Understanding Consumer Buying Intention of E-Commerce Airfares Based on Multivariate Demographic Segmentation: A Multigroup Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The internet offers enormous development opportunities for airline firms and a lot of information for consumers to pick the finest available options. This research aims to study the consumer buying intention of e-commerce airfares in an emerging economy based on the technology acceptance model. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSustainability Vol. 14; no. 15; p. 8997
Main Authors Naruetharadhol, Phaninee, Wongsaichia, Sasichakorn, Zhang, Shenying, Phonthanukitithaworn, Chanchai, Ketkaew, Chavis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.08.2022
Subjects
Air fares
Airline industry
Airlines
Airports
Buying
Consumers
COVID-19
Customers
Demographics
Demography
Electronic commerce
Modelling
Motivation
Multivariate analysis
Multivariate statistical analysis
Segmentation
Segments
Sensitivity
Structural equation modeling
Tickets
Travel
Websites
Thailand
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Summary:The internet offers enormous development opportunities for airline firms and a lot of information for consumers to pick the finest available options. This research aims to study the consumer buying intention of e-commerce airfares in an emerging economy based on the technology acceptance model. This article employed a sample of 3064 respondents at six airports in Thailand. It used cluster analysis (a multivariate analysis approach) to determine two main customer segments and then used a structural equation modeling (SEM) technique utilizing demographic segmentation as a moderator to explain the behaviors of those two segments. The findings demonstrated two customer segments: (1) the older with high and middle-income segment, and (2) the young with low-income segment. The empirical results revealed that price sensitivity and perceived ease of use substantially impacted behavioral intention to use e-commerce airfares in both segments. The users from segment (1) are more likely to look for the fun experience and entertainment value of using e-commerce airfares than those from segment (2). However, perceived usefulness is unlikely to be a vital factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions about using e-commerce airfares. It is recommended that airline companies and online travel agencies should consider perceived ease of use, price sensitivity, and hedonic motivation when implementing e-commerce airline websites for selling tickets.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su14158997