Determinants of user's intentions to book hotels: a comparison of websites and mobile apps
| Date | 18 November 2022 |
| Pages | 16-41 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-05-2022-0239 |
| Published date | 18 November 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
| Author | Faizan Ali,Laiba Ali,Zhaoyu Gao,Abraham Terrah,Gozde Turktarhan |
Determinants of user’s intentions
to book hotels: a comparison
of websites and mobile apps
Faizan Ali
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management,
Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Laiba Ali
Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Turkey
Zhaoyu Gao
University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Abraham Terrah
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, and
Gozde Turktarhan
University of Chester, Chester, UK
Abstract
Purpose –This empirical study uses the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework to examine the
interrelationships amongst hotel websites and app quality, flow, telepresence, user engagement and
booking intentions.
Design/methodology/approach –Data from two different datasets, including users of hotel websites
(Nsample 1 5257) and hotel mobile apps (Nsample 2 5292), were collected. Partial least squares (PLS-SEM)
was used to test the research model.
Findings –Findings indicate that the quality of the hotel websites and mobile apps positively influences
telepresence, flow and engagement. Telepresence and flow positively affect the users booking intentions for
both the samples. However, for hotel website users, engagement has a no-significant effect on booking
intentions. Finally, telepresence has a non-significant effect on flow, and flow has a non-significant effect on
engagement for both the users of hotel websites and mobile apps.
Originality/value –This study uses two datasets to understand how hotel booking channel (hotel website
and mobile app) quality leads to booking intentions by tapping into telepresence, flow and engagement.
Keywords Website quality, App quality, Engagement, Flow, Telepresence
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Recent advances in digital technologies have reshaped consumers’decision-making process
in planning and searching for hotel accommodations (Lee et al., 2020). With the transition to
the information age materialized by the rise of the Internet, and the Internet of things,
traditional reservation and booking systems employing telephone, fax and travel agencies,
have simply been eclipsed to make way for websites and mobile applications (Fong et al.,
2017). Websites and apps have different functions that enable consumers to carry out routine
tasks (Wang et al., 2015). Both hotel websites and mobile apps include self-check-in and
check-out requests, special service requests and communication with the hotel staff.
Moreover, consumers’evaluations of websites’attributes and features play a considerable
role in purchasing decisions (Wang et al., 2015). It is expected that 700 million people by 2023
will book their hotel rooms online via either hotel websites or mobile apps. However, with the
rapid expansion of online hotel bookings, limited information regarding guests’behaviors
toward hotel websites and mobile apps is available due to their various features and
AJIM
76,1
16
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 4 May 2022
Revised 15 August 2022
Accepted 30 October 2022
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 76 No. 1, 2024
pp. 16-41
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-05-2022-0239
advantages (Wu et al., 2018). Therefore, it is essential to identify and analyze guests’
behaviors toward hotel websites and mobile apps to manage online distribution channels in
multi-channel environments effectively.
As hotel websites and apps help consumers interact and navigate through virtual
environments, such interactivity provides a real-world experience referred to as telepresence
(Li et al., 2017). Telepresence measures how a consumer indirectly experiences their future
purchase experience (Algharabat et al., 2018). Experiencing telepresence when interacting
with a stimuli website or app will likely enhance purchase intentions. Ali (2016) explained
that hotel websites capable of instilling a flow state are likely to derive satisfaction and an
inclination toward revisiting behaviors. Several studies assessed the importance and
relevance of flow for understanding customers’behavior within online settings (Thatcher
et al., 2008). Furthermore, recent research demonstrates the positive influence of customer
engagement on businesses, leading to enhanced customer relationships and higher purchase
intentions (e.g. Hollebeek et al., 2014;Tussyadiah et al., 2015).
Notwithstanding the industry’s requirement and skyrocketing adoption of websites and
apps toevoke telepresence,perceived flowand customer engagement, empiricalstudies ontheir
consequences in the hospitality context are still scarce. The notion of flow in online
environments garnered interest from scholars; however, very few studies focused on its effect in
the context of hotel websites and apps. Similarly, numerous studies have investigated the
antecedents of telepresence (e.g. Choi et al., 2016;Ongsakul et al., 2020;Lee et al., 2020). However,
few studies examined the relative impact of hotel websites and apps as an antecedent of
telepresence, flowand customerengagement in a singlestudy. In addition,the interrelationships
between website and appquality, flow, telepresence, engagement and booking intentions have
not been investigated. Considering these gaps, the present study provides a supplemental
understanding of the associations between website quality and other variablesthat determine
purchaseand behavioralintentionsin online environments.Accordingly,this investigationaims
to (1) identify the impactof website and appquality on flow, telepresence anduser engagement,
(2)determine the effectsof flow, telepresenceand userengagement on bookingintentions;and (3)
evaluate the influence of telepresence and user engagement on flow in the hotel industry.
The stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) is a theoretical base for the research model.
Literature review
Theoretical background
The S-O-R framework can be portrayed as “a parsimonious description of environments,
intervening variables, and behaviors”(Donovan et al.,1994,p. 36). The framework was introduced
by Mehrabian and Russell (1974), who proposed the existence of a stimulus (S), which acts as a
trigger to produce changes in consumers’internal and organismic (O) states, eliciting behavioral
responses (R) manifested as approach or avoidance toward the system. The S-O-R model has been
widely applied to consumer-related studies (Ali et al., 2021;Zhu et al., 2020) and used as a theoretical
base for understanding consumer behavior within online environments (Zhang and Benyoucef,
2016;Liu and Zhang, 2014). For example, the S-O-R model was employed by Leung et al. (2021) in
their study examining customers’perceptions of self-service kiosks’performance. Comparably, Ali
et al. (2021) integrated the S-O-R model with the Information System Success Model (Delone and
McLean, 2003) to evaluate smartphone travel apps’quality impact on user engagement and
behavioral intentions. In line with the studies above, this study employed the S-O-R framework as
a theoretical base for evaluating hotel website and app quality influences on consumers’booking
intentions. Drawing on previous literature, this study assumes that both website and mobile app
quality (S) will influence flow, telepresence and engagement (O), which together will contribute to
shaping behavioral intentions (R). The conceptual model is illustrated in Figure 1.
User’s
intentions to
book hotels
17
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting