Electronic Commerce Research and Applications

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1 Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Electronic Commerce Research and Applications journal homepage: Virtual travel communities and customer loyalty: Customer purchase involvement and web site design Manuel J. Sanchez-Franco *, Francisco Javier Rondan-Cataluña 1 Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Sevilla, Avda. Ramon y Cajal, n1, Sevilla, Spain article info abstract Article history: Received 21 October 2008 Received in revised form 28 May 2009 Accepted 28 May 2009 Available online 11 June 2009 Keywords: Design Empirical research Online services Partial least squares Purchase involvement Relationship quality Satisfaction Trust Visual aesthetics Usability Our research examines the influence of purchase involvement and design variables in the affective acceptance of online services, in particular, virtual travel communities. Few studies have focused directly on design variables, visual aesthetics and usability, and the consequences on satisfaction of adopting a user-centered perspective. We propose an integrative model of relationship quality to provide an explanation of overall satisfaction through the influence of usability and visual aesthetics. We also suggest that purchase involvement moderates the strength of the relationships between design variables and satisfaction. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to estimate the parameters of the structural model and develop a multi-group analysis. The results provide strong support for the proposals. Design variables, satisfaction and trust lead the users to develop high customer loyalty; and, purchase involvement is an important moderator to engage in online service relationships. Our investigation contributes to the growing literature by examining the influence of purchase involvement in developing virtual relationships. Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years, the tourism sector has been experiencing continuous transformation processes caused by the development and acceptance of Information Technologies. According to the AIMC- EGM, Internet Audiences Survey 2007, more than 52% of online buyers in Spain search for information on destinations or check prices or schedules via the Internet, as well as travel packs, airline tickets, hotel rooms, or car rentals. Online tourism services must develop an affective relationship with their customers. Online travel communities 2 can play the role of a magnet that attracts travellers in a very efficient way, thereby enabling tourism organizations to use the concept of community as a basis for their relationship marketing activities (Wang and Fesenmaier 2004). In fact, customer collaboration is a prerequisite to strong marketing relationships. For instance, Virtual Tourist and Lonely Planet have integrated community functionalities into their Web sites to enhance customers travel information searching experience and trust; to build a sense of belonging; * Corresponding author. Tel.: ; fax: addresses: majesus@us.es (M.J. Sanchez-Franco), rondan@us.es (F.J. Rondan-Cataluña). 1 Tel.: ; fax: Virtual communities have acted as a virtual meeting place for people to share interests, build relationships, create fantasies or conduct transactions (Hagel and Armstrong 1997). and consequently to continue using online services offered. Their goal is to retain to their travellers. The growing use of online community functionalities, however, raises the question of what encourages members to interact enduringly. Indeed, there is still a lack of research that analyses which are the main drivers of members loyalty (Ridings et al. 2002, Sangwan 2005). On the one hand, relationship quality (composed of satisfaction, trust and commitment) addresses the relational dynamics. In particular, customer satisfaction and trust are relevant drivers of affective commitment, especially true for online high-search/experience services, such as travel services (Bart et al. 2005). Virtual communities and travel sites are characterised by high information and information risk on the site. Virtual communities open up possibilities of online information searches as alternatives to experience, and help to satisfy different types of customers needs: sharing resources, establishing relationships, trading and living fantasies (Hagel and Armstrong 1997). Likewise, the lack of face-to-face interaction in virtual tourist communities increases the perceived risk of the relationship between customers and other virtual members. Nevertheless, relationship quality is certainly not the only issue. Beyond relationship quality and assuming that the study of virtual communities is still at the exploratory stage, Wang et al. (2002) propose on the other hand, that the success of a virtual community depends partially on the customer profile, and website design. In /$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi: /j.elerap

2 172 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) particular, atmospherics of the Web site are captured by the perceptions of visual aesthetics and usability. The competition moves away from functionality and utility alone, towards the customers experiences and their emotions. Firstly, when companies succeed in not only satisfying certain needs but also making the interactions pleasurable, people are more inclined to stay loyal (Pullman and Gross 2004). In this regard, [v]isual design is one of the most important factors that can influence these feelings in the virtual world (Tractinsky and Lowengart 2007). Secondly, despite recent interest in visual aesthetics in online design, research should not forget the importance of traditional usability concerns; that is, an appreciation of only hedonic benefits weakens the understanding of the drivers of customer acceptance. Information and communication technology that is difficult to learn and difficult to use will induce negative emotions (...) and thus generate avoidance behaviour toward technology use (Zhang 2007). Navigation and presentation will be even more important for Web sites with high information content, such as a virtual community (Bart et al. 2005). Finally, customer involvement is also acquiring a growing relevance. Customers join communities in order to learn from other customers experiences or acquire information, and involvement has been considered a main reason why customers look for service information (Shang et al. 2006). In particular, purchase involvement relates to uncertainty and plays a role in how customers will perceive a risk, and seek information; that is, it could provide a means of segmenting tourist markets. Among highly-involved travellers, planning a pleasure trip involves a relatively high perceived risk of making a bad decision, investing a significant amount of time searching for information. When travellers consider trip events in the near future, they could focus on concrete and instrumental features because of the high elaboration likelihood. Conversely, lower-involved travellers could focus, for instance, on affective features because of the low elaboration likelihood in information processing (Petty and Cacioppo 1981, 1983). Research, therefore, suggests that purchase involvement-based attraction travellers can be best understood along a continuum consisting of two polar ends: active (highly involved) and passive (lower involved) online-travellers. Virtual communities should be designed according to the customers involvement levels. The following questions are, therefore, relevant. What role do visual aesthetics and usability play? In particular, what form does the relationship between the design dimensions (visual aesthetics and usability) and the relationship quality take in the online environment? Would the relationship between visual aestheticsusability and satisfaction be stronger or weaker when purchase involvement is stronger compared to weaker assessment? After interpreting the empirical results, we discuss the implications and conclude with a summary of this research. 2. Theory and research hypotheses 2.1. Relationship quality Relationship quality can be defined as the degree of appropriateness of a relationship to fulfil the needs of the customer associated with that relationship (Hennig-Thurau and Klee 1997). Three dimensions of relationship quality have traditionally been proposed: satisfaction, trust, and commitment. In particular, our research focuses on the non-economic aspects of overall satisfaction, which is defined as a channel member s positive affective response to the non-economic, psychosocial aspects of its relationship, in that the interactions with the exchange partner are fulfilling, gratifying, and easy (Geyskens et al. 1999). Virtual tourist communities become applications essential for satisfying customers needs: communication, information, and entertainment (Wang et al. 2002). Virtual communities make it easier for travellers to obtain information from others leisurebased experiences, maintain connections, and deepen relationships. For instance, at Virtual Tourist, online customers share real advice on places they have travelled as well as their hometowns; they research and plan trips, and they interact with other avid travellers via forums and . In fact, this exchange of information is made significantly more efficient in the online environment (Wang and Fesenmaier 2004). Information quality is assured through discussions and thus depends on the community s liveliness. In summary, when travellers are asked about overall satisfaction, they will likely to comment on global impressions and general experiences with other members. In this way, conceptualising satisfaction as the outcome of one single encounter in terms of economic satisfaction might be too restrictive. Enhancing the interactive features and service-related information on online services does not necessarily indicate that customers will be loyal to them, however (Sanchez-Franco in press). Therefore, our study proposes evaluating the effect of trust on customer loyalty. Members of a travel community often share high levels of personal information. The importance of privacy in determining online trust is even greater for categories with personal information at risk, for example, travel sites, than it is for other online categories (Bart et al. 2005). The perceived risk of a relationship is high due to the lack of face-to-face contact (Ridings et al. 2002) when community members are still unfamiliar with one another. Trust is based on favourable expectations about the intentions and behaviour of the other. Consequently, trust will be defined as the customer s perception of different aspects of the virtual community (and its members); and decrease the uncertainty of the relationships between the customer and other members (Casaló et al. 2008). For instance, trust is essential in virtual communities where the absence of workable rules makes a reliance on the socially acceptable behaviour of others (Ridings et al. 2002). Unlike Expedia s Trip Advisor or Yahoo Travel, which post anonymous reviews, Virtual Tourist s information comes from members who maintain a profile. So someone curious about the validity of an opinion can see whether he/she has anything in common with the reviewer. Likewise, Booking.com provides hotel reviews and ratings from readers, as well as a simplified way for readers to post travel journals, photos and itineraries. In fact, travellers usually value the post-trial experience (either from other travellers or a neutral evaluative report) more than the information offered by suppliers (Bei et al. 2004). We have limited our study to the consideration of trust based on integrity and benevolence affective trust, as opposed to trust based on competence or cognitive trust (McAllister 1995, Mayer et al. 1995). Cognitive trust is more important at the start of a relationship (and may become definitive in one or a few interactions), while the contribution of affective trust increases as the relationship intensifies since it is based on interpersonal relationships. In the context of this study, affective trust is defined as emotional bonds between two parties who express genuine care and concern for each other s welfare (McAllister 1995). Without positive reciprocation the virtual community would not exist (benevolence). Furthermore, the existence of norms of reciprocity, closely linked with benevolence, allows the virtual community to function sincerely or integrity. That is, although customer satisfaction can bring them to virtual communities, members will not take part if they do not trust each other. Additionally, a sense of belonging might exist among members of virtual communities despite the lack of face-to-face social interaction between members, who are essentially a group of strangers. In this regard, commitment is defined as the desire to maintain a relationship in the future; in other words, a sense of affective engagement with other virtual members defined as the psychological ten-

3 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) dency to get close to others (Morgan and Hunt 1994). Geyskens et al. (1996), amongothers, suggest the existence of two differentcommitment traits: affective and calculated. In this study, we understand affective commitment to be a concept referring to the desire to continue a relationship that affectively benefits us, beyond the instrumental value that it represents or calculative commitment. In short, affective commitment will favour customer identification with a virtual community and the establishment of enduring relationships between them. Calculated commitment will tend to produce false loyalty behaviours, and it is positively associated with opportunistic behaviours and a search for alternatives. The more customers consider themselves as members of a virtual community, the more likely they will develop positive perceptions toward the community and possess a continued intention to use that virtual community, that is, affective commitment. Concisely, as Tax et al. (1998) show, one variable frequently associated with commitment is satisfaction. Satisfaction reinforces the users decision to participate in the process of the service being offered, committing themselves progressively. Moreover, user satisfaction is also linked to trust (Geyskens et al. 1996), as satisfaction is thought of as its antecedent. Satisfaction is an evaluation of the behaviour displayed by the object of trust and therefore, constitutes an antecedent. Likewise, a relationship in which mutual trust exists between the parties will generate sufficient value for both parties to be prepared to maintain their commitment. When participants trust in other community members, they will be more inclined to participate and feel a sense of belonging. Ganesan and Hess (1997) explain this relationship in three basic points: trust reduces the perceived risk that one of the parties might behave opportunistically; it increases the confidence that short-term sacrifices will be compensated in the long term and will have been worthwhile; and the transaction costs within the relationship are reduced Website design: visual aesthetics and usability Visual aesthetics. In our research, we will specifically analyse the visual aesthetics defined as an artistically beautiful or pleasing appearance (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). That is, the extent to which a user believes a virtual community to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, as a relevant demonstration of the valence of the perceived affective quality. In this regard, as Tractinsky et al. (2000) argue, visual aesthetics is an essential factor that affects other, subsequent perceptions. If customers find virtual communities appearances pleasing, it is likely that both their state of mind and subsequent implied evaluations will be favourably enhanced and it will influence all of the members emotions and their inclination to transact business (Browne et al. 2004). Furthermore, research indicates that first aesthetic impressions are used later in forming judgments and formed very quickly (Lindgaard et al. 2006) to establish a preference that is difficult to change. They tend to receive an essential weight in the decision-making processes, a positive or negative halo. Visual aesthetics of interactive services is then essential for online customers and researchers alike. Usability. In recent years research has shown how usability has become a main concern into Information Technologies (Flavián et al. 2006). ISO 9241 defines usability as the ease with which a person can employ a product in order to achieve a goal in a particular context. The usability of a technological system involves efficacy, efficiency and customer satisfaction with their specific proposed aims. Moreover, a Web site with an adequate level of usability forms a basic factor in making the business tangible. Therefore, the usability of a virtual community should be regarded as a key issue in the marketing strategy of any business operating in online environment. When consumers visit Web sites with high information content, they may perceive that the Web sites that have a good appearance and layout and that are capable of taking visitors to their desired destination with a minimum number of clicks are trustworthy (Bart et al. 2005). To sum up, the usability of a virtual community refers specifically to the ease with which the customer is able to learn to use the system and memorise its basic routine operations. That is, a usable virtual travel community will be one where members are able to communicate with each other, find tourist content, and browse the community sections with ease Relationships between visual aesthetics, usability and satisfaction As Tractinsky et al. (2006) show, the effects of visual appearance are not limited to perceptions between humans; they also extend to nature and architecture, and the visual appearance of online applications. In fact, customers expect to find aesthetic designs in the online services they request, and demonstrate greater satisfaction when the design meets the aesthetic expectation. The positive emotions prompted by aesthetics improve the experiences of interest and enjoyment, as well as the satisfaction derived from the activity (Isen and Reeve 2005, Westbrook 1987). Customers could then be able to demonstrate their liking of virtual tourist communities even before examining their content. Conversely, unfavourable affective reactions would negatively condition customer satisfaction despite any possible functional merits or the value of travel services offered. In short, as Lindgaard (2007) comments, a pleasant experience such as navigating a beautiful Web site shows to be intrinsically connected to customer satisfaction. From the above arguments above, we hypothesise the following relationship: Hypothesis 1 (The aesthetics to satisfaction hypothesis). Aesthetics has a positive influence on satisfaction. Usability and satisfaction. Navigation, service information and virtual community design are critical factors for customer satisfaction. In particular, usability is a key aspect for achieving an overall satisfaction. Cristobal et al. (2007) suggest that Web site usability although it is in itself an insufficient condition for satisfaction is one of the determining factors of a Web site s quality. In other words, easier access to information typically increases satisfaction with the shopping process, thereby increasing overall customer satisfaction (Shankar et al. 2003). In brief, usability reduces search costs as well as possible errors; that is, though website design may not guarantee customer s satisfaction (there are other factors) it has a direct influence (Flavián et al. 2006). From the above arguments, we hypothesise the following relationship: Hypothesis 2 (The usability to satisfaction hypothesis). Usability has a positive influence on satisfaction. Aesthetics and usability. Previous research has analysed the relationship between visual aesthetics and perceived usability. Tractinsky (1997) establish the existence of a significant relationship between aesthetic and apparent usability, prior to using the system. Likewise, Tractinsky et al. (2000) found that the perceived usefulness and visual aesthetics of a system are related; these correlations persisted even after users had used the system. When a customer believes that virtual communities are pleasing and interesting, that person would be able not to notice the difficulty of interacting with them. Van der Heijden (2003) also found empirical evidence that perceived attractiveness of the Web site influenced perceived ease of use. To sum up, perceived aesthetics influences customers judgments regarding online usability: what is beautiful is usable (Tractinsky et al. 2000). From the above arguments, we hypothesise the following relationship:

4 174 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) Hypothesis 3 (The aesthetics to usability hypothesis). Aesthetics has a positive influence on usability Purchase involvement Purchase involvement relates to the level of concern for, or interest in, the purchase process triggered by the need to consider a particular purchase (Beatty et al. 1988). Higher levels of economic and time concerns are associated with higher levels of purchase involvement. Likewise, in situations that involve uncertainty, customers are even more concerned about their behaviour in order to avoid negative consequence. Perceived risk is often used to define purchase involvement (Houston and Rothschild 1978). With regard to this fact, large online travel-related companies have integrated community functionalities into their Web sites to enhance customers travel information searching experience. Involvement can thus be seen as the ultimate motivation for consumers to participate in a virtual community (Shang et al. 2006). In particular, members characterised by high levels of purchase involvement will thus engage in relatively extensive destination selection processes. Tourists have already pre-decided to travel; are searching for additional information via active external information search; and are engaged in goal-directed behaviours such as pre-purchase deliberation (Hoffman and Novak 1996). Members messages are mainly sought to answer specific questions for decision-making or to reduce associated risks. Concisely, when members claim to be situationally involved in a destination-decision, they are not only merely thinking about it, but also are actively doing something with it (high elaboration likelihood in processing and the elaboration likelihood model, ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo 1981, 1983). Travellers who are situationally involved are engaged in goal-directed behaviours (Hoffman and Novak 1996). Conversely, lower-involved travellers will focus on the abstract and affective features. Low involved travellers (related to traditional non-goal-directed behaviours) do not perform an extensive search, and rarely evaluate travel destinations in depth (e.g. destination features) before making purchase decisions because of the absence of sufficient customer motivation or perceived risk. Low involved members, who merely surf the Internet, may view browsing process as an end in itself and a mere use of time. Less involved travellers therefore, play a passive role in virtual communities for entertaining themselves, or simply satisfying their curiosity. In other words, they prefer lurking, because they have nothing to say or because they are just learning about the community (Rafaeli et al. 2004). When pre-trip decisions are perceived to have minimal motivation, or risk associated with them, travellers tend to gather scarce evaluative information about choice destinations. Moderating effects of purchase involvement on the relationship between aesthetics and satisfaction. As one point of view, the ELM has been identified as a useful framework applicable to a discussion of interaction effects of online visual aesthetics and usability. Specifically, in the peripheral route, attitudes towards a service (e.g. a virtual travel community) are based on emotional responses to peripheral cues and on a relatively cursory consideration of message content. Less involved customers will rely on heuristics, such as design features (e.g. graphics, visual layout), music, endorser characteristics, etc., to make a decision. With regard to this, less purchase-involved travellers may simply be surfing the Internet to enjoy themselves. Less-involved members will remember the visual aesthetic appeal of images, even when they forget the associated content; and surf over to virtual communities because of multisensory, fantasy, and emotive issues. Among low involved members, usage of the virtual community is in read-only mode that involves merely viewing the site s material. These behaviours would include connecting and visiting the community), and browsing. Conversely, when members are situationally involved, strong arguments are more effective, despite the presence of peripheral cues such as visual aesthetics. Members will thus be likely to engage in elaborate information processing. In this regard, the works of Petty and Wegener (1999) and Tractinsky and Lowengart (2007) were thus foundational to our hypothesis: Under low elaboration conditions, people tend to use simple methods to judge objects. In such cases, people may base their judgment on the first argument processed (e.g. site attractiveness) or on a cursory analysis of the source (Petty and Wegener 1999). Since aesthetics is probably the easiest site attribute to judge, it is likely to be over weighted in low elaboration conditions. In short, under low elaboration process, information is processed using simple cues. Aesthetic properties fit this characterisation. High purchase involvement on the other hand, might weaken the relationship between visual aesthetics and satisfaction. From the preceding arguments, we hypothesise the following relationship: Hypothesis 1a (The user s purchase involvement negative moderation hypothesis). The user s purchase involvement weakens the positive relationship between aesthetics and satisfaction. Moderating effects of purchase involvement on the relationship between usability and satisfaction. Another point of view is that high temporary stimulation associated with purchase occurs when significant uncertainties are associated with the purchase decision (Houston and Rothschild 1978). For instance, purchase involvement includes a customers concern for reducing the risk associated with the selection of travel services. Due to the high potential for loss in the case of high involvement purchases, customers are also more inclined to assign more weight to the dimensions of risk importance and risk probability in their decision-making (Pavlou et al. 2007). In this regard, more involved travellers will seek key destination features via virtual communities as media because of the convenience of easy information availability and selection. Virtual community activities, such as discussions in newsgroups, chat rooms, or other online forums, will be directly affected by individual members needs, expressed by their goal-directed behaviours. As Flavián et al. (2006) argue, usability will: reduce the likelihood of error; be related to a customers ability to know where they are at any time and what can be done; and offer a comfortable atmosphere that might favour a more positive customers disposition. For instance, shopbot technologies and price comparison engines allow easy price and features comparison of different principals and intermediaries destinations (e.g. Travel Jungle, Traveljungle.co.uk). In brief, higher purchase-involvement users will search for cues related to a specific purchase in order to make the appropriate choice; search will improve their efficiency relative to the achievement of their objectives. Visual aesthetics would interfere with this goal. As Eroglu et al. (2001) suggest, [u]nder these circumstances, the online stimulus with low relevance to completing the shopping task is likely to interfere with the elaborate information-processing goals of the high involvement shopper. Specific information search is characterised as reflecting situational involvement, and seeking utilitarian benefits. Therefore, perceived usability is likely to be over weighted in high elaboration conditions. From the preceding arguments, we hypothesise the following relationship: Hypothesis 2a (User s purchase involvement positive moderation hypothesis). The user s purchase involvement strengthens the positive relationship between usability and satisfaction.

5 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) Data and methods 3.1. Sample We validated our theoretical model and the hypotheses discussed above through non-probabilistic sampling and self-selection. Respondents were asked to fill out an online questionnaire. Online survey methods are gaining acceptance in IS research, thanks to lower costs, faster responses, and elimination of geographical limits. The data collection process was also programmed to list the questions in a random order for each participant, avoiding potential systematic biases in the data and other cognitive consistency patterns (Podsakoff et al. 2003). The survey was published on a Web server in the consumer behaviour research laboratory of a Spanish university. Access to the survey was facilitated by providing text links inserted on travel discussion forums, mailing lists, etc. This study includes the respondents of virtual travel communities, where members maintain affective bonds, find travel firms, provide travel tips and suggestions, or simply having fun by telling each other interesting stories and sharing travel experiences. The registered respondent must chose a virtual travel community that is the one they visit most often, and well known in the sector (Flavián et al. 2006). Overall, 92% of the respondents indicated online travel sites as their essential method for, for instance, seeking travel tips and suggestions. The exclusion of invalid questionnaires resulted in two samples: high purchase involvement sample (n = 159) and low purchase involvement sample (m = 165). The socio-demographic characteristics of the sample by purchase involvement levels are included in Table 1. As it was not possible to assess the reliability or possible bias of non-random samples statistically, we compared some of the survey results with available information about the population. The background proportion is consistent with surveys of typical Internet users in Spain Measurement scales This study used an extended model based on: Flavián et al. (2006) for its usability and satisfaction scales; McKnight et al. (2002) for trust theory; Cyr et al. (2006), Lavie and Tractinsky (2004) and Van der Heijden (2003) for their design aesthetics scales; Kumar et al. (1995) for their commitment scale; and Ganesh et al. (2000) for their handling of purchase involvement. We made minor changes in terms of adding and adapting items for each needed construct based on a thorough and extensive literature review. See Appendix C. The survey concluded with demographic items. All of the survey items are five-point Likert-type scales, ranging from strongly disagree, 1, to strongly agree, 5. Ten business and marketing professors in e-commerce and tourism validated the suitability of the wording and format, and the extent to which the measures represent all facets of the key constructs. Furthermore, a total of fifteen virtual travel community members were selected for a personal interview during the first phase of the study. The primary purpose of this procedure was to clarify ambiguous and non-discriminating items and to eliminate any implicit discrepancies. A test of the measures was also conducted on a sample of professionals chosen Model analysis We propose a structural equation model (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS) estimation to assess the relationships between the constructs, together with the predictive power of the research model. PLS was proposed by Herman Wold as an analytical alternative for situations where the theory is weak and the available variables or measures would be unlikely to conform to a rigorously-specified measurement model. Whereas covariance-based SEM techniques such as LISREL and EQS use a maximum likelihood function to obtain estimators in models, the component-based PLS uses a least squares estimation procedure. PLS avoids many of the restrictive assumptions underlying covariance-based SEM techniques such as multivariate normality and large sample size. Furthermore, in our study the trust construct is measured with formative indicators, including benevolence and integrity. PLS is thus appropriate for analyses of measurement models with both formative and reflective items (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001). As formative constructs, they cannot be easily modelled using LISREL and other covariance-based approaches; these implicitly assume all indicators to be reflective. This general advantage is highly relevant for this research. Although there have been a fair number of conceptual discussions of the differences between formative and reflective measurement models, perhaps the most comprehensive list of criteria has been provided by Jarvis et al. (2003). They provide decision rules for examining the formative versus the reflective construct issue in modelling. In formative indicator models, the direction of causality flows from the indicators to the emergent construct, and the Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of study sample by cluster. Variables Population internet (%) Sample (%) Clusters High purchase involvement Low purchase involvement (n = 159) (49.1%) (n = 165) (50.9%) Gender a Male Female Age a Education b Less than high school High school graduate College/university a b AIMC EGM: Internet Audiences, Oct Nov 2007 (accessed on March 20, 2008 at: AIMC. 10th Internet User profile, Oct Dec 2007 (accessed on March 20, 2008 at:

6 176 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) indicators, as a group jointly determine the conceptual and empirical meaning of the construct. This is unlike reflective measures, where a change in the latent construct affects the measures. Therefore, a construct should be modelled as having formative indicators if the indicators are the defining characteristics of the construct and changes in them would cause alterations in the construct. Dropping an indicator from the measurement model may alter the conceptual meaning of the underlying variable. Formative indicator models do not imply the presence of covariation. This is because the emergent construct in a formative indicator model is the dependent variable and the indicators are the independent variables. On the contrary, in reflective indicator measurement models, a change in any one of the indicators should be accompanied by similar changes in all of the indicators. Finally, a construct should be modelled as having formative indicators if the indicators do not necessarily have the same antecedents and consequences (Podsakoff et al. 2003). Mayer et al. (1995) noted that trust s beliefs are not trust per se, but they help in building the foundations of trust. These characteristics are related, but separable. Together, they explain a large part of the variation in trustworthiness while maintaining parsimony. Also, Ganesan (1994) investigated the two facets independently and concluded that both of them demonstrated different relationships with other variables. Furthermore, each of these separate trust dimensions of benevolence and integrity will be well captured by reflective items in our research. The items are interchangeable and one or more could be removed with the remaining items still being consistent and coherent (Petter et al. 2007). That is to say, an increase in the value of the dimension translates into an increase in the value for all the items representing the dimension. Finally, the proposed model and hypothesis testing was conducted using software SmartPLS 2.0.M3 (Ringle et al. 2005) to analyse the data. We analyse and interpret our PLS model in two stages: the assessment of the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the assessment of the structural model. This sequence ensures that the constructs measures are valid and reliable before the researcher should attempt to draw conclusions regarding relationships between the constructs. The stability of the estimates was tested via a bootstrap re-sampling procedure involving 500 sub-samples The measurement Once we clarified our scales, our next step was to test their psychometric properties. For constructs using formative measures for the emergent construct of trust, the weights provide information about the makeup and relative importance for each indicator in the creation and formation of the component. Besides, it is necessary to bear in mind that no interdependencies among the formative dimensions can be assumed, since the construct is viewed as an effect rather than a cause of the item responses. Therefore, the indicators are not necessarily correlated and, consequently, traditional reliability and validity assessment have been argued as inappropriate and illogical. Furthermore, the two-dimensionality of the trust-based scale proposes that this higher-order emergent construct will be modelled by a number of first-order latent dimensions (benevolence and integrity). The items for trust s dimensions will optimally be weighted and combined using the PLS algorithm to create latent variables scores. The dimensions, or first-order factors, will thus become the observed indicators of second-order factor. The resulting scores reflect the underlying dimensions more accurately than any of the individual items by accounting for the unique factors and error measurements that may also affect each item. For those constructs with reflective measures for latent constructs, we examine the loadings, which can be interpreted in the same way as the loadings in a principal component analysis. In this case, the individual reflective item reliability is considered adequate when an item has a factor loading that is greater than 0.7 on its respective construct. All the reflective individual item loadings in our final model are above 0.7. We have checked the significance of the loadings with a re-sampling procedure (500 sub-samples) for obtaining t-statistic values. They all are significant. Construct reliability is assessed using the composite reliability (q c ). Research suggests 0.7 as a benchmark for a modest reliability applicable in the initial stages of research. In our research, all of the latent constructs are reliable. They all have measures of internal consistency that exceed 0.7 (q c ). Average variance extracted (AVE) assesses the amount of variance that a construct captures from its indicators relative to the amount due to measurement error. It is recommended that AVE should be greater than 0.50, meaning that 50% or more variance of the indicators should be accounted for. AVE measures for latent constructs exceeding Therefore, the convergent validity of the latent constructs of the model is supported. Discriminant validity indicates the extent to which a given construct is different from other latent variables. To assess discriminant validity, AVE should be greater than the variance shared between the latent construct and other latent constructs in the model. All latent constructs satisfy this condition. (See Table 2). For this reason, the discriminant validity of the latent constructs of the model is sustained. Table 2 Measurement model: full sample. Latent dimension Loadings a Composite reliability AVE A. Individual item reliability-individual item loadings. Construct reliability and convergent validity coefficients Aesthetics > > 0.5 AE AE AE AE Commitment > > 0.5 COMM COMM COMM Satisfaction > > 0.5 ST ST ST ST Usability > > 0.5 USA USA USA USA USA USA USA Emergent dimension Weights Trust Benevolence * Integrity *** Aesthetics Commitment Satisfaction Trust Usability B. Discriminant validity coefficients Aesthetics Commitment Satisfaction Trust Usability Panel B: Diagonal elements (bold) are the square root of average variance extracted (AVE) between the constructs and their measures. Off-diagonal elements are correlations between constructs. a Panel A: All loadings are significant at p < (based on t(499), one-tailed test). * p<0.001 (based on t(499), one-tailed test). *** p<0.05 (based on t(499), one-tailed test).

7 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) The structural model As mentioned above, the bootstrap re-sampling procedure (500 sub-samples) is used to generate the standard errors and the t values, which will allow the b coefficients to be made statistically significant. The research model appears to have an appropriate predictive power for endogenous constructs to exceed the required level of 0.10 for the R 2 value. On the other hand, another measure that supports these positive results is the Q 2 test of predictive relevance for the endogenous constructs (Geisser 1975, Stone 1974). A Q 2 greater than 0 implies that the model has predictive relevance, whereas a Q 2 less than 0 suggests that the model lacks predictive relevance. In general, the results confirm that the structural model has satisfactory predictive relevance for the endogenous variables: usability (0.145), satisfaction (0.360), trust (0.080), and commitment (0.392). As indicated, in an extended relationship quality model, satisfaction and trust have significant impacts on commitment, with path coefficients of (t = 5.399, p < 0.001) and (t = 3.448, p < 0.001). (See Fig. 1a). Satisfaction also has a significant effect on trust (b = 0.492; t = 5.388, p < 0.001). Moreover, the results give a standardized beta of (t=5.259, p < 0.01; Hypothesis 1) from aesthetics to satisfaction, (t = 3.224, p < 0.001; Hypothesis 2) from usability to satisfaction, and (t = 4.920, p < 0.001; Hypothesis 3) from aesthetics to usability. A. Full Sample B. High Purchase-Involvement Sample 3.6. Multi-group analysis Finally, our study developed an e-tourist customer typology. A total of six items, adapted from previous studies to measure the purchase involvement construct (Ganesh et al. 2000), were employed to conduct clustering analysis and to identify customer segments based on their purchase involvement levels. 3 Three methods are commonly used: hierarchical, k-means and two-step methods.inthisstudy, the two-step method is used; the algorithm included in the two-step cluster method is very suitable for the segmentation analysis. Each cluster represents a different purchase involvement-based profile of the sample on online travel services. The choice of a similarity measure and the determination of the number of clusters were based on the log-likelihood distance and Schwarz s Bayesian information criterion (BIC), respectively. The two-step cluster analysis yielded two clusters based on BIC ( ) and with the highest log-likelihood distance measures (ratio of distance measures = 2.020). The findings indicated an increasing trend in BIC changes from (two-cluster model solution with BIC = ) to (three-cluster model solution with BIC = ) to (four-cluster model solution with BIC = ) and so forth. Consequently, there was strong evidence to support the optimal two-cluster solution. See Table 1. The hypotheses formulated regarding the intensity of the relationship between both samples (the effect of levels of purchase involvement on aesthetics and usability, related to Hypothesis 1a and Hypothesis 2a, respectively) are examined statistically by comparing the b coefficients of the structural model. The statistical comparison is made following the procedure suggested by Chin (2000) to develop a multi-group analysis and implemented in Keil et al. (2000). We use the following form of the t-statistic, t ¼ b high inv b low inv p ffiffiffiffiffiffi, with m + n 2 degrees of freedom, a Sp 1 m þ1 n pooled estimator for the variance, given by Sp ¼ C. Low Purchase-Involvement sample Fig. 1. Extended relationship quality model: results. a p < 0.001, b p < 0.01, c p < 0.05, ns = not significant (based on t(499), one-tailed test). qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ðm 1Þ 2 ðmþn 2Þ SE2 high inv þ ðn 1Þ2 ðmþn 2Þ SE2 low inv. These enable us to evaluate the effects of high and low purchasing involvement). 4 For 3 The scale for purchase involvement meets the criteria of reliability and validity established in the literature with q c = 0.81 and AVE = We have also tested the psychometric properties of measurement models corresponding to both samples. The measurement models are confirmed with adequate convergent and discriminant validity with respect to the measurement of all constructs in the structural model. See Appendices A and B.

8 178 M.J. Sanchez-Franco, F.J. Rondan-Cataluña / Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 9 (2010) Table 3 t-tests for multi-group analysis. Hypotheses Standard errors (SE) Sp b H b L t-value Supported H 0 High involvement Low involvement AEST? SAT H1a * Supported USAB? SAT H2a ** Supported * p < 0.01 (based on t (406), one-tailed test). ** p < 0.05 (based on t (406), one-tailed test). additional information on PLS, the interested reader should visit the following website: disc-nt.cba.uh.edu/chin/plsfaq/plsfaq.htm. Hypotheses 1a and 2a were supported; purchase involvement types positively moderate the relationship between aesthetics and satisfaction. According to our findings, the greater the customer s purchase involvement, the less will be the relationship between aesthetics and satisfaction. Moreover, purchase involvement increases the impact of usability to satisfaction. (See Table 3 and Fig. 1). 4. Discussion Members participate in virtual communities through the exchange of informational cues and other expressive means that are available in the community. The online community as a customer relationship management (CRM) tool will enable travel businesses to retain customers by facilitating relationship-building with other members, and highly-involved customers to seek actively information about trips. In this context, the aim of this paper was to propose and verify an integrative model of relationship quality based on the explanation of overall satisfaction through the influence of instrumental cues for usability, and hedonic cues for visual aesthetics, and the analysis of the moderating role of purchase involvement in each of the relationships established between design variables and satisfaction. On the one hand, understanding the marketing potential of a virtual community is only half way to capitalizing on the benefits it can generate; the other half mainly depends on the design and maintenance of the community (Wang et al. 2002). On the other hand, it was also necessary to understand purchase involvement levels of travellers. Online design is an interesting research area related to online marketing and consumer behaviour. While empirical evidence demonstrates the importance of design on our ordinary lives, traditionally there has been an absence of studies for the related online issues. A review of the literature shows that previous research has not reached a consensus on the relationships among usability, visual aesthetics and overall satisfaction among high and low purchaseinvolvement customers. In particular, our research fills this gap and demonstrates that the proposed model predicts customer commitment. Also virtual travel community design, especially aesthetics and usability, has a statistically relevant and significant effect on satisfaction. In addition, purchase involvement has a relevant moderating effect in each of the relationships established between the design dimensions and satisfaction. Perceived usability had a stronger effect on online satisfaction for customers with high purchase involvement, and a weaker effect for low purchase-involved customers. Visual aesthetics, thus, has a significant statistical relationship with browsing, while community usability is linked to search activity. Online travel community managers should take these differences into consideration when designing and providing community services. The moderating effects of purchase involvement on the relationship between visual aesthetics and satisfaction. Less involved members do not spend much effort performing goal-oriented tasks like looking for specific travel information. Rather they spend more time in lurking activities in travel communities. In this regard, our research stresses the essential role of visual aesthetics among less purchaseinvolved members. Virtual travel communities should be visually aesthetic. The integration of visual aesthetic cues, as an essential driver in the interaction model, proved to be an important issue in understanding travel community members satisfaction, as well as facilitating their affective commitment. Customers with a low level of purchase involvement base their judgment on first impressions like site attractiveness, or on a cursory analysis of the source. Visual aesthetics and other hedonic cues will affect pleasure and arousal for customers with low levels of involvement. Emotions associated with services also will play an important role in forming satisfaction and, consequently, behavioural intentions. Nevertheless, beyond the importance of visual aesthetics, managers should explore integrated ways to strengthen the social identity of members. In fact, lurking could be a behaviour that jeopardize communities existence. Participation in the activities carried out in a virtual community is one of the most important factors for the development and sustainability of virtual communities (Casaló et al. 2008). In this regard, virtual communities should provide valuable site content by offering customised cues about travel services or making special offers to members. Managers should encourage customers to participate actively by stimulating their involvement, motivation and capacity; to evaluate positively the virtual community; and to guarantee the community s survival in the long term. Furthermore, members will probably recommend the virtual community to others. Enhancing customer involvement through increasing motivation and familiarity with the virtual community can be seen as important initiatives that promote member participation and help them to avoid considering competing virtual communities (Sanchez-Franco in press). In short, virtual travel communities might include locating specific threads of interest related to the community topic, other hedonic cues for enjoyment and entertainment purposes, and the use of experts in a particular area to interact with community members. As Mathwick et al. (2001) comment: as the customer crosses the line from spectator to participant, their role shifts from one of distanced appreciation of aesthetic elements to co-producers of value related to playfulness. Customers will explore a new world of fantasy and entertainment where they can try out new persons and engage in role-playing games where everything seems possible (Wang et al. 2002). The moderating effects of purchase involvement on the relationship between usability and satisfaction. Utilitarian benefits are also critical issues. Our research thus accepts the relevance of usability in virtual travel communities. Among high purchase-involvement users intangible-dominant goods require different risk-reduction strategies. Higher purchase-involvement customers will search cues related to a specific purchase in order to make the appropriate destination choice by looking for and exchanging travel information and tips. This pertains to the improvement in efficiency that it represents for the achievement of their objectives. Also, high purchase-involvement customers take part in discussions in order to inform and influence other members about travel services. When active travellers perceive that a community is usable to them, they will tend to actively view and explore the cognitive cues more often. So displaying and updating content is essential for encouraging activity among members. Virtual communities allow more highly-involved customers to exceed their expectations,