Browsing by Author "Webster, Craig"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 2
Metaverse Economics for Tourism and Hospitality: Economic Fundamentals in a Semi-Imaginary World
(Sage Publications Ltd, 2025) Ivanov, Stanislav; Seyitoglu, Faruk; Webster, Craig
This study elaborates on the economics of the Metaverse in tourism and hospitality. It identifies the Metaverse stakeholders from a tourism perspective, namely: IT companies (infrastructure), IT companies (Metaverse presence), tourism and hospitality companies, other (non-tourism) companies, destination management organisations, tourists, and public authorities. The paper elaborates on the activities each stakeholder would be able to perform in the Metaverse and the associated revenue and costs. Based on this, the paper discusses the economic relationships between the stakeholders, their impacts on the financial performance of tourism and hospitality companies, and the potential economic externalities of the Metaverse. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications, limitations and future research directions are outlined as well.
Citation - WoS: 35
Citation - Scopus: 40
Humans and/or robots? Tourists’ preferences towards the humans–robots mix in the service delivery system
(SpringerLink, 2022) Ivanov, Stanislav; Webster, Craig; Seyitoğlu, Faruk
This paper investigates tourists’ preferences toward the humans-robots ratio in the service delivery systems of tourism and hospitality companies and the factors that shape them. The sample includes 1537 respondents from nearly 100 countries. The fndings show that a higher preferred share of robots is positively associated with the perceived emotional skills of robots, their perceived usefulness in the tourism/ hospitality context, perceived robotic service expectations, attitudes towards robots in general, and the male gender. On the other side, it is negatively associated with the perceived disadvantages of robots compared to human servers and the household size of respondents.
Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 1
The Economics of Service Robots in Hospitality Companies
(Sage Publications Ltd, 2025) Ivanov, Stanislav; Seyitoglu, Faruk; Webster, Craig
The paper develops a conceptual framework for the economic aspects of service robots in hospitality companies that includes several key components: task automatability by service robots; effects of service robots on back-of-house and front-of-house operations (full vs partial process automation); impacts of service robots on jobs in hospitality companies (substitution, enhancement/augmentation, transformation, new job creation); and the effects of service robots on key performance metrics such as productivity, profitability, revenue, and cost. Additionally, the paper looks at the external and internal factors that drive the economic aspects of service robots in hospitality. Finally, the paper outlines the theoretical and managerial implications and develops a research agenda on the economics of service robots.