TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing pre-travel online destination experience values of destination websites

T2 - scale development and validation

AU - Köchling, Anne

AU - Lohmann, Martin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2022/12/7

Y1 - 2022/12/7

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Destination website

KW - Experiential marketing

KW - Online destination experience

KW - Pre-travel phase

KW - Scale development

KW - Scale validation

KW - Management studies

KW - Tourism studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141478092&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/7f5c9dce-0f5d-35bf-9915-0da0b282a3b0/

U2 - 10.1007/s40558-022-00240-x

DO - 10.1007/s40558-022-00240-x

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85141478092

VL - 24

SP - 457

EP - 484

JO - Information Technology and Tourism

JF - Information Technology and Tourism

SN - 1098-3058

IS - 4

ER -