Impact of internal and external factors on the purchasing behaviour of customers in the hotel industry context: does 3D-printed food matter?

Abstract EN

The main goal of this study was to examine how the both internal and external factors (IEF) affect hotels adoption to 3D food printing technology.

furthermore, the study aimed to do an empirical investigation into the possible mediating role of hotels adoption to 3D-printed food (3DPF) between (IEF) and the purchasing behavior of customers (PBC) in Egyptian hotels.

in order to find out what the chosen customers thought about the study's components (IEF, 3DPF, and PBC) a questionnaire was created and distributed to them.

the questionnaire was designed with four main factors in mind: (1) study participant demographics; (2) internal and external factors; (3) 3D-printed food; and (4) customer purchasing behavior.

the study hypotheses were investigated using the bootstrap technique in structural equation modelling (SEM).

the study's findings demonstrated that understanding the both of internal and external factors for implementing 3D food printing technology significantly help the hotels to adopt 3DPF and improved the purchasing decisions and use of 3D-printed food among the research sample's customers.

furthermore, it has been discovered that 3D-printed food has a considerable and partial impact on the relationship between both internal and external factors and purchasing behavior.

based on these results, a set of recommendations were developed for applying 3D food printing technology in Egyptian hotels.