Exploration of factors affecting adoption of biometric technology by five-star Egyptian hotel

124 Pages·2017·3.11 MB·English

by  Ahmed Moustafa Abdelbary

Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Dissertations
2011
Exploration of factors affecting adoption of
biometric technology by five-star Egyptian hotel
employees
Ahmed Moustafa Abdelbary
Iowa State University
Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd
Part of theFashion Business Commons, and theHospitality Administration and Management
Commons
Recommended Citation
Abdelbary, Ahmed Moustafa, "Exploration of factors affecting adoption of biometric technology by five-star Egyptian hotel
employees" (2011).Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 12201.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/12201
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Exploration of factors affecting adoption of biometric technology
by five-star Egyptian hotel employees

by

Ahmed Moustafa Abdelbary

A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Major: Hospitality Management
Program of Study Committee:
Robert Bosselman, Major Professor
Jessica Hurst
Mack Shelley
Lakshman Rajagopal
Susan Wohlsdorf Arendt

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa

2011

Copyright © Ahmed Moustafa Abdelbary, 2011. All rights reserved.
ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………viii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1
Statement of the Problem ......................................................................................... 1
Technology and the Lodging Industry ..................................................................... 2
Purpose of the Research ........................................................................................... 3
Significance of the Study ......................................................................................... 4
Organization of Dissertation .................................................................................... 6
Objectives of the Research Questions ..................................................................... 6
Definition of Terms ................................................................................................. 7
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 9
Egypt, Terrorism, and Tourism ............................................................................... 9
Egypt and Geostrategic Implications of Terrorism ............................................... 11
Security and the Lodging Industry ........................................................................ 13
Technology and the Lodging Industry ................................................................... 14
Biometric Technology and Its Applications .......................................................... 15
Technology Adoption History ............................................................................... 18
Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 21
Theoretical Model .................................................................................................. 22
Hypotheses ............................................................................................................. 22
iii
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 24
Human Subject Use ............................................................................................... 24
Population and Study Sample ................................................................................ 24
Instrument .............................................................................................................. 25
Participants ............................................................................................................ 29
Procedures of Data Collection and Survey Distribution ........................................ 29
Data Analysis ......................................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................ 33
Description of the Hotel Sample ............................................................................ 33
Description of the Demographic Variables of the Participants ............................. 34
Preliminary Data Analysis ..................................................................................... 35
Reliabilities of the Measures ................................................................................. 39
Study Variables ...................................................................................................... 39
Age Difference Analysis ............................................................................ 41
Education Differences ............................................................................... 41
Salary Difference ....................................................................................... 43
Differences by Experience ......................................................................... 46
Differences by Department ........................................................................ 48
Differences by Shift ................................................................................... 49
Path Analysis ......................................................................................................... 52
CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............. 61
Summary of the Results ......................................................................................... 61
Limitations ............................................................................................................. 67
iv

Recommendations .................................................................................................. 69
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 70
APPENDIX A. Summary of Five-Star Hotels in Egypt ................................................... 81
APPENDIX B. Permission from Dr. Murphy .................................................................. 82
APPENDIX C. IRB Approval .......................................................................................... 85
APPENDIX D. Letter to Embassy from Dr. Bosselman .................................................. 90
APPENDIX E. Letter of Support from American Embassy in Cairo ............................... 91
APPENDIX F. Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 92
APPENDIX G. Tables 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 ......................................................... 100
Table 6. Frequencies and Percentages of the Demographic Variables
(N = 809) 100

Table 8. Overall Responses and Mean and SD (N=809) ................................... 102

Table 10. Frequencies and Percentages of the Demographic Variables
(N=719) ............................................................................................... 104

Table 14. Descriptive Analysis by Age ............................................................... 106

Table 16. Descriptive Analysis by Education ..................................................... 108

Table 18. Descriptive Analysis by Salary ........................................................... 110

Table 20. Descriptive Analysis by Years of Experience ..................................... 112

Table 22. Descriptive Analysis by Department .................................................. 114
v

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Geographic location of Egypt with respect to other Middle Eastern
countries ............................................................................................................ 12

Figure 2. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of biometrics in hotels ....................... 22
Figure 3. Representatives of fingerprint, hand geometry, and handprint ......................... 29
Figure 4. Estimated marginal means of type accepted related to the covariates
(gender, age, education, and marital status) ...................................................... 36

Figure 5. Profile plot ........................................................................................................ 37
Figure 6. The proposed path model (with standardized coefficients) .............................. 53
Figure 7. The revised path model ..................................................................................... 54
Figure 8. Revised path model for respondents working in metropolitan hotels .............. 57
Figure 9. Revised path model for respondents working in resort hotels .......................... 59
vi

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Biometric Crossover Accuracy ............................................................................. 3
Table 2. Possible Factors that Affect Willingness to Adopt Biometrics Arranged from
1–6 with Subfactors or Variables Arranged Alphabetically Under Each Factor27

Table 3. Proportionate Survey Distribution ..................................................................... 27
Table 4. Cronbach’s Alphas for the Pilot Test Variables (N = 104) ................................ 28
Table 5. Summary of the Hotels Contacted ...................................................................... 34
Table 7. Source of Knowledge Mean and SD ................................................................... 34
Table 9. Cronbach’s Alphas for the Study Variables (N=809) ........................................ 35
Table 11. Overall Responses and Mean and SD (N=719 ................................................. 38
Table 12. Cronbach’s Alphas for the Study Variables (N=719) ...................................... 40
Table 13. Descriptive Statistics of the Study Variables (N=719), SE for
Skew Statistic = .09 .......................................................................................... 40
Table 15. ANOVA Table for Age ...................................................................................... 42
Table 17. ANOVA Table for Education ............................................................................ 44
Table 19. ANOVA Table for Salary .................................................................................. 46
Table 21. ANOVA Table for Years of Experience ............................................................ 47
Table 23. ANOVA Table for Department ......................................................................... 49
Table 24. Descriptive Analysis by Shift ............................................................................ 50
Table 25. ANOVA Table for Shift .................................................................................... 51
Table 26. Fit Statistics and Indices for the Proposed and Revised Path Models ............. 53
Table 27. Standardized and Unstandardized Path Coefficients for the Revised
Direct Path Model ............................................................................................. 54
vii
Table 28. Standardized and Unstandardized Coefficients for the Revised
Indirect Path Model .......................................................................................... 55
Table 29. Fit Statistics and Indices for the Revised Path Model for Respondents
Working in Metropolitan and Resort Hotels ..................................................... 58

Table 30. Standardized and Unstandardized Path Coefficients for the Revised
Direct Path Model for Respondents Working in Metropolitan Hotels ............. 58

Table 31. Standardized and Unstandardized Coefficients for the Revised Indirect
Path Model for Respondents Working in Metropolitan Hotels .......................... 59

Table 32. Standardized and Unstandardized Path Coefficients for the Revised
Direct Path Model for Respondents Working in Resort Hotels.......................... 60

Table 33. Standardized and Unstandardized Coefficients for the Revised Indirect
Path Model for Respondents Working in Resort Hotels ................................... 60

Table 34. The Significant and not Significant Variables in the Results
in Level 0.05 .................................................................................................... 64
viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to start by thanking God who helped me through this endeavor, and without
his guidance I would have not made it through my studies.
My first thank you goes to my major professors Dr. Robert Bosselman for his belief
in me, his patience, guidance, advice, encouragement, and accommodations to achieve one
of my life goals. It would have been impossible to make it without his assistance. Special
thanks go to Dr. Mack Shelley who spent many hours working with me to review the data
analysis and helped me select the most proper statistical methodology. Another thank you
goes to my committee members Drs Susan Wohlsdorf Arendt, Jessica Hurst, and Rajagopal
Lakshman for their support, guidance, critical reading, and constructive criticism that helped
guide me to accomplish my research goals. I would also like to thank the support staff at the
department for their help, and assistance to get this project accomplished.
I want to thank my family which without their emotional support I would have not
been here today. My late mother and father Bothina and Moustafa Abdelbary, who would
have loved to share this monument with me, and would have been proud of this, and for
whom I am dedicating this work. I also want to thank my sister Mirvat in Egypt and her
family, my brothers, and uncles for their support and encouragement during the data
collection in Egypt. Very special thanks goes to Sandy and Yousef , my niece and nephew
who endured the long travels between Ames and Clinton on many occasions during the
summer classes to keep me company and encourage me to study. Finally and most
importantly, I would have not done this without the support of the love of my life, my wife,
Dr. Mona Alqulali, who did not spare anything to allow me to accomplish this task, and for
this I am indebted forever to her.
1
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Tourism is the economic lifeblood for many parts of the world. Whether it be on a
pristine beach on a tropical island or at a ski resort in the snowy Alps, tourists need and
deserve to feel safe when on vacation. With today’s increasing terror attacks aimed at
tourists, the hospitality industry around the world is greatly concerned about the safety and
security of its employees and property (Boss & Longmore-Etheridge, 2006; Higley, 2006).
Biometrics, the process of personal identification and authentication, is a technology that
could be used to improve security and work flow in hotels. This study will investigate the
factors and the partial issues that could influence the adoption of biometrics by hotels in
Egypt to improve safety and security as well as the expected efficiency in hotel processes.
This chapter will include the statement of the problem, the significance of the study, the
purpose, objectives, and organization of the study.
Statement of the Problem
Globally, terrorism has been a daily occurrence in many places for a long time. The
travel and tourism demand after 9/11 fell 7.4% globally and 8.5% in the United States
beginning in 2001, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (2002).
This decline cost the economy $92.3 billion. Europe was not spared; tourism demand fell
from 4.5% in 2001 with an unexpected additional 3.1% decline (WTTC, 2002). The lodging
industry stocks and revenues also saw a sharp decline after the same event (Enz & Canina,
2002). Terrorism on the hospitality services in Italy was executed to incite fear and
intimidation during 1994 to 1997, leading to direct and indirect economic losses. Damage
from destruction of physical property, injuries, death, and law enforcement expenditures, as
well as indirect damage by raising the cost of doing business, made it harder for companies