Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
LITERATURE REVIEW 
Online Travel Product Attributes and Post-purchase Behaviors 
Product or service attributes remain as critical drivers of customer behavior and often differ widely in their 
relative importance. Attribute importance is defined as “a person’s assessment of the significance of an attributes for 
a specific good or service” (Mowen & Minor, 1997). Researchers have found that attribute importance is likely to 
have a set of associations between itself and other information and is strongly influenced by the amount of attention 
directed to a specific feature (Mowen & Minor, 1997). Generally, online travel products are categorized as airline 
tickets, lodging and accommodations, cruise ship berths, car rentals, travel packages, and tickets for events, train, 
bus, and tours (Card et al., 2004). 
Choosing an online travel product is often based on a variety of inputs. The growth of online services has 
lead to new perspectives that online product or service attributes are more related to online agency features. For 
instance, since travel products are considered as largely intangible and purchases are based on individual 
preferences, experience, and others recommendations, they may be difficult to evaluate and travel agencies are 
challenged in their sale and delivery. However, on the Internet, travel suppliers can provide greater detail on the 
features of products using a wide array of tools (Zeithaml, 1981). In comparison to traditional travel agencies, online 
travel vendors can reduce the risk associated with purchasing an unknown product by providing virtual tours, greater 
detail and variety of product information, web-based services and support, and so on, providing more tangibility to 
the travel product. In this study, twelve dimensions of online travel product attributes were used. In particular, the 
product selection attributes such as quality of information, value, brand, location (accessibility), price, company 
policy, variety, customer service, security, convenience, and frequent loyalty programs are posited to vary with 
online travel buyer behavior. These attributes were chosen for inclusion based on prior studies. For instance, Starkov 
and Price (2003) found that saving time, convenience, and low prices were primary reasons for shopping online. 
Past studies in the area of shopping behavior and services marketing have shown evidence of perceived value as an 
important determinant of purchase decisions, loyalty intention, and even market share (Grewal, Monroe, & 
Krishnan, 1998; Zeithaml, 2000). Variety and availability of products/services, were also indicated as a significant 

---