Effects of Customer-Social Media Interaction Rate on Service Innovation Levels in Star-Rated Hotels in Nyeri County, Kenya

While the interaction between customer and social media is reported to improve overall operations in Kenyan hotels, research has not adequately shown their specific impacts on service innovation. The study's objective was to determine the effects of Customer-Social Media interaction on service innovation in Nyeri County Star-Rated Hotels. The theory of people-technology interaction guided this study. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used, targeting 1006 customers derived from the bed capacity. Purposive and convenience sampling techniques selected a sample of 278 customers. Primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires administered to employees. The data’s reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha at α ≥ 0.70. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25, incorporating descriptive statistics such as percentages. Categorical regression and exploratory factor analysis tested the relationships among variables. Significance levels were set at α ≤ 0.05. The findings indicated that the predictor variables, WhatsApp usage (p=0.001), Facebook usage (p=0.001) and Twitter usage (p=0.030) were significant (p<0.05). All the other variables, Instagram usage (p=0.586), Website usage (0.124) and Email usage (p=0.135) were insignificant (p>0.05). The results have revealed the popular social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Websites used by Nyeri County Hotels to interact with their customers. This interaction has led to improved online booking, which is a form of service innovation