An impact of information security breach on hotel guests’ perception of service quality, satisfaction, word-of-mouth and revisit intentions for masters of science degree

Abstract

Importance of information technology for hotel operations cannot be denied. However, the advantages, that different applications employed in the lodging industry provide, come together with potential threats. One of them is information vulnerability. Statistics say that about 55% of the credit card breaches happen in the hospitality industry (Cougias, 2008 in Haley & Connolly, 2008). The primarily purpose of this study is to investigate an impact of information security breach on hotel guests’ perceived service quality, satisfaction, likelihood of recommending a hotel to others and revisit intentions. 574 US travelers participated in the experimental study. The respondents were exposed to three different scenarios: negative, where an information security breach happened in the hotel where a person stayed last and guest information was compromised; neutral, that introduces the case of information security breach where guest information stayed safe; and a positive one that tells participants about comprehensive security audit in a hotel where they stayed last which means that information is properly handled and secured. The results of the study revealed a significant impact of the treatments on three out of four variables: satisfaction, likelihood of recommending a hotel to others and revisit intentions.