Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Graduate Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2017 The effects of website quality on customer satisfaction, use intention, and purchase intention: A comparison among three types of booking channels Xiaowei Xu Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd Part of the Advertising and Promotion Management Commons, Databases and Information Systems Commons, and the Marketing Commons Recommended Citation Xu, Xiaowei, "The effects of website quality on customer satisfaction, use intention, and purchase intention: A comparison among three types of booking channels" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 15467. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/15467 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The effects of website quality on customer satisfaction, use intention, and purchase intention: A comparison among three types of booking channels by Xiaowei Xu A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Hospitality Management Program of Study Committee: Thomas Schrier, Major Professor Frederick Lorenz Tianshu Zheng Eric D. Olson Young-A Lee The student author and the program of study committee are solely responsible for the content of this dissertation. The Graduate College will ensure this dissertation is globally accessible and will not permit alterations after a degree is conferred. Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2017 Copyright © Xiaowei Xu, 2017. All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my grandfather, Zhikun Xu. I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to you, although one year and a half has passed since that sad day, I truly miss you and will always remember the memories that we share. I hope I make you proud as you have made me. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... xi CHPATER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Background of Online Distribution Channels............................................................................. 1 The Rise of the Hospitality Sharing Economy Platform (HSEP) ............................................... 3 The Benefits of Electronic Distribution ...................................................................................... 4 The Importance of Website Quality ............................................................................................ 5 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 6 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................... 7 Research Contribution ................................................................................................................ 8 Definition of Terms..................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................... 12 The Role of the Internet in the Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism Industry .................... 12 The rise to e-commerce ......................................................................................................... 13 Disintermediation .................................................................................................................. 14 Increased competition ........................................................................................................... 15 Improved information technology (IT) adoption and implementation ................................. 16 The Evolution of Hospitality Electronic Distributions ............................................................. 17 Traditional travel agencies .................................................................................................... 17 Main online distribution channels in the travel and tourism markets ................................... 18 Central reservation system and global distribution system............................................... 19 Online travel agency ......................................................................................................... 20 Hotel brand website .......................................................................................................... 21 The HSEP: The case of Airbnb ......................................................................................... 22 Model Development and Hypotheses ....................................................................................... 30 Theoretical framework .......................................................................................................... 30 User-focused website quality research.................................................................................. 30 The evolution of WebQual and its underlying structure ................................................... 30 iv Dimensions of website quality in the context of online booking.......................................... 33 Dimensions relating to ease-of-use ................................................................................... 33 Dimensions relating to usefulness in gathering information ............................................ 35 Dimensions relating to usefulness in carrying out transactions ........................................ 36 Dimensions relating to entertainment value ..................................................................... 37 Conceptualization of website quality construct .................................................................... 40 Conceptualization of customer satisfaction .......................................................................... 42 Conceptualization of behavioral intention ............................................................................ 43 Inter-relationships among website quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention ............... 45 Research Model ........................................................................................................................ 48 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 51 Sample and Data Collection...................................................................................................... 51 Survey Instrument ..................................................................................................................... 52 Measurement and Definitions of Variables .............................................................................. 53 Measurement of ease-of-use ................................................................................................. 53 Measurement of information quality .................................................................................... 54 Measurement of perceived privacy risk ................................................................................ 54 Measurement of perceived website aesthetics ...................................................................... 55 Measurement of overall website quality ............................................................................... 56 Measurement of customer satisfaction.................................................................................. 56 Measurement of behavioral intentions .................................................................................. 57 Pilot Study ................................................................................................................................. 58 Data Analysis Method............................................................................................................... 58 Data screening ....................................................................................................................... 58 Descriptive statistics ............................................................................................................. 58 Reliability and validity .........................................................................................................