The augmentation effect of artificial intelligence: can AI framing shape customer acceptance of AI-based services?

Although Artificial Intelligence is a big revolution in the tourism and hospitality industry, prior research provides little insight into how customers respond to AI replacement and how providers can mitigate AI aversion. Drawing on the Feeling Economy framework, three studies examine how customers react to a different framing of AI replacement (augmentation vs. substitution) compared to using only human employees, affecting their acceptance of AI-based services. The findings contribute to the tourism and hospitality literature by revealing that framing AI as augmentation (vs. substitution) can increase enjoyment and ease of use and improve AI acceptance. Consistent with the Feeling Economy account, the findings highlight the proposed mechanism of enjoyment and perceived ease of use underlying the AI framing effects. This research provides important theoretical and managerial implications for tourism and hospitality providers, helping them understand how to effectively introduce AI-based services to win customers’ acceptance.