WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND HOW ARE YOU SATISFIED? ASYMMETRIC EFFECTS OF SERVICE ATTRIBUTES ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND THE MODERATING EFFECT OF CULTURE
Authors
Pinelopi Athanasopoulou, University of Peloponnese
Apostolos Giovanis, University of West Attica
Dimitrios Papakyriakopoulos, University of West Attica
Emmanouil Choustoulakis, University of Peloponnese
Summary of the Conference Paper
Today travelers find a wealth of information online about any destination or hotel and base their traveling decisions on online reviews (Cantallops & Salvi, 2014; Guan et al., 2022). Online review platforms such as Booking.com or Tripadvisor are considered by travelers as highly trustworthy (Xie et al., 2014) and they affect customer decision-making, customer satisfaction (CS) and ultimately hotel sales and profitability (Berezina et al., 2016; Kim et al., 2016). However, researchers conclude that hotel service attributes can have asymmetric effects on CS with a service (Mikulic & Prebežac, 2008; Kim et al., 2016; Athanasopoulou et al., 2023) and that review ratings differ substantially for different types of hotels or travelers and for different cultures (Banerjee and Chua, 2016; Giovanis et al., 2024). The purpose of this study is to investigate the asymmetric impact of different hotel service attributes on CS and the moderating effects of culture. The study analyzes 62.069 online reviews extracted from Booking.com concerning evaluations for 120 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels located in Athens, Greece posted between June 2022 and August 2024. Analysis of reviews is done using LDA, an R dedicated routine, penalty-reward contrast analysis (PRCA), three-factor theory of CS and Hofstede’s 5 cultural dimensions. Results show that there are indeed asymmetric effects on CS. Staff, food, cleanliness, room and value are categorized as basic factors, location and processes as hybrid factors and facilities as a delighter factor. Also, all five Hofstede cultural dimensions have moderating effects. Specifically, as power distance (PDI) increases the positive effect of cleanliness on CS decreases and the positive effects of personnel and room increase. As individualism (IDV) increases the negative effects of room, location, personnel, value and processes on CS decrease, while the negative effects of cleanliness, comfort and value increase. For customers with a masculine culture, the positive effect of location on CS decreases. For customers with high uncertainty avoidance (UAI) tendency, the negative effect of personnel and the positive effects of location and processes on CS decrease. Finally, for long-term-oriented (LTO) customers, the negative effect of food on CS decreases and the positive effect of cleanliness increases. Hotels can use the results of this study as a guide for customizing their service according to culture and hence increase review ratings and performance.
Read the full-text of the paper:
Athanasopoulou, P., Giovanis, N.A., Papakyriakopoulos, D., and Choustoulakis, E. (2025). Where are you from and how are you satisfied? Asymmetric effects of service attributes on customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of culture. Proceedings of the Global Marketing Conference (GMC), Hong Kong, 24-27/07/25.
How to cite this paper in several common academic styles:
APA Style (7th Edition) Athanasopoulou, P., Giovanis, N. A., Papakyriakopoulos, D., & Choustoulakis, E. (2025, July 24–27). Where are you from and how are you satisfied? Asymmetric effects of service attributes on customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of culture [Paper presentation]. Proceedings of the Global Marketing Conference (GMC), Hong Kong.
MLA Style (9th Edition) Athanasopoulou, Pinelopi, et al. “Where Are You From and How Are You Satisfied? Asymmetric Effects of Service Attributes on Customer Satisfaction and the Moderating Effect of Culture.” Proceedings of the Global Marketing Conference (GMC), 24–27 July 2025, Hong Kong.
Chicago Style (17th Edition – Notes and Bibliography) Athanasopoulou, Pinelopi, N. A. Giovanis, Dimitris Papakyriakopoulos, and Emmanouil Choustoulakis. “Where Are You From and How Are You Satisfied? Asymmetric Effects of Service Attributes on Customer Satisfaction and the Moderating Effect of Culture.” Paper presented at the Global Marketing Conference (GMC), Hong Kong, July 24–27, 2025.
Harvard Style Athanasopoulou, P., Giovanis, N.A., Papakyriakopoulos, D. and Choustoulakis, E. (2025) ‘Where are you from and how are you satisfied? Asymmetric effects of service attributes on customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of culture’, Proceedings of the Global Marketing Conference (GMC). Hong Kong, 24–27 July.
IEEE Style P. Athanasopoulou, N. A. Giovanis, D. Papakyriakopoulos, and E. Choustoulakis, “Where are you from and how are you satisfied? Asymmetric effects of service attributes on customer satisfaction and the moderating effect of culture,” in Proc. Global Marketing Conf. (GMC), Hong Kong, July 24–27, 2025.