Effect of marketing activities, benefits, risks, confusion due to over-choice, price, quality and consumer trust on online tourism purchasing

Abstract

Pappas, Nikolaos (2015) Effect of marketing activities, benefits, risks, confusion due to over-choice, price, quality and consumer trust on online tourism purchasing. Journal of Marketing Communications. ISSN 1352-7266 Downloaded from: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/6489/ Usage guidelinesPlease refer to the usage guidelines at http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact sure@sunderland.ac.uk.The effect of marketing activities, benefits, risks, confusion due to over-choice, price, quality and consumer trust on online tourism purchasing ABSTRACT The paper focuses on website vendors and on three fundamental aspects which influence price quality and trust, the major factors that affect purchasing intentions amongst online consumers. The three fundamental aspects in question are: perceived benefits, risks, and confusion due to over-choice. The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of these three aspects on consumers' trust and their online purchasing intentions, and also to evaluate their interrelationship with marketing activities. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the research focuses on holidaymakers (N=735) who bought at least one component of their vacation using the Internet. The research implements Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and uses Structural Equation Modelling. The findings indicate the importance of direct marketing and of the brand names of e-retailers and products. They also pinpoint the significance of online buying convenience and of the provision of sufficient product information. Moreover they reveal the influence of safety and security issues, of the instilment of trust, and of price and quality in relation to purchasing intentions. The research contributes to a better understanding of online tourism decision making, it identifies website vendor characteristics which are important to online consumers, and presents a number of managerial implications.

Antecedents of Online Purchase Intention and Behaviour: Uncovering Unobserved Heterogeneity

“…More recently, with the rise of online shopping and service delivery, perceived risk became a key issue for online behaviour (Mou, Shin, & Cohen, 2017;Pappas, 2017b;Zhou, Dai, & Zhang, 2007). Some of these risks are related to personal data and financial transactions security, whereas others include the performance of the product and the fear of buying fake or smuggled products, and of wasting money and time unwisely (Chen, Yan, Fan, & Gordon, 2015;Hubert et al, 2017;Nepomuceno et al, 2014;Pappas, 2017a;Ponte et al, 2015). Despite the growth of the research on this topic, previous results are not consistent (Chang & Chen, 2008;Chang et al, 2005;Mou et al, 2017).…”

“…However, findings are inconsistent concerning the relationship between perceived risk and trust (Hong, 2015). While some studies concluded that trust can be a strong predictor for reducing perceptions of risk (Agag & El-Masry, 2017;Büttner & Göritz, 2008), others found the opposite relationship (Pappas, 2017a;Ponte et al, 2015;Sharma et al, 2017). Others, still, propose a reciprocal relationship between the two constructs (Chang & Chen, 2008;Comegys et al, 2009).…”

“…It translates into the consumer's subjective belief that he/she will gain something from the Internet purchase (Forsythe et al, 2006). The convenience of shopping in the privacy of home or anywhere and anytime, the possibility to save time and money, accessing a wider selection of products, searching before buying and being able to compare offers are some of the perceived benefits that can influence the online purchase intention, behaviour and loyalty (Fang et al, 2016;Hubert et al, 2017;Pappas, 2017a;Zhang et al, 2017). Online purchasing has utilitarian benefits, but also hedonic value, referring to the enjoyable shopping experience provided by the channel, which can be a strong motivator (Bilgihan, 2016;Childers, Carr, Peck, & Carson, 2001;Molinillo et al, 2017;Shang, Chen, & Shen, 2005).…”

“…Hubert, Blut, Brock, Backhaus, and Eberhardt (2017), for example, concluded that different types of risk are predictors of usefulness perceptions of mobile shopping, studied as a measure of helpfulness and convenience, which other studies include as one of the measures of the perceived benefits construct (Al-Debei et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2017). Furthermore, Pappas (2017a) found that the relationship between the perception of risks and benefits is reciprocal. In what concerns trust, a more in-depth knowledge about its effect on perceived benefits has not yet been attained.…”

Online travel agencies: factors influencing tourist purchase decision

“…These behavioural changes led to the development of online booking channels, including OTAs. Although some studies argue that there are no significant differences between traditional and online commerce, many claim that there is a new stage in the purchasing process: the stage of trust-building (Lee, 2002;Pappas, 2017). There are several studies on this subject, focusing on the use of the internet in the process of planning a trip (Ferrer-Rosell, Coenders & Marine-Roig, 2017).…”