Integrating Internet-of-Things technologies in luxury industries: the roles of consumers’ openness to technological innovations and status consumption

ABSTRACT

Internet-of-Things technologies may help luxury companies deliver their offerings in a different way. However, their actual effects on consumers remain hazy. This paper sheds light on the impact that consumers’ openness to technological innovations may have on perceived usefulness of Voice Assistants (VAs) in the context of luxury tourism. In two studies using luxury yachts and luxury hotels as research settings, we operationalised consumers’ openness to technological innovations as risk propensity and openness to change, respectively, and examined their impact on consumers’ perceived usefulness of VAs, considering the moderating role of status consumption orientation. Results showed that a greater level of openness to technological innovations leads consumers to perceive VAs as more useful, and this effect is mitigated when consumers exhibit greater status consumption orientation.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart objects; Internet of Things; Voice Assistants; luxury consumption
• luxury hotels
• luxury yachts
• perceived usefulness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrea Sestino

Andrea Sestino is an Adjunct Professor of Competitive Strategy at the LUISS Guido Carli University, in Rome, Research Fellow in Management and Marketing at the University of Rome Tre, Research Assistant in Management and Innovation in Healthcare Services, and Technology Innovation Governance, at the Catholic University Sacro Cuore, in Rome. Andrea holds a PhD in Business Management and Marketing at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, and a MSc in Business Management at Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. He has been also Expert Collaborator for the Cabinet of the Italian Minister of Economic Development, in fields related to Artificial Intelligence, Internet-of-Things applications, and business digitalisation, and he is currently also R&D Specialist in the field of applied industrial research for business digital transition in several private and public research projects. He has published two books, and several articles in international peer-reviewed journals, such as Technovation, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, British Food J., Technology in Society, Global Business Review, Int. J. of Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Marketing, Italian J. of Marketing, Italian J. of Management, SN Business & Economics, Psychological Reports, Int. J. of Marketing Studies, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and so on.

Cesare Amatulli

Cesare Amatulli is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Italy. He has been Adjunct Professor at LUISS University (Rome), EMC Business School (Paris) and IUM (Monte Carlo). He has been Visiting Researcher at the Ross School of Business (USA). His research focuses on consumer behaviour, luxury consumption, sustainable consumption. He has published three books and several articles in major academic journals.

Alessandro M. Peluso

Alessandro M. Peluso is an Associate Professor of Business Management at the University of Salento, Lecce, Italy, and Contract Professor of Social Marketing and Marketing Research at the LUISS University and the LUISS Business School, Rome, Italy. His research activity focuses on consumer behaviour, sustainable consumption, and social communication. He has published three books and more than 60 scientific articles in major academic journals.

Gianluigi Guido

Gianluigi Guido (PhD, University of Cambridge, UK) is a Full Professor of Marketing at the University of Salento, Italy. He has been Professor at the University of Padua, Sapienza and LUISS University of Rome, Italy, and Visiting Researcher at the University of Florida at Gainesville, and Stanford University, US. He has published more than 20 books and 200 articles in major scholarly journals in the field of marketing and consumer behaviour.