Goodbye maps, hello apps? Exploring the influential determinants of travel app adoption

Abstract

With the increased market penetration of smartphones and the emergence of high-speed wireless network technologies, the tourism industry's interest in using mobile applications as a means to enhance the tourist experience is rising. However, despite the growing number of companies and organizations that are investing in travel-related apps, there is limited academic research on consumers' intentions to adopt these technological innovations. In this study, the technology adoption model, innovation diffusion theory, and social cognitive theory are utilized to investigate the factors that could affect travel app adoption by tourists visiting rural tourism sites in China. The results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and compatibility are significant antecedents of the intention to use travel apps. Further, self-efficacy indirectly influences the intention to use travel apps through the mediation of outcome expectations. The results do not support social norms as significant predictors of behavioural intention. A discussion and implications are also provided.

Keywords:

• mobile applications
• behavioural intention
• travel experience
• rural tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 71302061], National Social Science Foundation of China [grant number 13BJY148], Zhejiang Province Soft Sciences Research Projects [grant number 2013C35010], and Zhejiang Province Social Science Foundation-Zhijiang Young Scholar Project [grant number 13ZJQN031YB], for their funding support.