Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet

Juline E. Mills,Rob Law

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136429194
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Negocios y empresa
• Categoria: Hostelería, viajes y turismo

Make the most of your online business resources The growing acceptance and use of the Internet as an increasingly valuable travel tool has tourism and hospitality businesses taking a critical look at their business-to-customer online environments while pondering such questions as, How do I get people to visit my Web site? Is my Web site attracting the 'right' kind of e-consumers? and How do I turn browsers into buyers? The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet analyzes the latest strategies involving Internet business applications that will help you attractand keeponline travel customers. Researchers from the United States, Europe, and Asia present the latest findings you need to make the right decisions regarding long-term e-commerce development and planning.The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet examines vital issues affecting the travel and tourism industry from an online perspective. This book analyzes the latest theory and research on general online buyer characteristics, the differences between online and offline consumer behavior, the differences between broadband and narrowband users, the online search process, quality and perception of lodging brands, and Web site design, maintenance, and development. Each section of the book includes a model/diagram that serves as an overview of the topic, followed by a thorough discussion on the topic from several sources. Each section ends with commentary on the areas where future research is needed. The book's contributors use a variety of research methodologies ranging from qualitative data analyses using artificial neutral network analysis, to experimental design, non-parametric statistical tests, and structural equation modeling. Topics examined in the Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet include:

• the need for businesses to use internal examinations to determine and meet online consumer needs
  
• the emerging field of e-complaint behaviorconsumers taking to the Web to voice complaints about travel services
  
• how to use e-tools to measure guest satisfaction
  
• how to measure consumer reaction to Web-based technology
  
• the Internet's impact on decision making for travel products
  
• and how to use e-mail marketing, electronic customer relationship management (eCRM), Web positioning, and search engine placement

The Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet is equally valuable as a classroom resource or professional reference, providing up-to-date material on Internet applications and their impact on consumers and e-commerce.

Section 1: Online Travel Consumer Search Behavior

The Search Engine Marketing Model
Adapted from: http://www.searchenginestrategies.co.nz/sem-model.html

Consumer Objectives and the Amount of Search in Electronic Travel and Tourism Markets

Anssi Öörni
Anssi Öörni is Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems Science, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland (E-mail: [email protected]).

SUMMARY. This paper examines the effect of Internet-based travel and tourism markets on pre-purchase consumer search. It specifically aims to address the question of whether consumer search in electronic markets is substantially different from search in conventional markets judged by the objectives and amount of search. A self-administered mail survey of 871 subjects provides the empirical basis for the paper. The findings suggest that Internet-based leisure travel markets have, so far, affected pre-purchase consumer search less than has been expected. Online shoppers have not extended pre-purchase search. Further, they seem to advance convenience related objectives instead of attempting to optimize the purchase. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Electronic commerce, electronic markets, travel, tourism, consumer search, empirical research

Introduction

Electronic markets benefit from increasing productivity of information technology, since product information can be disseminated at increased speed, quantity, and quality. This enhanced exchange of information is commonly believed to mollify information related market imperfections by allowing consumers to update their market knowledge more extensively than is feasible in most conventional consumer markets. As search costs decrease, consumers will be better able to find the best offerings, and sellers will be forced to seek either greater differentiation or lower prices (Bakos, 1997, 1998).

While increasing performance/price ratio of information and telecommunication technology is a fact, it is less clear if enhancements in data transmission alone will substantially change consumer behavior. Largely, the expected positive effects of electronic markets rest on indirect observations, e.g., on reports of the domestic air travel markets in the United States in the 1980s (Bakos, 1991b; Copeland & McKenney, 1988; Hopper, 1990). Higher levels of price competition were reported, and these observations were attributed to the development of computerized reservation systems (Bakos, 1991b). However, many other factors, such as deregulation, affected these markets simultaneously (Copeland & McKenney, 1988). Also, a number of studies have revealed rising airfares in the same time frame (Bailey & Williams, 1988; Dempsey, 1990; Joesch & Zick, 1990).

This work follows several other studies concerned with the effects of electronic commerce on consumer search. These reports have shown inconsistent support for the expected high efficiency of electronic consumer markets. Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000) demonstrated that substantial price dispersion existed in electronic markets for books and compact discs while the average prices were somewhat lower. Clemons et al. (2002) found substantial price dispersion for domestic airline tickets offered by online travel agents in the US. Experimental evidence suggests that the advantages of the Web seem to be smaller and the related uncertainties higher than often assumed (Anckar & Walden, 2002; Crichton & Frew, 2000; Öörni & Klein, 2003).

Previous research has employed experiments or measures such as average prices and price dispersion to study the efficiency of information search in electronic consumer markets. While these studies provide valuable information on the efficiency of the Internet as a source of product information, they also have limitations that should be addressed to increase our confidence in the results. Market prices, for example, may reflect events other than seller reactions to consumer search.

This paper examines the effect of Internet-based electronic markets on consumer search in the travel and tourism industry. It addresses the question whether consumer search in electronic markets is different from search in conventional markets. The topic question will be refined by the following sub-problems that examine both motivational and efficiency aspects of consumer search:

1. Have consumers extended their pre-purchase search in electronic markets when compared to the amount of search observed in conventional markets?
2. Do the objectives that consumers pursue in electronic markets deviate from those related to conventional markets?

Simon (1987) argues that when studying behavior, the context of the study must be comprehensive enough to encompass goals, the definition of situation, and computational resources. In the following section travel and tourism literature will be reviewed to construct the context of consumer search for travel and tourism products. Next, the research hypotheses are constructed through a review of electronic markets and consumer behavior literature discussing the amount of search and consumer objectives related to direct sales channels. The research questions will be addressed through comparative statistical analyses utilizing data from a self-administered mail survey. Finally, implications of the analyses on electronic travel and tourism markets will be discussed.

Consumer Search in Travel and Tourism Context

A lot of variation in consumer search in travel and tourism markets emanates from varying consumer characteristics and decision contexts. Some of the related factors are likely to encourage consumers to resort to extended search and to rely heavily on external information sources; yet, this variation may also act as friction and reduce the positive effects of electronic markets. While purchases of travel services often involve extended problem-solving behavior, they may also become a routine (Moutinho, 1987) with limited or no search involved. According to Snepenger, Meged, Snelling and Worrall (1990), four major factors influence information search in the tourism context: (1) the composition of vacation groups, (2) the presence of family and friends at the destination, (3) prior visits to destination, (4) the degree of novelty associated with the destination. Greater planning efforts are related to groups with tight bonds. Especially, the inclusion of children increases the need for planning because of coordination of schedules and meeting of differential needs (Wilkes, 1995). Family-size and education are found to have a positive association with the use of destination-specific literature and other external information sources while age (Gitelson & Crompton, 1983) and occupation (Woodside & Ronkainen, 1980) seem to correlate with use of travel agencies. Interpersonal communication is frequently observed and multiple sources are typically used to retrieve information in vacation planning (Capella & Greco, 1987; Myers & Moncrief, 1978; Nichols & Snepenger, 1988). Importance of interpersonal sources seems to increase with age (Capella & Greco, 1987). First-time visitors to a destination are observed to rely more on professional sources than seasoned visitors (Snepenger, Meged, Snelling, & Worrall, 1990; Van Raaij, 1986). The novelty of a vacation is reported to increase both the length of the search and the number of information sources used (Engel, Kollat, & Blackwell, 1973; Snepenger, 1987).

Services of low complexity coupled with high customer knowledge are generally well suited for automated distribution since there is limited need to assist consumers in transactions (Apte & Vepsalainen, 1993). In the tourism context, such standard products comprise last minute offerings, single component products, and packaged tours (Werthner & Klein, 1999, p. 53). The more complex the product, the more uncertainty is involved in the transaction, and the less suitable the product class is for automation of purchase by providing consumers with direct access to the products (Werthner & Klein, 1999, p. 22). Travel and tourism products vary in complexity, and the complexity is related to both the product class and the context of use (ibid.). Consumer knowledge is negatively associated with product complexity and consumers vary in their knowledge of the product class. Hence, increase in product complexity will likely lead to more dispersed and, on average, lower consumer knowledge.

The Amount of Search

Information economics suggests that changing identity of sellers and fluctuations in supply and demand result in uncertainty, since information becomes obsolete (Stigler, 1961). Buyers must therefore update their information, and there is often no better means to do that than search. Search is not, however, without costs. Stigler (ibid.) proposes, that high search costs will lead value maximizing consumers to limit their pre-purchase search, which results in less than perfectly informed purchase decisions. This is reflected in multiple prices in most consumer markets.

The amount of consumer search is inversely related to the level of search costs. The number of sellers visited, in particular, reflects the search costs that value maximizing consumers face. If low search costs prevailed in electronic markets, value-maximizing consumers would extend their pre-purchase search and visit a larger number of sellers than before–assuming that the benefits of search remain constant (Bakos, 1997).

Products are not alike judged by the costs related to evaluating them. As previously discussed, high product complexity is often associated with relatively low consumer knowledge. High product complexity raises need for information processing (Bettman, Johnson, & Payne, 1990), and thus increases the search costs. Variation in product complexity should be factored in when attempting to evaluate the amount of search across several product categories.

One further element that should be factored in is the total number of information sources used during the search process. Consumers rarely rely on a single information source only (Engel & Blackwell, 1982, p. 337). Rather, search is often a cumulative process; those who seek information from one source also turn to others. The mass media tend to be contributory and information sources tend to be complementary rather than competitive (Berelson & Steiner, 1964, p. 532; Katona & Mueller, 1955, p. 46). Hence, many consumers are likely to use the Web in combination with conventional sources and they may access various retailers through different channels. The effect that the Web may have on the amount of search should be distinguished from the indirect effect discussed above.

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Indice dei contenuti

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Section 1: Online Travel Consumer Search Behavior
• Section 2: Travel Website User Characteristics
• Section 3: Perception and Quality of Online Lodging and Travel Brands
• Section 4: E-Complaint Behavior
• Section 5: Website Design and Development in Travel and Tourism
• Section 6: Website Evaluation in Hospitality and Tourism
• Index