1st Edition
Handbook of Consumer Behavior, Tourism, and the Internet
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 attract—and keep—online 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 behavior—consumers 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
- Preface
- SECTION 1: ONLINE TRAVEL CONSUMER SEARCH BEHAVIOR
- Consumer Objectives and the Amount of Search in Electronic Travel and Tourism Markets (Anssi Öörni)
- Information Search Behavior and Tourist Characteristics: The Internet vis-à-vis Other Information Sources (Man Luo, Ruomei Feng, and Liping A. Cai)
- Barriers to Online Booking of Scheduled Airline Tickets (Stefan Klein, Frank Köhne, and Anssi Öörni)
- The Past, Present, and Future Research of Online Information Search (SooCheong [Shawn] Jang)
- SECTION 2: TRAVEL WEBSITE USER CHARACTERISTICS
- Buyer Characteristics Among Users of Various Travel Intermediaries (Kara Wolfe, Cathy H. C. Hsu, and Soo K. Kang)
- Utilitarian Value in the Internet: Differences Between Broadband and Narrowband Users (Srikanth Beldona, Sheryl F. Kline, and Alastair M. Morrison)
- Online Travel Planning and College Students: The Spring Break Experience (Billy Bai, Clark Hu, Jeffrey Elsworth, and Cary Countryman)
- Reviewing the Profile and Behaviour of Internet Users: Research Directions and Opportunities in Tourism and Hospitality (Marianna Sigala)
- SECTION 3: PERCEPTION AND QUALITY OF ONLINE LODGING AND TRAVEL BRANDS
- Comparison of Web Service Quality Between Online Travel Agencies and Online Travel Suppliers (Woo Gon Kim and Hae Young Lee)
- A Study of the Perceptions of Hong Kong Hotel Managers on the Potential Disintermediation of Travel Agencies (Rob Law and William Lau)
- Building E-Loyalty of Lodging Brands: Avoiding Brand Erosion (Brian Miller)
- SECTION 4: E-COMPLAINT BEHAVIOR
- Internet Diffusion of an E-Complaint: A Content Analysis of Unsolicited Responses (Linda Shea, Linda Enghagen, and Ashish Khullar)
- Analyzing Hotel Customers’ E-Complaints from an Internet Complaint Forum (Charles Changuk Lee and Clark Hu)
- E-Complaints: Lessons to Be Learned from the Service Recovery Literature (Brian Tyrrell and Robert Woods)
- SECTION 5: WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
- Effects of Picture Presentations on Customers’ Behavioral Intentions on the Web (Miyoung Jeong and Jiyoung Choi)
- Developing, Operating, and Maintaining a Travel Agency Website: Attending to E-Consumers and Internet Marketing Issues (Jenny Ji-Yeon Lee, Heidi H. Sung, Agnes L. DeFranco, and Richard A. Arnold)
- Conflicting Viewpoints on Web Design (Peter O’Connor)
- SECTION 6: WEBSITE EVALUATION IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
- Website Evaluation in Tourism and Hospitality: The Art Is Not Yet Stated (Alastair M. Morrison, J. Stephen Taylor, and Alecia Douglas)
- Exploring Bed & Breakfast Websites: A Balanced Scorecard Approach (Sheryl F. Kline, Alastair M. Morrison, and Andrew St. John)
- Staying Afloat in the Tropics: Applying a Structural Equation Model Approach to Evaluating National Tourism Organization Websites in the Caribbean (Alecia Douglas and Juline E. Mills)
- Developing a Content Analysis Evaluation Approach for the Examination of Limited-Service Lodging Properties (Sunny Ham)
- Index
- Reference Notes Included
Biography
Juline Mills, Rob Law
