The effects of website quality on customer satisfaction, use intention, and purchase intention: A comparison among three types of booking channels

There is no doubt that hotel distribution has changed dramatically since the advent of the Internet. Online travel agencies’ (OTAs) and hotel websites have risen to reach a broader range of customers to generate more revenue. The latest in a series of disruptive innovations brought by the Internet, is the sharing economy business. This new wave of peer-to-peer businesses allow customers to make money from underused assets. In the hospitality industry, Airbnb is the best-known example of this phenomenon. The proliferation of online accommodation booking websites has created the need for measurement criteria to evaluate the quality of website. It is important for hoteliers, hosts, and website designers to understand and compare what components comprise website quality and how website quality influences customers’ purchase intention across three types of booking channels: OTA websites, hotel branded websites, and hospitality sharing economy platforms (HSEPs). This study identified what constituted website quality by regressing the perceived ease-of-use, information quality, privacy risk, and website aesthetics against overall website quality. This study also proposed a purchase intention model by adding customer satisfaction and use intention as two mediating variables. Results from 973 online survey responses revealed the conceptualization of website quality varied across three types of booking websites and highlighted the importance of website aesthetics. It was suggested OTA website quality was assessed based on customers’ experience in the information search process, while hotel website quality was evaluated with a focus on the technical adequacy. In the HSEP setting, it was noted that aesthetics was viewed as high-quality. Additionally, this study confirmed the inter-relationships among website quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intention, and mapped the customers’ search-purchase relationships in an online context. The mediating effects of customer satisfaction and use intention were also detected. The contribution of this research is both academic and practical. First, given the rapid growth of sharing economy platforms, this research is among the first studies to investigate the impact of website quality on customers’ intention to purchase on the HSEPs; and provides new insights in understanding this niche segment from customers’ perspectives. Second, this study expands upon the current website quality measurements body of knowledge in a more accurate manner by assessing measurement invariance and regressing overall website quality against each proposed website quality dimension across three booking channels. The third contribution of study is through the inclusion of two types of behavioral intentions (use intention and purchase intention) and the examination of the relationship between these two constructs, which suggest the diminished value of the billboard effect. Lastly, this study helps hospitality industry practitioners better position their own websites by revealing and comparing the influential factors that determine online accommodation bookers’ perceptions towards three types of booking channels

Prosumer-to-customer exchange in the sharing economy:Evidence from the P2P accommodation context

Numerous prosumers who share their spare resources have contributed significantly to sharing economy development in recent years. Existing research on the sharing economy has primarily focused on the service demand side of consumers, thus neglecting the service supply side of individual prosumers. Understanding of the service exchange between prosumers and customers in the peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing economy remains limited. Drawing on the motivation, opportunity, and ability (MOA) model and social exchange theory, we developed a conceptual framework to explore how prosumers' service attributes influence consumers in a P2P accommodation sharing context. Using 313 questionnaires and 112 paired objective data points from prosumers in one popular P2P accommodation platform (i.e., Xiaozhu.com), this research found that prosumers' economic motivation, service flexibility, and service knowledge level have distinct effects on consumers' transactional based and relational-based participation. We also found a moderating role of prosumers' shared property management on these effects

A 2020 perspective on “Service quality management of online car-hailing based on PCN in the sharing economy"

Current studies reveal that the sharing economy has faced new barriers and issues in its development context, such as trust and privacy issues. By integrating theories of sharing economy and service science, in our past work, we explored how to deal with the service issues of online car-hailing based on process chain network (PCN). We also explored services in the sharing economy on three different levels: personal behavior, platform service and government regulation. With service-dominant logic replacing product-dominant logic, we suggest that research in the sharing economy and e-commerce calls for further systematical application of important service science theories and should make use of emerging technologies to develop new research methods

Influential factors of loyalty and disloyalty of travellers towards traditional-resorts

With emergence of digital travel platforms, traveler online reviews have become a source of rich information which has a significant role in their perception of the services that influences consumer’s demand for resorts. This study aims to identify and rank influential factors of loyalty and disloyalty of travelers through customer online reviews in traditional resorts using Latent Sentiment Analysis (LSA). Our results indicate factors that creating loyalty and disloyalty toward traditional resorts are different and some of these factors are more significant and different from previous studies in the context of other types of hotels. This study signifies the importance of travellers’ online reviews to the resorts managers and contributes to them to improve loyalty factors and alleviate disloyalty factors

Influence Of Short Video Live Broadcast On Network User Behavior And Sales—From Meta-Analysis, Experimental Analysis To Empirical Analysis

Background: There are more than 1 billion users of short video media in China, and enterprises have long recognized that the influence of short video media has strong marketing achievements, such as short video community and information sharing platform participating in sales. Many enterprises have established active short video media so that they can directly interact with their customers. Among them, the content of webcasting can also stimulate and influence users' participation (like, comment or share) and users' stickiness (collection and attention). Research purposes and methods: In order to explore the underlying logical relationship between "media-content-goods-users-sales", firstly, it is necessary to find out the influence mechanism of short video live broadcast on network users' participation and sales. Therefore, in the first experiment, we conducted a meta-analysis on a large number of researches on webcasting media and short video media, and analyzed their differences along the content differences, background (industry, presentation, life cycle, demand and platform) and characteristics of webcasting media. Secondly, it is necessary for us to find out the differences in the influence of the level of webcasting and the behavior of network users (participation behavior and sticky behavior) on the sales level. Therefore, in Experiment 2, based on the data of 802 live events in Tik Tok, the internal relationship between the degree of webcasting and the degree of commodity sales was analyzed. Thirdly, it is necessary for us to understand the mechanism of the influence of webcasting marketing on consumer decision-making. Therefore, in Experiment 3, the psychological mechanism of webcasting affecting purchase intention was verified by structural equation model, and the adoption intention of webcasting users was determined and verified by three factors-webcasting, participation behavior and sticky behavior. Research results: This paper makes a comprehensive and in-depth analysis and verification through three experiments. The result of Experiment 1 supports some existing viewpoints, for example, webcasting media can promote the sales of new products more effectively, but it highlights some new insights. The webcasting media mainly promotes the sales of goods and hardly affects the stickiness of users. The average citation of webcasting media stickiness is 0.137, and the sales citation is 0.353. In addition, the research results also put forward a better way to adjust the content of webcasting media to meet the communication target. Experiment 2 found that it has a higher degree of webcasting (β1=.715, P < .01; β2=-.090, p<0.01) more effectively produces the degree of commodity sales, and further verifies the potential moderating effects of two kinds of user behaviors: user participation behavior and user stickiness behavior. Experiment 3 verified that webcasting (b = 0.247, t=3.317, p< 0.05) directly and significantly affected the degree of online sales, while the behavior of online users (participation of live users and live fans) adjusted the degree of online sales to a certain extent, which indirectly affected the degree of online goods sales. Research conclusion: With the rapid development of short video media today, enterprises can realize the online sales of goods more efficiently through a powerful short video live media based on media content and media users, and further realize the balanced operation between network users and fan users in a healthy and orderly manner. Keywords: Webcast, Meta-analysis, User behavior, Social media sales, Field experiment DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/104-13 Publication date: August 31st 202

Casas partilhadas monetizadas: a experiência turística e seus efeitos na autenticidade percebida, no apego ao destino e na lealdade

The emergence of the shared peer-to-peer accommodation (SP2PA) has attracted the attention of practitioners and academics, given this new business model’s increasing popularity amongst travellers. It is therefore suggested that this type of accommodation can offer a differentiated, eventually more authentic, experience to its guests, introducing new values and meanings to the hospitality provided at destinations. To sustain this argument, it is important to enhance the understanding of guest experiences while staying in such a SP2PA, while also the impact of these new tourist behaviour patterns on destinations is worthwhile exploring. Taking into account the relevance of understanding the tourist experience associated with the SP2PA, this study aims to gain theoretical and empirical understanding of the SP2PA guest experience by proposing and testing a theoretical model that estimates the relationships between the dimensions of the tourist experience (the SP2PA guest experience) and the constructs of ‘destination attachment’, ‘perception of authenticity’, ‘destination attitudinal loyalty’ and ‘SP2PA attitudinal loyalty’. To achieve this goal, two complementary methodology stages were undertaken: (i) an ‘exploratory qualitative approach’ by conducting focus group discussions and passive netnography; and (ii) a ‘quantitative approach’ by applying a survey to a convenience sample of SP2PA guests. Statistical analysis of data used descriptive and inferential methods, with the Partial Least Squares (PLSSEM) as the main method for testing the hypotheses. A total of 409 valid responses were used to test the proposed conceptual model. Findings confirm the ‘aesthetic’, ‘escape’, ‘entertainment’, ‘educative’, ‘affective’, ‘social interaction’, and ‘sharing experience’ dimensions as appropriated dimensions to analyse the SP2PA guest experience. Amongst these dimensions, the ‘educative’, ‘social interaction’, ‘aesthetics’, ‘sharing’, and ‘affective’ are, in this order, the dimensions that most influence the SP2PA guest experience. Regarding the influence of the SP2PA guest experience on the tourist experience outcomes, this study demonstrates that this experience positively influences the ‘perception of destination authenticity’ and ‘destination attachment’ formation. In turn, destination attachment mediates the relationship between the ‘SP2PA guest experience’ and ‘destination loyalty’, while the SP2PA guest experience predicts the ‘SP2PA attitudinal loyalty’. Besides, the ‘perception of authenticity’ positively influences ‘destination attachment’ formation and ‘SP2PA attitudinal loyalty’. The results contribute to the tourist experience theory by providing an empirically-based insight into its dimensionality in the hospitality sharing economy context. This study also provides an analytical framework to understand the effects of the SP2PA guest experience on constructs such as the perception of authenticity, destination attachment and tourist loyalty. Furthermore, results may help design management strategies for both SP2PA platforms and SP2PA hosts to develop and implement an experience-oriented service strategy in order to achieve a memorable experience for SP2PA guests and create positive future behavioural intentions. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research complete the picture.O surgimento do alojamento partilhado pessoa para pessoa (SP2PA) tem vindo a atrair a atenção de profissionais e acadêmicos uma vez que esse novo modelo de negócio tem ganho crescente popularidade entre os viajantes. Sugere-se, portanto, que esse tipo de alojamento ofereça aos seus hóspedes uma experiência diferenciada, eventualmente mais autêntica, introduzindo novos valores e significados à hospitalidade proporcionada nos destinos. Para sustentar esse argumento, é importante melhorar a compreensão das experiências dos hóspedes durante a permanência em um SP2PA, ao mesmo tempo em que vale a pena explorar o impacto desses novos padrões de comportamento turístico nos destinos. Tendo em vista a relevância de compreender a experiência turística associada ao SP2PA, este estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver uma compreensão teórica e empírica da experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA, propondo e testando um modelo teórico descritivo que estima as relações entre as dimensões da experiência turística (a experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA) e os construtos de ‘apego de destino', 'percepção de autenticidade', 'lealdade atitudinal ao destino' e 'lealdade atitudinal ao SP2PA'. Para atingir esse objetivo, duas etapas metodológicas complementares foram realizadas: (i) uma "abordagem exploratória qualitativa", conduzindo as técnicas de grupos focais e netnografia passiva; e (ii) uma "abordagem quantitativa", administrando uma pesquisa a uma amostra conveniente de hóspedes do SP2PA. A análise estatística dos dados utilizou métodos descritivos e inferenciais, sendo o principal método para testar as hipóteses a modelagem de mínimos quadrados parciais - PLS-SEM. Assim, 409 questionários foram utilizados para testar o modelo conceitual proposto. Os resultados confirmam a "estética", "escape", "entretenimento", "educativa", "afetiva", "interação social" e "experiências de partilha" como dimensões apropriadas para analisar a experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA. Entre essas dimensões, "educativa", "interação social", "estéticas", "partilha" e "afetivas" são, nessa ordem, as dimensões que mais influenciam a experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA. Com relação à influência da experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA nos resultados analisados da experiência turística, este estudo demonstra que a experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA influencia positivamente a ‘perceção da autenticidade’ do destino" e a formação do ‘apego ao destino’. Por sua vez, o ‘apego ao destino’ media a relação entre a "experiência dos hóspedes do SP2PA’ e a "lealdade ao destino", enquanto a experiência dos hóspedes do SP2PA condiciona positivamente a “lealdade atitudinal ao SP2PA". Além disso, a "perceção da autenticidade" influencia positivamente a formação do "apego ao destino" e a "lealdade atitudinal ao SP2PA". Os resultados contribuem para a teoria da experiência turística, especificamente em contexto de alojamento turístico partilhado, monetizado, fornecendo uma visão baseada empiricamente em sua dimensionalidade no contexto da economia da partilha na hospitalidade. Este estudo também fornece uma estrutura analítica para a compreensão dos efeitos da experiência dos hóspedes no SP2PA em constructos como a perceção de autenticidade, o apego ao destino e a lealdade do turista. Além disso, poderá auxiliar o gerenciamento de plataformas SP2PA e aos anfitriões do SP2PA a desenvolver e implementar uma estratégia de serviço orientada à experiência, a fim de obter uma experiência memorável para os hóspedes no SP2PA e criar intenções comportamentais futuras positivas. Limitações do estudo e sugestões para futuras pesquisas completam o quadro.Programa Doutoral em Turism

The role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in sharing economy post-adoption

Oliveira, T., Barbeitos, I., & Calado, A. (2022). The role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in sharing economy post-adoption. Information Technology and People, 35(1), 165-203. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-01-2020-0007Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine use and sharing economy (SE) continuance intention, and the mediation effects of use between individuals' motivations and SE continuance intention. A theoretical model is developed to explain use and SE continuance intention as intrinsic and extrinsic motivated behaviour, as proposed by self-determination theory. Factors are derived from SE context and supported by published research on SE. Design/methodology/approach: The partial least squares path modelling (PLS-PM) technique is used to test the model in a quantitative study involving 256 users of SE services. Findings: Findings suggest that use and SE continuance can be explained by concurrent intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Moreover, high environmental concerns may restrain the use of SE services. Findings show that continuance intention is influenced by current use of SE services. Moreover, the study emphasizes the mediation effect of use between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and SE continuance intention. Research limitations/implications: The analysis of use behaviour should be complemented with other measures of use and with data provided by qualitative methods of research. Further research should also consider the effect of different control variables and mediation effects. Practical implications: Brand managers and companies providing services through digital platforms should address individuals' needs in order to stimulate voluntary engagement in persistent SE practices. Social implications: This study informs the consumer in general so that the SE can develop its potential alongside an economy based on the ownership of private property. Originality/value: This study extends findings on continuance intention research by offering internal motivation factors as predictors of post-adoption behaviour and emphasizes the role of use on SE continuance intention.authorsversionpublishe

Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2021

This open access book is the proceedings of the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT)’s 28th Annual International eTourism Conference, which assembles the latest research presented at the ENTER21@yourplace virtual conference January 19–22, 2021. This book advances the current knowledge base of information and communication technologies and tourism in the areas of social media and sharing economy, technology including AI-driven technologies, research related to destination management and innovations, COVID-19 repercussions, and others. Readers will find a wealth of state-of-the-art insights, ideas, and case studies on how information and communication technologies can be applied in travel and tourism as we encounter new opportunities and challenges in an unpredictable world

Becoming a Platform in Europe

Emerging out of the collaborative work conducted within the Working Group “Mechanisms to activate and support the collaborative economy” of the COST Action “From Sharing to Caring: Examining Socio-Technical Aspects of the Collaborative Economy”, the book questions the varied set of organizational forms collected under the label of “collaborative” or “sharing” economy —ranging from grassroots peer-to-peer solidarity initiatives to corporate owned platforms— from the perspective of what is known as the European social values: respect for human dignity and human rights (including those of minorities), freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law. Therefore, the edited collection focuses on the governance of such economic activities, and how they organize labour, cooperation and social life. From individual motivations to participating, to platform use by local groups, until platform design in its political as well as technological dimensions, the book provides a comparative overview and critical discussion on the processes, narratives and organizational models at play in the collaborative economy. On such a basis, the volume offers tools, suggestions and visions for the future that may inform the designing of policies, technologies, and business models in Europe