As self-service technology (SST) becomes a growing phenomenon in the hospitality industry, which reaches out globally, it becomes very important to understand the relationship between cultural constructs and SST. This study examined with caution the relationship between cultural constructs and the consumer’s attitude and behavioral intention towards self-service technology, specifically kiosks at mid-scale and economy/budget hotels.

The opinions of graduate students at a four-year higher-education institution, with a diverse population, was assessed using measures of face-concern and self construal from Oetzel and Ting-Toomey (2003) and Singelis (1994), measures of personal innovativeness from Agarwal and Prasad (1998), measures of behavioral intention from Dabholkar and Bagozzi (2002), measures of prior knowledge, which were created, and measures of attitude towards self-service technology, which were also created. The validity and reliability of attitudes towards SST as a service encounter was tested during a pilot study; and the validity and reliability of prior knowledge was tested during the actual study.

The results showed that almost all the hypotheses were supported. The findings concluded that facework and self construal have a significant impact on the consumer’s preference towards SST service encounters over interpersonal interactions. The findings also showed that of the four cultural constructs, independent self is the strongest predictor of the correlation between culture and consumer preferences.

Keywords: facework, self construal, self service technology, behavioral intentions, hotel kiosks