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1 – 10 of over 27000Khaldoon (Khal) Nusair and Jay Kandampully
The purpose of this study is: to examine the travel web sites quality dimensions that ultimately influence customers' satisfaction; and to conduct content analyses on the five…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is: to examine the travel web sites quality dimensions that ultimately influence customers' satisfaction; and to conduct content analyses on the five prominent travel web sites.
Design/methodology/approach
A content analysis was conducted on the six prominent travel web sites as ranked by J.D. Power Consumer Report. A list of 53 attributes were selected, named, and categorized around the six web quality dimensions explored in this study.
Findings
The findings of the content analysis provide evidence to suggest that online travel companies are underperforming in terms of providing web service quality attributes that enhance customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The focus of this study was only on the six prominent travel sites. However, the results cannot be generalized to all travel services. Additionally, only 53 attributes were extracted from the six web quality dimensions. There is a possibility that this study did not cover all the attributes that are part of the six dimensions.
Practical implications
Online travel companies can use the quality measurement tool developed in this study to detect service quality weaknesses and strengths. Moreover, travel businesses need to consider integrating features that make shopping experiences more enjoyable.
Originality/value
This study finding contributes to the present body of knowledge and also highlights web site quality dimensions that customers utilize in their assessment of overall online satisfaction.
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Zhangxiang Zhu, Liheng Liao and Bing Hu
This paper aims to conduct a meta-analysis to explore the strength of the path relationship in the proposed model for online travel service adoption and the moderating effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to conduct a meta-analysis to explore the strength of the path relationship in the proposed model for online travel service adoption and the moderating effect of country or regional economic development level.
Design/methodology/approach
A meta-analysis was conducted based on 46 empirical studies to verify a proposed model for users’ intention to adopt online travel service.
Findings
The relationship between technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior variables was found to be valid for online travel scenarios; moreover, perceived trust positively correlated with attitude and adoption intention. Meanwhile, personal innovation, perceived enjoyment and cost-effectiveness positively correlated with adoption intention. Except for the correlations between subjective norms and adoption intention, the correlations between all other variables in the model were significantly moderated by the economic development level of a country or region.
Originality/value
This paper was conducted to obtain a unified conclusion about the research field of online travel service adoption. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, its content is original.
研究目的
本研究旨在探讨所提出的在线旅游服务采用模型中路径关系的强度以及国家或地区经济发展水平的调节作用。
研究设计/方法/途径
本论文基于 46 项实证研究进行了荟萃分析, 以验证所提出的用户采用在线旅游服务意愿的模型。
研究发现
技术接受模型和计划行为理论中不同变量之间的相关性在在线旅游服务场景中依然显著。对在线旅游场景有效; 此外, 感知信任与态度和采用意愿呈正相关。同时, 个人创新、感知享受和成本效益与采用意愿正相关。除了主观规范与采用意愿之间的相关性外, 模型中所有其他变量之间的相关性均受到国家或地区经济发展水平的显着调节。
研究原创性
本文旨在就在线旅游服务采用的研究领域获得一个统一的结论。本研究的内容是原创的。
关键词
:在线旅游服务; 采用意向; 影响因素; 荟萃分析
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Ling Fang, Zhen Lu and Linyin Dong
Corporate travel represents a significant source of revenue for the tourism industry. Therefore, the quality of service is essential for maintaining and expanding corporate…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate travel represents a significant source of revenue for the tourism industry. Therefore, the quality of service is essential for maintaining and expanding corporate cliental bases. Despite the importance, the extant literature has yet sufficiently examined corporate travel service quality (SQ) and its impact. To make up for the drawback, this study aims to differentiate the impact of SQ perceptions on customer satisfaction between the online and off-line contexts through an empirical investigation in one of the top five corporate travel agencies in North America.
Design/methodology/approach
The well-established SERVQUAL measurement is applied in differentiating the impact of SQ dimensions between the online and off-line context. To empirically test the proposed corporate travel agency (CTA) SQ conceptual model, a set of survey data of “Welcome Back Survey” from HRG (a top five CTA in North America) was examined.
Findings
The study finds that for online services, assurance, responsiveness and empathy affect perceived SQ, whereas for off-line services, assurance, empathy and tangible are the three dimensions of perceived SQ.
Research limitations/implications
By relying on the existing survey, the off-line context has one less dimension than the online context. Yet as an early effort in differentiating the differences in the impact of SQ between two service contexts, the study offers insightful findings.
Practical implications
The findings will be helpful for business managers of CTAs to identify the factors that influence SQ in both online booking and off-line booking context. In particular, assurance and empathy are two dimensions that exert a significant impact on customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to compare the differences of the SQ of online and off-line corporate travel.
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Lan Xu and Xianlei Lu
This study aims to explore the influencing factors of online tourism service quality to clarify the relationship between such factors and the degree of influence so that targeted…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the influencing factors of online tourism service quality to clarify the relationship between such factors and the degree of influence so that targeted and effective measures to improve service quality can be suggested.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire is used to obtain original data, establish the fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) structure chart model and modify the model.
Findings
The results reveal that comprehensive service types, comprehensive information provided, true and accurate, upgrade and update, payment security, data and information security, customer rights and interests protection, service friendliness and evaluation processing are the key influencing factors in online tourism service quality. In addition, the FCM can also predict the improvement of service quality.
Originality/value
To establish an FCM model, this study establishes the evaluation framework of influencing factors of online tourism service quality and identifies the cause and effect of 26 indicators. The mechanism of influencing factors of online tourism service quality is explored through the iteration of the model.
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Graeme McLean, Kofi Osei-Frimpong, Alan Wilson and Valentina Pitardi
By adopting a social presence theory perspective, this study aims investigate the influence of perceived usefulness of live chat services and of their unique human attributes on…
Abstract
Purpose
By adopting a social presence theory perspective, this study aims investigate the influence of perceived usefulness of live chat services and of their unique human attributes on customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the context of online travel shopping.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a cross-sectional survey research involving 8 travel provider websites and 631 travel consumers, this work applies structural equation modelling to analyse the data.
Findings
The results illustrate that the perceived usefulness from the communication with a human live chat assistant positively influences customer attitudes and trust towards the website as well as increasing purchase intention. The findings further illustrate the role of the human social cues conveyed by live chat facilities, namely, human warmth, human assurance, human attentiveness and human customised content in positively moderating this effect.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to specific human attributes. Future research could investigate the role of other human characteristics as well as assess the ability of artificial intelligent powered chatbots in replicating the human elements outlined in this research.
Originality/value
The study provides a unique contribution to the travel literature by offering empirical insights and conceptual clarity into the usefulness of human operated live chat communication on travellers’ attitudes, trust towards the website and purchase intentions.
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Volodymyr Bilotkach and Nicholas G. Rupp
Platforms in two-sided markets are known to provide subsidies to either buyers or sellers, in order to take advantage of cross-group externalities inherent in such industries…
Abstract
Platforms in two-sided markets are known to provide subsidies to either buyers or sellers, in order to take advantage of cross-group externalities inherent in such industries. Online travel agents can be thought of as platforms facilitating trade between passengers and travel service providers (airlines). This chapter evaluates the effects of a buyer subsidy provided by one major US online travel agent – a low-price guarantee offered by Orbitz. We find evidence consistent with increased airline participation with this travel agent upon implementation of the low-price guarantee policy. Our results also confirm the theoretical claims that most-favored customer low-price guarantee policies are procompetitive.
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Tiantian Li and Zhangxiang Zhu
This study aims to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the strength of the path relationship in the proposed model for online travel booking service adoption…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the strength of the path relationship in the proposed model for online travel booking service adoption. It also explores the moderating effect of national or regional economic development levels and cultural differences.
Design/methodology/approach
A meta-analysis was conducted on the factors correlated with users' intention to adopt online travel booking services (OTBS) and the moderating effects of economic development levels and culture based on 42 empirical studies.
Findings
Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude and perceived behavioral control have a significant positive impact on adoption intention. By contrast, subjective norms have a significantly negative impact on adoption intention. Furthermore, the economic development level of a country or region significantly moderates the relationships between perceived usefulness and perceived behavior control, attitude and perceived behavior control, and subjective norms and adoption intention. At the same time, national or regional cultural differences significantly moderate the relationships between attitudes and adoption intention, perceived usefulness and perceived behavior control, and subjective norms and adoption intention.
Originality/value
This study was conducted to obtain a unified conclusion regarding the research field of online travel booking service adoption. Its content was original. The conclusion provides theoretical references for follow-up research and the development of targeted marketing programs for online travel-booking service providers.
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Shampy Kamboj and Zillur Rahman
The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale to measure customer social participation in brand communities, specifically e-travel companies’ communities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale to measure customer social participation in brand communities, specifically e-travel companies’ communities.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research has been undertaken to generate a pool of items. Based on Churchill’s (1979) scale development process, numerous reliability and validity tests have been conducted to confirm the scale structure. Data were collected through online and field surveys from the students and hotel guests who have either subscribed, liked or joined any e-travel service companies’ community brand page using any social networking site or have ever posted or considered reviews and ratings of any e-travel service companies via their official site or via a mobile app while planning their travel.
Findings
The findings depict nine items on a three-dimensional scale for measuring customer participation in travel brand communities created on social networking sites.
Research limitations/implications
The findings provide important implications for hotel and travel managers and are likely to encourage future studies in the field of social media and travel brand communities.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by providing refinement to the distinct operationalization and conceptualization of customer online participation, specifically in social media-based travel brand communities. This paper is the first to develop a multidimensional scale of customer social participation in e-travel companies’ communities. This is a new addition to existing literature, as the majority of empirical studies in this field are from participation other than customer social participation and contexts different from e-travel companies.
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Carla Ruiz-Mafe, Jose Tronch and Silvia Sanz-Blas
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of emotions and social influences on loyalty formation towards online travel communities.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of emotions and social influences on loyalty formation towards online travel communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The individual (perceived risk) and social (subjective norm and social presence) antecedents of emotions as well as the impact of emotions on attitude and loyalty towards online travel communities are tested through structural equation modelling techniques. The sample consists of 385 active users of online travel communities in Spain.
Findings
Data analysis shows that perceived privacy and security risk elicit negative emotions such as stress, frustration and fear towards the online travel community. Normative influences (subjective norm) and feeling the presence of other community members (social presence) boost positive emotions towards the online travel community. Interpersonal influences have a positive effect on subjective norm but not external influences. Positive and negative emotions affect preferences towards the online travel community (attitudes) as proposed by social impact theory. Subjective norm and attitude have a direct influence on loyalty towards an online travel community, confirming previous research grounded on theory of reasoned action models.
Originality/value
Despite the crucial impact of consumers’ affective states on loyalty formation, research on social media is mainly focused on the technological nature of consumer information exchanges, neglecting other drivers of consumer behaviour beyond the technology employed. This paper develops a model that integrates the relationships between consumer emotions and their individual (perceived risk) and social (social presence and subjective norm) antecedents and outcome variables (attitude and loyalty). The role of social influences is analysed, assessing the conjoint impact of one-way communication (interpersonal influences and mass media) and Web 2.0 communications (social presence) on positive emotions and loyalty formation towards the online travel community.
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Shampy Kamboj and Bijoylaxmi Sarmah
The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate customer social participation (CSP) scale in the context of brand communities on social media.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to construct and validate customer social participation (CSP) scale in the context of brand communities on social media.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, various tests for reliability and validity have been performed to confirm scale structure. Data were collected using survey method from the student and non-student sample.
Findings
The results confirm a multi-dimensional scale with nine items for measuring customer participation in social media brand communities.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study present several implications for online brand communities managers and are likely to support future research in the context of social media brand communities.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to develop a multi-dimensional scale of customer participation in social media brand communities. This is a new addition to existing literature, as the majority of empirical studies in this field are from participation other than CSP, and contexts different from social media brand communities.
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