Understanding Consumer Responses to Travel Websites from Online Shopping Value and Flow Experience Perspectives

• Published in: Tourism economics : the business and finance of tourism and recreation Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 1087 - 1103
• Main Authors: Wu, Cedric Hsi-Jui, Li, Hung-Jen, Chiu, Chung-Wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.10.2014; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Authors; Consumer attitudes; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Electronic commerce; Purchase intention; Reliability; Shopping; Studies; Taiwan; Travel; Utilitarianism; Value; Web site design; Websites; Taiwan; flow experience; utilitarian value; website design characteristics; consumer responses
• ISSN: 1354-8166; 2044-0375
• DOI: 10.5367/te.2013.0326

As online travel shopping rapidly increases, consumer responses to travel websites need to be better understood. The authors integrate the perspectives of flow experience and perceived shopping value to explain those consumer responses and incorporate website design characteristics into their model. Data were collected from consumers with browsing or purchasing experiences on Taiwan's travel websites. The results show that website attractiveness and interactivity have a positive influence on flow experience. Website reliability positively affects utilitarian value, whereas ease of use has no significant effect. Flow experience is positively associated with utilitarian value and consumer attitude towards the website; conversely, purchase intention from the website is not affected by flow experience. Furthermore, the findings reveal that perceived utilitarian value positively and significantly influences consumer attitude towards the website and purchase intention. These findings have both theoretical and practical implications.