Ikram Nur Muharam


Postgraduate Research Student
M.Par, MSc.

Academic and research departments

School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

About

My research project

Affiliations and memberships

Member
The International Federation for Information Technologies and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)

Research

Research interests

Publications

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Patimah Tussyadiah, Albert Nsom Kimbu (2023)A theoretical model of user acceptance of blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation, In: Current Issues in Tourism Routledge

Blockchain could disrupt traditional accommodation services by enabling safe, decentralised direct connections between guests and hosts. However, how users will accept and use blockchain-based services in tourism and hospitality remains unascertained. This study explores users’ perceptions of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system and sets a theoretical basis to conceptualise the drivers of the acceptability of such system. By using a grounded theory approach involving theoretical sampling and three steps of coding and constant comparison procedures, this study revealed that users were drawn to the system because it delivers desirable characteristics that are absent from existing services, such as further reduction of transaction fees, instant transaction settlement, wider income distribution, data integrity, algorithm autonomy, and smart protocol. Personal and social contexts were also found to influence users’ preferences for blockchain type and system ownership models. By offering key predictors and a theoretical model of user acceptance of a blockchain-based peer-to-peer accommodation system, hence taking a bottom-up approach to complement the highly top-down extant literature, this paper allows stakeholders exploring the use of blockchain technology in the tourism and hospitality sectors to have a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon.

Ikram Nur Muharam, Iis Patimah Tussyadiah (2023)The Effect of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Cryptocurrency Use on Changes in the Transaction Utility of International Tourists, In: Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2023 - Proceedings of the ENTER 2023 eTourism Conference, January 18-20, 2023 Springer

This study investigates how exposure to local prices changes the transaction utility of international tourists, and the role of purchasing power parity (PPP) and the use of cryptocurrency in these changes. Findings indicate that tourists’ transaction utility did not vary all that much when they visited a country with comparable PPP to their own. Meanwhile, when traveling to countries with a lower PPP, tourists enjoy a heightened transaction utility. Furthermore, using Bitcoin results in greater transaction utility than using fiat currency.