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 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 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, identifies website vendor characteristics that are important to online consumers and presents a number of managerial implications.

Keywords:

• theory of planned behaviour
• travel and tourism
• website vendors
• online consumers
• decision-making
• trust

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nikolaos Pappas

Nikolaos Pappas holds a PhD in tourism development and a post-doctorate in risk and crisis management from the University of Aegean, Greece. He is currently associate professor in aviation & tourism at the University of West London, U.K. His research interests include, tourism development and planning, risk and crisis management, hospitality management, and destination marketing.