Classification and characterization of US consumers based on their perceptions of risk of tablet use in international hotels: A latent profile analysis

Abstract

Purpose

Cyber-attacks on hotel information systems could threaten the privacy of consumers and the integrity of the data they exchange upon connecting their mobile devices to hotel networks. As the perceived cyber-security risk may be reflected heterogeneously within the US consumer population traveling internationally, the purpose of this study is to examine such heterogeneity to uncover classes of US consumers based on their perceptions of risk of using tablets for various tasks when staying in hotels abroad.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data collected from 1,016 US consumers who stayed in hotels abroad, this study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify the consumers based on their perceptions of risk associated with several tablet use behaviors in hotels.

Findings

The analysis uncovered four latent classes and produced a characterization of these classes according to several common behavioral (frequency of travel, the continent of the destination, duration of stay and purpose of travel) and demographic (gender, age, income and education) consumer characteristics.

Originality/value

Being the first study that classifies consumers based on the risk of using tablets in hotels while traveling internationally, this study brings the following contributions: offers a methodology of classifying (segmenting) consumer markets based on their cyber-security risk perceptions, uses LPA, which provides opportunities for an accurate and generalizable characterization of multivariate data that comprehensively illustrate consumer behavior and broadens the perspective offered by the current literature by focusing on consumers who travel from their US residence location to international destinations.

研究目的

酒店信息系统的网络攻击可能会泄露消费者隐私以及其通过酒店网络连接移动网络而进行的数据交换。由于美国消费者在出国旅游中对于网络安全危险的感知因人而异，因此，本论文旨在研究这种个人差异性，对美国消费者在出国旅游居住酒店中使用平面电脑的危险感知，进行特点分类。

研究设计

本论文样本为居住在国外酒店的1,016名美国消费者。本论文采用潜在剖面分析（LPA），对其使用酒店平板电脑的危险感知进行分类。

研究结果

本论文研究结果归纳四种潜在类别，以及根据集中常见行为变量（旅游频率、旅游目的地所在的洲、酒店居住时长、旅游目的地）和统计人口信息（性别、年龄、收入、和教育），进行消费者特点归纳。

研究原创性/价值

本论文是首篇基于消费者出国旅游时使用酒店平板电脑的危险感知而进消费者分类的文章。因此，本论文结果有以下贡献：（1）贡献一种分类研究方法（市场细分），基于网络安全危险感知而划分;（2）使用潜在剖面分析方法，为多变量数据分析消费者行为，产出精确而概括特性的研究，提供机会;（3）对现有文献对国际旅游的美国消费者的研究拓宽了视野。

关键词

网络安全危险、平板电脑、潜在剖面分析、酒店、国际旅游

Citation

Morosan, C. and DeFranco, A. (2019), "Classification and characterization of US consumers based on their perceptions of risk of tablet use in international hotels: A latent profile analysis", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 233-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-07-2018-0049