CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

1.1.1 What is ICT

Information and Communication Technology will simply be defined in its simplest form as an electronic
medium for creating, storing, manipulating receiving and sending information from one place to
another. It will make message delivery faster, more convenient, easy to access, understand and
interpret. It will use gadgets such as cell phones, the Internet, wireless network, computer, radio,
television, Satellites, base stations etc. These resources will be used to create, store, communicate,
transmit and manage information.

Technology will benefit humans through globalization, entertainment and accurate and speedy
processing of information. Benefits Of Technology The entire population of the world will depend
directly or indirectly on technology. The use of technology will become part of everyone’s daily activity.
In the past transportation was slow and people usually moved to long distances on foot but, the modern
means of transportation will be more convenient and faster, people can cover several miles in few hours
using airplanes, electric trains and so on.

1.1.2 Contribution of ICT on the World

According to the global innovation index (2017), the far advanced and developed countries such as USA,
Japan and Singapore will be an example for the countries with advanced technological environment and
infrastructure. Similarly, in Africa, the technology advanced countries will be South Africa, Egypt and
Nigeria. Almost in all countries, technology readiness will become a key enabler (KSF) in business
sectors.

Organizations will adopt new technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of various work
processes. Unfortunately, many technology-based products and services will never reach their full
potential, and some will simply be rejected (Burton-Jones &Hubona, 2006). Failed investments in
technology may not only cause financial losses, but also lead to dissatisfaction among employees
(Venkatesh, 2000). Hence, explaining and predicting user adoption of new technology will be important.

In Ethiopia, the total contribution of Travel and Tourism to GDP will be ETB 78 million (5.7% of GDP) and
there will be 1,236,000 jobs in 2016 (5.1% of total employment) and expected to be raised by 7.1% in
2017(WTTC, 2017). Moreover, one of the important strategies of Ministry of Culture and Tourism
(MOCT) will be to enhance the ICT infrastructure. Nevertheless, this steady growth in the sector will
show that the industry is contributing a lot for the Growth and Development Plan (GDP) of the Country.
In most developed countries the ICT adoption in their daily business will be one of the high-level
contributors for their GDP ( AlGhamdi, 2012).
With the quick advancement of ICT globally, adoption of ICT in Ethiopian companies will become
increasingly important especially for the tourism industry. Moreover, Ethiopia will become one of the
African countries to be recognized by its eight-heritage site registered on United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCOs) in Africa.

1.1.3 Contribution of ICT on the Hospitality Industry in the Future

In the future, Information Communication Technology (ICT) will continue to play a significant role in
transforming the hospitality industry globally. Business practices, strategies, and industry structures will
be dramatically transformed as progress in ICT continues (Porter, 2001). ICTs will continue to provide a
powerful tool that can bring advantages in promoting and strengthening the tourism industry’s strategy
and operations. Customers will be able to search for and purchase customized hospitality and tourism
products conveniently through the internet, and suppliers will benefit from developing, managing, and
distributing their products without any time limits and geographical constraints, supporting the
globalization of the industries by providing effective tools (Buhalis and Law, 2008).

Web-based training will become even more convenient and cost-effective for many hospitality
businesses in the future. The adoption of ICT in the hotel industry will continue to bring many benefits,
including achieving operational excellence, developing new products and services, and making
management in tourism and hospitality sectors easier (Akehurst, 2008). Majority of the hotels will be
able to manage their customers and functions with the help of e-tourism, e-promotions, e-booking, and
e-commerce systems. The use of official websites, social sites, and mobile tourism apps will continue to
help different hotels in the tourism sector keep connected with customers about the recent offers and
packages.

In the future, there will be several companies in the hospitality and tourism industry that engage in the
application of ICT in the tourism industry, helping minimize time and increase the efficiency of
operations in the tourism industry. Various activities will be conducted with the help of ICT applications
in the hospitality industry, such as check-in and checkout service, social media networking, room
booking, and acquiring details of the hotels. Travel apps will continue to allow customers to
conveniently check flight and train timings online, get reviews and ratings about destinations, hotels,
and airlines services, and book online tickets (Ali and Frew, 2014).

In the future, the use of ICT tools will further reduce the workloads of employees in the hospitality
sector. For instance, travelers won't have to wait in long lines at the airport for check-in because all
international airports will be equipped with auto check-in systems. However, the application of ICT can
be very expensive for organizations, and it can be difficult for smaller organizations to implement ICT
technology due to its extensive cost. Another disadvantage of the measure is the security risk that is
seen in case of ICT use due to a high cyber-crime rate. Social media will continue to play a significant role
in ICT application in the industry. The social media network like Facebook and Twitter will be used
extensively in the future as promotional tools and will also be used as information and feedback space
for various organizations.
In the future, the hotel industry will continue to classify hotels in a star rating system that includes 5-star
for higher luxury, 4-star Hotels, 3-star Hotels, 2-star Hotels, and 1-star Hotels. The United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) team will continue to determine whether the hotels receive from one to
five stars based on the facilities and the service they are offering. The various ICTs that have been
adopted in the hospitality industry in Ethiopia will continue to include using telephone lines, faxes, and
cell phones or their communication purposes both to staff and clients.

Internet services, including email, will continue to be adopted by hotels like 3-star and above hotels
(Demeke, Small and Micro Business Enterprises (SMBEs) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Development and
Poverty Reduction through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), with particular
reference to the hotel industry and associated businesses, 2014).

According to the information that will be published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MOCT) in
the future, there will be an increase in the number of registered hotels in Addis Ababa that will adopt
ICT. It is projected that there will be more than 30 registered three-star, 20 four-star, and 10 five-star
hotels in Addis Ababa. MOCT will continue to enforce the minimum requirement of ICT adoption for 3-
star and above hotels, which will include the use of email, internet, Wi-Fi in public and unpublic areas,
wireless in all rooms, and dedicated data lines provided in all rooms.

This study will investigate the factors that will influence the adoption of ICT in the hospitality industry in
the future, particularly for five-star hotels in Addis Ababa. The study will explore how the adoption of
ICT will benefit hotels and their customers and how it will enhance their overall performance in the
industry. The study will also examine the challenges that may arise from the adoption of ICT and how
they can be addressed to ensure the successful implementation of the technology.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Information communication technologies will have a major role in enabling the conditions for industries
to generate economic growth and development by reducing poverty. Thus, supporting this role,
researchers will accept the role of ICT as a facilitator for growth and development (Sachs 2006&Heeks
2012).

As stated in the Ethiopian Herald (2017), Addis Ababa will be a gateway to all international inbound,
outbound, and transit tourist passengers. Thus, Ethiopia will have a great potential to grow as a tourist
destination. In a similar manner, according to the report by Siboe (2017), the increasing number of
hotels and tourism services will contribute to the GDP and employment opportunities for many citizens.
Despite the vital role played by ICT in service, the adoption of ICT in Ethiopian hospitality and tourism
industry will be slow (Kidane-Mariam, 2015).

The lack of diffusion of ICT in Addis Ababa will lead to no research attention and this study will attempt
to fill the gap. According to the theoretical literature, there will be factors that influence the ICT
adoption in hotels namely: organizational, manager’s ICT knowledge, technological innovation, and
environmental factors which will not be yet properly addressed through research (Ifeanyi, Ubani,
&Asiegbu, 2014). This study will try to find if those factors are really the factors that influence the ICT
adoption in five-star hotels in Addis Ababa.

Therefore, since there will be gaps in knowledge in general and also at the micro level in the ICT
adoption, we believe that this study will be very timely in order to fill this identified knowledge,
literature, and local specific factors gap. Besides, it will be very important to know whether these
identified factors will actually be influencing the ICT adoption as pre specified goal.

1.3 Objective of the Study

1.3.1 General objectives

The purpose of this study will be to assess the effects of technology adoption in the hospitality industry
in the case of five-star hotels in Addis Ababa.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

• To assess the current trends, practices, and awareness of technology adoption in the
hospitality industry in the case of five-star hotels.

• To assess the challenges of technology adoption effectiveness in the hospitality industry in the
case of five-star hotels.

• To examine the impact of technology adoption on business performance in the hospitality

industry in the case of five-star hotels.

1.4 Research Questions

Questionnaires will be organized for the hotel staff based on their positions to gather relevant
information for the study:

1 What will be the current trends, practices, and awareness of technology adoption in five-
star hotels (A.A)?

2 What will be the challenges of technology adoption effectiveness in five-star hotels?

3 What will be the impacts of technology adoption on business performances in five- star
hotels?

1.5 The Scope of the Study

This study will focus its analysis on technology adoption specifically in the hospitality industry in the case
of five-star hotels in Addis Ababa. It will mainly focus on the current trends, awareness, practices, and
challenges towards technology adoption. The study will consider ICT as an external factor to the hotel
and will analyze managers and staff's perceptions of the way their internal systems should and do
respond to the requirements imposed by ICT. For the purpose of this study, the internal elements of the
hotels, such as corporate culture and working processes, will be considered as a picture-perfect totality
that changes in response to the presence of ICT.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study will help the Addis Ababa hotel association, hotel owners, managers, customers, and
concerned staff to be aware of the technology adoption system in five-star hotels and its opportunities
to minimize causes of threat prior to its occurrence. It will help them become aware of the technology
and technologize system applied to customer satisfaction and encourage them to play their role in
designating and formulating strategies to reduce factors that contribute to the occurrence of service
delivery and customer handling. This will contribute significantly to the hotel organization in managing
their customers effectively and efficiently. It will also help service providers to upgrade their knowledge
about how to provide quality service for their clients and to know about their customers' needs and
wants.

This study will show the extent of ICT infrastructure utilization in the hospitality industry to get a grip of
the relationship existing between technological advancement and economic development trends. This
study will benefit the hotel industry by providing critical information to management about business
performance and service quality, as well as the specific technologies that would improve hotel
performance. It will also contribute valuable information to ICT marketing personnel.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

During the conduct of this study, there may be limitations that arise from different directions. While
conducting this research, the researcher may face constraints such as unavailability of sufficient sources
of data and information, unwillingness of the respondents to give full information, shortage of adequate
time and transportation to collect and analyze the data. Additionally, there may be incomplete
questionnaire collection due to the carelessness of some respondents.

1.8 Organization of the Study

This research paper will contain five chapters. The first chapter will contain; a background statement of
the study, a statement of the problem, the objective of the study, research questions, the scope of the
study, the significance of the study, and the limitation of the study. The second chapter will contain a
review of the literature. The Third chapter will focus on the methodology of the study. The Fourth
chapter will focus on the data analysis and presentation. The last chapter will contain a summary,
conclusion, and recommendation.
 CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter will discuss the theoretical and empirical studies that are related to technology adoption in
the hospitality industry. Some definitions of technology and paradigms of technology adoption will be
stated in the first theoretical part of the literature that will aid in providing a clear understanding of it.
Then, the benefits and standards of technology adoption will be discussed. Finally, the empirical
literature and conceptual framework will be described.

2.1 Information and Communication Technology

Information and Communication Technology can simply be defined in its simplest form as an electronic
medium for creating, storing, manipulating, receiving, and sending information from one place to
another. It makes message delivery faster, more convenient, and easy to access, understand, and
interpret. It uses gadgets such as cell phones, the Internet, wireless network, computers, radio,
television, Satellites, base stations, etc. These resources are used to create, store, communicate,
transmit, and manage information.

ICT will continue to be leveraged for economic, societal, and interpersonal transactions and interactions
in the future. ICT has drastically changed how people work, communicate, learn, and live. Moreover, ICT
will continue to revolutionize all parts of the human experience as first computers and now robots do
many of the tasks once handled by humans.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) will continue to play a big and catalyst role in
today’s business environment in the future. The rapidly growing effect of globalization and advancement
in ICT will continue to bring about remarkable improvements and great opportunities for developing
countries to participate expressively in the global digital economy. ICT originates from the combination
of three interrelated words: Information, Communication, and Technology. Information refers to the
summarization of data. As data is raw facts and figures, it needs to be summarized, processed and
presented in different formats like lists, spreadsheets, images, or audio and video (O'Brien, 2011).

Hotels being a subset of the hospitality industry traditionally practice manual systems of operation in
their front offices, from occupancy of the guest rooms, and recording of guest expenditure through to
the eventual departure of the guest. Today, these operations are done using the electronic system. The
use of information in the front office operation of the hospitality industry is fast growing, thus making
work easier. Computerization will continue to be very important for the efficient and effective
operations of the front office.

Technology will continue to be used to push slower businesses by providing better service, improved
decision-making, and increased revenue. Hotel operations will continue to realize that a brand in itself is
not enough.
2.2 Paradigms of Technology Adoption

In the coming years, two research paradigms will emerge to explain technology adoption and
acceptance, according to Porter and Donthu (2006). One paradigm will be system-specific, and will focus
on how a technology's attributes will affect an individual's perception of a technology. This will, in turn,
affect the usage of the specific technology. The technology acceptance model (TAM) will become one of
the most widely used models within this paradigm (King & He, 2006; Porter & Donthu, 2006). The two
primary predictors in TAM that will affect technology usage are perceived usefulness and perceived ease
of use (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989).

The other paradigm will focus on latent personality dimensions to explain the use and acceptance of
new technologies (Porter & Donthu, 2006). In other words, an individual's personality will influence the
potential acceptance of technology in general. The technology readiness index (TRI) (Parasuraman,
2000) will follow this approach. Technology readiness can be viewed as a gestalt resulting from four
personality dimensions: optimism, innovativeness, discomfort, and insecurity. According to Parasuraman
(2000), these personality dimensions will affect people's tendency to embrace and use new
technologies. In this respect, optimism and innovativeness will function as mental enablers, while
discomfort and insecurity will function as mental inhibitors to accepting new technologies.

In the next decade, research will emerge combining the two paradigms by integrating the TRI and TAM
into one model. Lin, Shih, Sher, and Wang (2005) and Lin, Shih, and Sher (2007) will include technology
readiness as an antecedent of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in TAM. Walczuch,
Lemmink, and Streukens (2007) will take a somewhat different approach by investigating how each
dimension of technological readiness affects the predictors in TAM. We will follow this last stream of
research. Our goal will be to identify aspects that explain and predict user adoption of new technologies.
An integrated model will be sensitive to the general attitudes towards new technology (TRI), as well as
to the perceived attributes of the system (TAM).

2.3 Benefit of Technology Adoption in Hospitality Industry in Five-Star Hotels

Technology will continue to play a huge role in our everyday lives, including in the daily operations of
hotel management in the future. As hotels work towards full occupancy and recovery post-COVID-19,
technology will be more important than ever, playing a key role in the industry.

Hotel technology will continue to be leveraged across all departments to enhance the guest experience,
streamline operations, manage post-COVID-19 protocols, and improve communication between staff
and guests. Here are some benefits of technology that will persist in the hospitality industry.

A. Guests Will Want Convenience

In the future, guests will still want the check-in experience to be quick and painless. As contactless
hospitality becomes more prevalent, guests will continue to want a seamless, technology-driven,
contactless experience in the hotel industry. Technology will allow this to happen in the hospitality
industry.
B. Enable Your Guests to Access Information and Make Requests

In the future, people will still crave convenience and hotel guests will be no different. They will want
everything to be easy and within a metaphorical arm’s reach. Hotels will continue to create Guest Apps
and Guest Messaging to provide guests with useful information and to connect with them through SMS
messages.

C. Enable Your Staff to Provide Superior Service

In the future, technology will continue to help improve the guest experience by enabling staff to deliver
exceptional service. Many hotels will continue to use systems that automatically save guests’
preferences and notes so that staff can accommodate them appropriately. This personalization in
hospitality management will make the experience much better for guests.

D. Improve Communication

Technology will continue to be essential for facilitating communication within the hospitality and
tourism industry in the future. Sophisticated communication platforms will be used by many hotels to
allow different departments and members of staff to stay connected and respond to guest requests
more efficiently.

E. Hotel Technology will be Expected

In the future, hotel guests will continue to expect strong, reliable Wi-Fi and other technology that can
make they stay more convenient, seamless, and effortless. Hotel management companies and
developers will need to continue embracing new and interesting technological ideas if they want to stay
relevant and operate efficiently post-COVID-19. Technology will continue to open up a world of
opportunities that hotels can take advantage of to make their brand stick in consumers’ minds and forge
paths that can lead to positive growth in the industry.

2.4 Impact of ICT on Hotel Management

In the past, an individual could write or telephone the hotel directly or approach a travel agent to make
a hotel room reservation. However, with the current development in technology, the above methods
are considered slow and costly, writing to the hotel takes time, as with olden days ‘Snail mail’. The
improvement of ICT has introduced room reservations. Now an individual can make room reservations
online anywhere anytime so long as there is an electronic device with internet access, thanks to the
development of ICT. Moreover, using the online method to make a hotel room reservation has brought
about several benefits. First, an individual can book a room from home by using online security to
protect their privacy and financial information. Unlike the past when personal information may be given
to a middle party (Travel Agent), where there is a risk of our information being leaked out or sold to
others. However, no 100% guarantee using online security can 100% protect our privacy as technology
improves more security measures are taken to protect our privacy. Secondly, individuals can use
services provided by online travel agents to compare prices and facilities at different hotels. Online hotel
reservations help make last-minute travel arrangements.
2.5 Empirical Studies

In their research, Nambisan, S., and Wang Y. (2000) found that the geographical location of a hotel has a
major impact on its operations and profitability. Furthermore, the geographical location of a hotel
greatly determines the profile of its visitors, the size of its market, and the level of competition that it
has to face. These three variables also have a strong impact on the ICT adoption tendency of a hotel.
This is because the ICT adoption tendency of a hotel can be linked mainly to its expectations about the
value addition that ICTs can provide to its customers, as well as the belief about the expansion of its
target market through ICTs. A hotel was therefore more inclined to adopt ICTs if it expected the ICT-
based facilities to either provide a greater competitive advantage or to blunt the advantage enjoyed by
its competitors considering the characteristics of its customer profile, its market size, and the intensity
of competition that it had to face. Thus, based on the profile of a hotel’s visitors, the size of the market,
or the intensity of competition, hotels may differ in their levels of ICT adoption propensity.

In a similar study of small-scale properties in Scotland, Buick, I. (2003) found that even among hotels
that did not have a computer, most had a web page to advertise and promote their business. Again,
many of these properties used their computer for accounting and word processing. There was limited
use of PMS-type packages but extensive use of spreadsheets which individual owners could use to build
functionality specific to their business needs. Of the sites not using a computer, (30% of the sample), the
reasons most commonly given were that the owner did not see a requirement for one to operate the
business and that the capital costs associated were too high.

Choi, S., & Kimes, S. E. (2002) noted that each of these channels had different costs associated with
them for the hotel. GDS, in particular, incurred a charge for being listed, as well as substantial
commissions per transaction. However, in their computer simulation of revenue contributions for a
business hotel, no significant difference was found between revenue management by the length of stay
and room rate compared to adding the distribution channel to the process. They did note that the gap
between room rates in comparison to the channel fees would be likely to affect the outcome. For
example, in hotels where there was very little difference between room rate levels with widely varying
distribution costs, the hotel would need to include distribution costs in their revenue management
model.

Gronroos, C. (2000) will identify the role of ICT in service delivery as providing systems for effective
internal service support from support persons and systems, and other systems and technologies that
will make it possible for the contact employees to give good service. If such support is lacking, even the
most customer-orientated and service-minded employees will eventually start to feel frustrated and
lose interest in being good part-time marketers.

In a Delphi study of lodging experts in the U.S. focusing on the future role of ICT, Singh, A. J., &Kasavana,
M. L. (2005) will ask for predictions for 2007 and 2027. The panel will identify several technical areas
such as wireless networking technology and online reservations that they will expect to grow in
importance over these timeframes. The panel will also consider service automation and guest service
experiences, an expectation emerging of more technology supporting fewer staff more strongly
dedicated to guest interaction. Alongside the growing role of online booking will be a concern that this
could drive the “commodification” of hotel rooms with competition based solely on price with
implications for future revenue realization.

Similarly, in their 2002 Delphi study of electronic distribution, O'Connor and Frew will identify a growing
role for web-driven growth while still utilizing many of the traditional channels described by Choi, S.,
&Kimes, S. E. (2002). Academic literature will focus on the administrative and management information
provision roles of ICT in hotels. The role of ICT in supporting service delivery will be overlooked as will
the interactions of ICT with other elements of service support. Similarly, the roles of staff and
organizational culture in realizing the full benefits of ICT.

The impact of information technology (IT) on the hospitality and hotel industry will have been
extensively documented in the last two decades. However, what happens during the adoption process
and to the organization over time due to changes in IT will be unclear. This study will apply the lens of
“imbrication,” stemming from Giddens' theory of structuration, to examine the interactions between a
capital hotel In Addis Ababaof the use of customer relations management systems over 5 years (2016–
2021) at Capital hotel. The processes of imbrications of IT and people will reveal the social construction
of reality. This paper will expand our scope of knowledge on organizations' integration of IT by offering
online payment and a lot of access systems a simple and recurrent nature of IT adoption in the
hospitality and Hotel industry.

2.6 Conceptual Framework

As per the literature covering the types of ICT in use in hotels, it will not consider the most used ICT
infrastructure found in the hospitality industry and how well adopted are ICT infrastructures in the
industry, and ways that these are integrated with business practice in day-to-day operations. The
description of ICT used in hotels will be very much focused on administrative and operational uses, in
part reflecting the views of managers who do not see ICT as part of their strategic tool kit Law, R.,
&Jogaratnam, G. (2005). The significant rate of adoption of ICT among hoteliers and the effect of the
individual factors affecting the adoption of various ICT infrastructures in hotels will be potential issues in
need of research, suggesting that these will be important variables in the use and adoption of ICT to
produce best results for the business.

In these gaps, the study will seek to address the business process surrounding the adoption and use of
ICT in five-star hotels along with the factors that will affect it to determine the diffusion of ICT
infrastructure in hotels. That’s why the study will be necessary. The researcher will assume that there
will be an increasing number of travelers and walking guests in the hotel industry. However, the
strength and weaknesses of technology adoption will be as follows. According to our observations, the
strength of new technology adoption will be that ICT adoption in hotels will ensure superior service to
the customers and in turn enhance their satisfaction. Thus, management will need to take corrective
measures to adapt modern ICT in the hotels to provide effective and efficient service to their customers.
On the other hand, the weakness of it will be that an individual will be able to book a room from home
by using online security to protect their privacy and financial information. Unlike the past when personal
information may be given to a middle party (Travel Agent), where there is a risk of our information being
leaked out or sold to others. However, there will be no 100% guarantee that using online security can
100% protect our privacy as technology improves more security measures will be taken to protect our
privacy. (IJCSI -International Journal of Computer Science Issues).

CHAPTER THREE
 METHODOLOGY
This chapter will present the research design and methodology. It will include the research design,
sample size, sampling technique, data source and collection method, and procedure of data collection.
In the end, the method of data analysis will be presented.

3.1 Study Area Profile

Addis Ababa will be the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. According to the 2007 census, it had a
population of 2,739,551 inhabitants. It is where the African Union is headquartered and where its
predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), was based. It also hosts the headquarters of the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), as well as various other continental and
international organizations. Addis Ababa is, therefore, often referred to as "the political capital of Africa"
for its historical, diplomatic, and political significance for the continent. The city lies a few miles west of
the East African Rift, which splits Ethiopia into two, between the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate. The
city is surrounded by the Special Zone of Oromia and is populated by people from different regions of
Ethiopia. It is home to Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa will continue to maintain high average daily rate (ADR) levels when compared
internationally," says Thomas Emanuel, a director for STR. "The city has multiple demand drivers, such
as a growing economy, successful airline, and its status as the diplomatic capital for Africa. Air
connections and ease of access compared with other cities will also factor into the equation for strong
demand, which will provide hoteliers with the confidence to maintain rate levels.

This study will be conducted in five-star hotels located in Addis Ababa city. There will be up to 7 five-star
hotels in Addis Ababa, and we will be researching some of them. We chose only five-star hotels because
of the quality technologies used in their facilities, and we wanted to do our research in a well-facilitated
place and gather as much knowledge as we can.

3.2 Research Design

To accomplish this study, we will use a descriptive research method to describe the effects of
technology adoption on the hospitality industry in the case of five-star hotels. This design is all about
describing the existing phenomenon of the study subject. Surveys come in different flavors, by
interviewing people face to face or handing out questionnaires to fill out. It will be more useful because
it will not take as long as an observational study, and it will also describe the major serious problems and
issues to come up with the appropriate solution.

In this study, the researchers will use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative
approach will deal more with the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals in the situation
(Sreswal, 1998). The quantitative approach will also be used to present quantitative forms of data by
tables, percentages, means, averages, and other forms of statistics (Rosman, 1999).

3.3 Source of Data

We will use both primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data will be collected through
firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning the topic under consideration. We will also use
secondary data from different books, research outputs, hotel brochures, and the internet to support the
primary data.

3.4 Total Population of the Study

Due to the current pandemic situation, we will only choose one five-star hotel to conduct our research,
which will be Capital Hotel and Spa. The total population of Capital Hotel and Spa is expected to be 300.
Therefore, our total population will be 300.

3.5 Sampling Technique

Sampling will be the act, process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample or a representative part of
a population to define the parameters or characteristics of the whole population. We will use a
purposive sampling technique, also known as judgmental sampling. The participants will be selected
based on the purpose of the sample and our knowledge about the study and population. This type of
sampling involves the researcher using their expertise to select a sample that is most useful to the
purposes of the research.

3.6 Sampling Size

A sample is defined as a small proportion of a population selected for observation and analysis. By
observing the characteristics of the sample, one can make certain inferences about the characteristics of
the population from which it is carefully drawn (Omari, 2011).

For our research, we will select 70 employees who fit our profile using purposive sampling. After
obtaining their willingness to participate, we will distribute the questionnaire to them in hard copy. We
expect to obtain a total of 55 complete responses, resulting in a response rate of 78.5%. The remaining
15 respondents may be unable to fill in the questionnaire and return it on time, perhaps due to their
busy schedules or other personal reasons. Therefore, the analyses in this study will be based on the
responses obtained from these 55 hotel employees.

3.7 Methods of Data Collection

We will use different types of data collection methods like questionnaires, observation, or interviews.
We will select which method of data collection is suited for our research in consideration of time, cost,
etc. We will focus only on the permanent employees because they are expected to fill out the
performance evaluation form and can see the strength and weaknesses of the evaluation system. Due to
this, they are believed to give the required and relevant information in a more certain reliable manner
and they have more access to activities in improving their performance before and after performance
evaluation is undertaken.

3.8 Data Analysis and Presentation

The raw data will be difficult to give meaning to; they will have to be summarized, organized, and
analyzed by using different techniques depending on the information gathered from the hotel. After the
relevant data has been collected, there will be editing, coding, and classifying of data to make it suitable
for further presentation and analysis. The collected, processed, and organized data will be presented in
the form of tabulation and percentage which is based on their appropriateness to the processed data.
Then the descriptive method of data analysis will be employed to examine the finding of the study. The
reason that the researcher will use the descriptive method is to clarify and describe both qualitative and
quantitative data; the descriptive method of analysis will be used more than others. Then, from the
analysis data, the researcher will put a conclusion by summarizing the main points of the study and also
forward his recommendation.

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