The role of technology in users’ wellbeing: Conceptualizing digital wellbeing in hospitality and future research directions

ABSTRACT

Mental health concerns due to excess use of technology, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, require increased research studies that explore the role of technology in users’ wellbeing. This article aims to provide a conceptualization of digital wellbeing (DWB) in hospitality, or wellbeing in digital settings. An integrative literature review was used to identify three main enablers of DWB in hospitality: digital devices, digital interfaces, and digital applications. A conceptual model of DWB in the hospitality industry was created emphasizing the importance of designing digital experiences that foster positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement of users to support their hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. The paper provides insights for the hospitality sector to enhance DWB. Future research should focus on empirical analyses of users’ perceptions to refine and validate the proposed model and examine ethical issues concerning digital wellbeing.

摘要

新冠肺炎疫情加速了过度使用技术带来的心理健康问题, 需要加强研究, 探索技术在用户健康中的作用. 本文旨在提供酒店业数字幸福 (DWB) 或数字环境中幸福的概念. 综合文献综述用于确定DWB在酒店业的三个主要推动者: 数字设备、数字接口和数字应用. 创建了酒店业DWB的概念模型, 强调了设计数字体验的重要性, 这些体验可以培养用户的积极情绪、参与度、关系、意义和成就, 以支持他们的享乐和幸福。该论文为酒店业提高DWB提供了见解. 未来的研究应侧重于对用户感知的实证分析, 以完善和验证所提出的模型, 并研究与数字健康相关的伦理问题.

KEYWORDS:

• Technology and wellbeing
• digital wellbeing
• hotel services
• artificial intelligence

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [PolyU Project No: P0034743].