1.
The transaction-specific satisfaction construct consists of three determinants, which are
innovative humanic clues, innovative mechanic clues and innovative functional clues. This
construct measures how customers satisfy with an individual event when they encounter with
the services. Based on the expectation-confirmation theory (Oliver, 1977) and service clues (Berry
et al., 2006), customers have their expectation about the performance of the hotel and their belief is
confirmed or disconfirmed at the moment they interact with the service clues. Meanwhile,
innovative humanic clues reflect the innovative quality delivered by staff. Innovative mechanic
clues reflect the innovative ambience quality delivered by the techniques of hotel operation to
 Service
innovation,
customer
satisfaction

Figure 1.
The proposed
conceptual
framework

influence customers’ sensation. Innovative functional clues reflect the innovative quality
delivered by physical and technological products. According to relevant literature, customer
satisfaction of innovative humanic clues, innovative mechanic clues and innovative functional
clues can directly influence their behavioural intentions (P1, P2, P3).
The overall satisfaction construct consists of four determinants, which are novelty,
meaningfulness, complexity and affordability. Based on the diffusion of innovation
theory (Rogers, 2010) and theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1991), this construct
measures how customer generally evaluate and satisfy with the innovativeness of the
hotel operation, that leads to their behavioural intentions. After experiencing the
innovative services, customers evaluate the innovativeness of the operation generally
on its novelty, meaningfulness, complexity and affordability. Novelty is perceived
based on opportunities for learning and exploring. Meaningfulness is perceived based
on the usefulness of services in practice. Complexity is perceived based on the
convenience regarding customers’ mental and physical effort. Affordability is
perceived based on the value of the innovative experience. Supported by relevant
literature, customers’ overall satisfaction of the innovativeness influence on
behavioural intentions (P4, P5, P6, P7).
Based on the suggestion from Jones and Suh (2000), there are relationships between
transaction-specific satisfaction, overall satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Overall
satisfaction can act as a mediator between transactions-specific satisfaction and
behavioural intentions (P8).
JHTT 5. Discussion and conclusion
5.1 Conclusions
In this paper, we proposed a comprehensive conceptual framework that explains customer
satisfaction of service innovation in the hospitality context. Based on key theories and
relevant literature, the framework explains that customer satisfaction of service
innovation is examined as a continuing process during which customers develop and act
on their satisfaction perceptions. The framework proposes satisfaction determinants of
service innovation that leads to favourable behavioural intentions in customers.
Specifically, there are two types of satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and
overall satisfaction. The determinants of transaction-specific satisfaction are innovative
humanic clues, innovative mechanic clues and innovative functional clues. The
determinants of overall satisfaction consist of perceived novelty, meaningfulness,
complexity and affordability.

5.2 Theoretical implications

The novelty of the proposed framework lies in its focus on the determinants of customer
satisfaction, which consist of the customer’s evaluation of innovative hotel operations.
Our framework responds to the call for development of new theories for service
innovation (Witell et al., 2016). The framework follows the service-dominant logic
(Lusch and Nambisan, 2015), by emphasising the importance of customer perspectives
in evaluating service innovation. Furthermore, it suggests the potential factors that can
influence customer preferences of service innovation, based on current studies in the
hospitality field.

5.3 Practical implications

The understanding about customer satisfaction and the methods to achieve it are both
important in practice. Defining the contributing factors of customer satisfaction and
clarifying the different influences of satisfaction on behavioural intentions help
managers to make informed decisions regarding strategic operations and marketing.
For instance, confirming the impacts of innovative humanic clues on intentions helps to
support the development of measures to collect customers’ feedback for innovative
ideas in operating services. Similarly, determining innovative mechanic clues can lead
to the development of methods to increase customers’ sensation and returning
intention. Specific dimensions or attributes of affordability can be defined to explain
clearly how pricing can influence customer satisfaction and returning intention. The
concept of novelty can also be examined to determine the relevant attributes that
stimulate customer desire for exploring and learning opportunities offered by the hotel
operation.

5.4 Limitations and future research

The framework promotes the applicability of incorporating expectation-confirmation
theory, diffusion of innovation theory and theory of planned behaviour to construct
service innovation theory. Our proposed framework needs to be examined and refined
empirically. Qualitative approaches such as case study and ethnography can help to
draw insights into the effects of customer attitude and satisfaction towards the offered
innovative services. Likewise, quantitative studies will be helpful to evaluate the
framework’s propositions about the impacts of innovative attributes on satisfaction
and behavioural intentions.
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About the authors

Ngan Tuyet Truong is a PhD Candidate in the School of Business and Management, RMIT
University. She is interested in investigating service innovation and its influences on customer
satisfaction, specifically in hospitality. Her first paper, published in 2017, discussed customer
satisfaction of restaurant service quality in Vietnam. Ngan Tuyet Truong is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: s3653104@rmit.edu.vn
JHTT Dr Duy Dang-Pham is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology in the School of Science
and Technology, RMIT University, where he obtained his PhD in Business Information Systems. His
research focuses on social network analysis, behavioural information security, business and learning
analytics, digital business and innovation and information technology management. Dr Dang-Pham
has a track record of securing research funding totally up to US$71,000 in 2018.
Dr Robert James McClelland is an Associate Professor and the Head of Management Department,
RMIT University. Dr Robert McClelland undertakes research on Tourism and Hospitality, Higher
Education, Statistics applied to Health and Sport. His current projects are Managing Health
Interventions in Society, Supporting Student Learning via technology and Global Value Chain,
Corruption and Ethics.
Dr Mathews Nkhoma is an Associate Professor and the Head of Business and Management School,
RMIT University. Dr Mathews Nkhoma undertakes research on Business Information Systems,
Computer Communications, Computer Security and Reliability.

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