Configuring Technology, Service Quality, and Experience for Guest Loyalty: A Mixed-Methods fsQCA Approach in Smart Hospitality

Abstract

 The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence and smart technologies is transforming hospitality service delivery, yet the mechanisms through which technology-enabled services translate into sustained guest loyalty remain insufficiently understood. This study develops an integrated Technology Attributes–E-Service Quality–Customer Experience Management–Guest Loyalty framework to examine how technological capabilities contribute to loyalty in technology-enabled hospitality environments. An exploratory sequential mixed-methods design was adopted. The qualitative phase involved 30 semi-structured interviews and generated 143 open codes, 54 axial codes and 30 first-order themes organised into four aggregate dimensions: eight Technology Attributes, seven E-Service Quality attributes, ten Customer Experience Management attributes and five Guest Loyalty attributes. Building on these findings, a structured instrument was administered to 250 hotel guests with recent experience of technology-enabled hospitality services. The quantitative phase employed fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to identify configurational pathways associated with high guest loyalty. The simulated configurational findings indicate that Customer Experience Management represents the central experiential condition, while high guest loyalty can emerge through multiple combinations of technological capability, e-service quality and experience management. The strongest configuration combines high Technology Attributes, E-Service Quality and Customer Experience Management, while alternative pathways indicate that strong experience management can generate loyalty even when either technological sophistication or e-service quality is comparatively less pronounced. The study therefore advances a configurational perspective on technology-enabled hospitality, demonstrating that technology does not generate loyalty in isolation but creates value when translated into responsive, trustworthy, personalised, seamless and memorable guest experiences. The findings contribute to hospitality technology and customer experience literature by integrating technological, service-quality and experiential conditions within a unified framework and highlighting the equifinal nature of guest loyalty.