Noor Hazarina Hashim
Abstract:
This exploratory research applied the Diffusion of Innovations theory to investigate email presence and examine the quality of email reply by 530 Malaysian hotels.
Of the 530 hotels, only 359 hotels provided email information on their website and 167 replied to the mock email. This study used content analysis technique to measure the quality of email response based on 5P features: Prompt, Polite, Personal, Professional and Promotional. Findings of this study found poor email reply quality, reflecting poor customer service by Malaysian hotels. Malaysian hotels performed best in providing a polite opening in their email and answering the questions and weakest on using email as a promotional tool. Academically, this study helps generalise email diffusion study and the influence of organisational characteristics with technology implementation. Suggestions to improve hotel email use for customer service and marketing are also offered.
Keywords: Email, customer service, service quality, hotels, diffusion of innovations, Malaysia