Exploring the Impact of Mobile Application Attributes on Customer Experience: An Integrated Method of Big Data Analytics and Impact Asymmetry Analysis

The use of mobile applications has become widespread among customers in the hospitality industry, influencing their experience throughout their travel. While mobile application plays a critical role in enhancing customer experience, limited studies examine the underlying structure of mobile application attributes and provide practical guidance for enhancing overall customer experience. Therefore, the current study aims to make a novel methodological and theoretical approach to establish a comprehensive framework of hospitality mobile application attributes and discover their roles in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Study 1 aims to develop a novel theoretical and methodological approach to discover the underlying structure of mobile application attributes embedded in user-generated hotel mobile application reviews. First, based on a thorough literature review, the integrated method of big data analytics and impact asymmetry analysis (IAA) was developed. Then, a significant framework of hotel mobile application attributes is identified based on the Information System (IS) Success Model and conducting the big data analytics consists of dictionary-based text analytics and topic modeling. Furthermore, extending the Two-factor Theory, IAA is implemented to find the roles of mobile application attributes in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The purpose of Study 2 is to validate the integrated method of big data analytics and IAA developed in Study 1. In order to confirm the results from Study 1, the integrated method is conducted on a different data set, airline mobile application reviews. As a result, the study identifies a significant framework of airline mobile application attributes and its roles in customer experience. Moreover, the study confirms the validity and reliability of the novel methodological approach by confirming the similarity in composition and roles of mobile application attributes in customer experience in Studies 1 and 2. Overall, research findings present a holistic mobile application attributes framework and their roles in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction by applying a novel theoretical and methodological approach. The study contributes to expanding the knowledge of IS Success Model by highlighting the asymmetry roles mobile application attributes play in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. In addition, integrating big data analytics and IAA, the study reveals a robust analysis of mobile application attributes and reconciles the mixed findings from prior studies. Furthermore, the novel methodological approach enhances the use of the IAA method by leveraging user-generated big data to explore customers’ overall perception of mobile application attributes. The current study also presents multiple supportive pieces of information about mobile application attributes’ roles, providing rigorous and practical guidance for improving customers’ mobile application experience in the hospitality industry.