Innovation processes and information technologies : a study of boutique hotels in Valletta, Malta

Abstract

Service innovation has come to represent an essential underpinning necessitated for enhanced value creation, competitiveness, idiosyncrasy, and long-term survival in contemporary contexts. Given the importance of this construct, a substantial corpus of the literature has developed and been devoted towards exploring this phenomenon. Despite increasing interest in this field, however, theoretical approaches solely dedicated towards service innovation have yet to materialize, while scholars remain divided on fundamental aspects of service innovation, e.g., the developmental paths through which innovation emerges. Compounding these issues, explorations aimed at investigating service innovation in the context of tourism enterprises remain nascent, while limited attention has been placed on investigating the role of ITs and ICTs in the innovation processes of tourism enterprises. To counteract these shortcomings and based on Buhagiar et al.’s conceptual model of service innovation, this paper investigates the micro-foundation processes deployed in boutique hotels in Valletta, Malta, to reconfigure knowledge resources and establish innovation outcomes. Concurrently, this research explores the inflection points at which ITs and ICTs are deployed in the innovation processes of boutique hotels in Valletta, Malta, and examines how such technologies influence the innovation activities of these hotels.