Persuasive Technologies for Tourism and Hospitality

Persuasive technologies are those that elicit specific behaviors, manage to change attitudes or encourage users into forming habits by using fundamental principles of persuasion, such as social influence, scarcity or authority. Websites, recommender systems, mobile apps, robots, online games, social media platforms, etc. all rely on their persuasive capacity to keep users engaged and encourage particular responses or behaviors. This requires intricate knowledge of the social psychology of users and an understanding of how persuasion principles can be integrated into interfaces and algorithms. It also demands a basic understanding of the business models of the systems or tools to determine specific persuasion goals.

This course will provide an overview of persuasion principles and their applicability to different aspects of technology design. Specifically, it will discuss the persuasive potential of various technologies in the context of particular use scenarios and will point out specific challenges to persuasion for technology use/design in tourism and hospitality settings. It will further highlight the importance of persuasive technologies from a business perspective and debate benefits for users. It will also explore the incredible potential of persuasive technology to initiate positive behavior change (e.g. in the context of health or environmental sustainability) and will discuss ethical implications of persuasion, as the implementation of persuasive designs might lead to unwanted consequences such as technology addiction.

Course leader

Professor Ulrike Gretzel, University of Southern California

Target group

PhD students, practitioners and business participants in tourism and hospitality.

Course aim

Understanding the state of the art in the course topic.