Assessing pre-travel online destination experience values of destination websites: scale development and validation
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Authors
Destination websites, provided by destination marketing/management organisations (DMOs), are central environmental drivers of tourist experiences in the pre-travel phase. DMOs increasingly apply experiential marketing on their websites to support positive online destination experiences (ODEs) and attract tourists. Despite the ongoing scientific debate on technology-driven tourist experiences, research into pre-travel ODEs is still nascent and theoretical knowledge on the nature of ODEs is limited. Particularly, an appropriate measurement tool to evaluate the pre-travel experience value of destination websites is missing. In this paper, we propose a reliable, valid, and parsimonious measure for assessing pre-travel ODEs on destination websites, building on two prior studies. In a quasi field experiment, German millennials (n = 1820) evaluated the ODEs of different real destination websites using an online questionnaire. The ODE scale was developed using principal component analysis based on half of the cases; the other half was used to validate the scale via confirmatory composite analysis. In result, the overall ODE is reflected by two interrelated dimensions: hedonic and utilitarian experiences. Websites with a high level of experiential design yield significantly higher ODE values, supporting the construct validity. Results contribute to the theoretical understanding of the technology-driven tourist experience in the anticipatory phase. Moreover, the developed scale yields a methodological knowledge gain and will help destination managers to evaluate, purposefully review and improve their website designs and contents.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Information Technology and Tourism |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 457-484 |
Number of pages | 28 |
ISSN | 1098-3058 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 07.12.2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
- Destination website, Experiential marketing, Online destination experience, Pre-travel phase, Scale development, Scale validation
- Management studies
- Tourism studies