The effect of technological competence, technological readiness and service innovation on consumer-based brand equity: A study on hotel businesses

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationships of service innovation, technological competence, and technology readiness to consumer-based brand equity in hotel businesses. In order to propose a new brand equity model, the mediating role of perceived value and brand trust in the sub-dimensions of consumer-based brand equity in international five-star chain hotels was examined. Survey responses were received from hotel guests within this scope, both online and physically. First of all, reliability analysis was applied. Afterward, the construct validity of the research was tested by applying factor analysis. These analyzes took place in two stages, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Then, structural equation modeling was applied. Within the scope of the research, 12 hypotheses were specified; nine of them measured the total effect between latent variables, while the other three revealed the mediation relationship with the bootstrapping technique. It is among the findings that the effects of brand trust, which is the mediating variable in the established research model, on the variables in consumer-based brand equity are highly significant. It was seen that the effects of technology and innovation, that is, the latent variables of service innovation and technological competence, which measure these variances in this study, on perceived value and brand trust are positive. In addition, the effects of technology readiness, which is another independent variable, on this model were also observed. As a result, all 12 hypotheses developed within the scope of the research conducted on international five-star hotel guests were accepted. The research is planned to contribute to the field with remarkable results for hotel businesses. In this direction, at the end of the research, suggestions were presented to hotel managers and researchers in regard to the subject.