Examining e‐travel sites: an empirical study in Taiwan
| Published date | 20 April 2010 |
| Pages | 205-228 |
| Date | 20 April 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521011036954 |
| Author | Ching‐Torng Lin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Examining e-travel sites:
an empirical study in Taiwan
Ching-Torng Lin
Department of Information Management, Da-Yeh University, Chang-Hua,
Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – For the internet to realise its full marketing potential, travel agencies need a well-designed
e-travel site. Yet the attributes that affect customers’ perceptions leading to acceptance of e-travel sites
are still unclear. This study seeks to focus on why users accept or reject e-travel sites and how users’
acceptance is affected by three widely recognised features of sites – relevant information content,
information quality, and functionality needs service.
Design/methodology/approach – The study analysed a survey of 242 users of Taiwanese e-travel
sites to test the hypothesised expanded technology acceptance model.
Findings – The empirical results indicate that the information content, information quality and
functionality service of e-travel sites strongly determine the perceived ease of use. Relevant
information content and information quality also strongly determine perceived usefulness, which in
turn leads to the behavioural intention to use e-travel sites.
Originality/value – The findings of the study suggest that web site information must be sufficiently
provided, quickly expanded and constantly updated to maintain correct and current content to meet
users’ information needs as well as an appropriate assistance function to provide good levels of
web-based customer service. These attributes should satisfy visitors, making them likely to revisit
e-travel sites.
Keywords Taiwan, Internet,Travel, Marketing strrategy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Internet development and use, especially of the worldwide web (WWW), ha s
proliferated rapidly since the initial commercial applications in 1994. According to
Internet World Stats (2008), 1412 million people had internet access in 2008,
penetrating approximately 21.2 percent of the population. Internet spending has also
increased tremendously, estimated at US$144.6 trillion in 2004 and expected to surge to
US$316.1 trillion by 2010 (Strauss et al., 2006).
According to various studies (Walle, 1996; Kasavana et al., 1997) the internet is most
effective when used as an advertising and marketing tool. The information-intensive
tourism/hospitality industry has used the internet as part of its marketin g efforts since
1997 (Connolly et al., 1998). In order to use the internet to its fullest potential and keep
abreast of new technology, travel agencies continuously redesign their web sites for
users’ ease and convenience and upgrade the technology to make their sites more
personalised for customers.
The potential of the internet has made traditional marketing practices obsolete.
According to Rayman-Bacchus and Molina (2001) tourism is one of the fastest growing
sectors on the internet. Furthermore PhoCusWright (2009) estimated that the online
travel market will comprise more than 40 percent of the total tourism market by 2010,
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Examining
e-travel sites
205
Refereed article received
23 February 2009
Approved for publication
23 November 2009
Online Information Review
Vol. 34 No. 2, 2010
pp. 205-228
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684521011036954
compared with 32 percent in 2006, surpassing $95 billion in the USA. The tourism
industry in Taiwan has used web sites as marketing tools since the mid-1990s (Wan,
2002). Trends indicate that web site usage will continue to grow significantly in the
coming years. Most recent reports (Market Intelligence Centre, 2009) indicate that
online travel packages are the most popular product in online shopping networks in
Taiwan and were expected to reach NT 311.6 billion (about $9.46 billion) in 2009.
The internet has already demonstrated its ability to provide ample op portunities
and particular utility for dealing with the intangible nature of tourism services by
transforming marketing-mix variables to gain a competitive advantage (Baloglu and
Pekcan, 2006). Thus travel agents have rushed with great enthusiasm to construct web
sites with the hope of benefiting from this communication channel and exploring the
potential for attracting customers in the virtual marketplace. Unfortunately several
web site analyses have shown that tourism organisations in Australia and hotels in
Greece, Taiwan and Turkey have failed to utilise the internet effectively (Benckendorff
and Black, 2000; Sigala, 2001; Wan, 2002; Baloglu and Pekcan, 2006).
The internet user typically visits e-travel sites for at least two reasons:
(1) To search for particular information such as a travel offer or a competitive
price.
(2) To purchase something in particular such as booking online.
Relevant information content, information quality and functionality needs service are
the key factors driving visitors to web sites ( Jung and Baker, 1998; Doolin et al., 2002;
Cai et al., 2004; Ozturan and Roney, 2004; Baloglu and Pekcan, 2006; Ho and Lee, 2007;
Park et al., 2007). Site design and internet functions contribute to effective delivery of
messages, the quality of products and services, and brand image (Perdue, 2001). A
company providing inappropriate information on a site can endanger its precious
business image. With continuing growth of the internet market and rapidly increasing
new technologies, understanding the factors that promote effective web site utilisation
continues to be a vital issue for tourism researchers and travel agencies.
Although many studies have focused on identifying various factors influencing
user acceptance behaviour of tourism-related web sites (Benckendorff and Black, 2000;
Sigala, 2001; Doolin et al., 2002; Wan, 2002; Cai et al., 2004; Ozturan and Roney, 2004;
Baloglu and Pekcan, 2006; Ho and Lee, 2007; Park et al., 2007), researchers are still
developing e-travel site evaluation techniques, using subjective approaches based on
individual preferences (Cai et al., 2004). Few of these techniques are based on
well-constructed theoretical models, and some proposed conceptual frameworks have
not been verified. As a result, although subjective researchers have made some
contributions to design and marketing features of the online tourism industry, they
may not have adequately conducted direct evaluations through assessing users’
perceptive reasoning processes. Without theoretical referenc e models there is
significant ambiguity on how to build well-constructed e-travel sites and evaluate
them in practice.
The technology acceptance model (TAM) introduced by Davis and his colleagues
(Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) has received considerable attention among researchers
and information professionals, having become established as a concise ye t powerful
model for explaining and predicting usage intentions and acceptance behaviour (Yi
and Hwang, 2003). In an extension of this, Venkatesh et al. (2003) integrated eight
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