Service Quality and Previous Experience as a Moderator in Determining Tourists’ Satisfaction with Rural Tourism Destinations in Malaysia: A Partial Least Squares Approach

AbstractThis paper examined tourists’ perception of service quality in rural tourism destinations on satisfaction as well as the moderating effect of previous experience on this relationship. Data from 309 valid questionnaires was analyzed using variance-based Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method. Perceived service quality has a significant positive influence on tourist satisfaction. Moreover, previous experience moderates the relationship between perceived service quality and satisfaction. The findings of this study offer some interesting implications for practitioners and researchers

Disintermediation threat: do small medium traditional travel agencies in Malaysia embrace ICT adequately?

As early as 1999, Werthner and Klein have acknowledged the disintermediation threat of Traditional Travel Agencies (TTA) due to the emergence of Virtual Travel Agencies (e.g. Travelocity, Expedia) and infomediaries (e.g. Travelbids, Priceline). Almost 18 years later, (as of 2017), it is interesting to investigate how TTAs cope with the disintermediation challenges by integrating ICT into their business models. Older and more established institutions (more than 20 years in business) like TTAs were said to bemore resistant to change (Institutional Theory). Will it be the case for industries going through disintermediation threat? Qualitative multiple case studies method was used to ensure the issues were explored through multiple lenses. Semi-structured interviews, website content analysis and direct observation are used to collect data from fifteen case firms in Malaysia. The findings suggests a three level ICT adoption model for SME TTA in Malaysia: six were 'low ICT adopters', five were 'intermediate ICT adopter' and four were 'advance ICT adopter'. Low ICT adopter merely use static website and email, while intermediate and advance adopter acquired ICT capabilities almost equivalent to those of Virtual Travel Agencies with interactive website or advanced e-business. This indicated that majority of SME TTAs in Malaysia were embracing ICT adequately. The study also concluded that non-stage models explained adoption levels more appropriately since some TTAs were found regressing to lower level after advancing to higher level

Drivers and inhibitors of ICT adoption in Malaysian travel agencies: TOE perspective

Buhalis and Law (2008) acknowledged the synergistic interaction between technology and tourism has brought revolutionary changes on the industry structure especially among the Traditional Travel Agencies (TTA) due to the emergence of Virtual Travel Agencies and infomediaries Interestingly, though it is recognised that ICT epitomizes a strategic instrument for survival, yet TTAs are vulnerable to the growth of the ICTs as a tool for e-business and information dissemination (Khuja and Bohari, 2012). Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the factors driving and inhibiting ICT adoption among the Malaysian TTAs. Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework which provides a solid theoretical basis is used to evaluate technology adoption factors. Overall, researchers have agreed with Tornatzky and Fleischer (1990) that the three aspects of TOE influences technology adoption. Qualitative multiple case studies method was used to ensure the adoption factors were explored in depth. Semi-structured interviews is used to collect data from fourteen case firms in Malaysia. The findings revealed three variable categories, namely technology, organization and environment have either driven and/or inhibited the ICT adoption among the TTAs in Malaysia. The TTAs perceived the technology attributes, organizational attributes, environmental attributes as the factors influencing the ICT adoption

Re-intermediation of Malaysian traditional travel agencies using ICT and non-ICT strategies

The rapid technological innovation, large advertisement investments opportunities and the ability to consolidate the fragmented tourism products and services have enabled online travel agencies (OTAs) to be the leading global intermediaries replacing the role of SME traditional travel agencies. However, adopting ICT is one of the many strategies used by SME traditional travel agencies to circumvent disintermediation and to remain competitive and relevant in the industry. Malaysia still lags when it comes to ICT adoption, although it is perceived to increase the degree of survivability and competitiveness. As such, this paper identifies the ICT and non-ICT strategies embraced by Malaysian SME traditional travel agencies to to circumvent disintermediation and hence re-intermediate successfully in this digital era. Past literature have shown there is no one theory can explain the innovation adoption stages of an organisation. As such, this study integrates the Technology-Organisation- Environment framework (TOE) with DTI e-business adoption ladder’s classification of stages and Environment-management strategies (EMS) to investigate the ICT adoption pattern, drivers, inhibitors and non-ICT strategies embraced by traditional travel agencies as a re-intermediation strategies. The ICT adoption drivers and inhibitors are found to conform to TOE framework. Factors such as (i.e. perceived relative advantages, perceived trialability, compatability, IT infrastructure, IT skills/knowledge, owners’ attitude, organisational readiness, strategic orientation, high IT investments cost, perceived barriers, firm size, competitive pressure, trading partner pressure, external IS support and industry trend) are found to influence ICT adoption across the levels. Also, the non-ICT strategies embraced by the traditional the agencies do conform to EMS framework. Non-ICT strategies (i.e. competitive aggression, public relation, voluntary action, dependence development, smoothing, collaboration, partnership, alliances, domain selection and diversification) are found to influence ICT adoption. However, this study revealed the ICT adoption pattern did not conform to the DTI framework’s classification of stages but revealed a non-staged ICT adoption pattern. This study employs multiple case studies to ensure the issues are explored through multiple lenses. Semi-structured interviews, website content analysis, document analysis and direct observation are used to collect data from fourteen case firms located in Malaysia. A total of fourteen interviews were carried out with industry experts, hence, fourteen cases were constructed based on in-depth interviews with the CEO-owner who are the key decision makers in the organisation. Extant literature showed that a consistent and integrated framework for studying ICT adoption at various level was lacking. This study contributes to theory as it responds to the said claim by developing an integrated framework by incorporating elements from EMS and stage models along with TOE framework to provide a comprehensive understanding through new insights and go beyond one fixed theory. Its implication for managers and policy makers are twofold. Recognising the ICT and non-ICT factors at various level could assist the CEOs and policy makers to device specific strategies for business growth and sustainability