Does Service Tangibilization Work in the Hotel Industry? An Experimental Investigation

Abstract

This study attempts to test empirically the effects of two types of service tangibility, namely physical tangibility and mental tangibility, on consumers' senses of service, wherein the moderating effect of tangibilization cues is considered. The results gained through using the hotel industry as a case study for the relative effects of three operation-based tangibilization cues indicate that, when perceiving physical tangibility toward hotel services, consumers pay more attention to physical representation than they do to process visibility and encounter performance. On the other hand, for the relative effects of three marketing-based tangibilization cues, the results show that, when perceiving mental tangibility towards hotel services, consumers pay more attention to word-of-mouth effect and information frequency than they do to ranking.

Keywords:

• physical tangibility
• mental tangibility
• operation-based tangibilization cues
• marketing-based tangibilization cues

Notes

*Tokio Marine Newa Insurance Corporation has established over 30 branches to provide professional motor insurance services and every kind of property insurance in the Taiwan market.

*E-Life Mall is engaged in the distribution and sale of household electrical goods. Headquartered in Taipei County, Taiwan, the company has been serving over 250 branches by distributing its products primarily in the Taiwan market.

*EDEM is the abbreviation of “divergent expectation, decision analysis and evaluation models” among the consumers, proposed by Tarn (2005, p. 748).