Predicting the intention to use consumer-generated media for travel planning
Highlights
► Found support for the conventional TAM related constructs in predicting intention. ► Observed differences in study's context regarding the nature of the relationships. ► Hedonic value is most influential in predicting the utilitarian use for trip planning. ► Findings support the appropriateness of the attitude construct in TAM research. ► Perceived similarity of interest wields a strong relationship with trustworthiness.
Introduction
The emergence of Web 2.0 and user-generated content has profoundly transformed consumer behavior as well as marketing approaches on the Web. As O'Connor (2010) described, “the Internet is evolving from a push marketing medium to one where peer-to-peer generation and sharing of data are the norm” (p. 754). This evolution has impacted hospitality and tourism in at least three fundamental ways: first, the proliferation of numerous online communities centered on travel discussions such as Virtual Tourist, Igo Ugo, Independent Traveler, TripAdvisor and WAYN – even general social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are integrating special “apps” to stimulate travel discussions; second, the changing behaviors of travelers with regards to information search and travel planning; and third, the integration of social media into the marketing strategies of hospitality and tourism organizations. This trend has given rise to the growing popularity of social media which embody a wide range of “Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, p. 61).
The hospitality and tourism industry represents one of the principal domains being impacted most by this phenomenon. Social media offer an unequaled platform for travel consumers to share their experiences and opinions online in the form of text, photographs and videos through consumer review sites, social networking sites, blogs, and media sharing sites, among others (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). The content created by consumers through this platform is generally termed as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). This CGM plays a critical role in the context of travel planning (Litvin, Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008; Yoo & Gretzel, 2011). Also regarded as electronic word-of-mouth, CGM is increasingly becoming a major source of travel information for many travelers, with a number of studies acknowledging its growing influence on travel decision making. Prior work conducted by Gretzel, Yoo, and Purifoy (2007) as well as Arsal, Backman, and Baldwin (2008), for instance, show that user-generated travel reviews are useful for travelers when deciding where to go (destination), where to stay (accommodation) and what to do at the destination (activities). Furthermore, there is some evidence to suggest that CGM significantly impacts decisions on hotel online bookings (Ye, Law, Gu, & Chen, 2011).
However, notwithstanding the growing popularity of social media, research findings suggest that a great proportion of Internet users are still not utilizing CGM for travel planning (e.g. Cox, Burgess, Sellitto, & Buultjens, 2009; World Travel Market, 2010). A recent survey conducted by the World Travel Market (2010), for example, shows that only one-in-three individuals who embarked on holidays in the year 2010 consulted some forms of social media during the planning phase of their trips. This brings to the fore the need to better understand the factors driving the usage of CGM for travel planning. An understanding of the determinants of travelers' utilization of CGM for the specific purpose of travel planning is critical if hospitality and tourism practitioners are to maximize the use of this emerging platform for their online marketing strategies.
This paper reports the findings of an empirical study which investigates the cognitive factors affecting online travel consumers' intentions to use CGM for the specific purpose of travel planning. The rest of the paper is structured as follows. First, we provide a review of previous studies including a description of the research model and the proposed hypotheses. We then explain the various methods employed in the study. The results are presented and discussed in the subsequent section. The final session considers the implications of the study with some concluding remarks.
Section snippets
Theoretical background and research hypotheses
The growing importance of CGM and social media, in general, in the hospitality and tourism context has not escaped the attention of researchers. Recent studies have investigated the role of CGM in information search and the travel planning process (Arsal et al., 2008; Cox et al., 2009; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), social benefits and membership behaviors in online travel communities (Casaló, Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2010; Qu & Lee, 2011) and CGM implications for hotel online bookings and travel
Measures and data collection
From a post-positivist perspective, this study adopted a quantitative approach to data collection and analysis. The approach followed is similar to those employed in other contexts by Lin (2012), Wu, Lin, and Lin (2011), Ryu et al. (2009) and Venkatesh et al. (2003) in predicting behavioral intention. To collect the necessary data for testing the hypotheses, a survey instrument was developed on the basis of established measures of constructs from the information systems and the general
Sample characteristics
Table 1 presents the profile of the sample respondents. Of the 535 respondents, 52.7% were females and 47.3% were males. Respondents were fairly distributed across the various age groups with those in their twenties representing a slight majority. About two-thirds of the respondents had earned a diploma or above. The participants were largely habitual Internet users who access the Internet several times on a day (87.9%) or once daily (9.5%). Having taken a vacation trip within the previous 12
Key findings
This study introduced new factors into the TAM to investigate travelers' intention to use consumer-generated media for travel planning using a PLS estimation. Comparing our results with previous TAM research reveals several interesting findings. As hypothesized, the study found significant support for the conventional TAM related constructs – perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, attitude and intention. This would imply that individuals who normally disregard CGM may
Julian K. Ayeh is a Ph.D candidate in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include online travel behavior, social media and web-based marketing.
References (92)
The theory of planned behaviour
Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes
(1991)- et al.
Determinants of the intention to participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer behavioral intentions
Tourism Management
(2010) - et al.
Who interacts on the web?: the intersection of users' personality and social media use
Computers in Human Behavior
(2010) User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts
International Journal of Man-Machine Studies
(1993)- et al.
Consumer e-shopping acceptance: antecedents in a technology acceptance model
Journal of Business Research
(2009) - et al.
A comparison of competing theoretical models for understanding acceptance behavior of information systems in upscale hotels
International Journal of Hospitality Management
(2009) - et al.
An overview of internet based surveys in hospitality and tourism journals
Tourism Management
(2011) - et al.
Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social media
Business Horizons
(2010) - et al.
An empirical examination of the acceptance behaviour of hotel front office systems: an extended technology acceptance model
Tourism Management
(2008) - et al.
Electronic word-of-mouth in hospitality and tourism management
Tourism Management
(2008)
Extending the TAM for a world-wide-web context
Information & Management
Users' perceptions of two types of hotel reservation Web sites
International Journal of Hospitality Management
Travelers' social identification and membership behaviors in online travel community
Tourism Management
Understanding the factors affecting online elderly user's participation in video UCC services
Computers in Human Behavior
A meta-analysis of the technology acceptance model: investigating subjective norm and moderation effects
Information & Management
Toward a hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
The acceptance and use of a virtual learning environment in China
Computers & Education
Role of social media in online travel information search
Tourism Management
The use of tourism knowledge: research propositions
Annals of Tourism Research
The invisible hands behind web postings
China Daily
The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: an empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings
Computers in Human Behavior
Influence of personality on travel-related consumer-generated media creation
Computers in Human Behavior
Attitude structure and behavior
Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior
Influence of an online travel community on travel decisions
The self-regulation of attitudes, intentions and behavior
Social Psychology Quarterly
The legacy of the technology acceptance model and a proposal for a paradigm shift
Journal of the Association for Information Systems
On the evaluation of structural equation models
Journal of Academy of Marketing Science
Relational correlates of interpersonal citizenship behaviour: a social network perspective
Journal of Applied Psychology
Word of mouth communication within online communities: conceptualizing the online social network
Journal of Interactive Marketing
Trust perceptions of online travel information by different content creators: Some social and legal implications
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in the use of Internet as a tourist information source
International Journal of Internet Marketing & Advertising
Antecedents of internet acceptance and use as an information source by tourists
Online Information Review
The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling
Information needs in online social networks
Information Technology & Tourism
The role of user-generated content in tourists' travel planning behavior
Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management
Self-service technology adoption: comparing three technologies
Journal of Services Marketing
Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology
MIS Quarterly
User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models
Management Science
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the workplace
Journal of Applied Social Psychology
The support of autonomy and the control of behavior
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Choosing the method of data collection
Reputation mechanisms
Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research
The credibility of volunteered geographic information
GeoJournal
Cited by (0)
Julian K. Ayeh is a Ph.D candidate in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include online travel behavior, social media and web-based marketing.
Norman Au is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include information systems satisfaction, internet usage behavior and e-complaints in hospitality and tourism.
Rob Law is a Professor in the School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests are in technology applications to tourism and information management.