Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travelers' preference for crowded versus non-crowded options.

Crowding is a critical determinant of consumers' satisfaction with and preferences for different shopping and travel situations. When considering a selection of travel and hospitality options, travelers are influenced by perceived crowding. This research examined how the current health crisis (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic) affects travelers' preferences for crowded and non-crowded options. Specifically, we predicted that travelers would have a diminished preference for crowded (vs. non-crowded) travel and hospitality options when the ongoing pandemic is salient. We demonstrated that the primary effect of the salience of the threat was persistent across different travel categories and contexts. We also found that travelers with high levels of sensation seeking and a high need for uniqueness show the opposite pattern, suggesting a possible recovery strategy from the pandemic. Five experimental studies provide several theoretical and managerial implications for travel and hospitality business marketers.

Preference for robot service or human service in hotels? Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are becoming more prominent in the tourism industry. Nowadays, consumers are faced with multiple options involving both human and robot interactions. A series of experimental studies were implemented. Four experiments demonstrated that consumers had a more positive attitude toward robot-staffed (vs. human-staffed) hotels when COVID-19 was salient. The results were different from previous studies, which were conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the moderating role of perceived threat in consumers' preference for robot-staffed hotels was significant, the respondents' preference was attributed to the global health crisis. This research provides a number of theoretical and managerial implications by improving the understanding of technology acceptance during a health crisis.

Effects of Congenital Visual Deprivation on the Auditory Perception of Anticipatory Labial Coarticulation.

OBJECTIVE: It has been shown previously that congenitally blind francophone adults had higher auditory discrimination scores than sighted adults. It is unclear, however, if, compared to their sighted peers, blind speakers display an increased ability to detect anticipatory acoustic cues. In this paper, this ability is investigated in both speaker groups. METHODS: Using the gating paradigm, /izi/ and /izy/ sequences were truncated to include a variable duration of the vowel. The sequences were used as stimuli in an auditory identification test. Seventeen congenitally blind adults (9 females and 8 males) and 17 sighted controls were recruited. Their task was to identify the second vowel of the sequence. RESULTS: Results show that all participants could reliably identify the rounded vowel prior to its acoustic onset, but steeper identification slopes were found for sighted listeners than for blind listeners. CONCLUSION: The difference in identification slopes likely suggests that sighted speakers display finer abilities to perceptually follow the decreasing values of the frication noise, compared to blind speakers.

Artificial Intelligence and Declined Guilt: Retailing Morality Comparison Between Human and AI.

Several technological developments, such as self-service technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), are disrupting the retailing industry by changing consumption and purchase habits and the overall retail experience. Although AI represents extraordinary opportunities for businesses, companies must avoid the dangers and risks associated with the adoption of such systems. Integrating perspectives from emerging research on AI, morality of machines, and norm activation, we examine how individuals morally behave toward AI agents and self-service machines. Across three studies, we demonstrate that consumers' moral concerns and behaviors differ when interacting with technologies versus humans. We show that moral intention (intention to report an error) is less likely to emerge for AI checkout and self-checkout machines compared with human checkout. In addition, moral intention decreases as people consider the machine less humanlike. We further document that the decline in morality is caused by less guilt displayed toward new technologies. The non-human nature of the interaction evokes a decreased feeling of guilt and ultimately reduces moral behavior. These findings offer insights into how technological developments influence consumer behaviors and provide guidance for businesses and retailers in understanding moral intentions related to the different types of interactions in a shopping environment.