The development of an e-travel service quality scale

Transcription

1 Tourism Management 28 (2007) The development of an e-travel service quality scale Chaang-Iuan Ho, Yi-Ling Lee Department of Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, 168 Gifeng E. Road, Wufeng, Taichung County 413, Taiwan, ROC Received 7 October 2005; accepted 2 December 2006 Abstract The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, and to develop a reliable and valid measurement instrument. The concept of an e-service quality construct is first clarified and the processes involved in scale development are then presented. Five core components of e-travel service quality are identified, namely, information quality, security, website functionality, customer relationships and responsiveness. The reliability and validity of this five-factor scale are verified using empirical data, and it is found that the e-travel quality service scale has strong predictive capability in relation to online customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. Moreover, a second-order factor is constructed due to the high correlation among the five factors. Finally, the managerial implications in regard to the research findings are discussed. r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: E-travel services; E-travel service quality; Quality factors; Scale development 1. Introduction The way of doing business in the tourism industry has been changed dramatically due to the development of information technology. The rapid growth in the size of the e-travel service business is clear evidence of this. According to Focus on Internet News Data (2004), there were 64 million US users searching for travel-related information online in 2003, and 35% of Canadians browsed through Web-based tourist information (Focus on Internet News Data, 2003). Expenditure on e-tourism amounted to US$22.7 billion in 2002, and the Forrester Research report predicts that this figure will increase to US$50 billion in 2007 (Focus on Internet News Data, 2002). The Internet has become one of the most important platforms for travel-related service entrepreneurs to provide services and communicate information with their target customers. The number of travel-related websites has grown rapidly during the past decade, and the competition has become more intensive then ever. To Tel.: x7451; fax: addresses: ciho@mail.cyut.edu.tw (C.-I. Ho), yiling@cyut.edu.tw (Y.-L. Lee). survive, or even succeed, entrepreneurs need to be customer-orientated. An e-service company should see things through customers eyes, realize their needs, and design an online service system that can meet customers expectations. Therefore, understanding how clients define e-service quality is crucially important for a company doing business in the world of the Web. In spite of these developments, only few studies related to e-travel service qualities have been published so far. Kaynama and Black (2000), for instance, have developed E-QUAL, which is grounded on the well-known SERVQ- UAL instrument (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985, 1988). These two researchers made adjustments the attributes of e-commerce in order to evaluate the service performance of online travel agencies. However, the contents of their service quality constructs were brief and ambiguous, and the proposed conceptual framework was not verified either. Kim and Lee (2004) identified the dimensions of Web service quality both for online travel agencies and online travel suppliers, but they did not perform further research in regard to scale development. The measurement of e-travel service quality may involve the adoption or modification of a hands-on scale (e.g., Loiacono, Watson, & Goodhue, 2002; Yoo & Donthu, 2001) /$ - see front matter r 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi: /j.tourman

2 C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) However, whether or not the scale would be sufficiently effective in capturing the Internet-based travel service attributes is questionable. As far back as the early 1990s, Carman (1990) suggested that a degree of caution should be exercised while using SERVQUAL since each service industry might have its own unique dimensions. Carman s suggestion may be applicable to online service cases in that the dimensions from other service settings may not adequately address some of the more critical issues associated with the assessment of e-travel services. Based on the above reasoning, instead of merely using modified versions of a ready-made scale, there is a need to explore service sector-specific attributes and develop a suitable quality measurement for travel websites. The primary purpose of this study is therefore to identify the components of e-travel service quality and their interrelationships, and based on this fundamental task, develop and verify a measurement instrument. The research processes focus on investigating and identifying those features that are perceived by customers as being the necessary elements of service quality for achieving their satisfaction. Here, e-travel services refer to the services provided by the websites of intermediary firms and agencies that make up the sector. The websites are populated by traditional brick-and-mortar or hybrid organizations that facilitate communication and transactions between customers and travel-related service providers (e.g., airlines, hotels, and car rental firms). The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First, the extant related literature is reviewed and then the criteria used in evaluating e-travel service quality are introduced. These criteria are sorted into certain e-service quality dimensions drawn from prior studies with regard to other online service settings. The methodology applied in identifying the quality factors and verifying the latent structure is then illustrated, and this is followed by the research results. Finally, the major research findings and managerial implications are discussed. 2. E-travel service quality components In terms of measuring the service quality of online travel agencies, Kaynama and Black (2000) proposed seven criteria including content, accessibility, navigation, design/ presentation, responsiveness/feedback, background information, and personalization/customization. These criteria were selected specifically due to their similarity to the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL. The dimension of tangibility was reflected in the service attributes of online travel agencies for accessibility, navigation and design and presentation. The reliability dimension was replaced by the site s content to be represented as the promised services. The responsiveness dimension retained the same name even though the responses were examined in e-travel services. The assurance dimension was transformed into the elements of background. The personal attention described by the empathy dimension was reflected in the personalization and customization established by the website. However, while these multidimensional constructs were established, no scale items were developed for each specific dimension. Mills and Morrison (2004) investigated the potential attributes of customer satisfaction with travel websites (TWs) and found that the perceived service quality which was a multi-dimensional construct played a crucial role in determining customer satisfaction. In this study, the constructs of the TW interface included access, the speed of TW loading, appearance, navigation, interactivity, search, and security. In view of the listed service attribute, they were mainly related to the functions of the website. The perceived quality of TW is represented as the dimensions of incentives, feedback and information reliability. In terms of the definitions of these constructs, the service activities were engaged in responding to the customers and fulfilling their requirements. Kim and Lee (2004) found that online agencies and online travel suppliers share similar commonalities regarding information content, reputation and security, structure and ease of use, as well as the usefulness which are all usually derived from the dimensions of considering Web service quality. There seems to be no need to distinguish between the concepts of service quality for these two online travel service settings. These researchers offer some support in identifying the dimensions of e-travel service quality. In order to develop a measurement tool, the author of this study also turns to and relies heavily on a rich and growing literature in relation to other online service settings. Table 1 summarizes the e-service quality dimensions that have been identified in prior studies. It is found that the dimensions differ quite significantly. The differences may arise in part from the fact that the various researchers focused on different aspects. Nevertheless, some of the dimensions adapted from other e-service contexts serve as a basis for the construction of quality dimensions for e-travel services. Apart from the related literature review, several major travel websites in Taiwan were selected and their content analyzed to further conceptualize and operationalize e-travel service quality. The service activities and functions are broadly classified into several major domains: the array of travel information (e.g., product, destination, flight, etc.), forums of communication (e.g., bulletin boards, chat rooms, Q&A), personalized services (e.g., online travel consultation, itinerary design and arrangement), and a transactional mechanism (e.g., online reservations and payment). By incorporating the dimensions suggested by prior studies into these service domains, eight dimensions related to the evaluation of web-based travel service quality are proposed Information quality The information made available by the websites has been widely accepted as a key component of the perceived service

3 1436 ARTICLE IN PRESS C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 1 Quality dimensions of online services identified by researchers Researchers Service setting Research focus Dimensions Cox and Dale (2001) Web service Service quality Accessibility; communication; credibility; reliability; security; understanding; color, appearance; availability; functionality; integrity; resources; relationship services Janda, Trocchia, and Gwinner (2002) Kaynama and Black (2000) Internet retail Service quality Performance; access; security; sensation; information On-line travel agencies Service quality Content and purpose; accessibility; navigation; design and presentation; responsiveness; background information; personalization and customization Kim and Lee (2004) On-line travel agencies and suppliers Service quality Information content; reputation and security; structure and ease of use; usefulness Li, Tan, and Xie (2002) Web-based service Service quality Tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; assurance; empathy; quality of information; integration of communication Loiacono et al. (2002) Website Website quality Ease of understanding; intuitive operation; information quality; interactivity; trust; response time; visual appeal; innovativeness; flow Madu and Madu (2002) On-line services Service quality Performance; feature; structure; aesthetics; reliability; storage capability; serviceability; security and system integrity; responsiveness; product/service differentiation and customization; trust; web store policies; reputation; assurance and empathy Perdue (2001) Resort website Overall quality of the site; overall resort quality as presented by the site Site accessibility; navigation; visual attractiveness; information content Srinivasan et al. (2002) Online retailer Customer loyalty Customization; contact interactivity; care; community; cultivation; choice; character Tan, Xie, and Li (2003) Web-based information systems Service quality Reliability; responsiveness; access; flexibility; ease of navigation; efficiency; assurance/trust; security; site aesthetics; customization/ personalization; quality of information van Riel, Liljander, Portal site Service quality; Convenience; site design; ease of use; financial security; assurance; and Jurriens (2001) e-loyalty enjoyment Wan (2002) Hotel website Performance User interface; variety of information; on-line reservation Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) On-line retailer Service quality Website design; fulfillment/reliability; privacy/security; customer service Yoo and Donthu (2001) Internet shopping site Overall site quality; attitude toward site; on-line purchase intention; site loyalty; site equity Ease of use; design; speed; security Zeithaml et al. (2002) Website Service quality Efficiency; reliability; fulfillment; privacy; customer service (responsiveness; compensation; contact) quality (e.g., Kim & Lee, 2004; Novak, Hoffman, & Yung, 2000; Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Malhotra, 2002). The travel and tourism industry is an information-oriented business, and the Internet can provide companies with an arena to construct a rich and dynamic platform for information supplyandexchange.theissueofwhetherthequalityof travel information carried on the websites meets the needs and expectations of users is thus crucial. Based on past research, the common criteria for assessing information content include accuracy, timeliness, its concise nature, relevance, reliability and completeness (e.g., Jeong & Lambert, 2001; Madu & Madu, 2002; Perdue, 2001) Security This dimension deals with how a website proves to be trustworthy for its customers. Madu and Madu (2002) suggest that online services are delivered and operated in a highly reliable and dependable manner in order to build trust and convey confidence to customers. Due to the lack of a physical entity and interpersonal contact while purchasing online, customers are especially concerned with the transaction s safety. Security also refers to the attributes of privacy that are imperative for making transactions online (Zeithaml et al.,

4 C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) ). Customers may worry that their personal and transactional information can be accessed or used over the Internet by third parties. Security has been perceived as being a critical dimension in terms of service quality or satisfaction, and is unique to the Internet environment (e.g., Szymanski & Hise, 2000; Yoo & Donthu, 2001). Lack of the assurance of security has been regarded as the main barrier preventing customers from shopping online. It is natural to conclude that security is a crucial component of quality when considering online travel services Ease of use This dimension contains three aspects. Navigation deals with how easily users search for information within the website. It is regarded as the essence of the multidimensional construct of e-travel service quality (Kaynama & Black, 2000). Without interaction with personnel, online customers need to locate information and merchandise by themselves. If they frequently get lost or confused during the search process, they are likely to quit. The design and presentation of a website involving a navigation mechanism affects the relevance and efficiency of the outcome of searching (Perdue, 2001). It suggests that navigation plays a dominant role in delivering satisfactory e-travel services. The second aspect, website access, refers to the ability of users to access resources (including travel-related information and service features) on the travel website and it is related to the ease of connection and speed of download (Cox & Dale, 2001). It is likely that online users will quit and click on to other sites because it took too long for them to access a website or download information from it. Thus there is a degree of support for website access as one of the important components related to service performance. The third part of this dimension describes the transactional functions which enable customers to feel that the website is intuitive, simple, and user-friendly for completing transactions (Kim & Lee, 2004; Novak et al., 2000). Several components, including easy ordering, easy payment, and easy cancellation, indicate the degree to which customers believe that of the use of the website would involve little or no effort Availability Availability refers to the extent to which the services provided by the website can be obtained and used. This dimension deals with the extent to which online information resources are equipped for providing customers with the wanted services that are easy to locate. These services also take the difficulty out of linking web pages, and facilitate the making of purchasing decisions (Jeong & Lambert, 2001; Madu & Madu, 2002). The variety of information and the comprehensiveness of its coverage are considered to be primary indicators (Wan, 2002) Customization Customization may be regarded as the extent to which a website can tailor-make services to fit individual customer s needs, for example, the extent to which the customized content of the website can provide a user with the relevant and up-to-date information that will meet his specific needs. This dimension involves individual designs for clients in accordance with their patterns of consumption and preferences resulting in an optimum online service. Customization saves the customers time and even increases their perception of service quality (Madu & Madu, 2002; Srinivasan, Anderson, & Ponnavolu, 2002) Community A virtual community which is developed in a website may be regarded as an online social organization to provide users and customers with the opportunities to share opinions and exchange information among them. Armstrong and Hagel (1996) believe that virtual communities aggregate information, people and relationships. Indeed, such an opinion-exchanging platform that comprises both chat rooms and a Bulletin Board System (BBS) is effective in terms of word-of-mouth communication. These service features provided by websites give users the opportunity to interact with website personnel or other users. This two-way communication makes it easier for users to search for information, make purchasing decisions, and give feedback to the website. Close relationships developed through the interaction within online communities prompt users to participate, learn and act more online. Some researchers (including Kim, Lee, & Hiemstra, 2004; Srinivasan et al., 2002) found that the community factor had impacts on customer loyalty in an online service context. Therefore this dimension is related to users assessing e-travel service quality Responsiveness Although carrying the same name as the one in SERVQUAL, this dimension has been measured by the promptness with which a website responds to customers in an online environment (e.g., Kaynama & Black, 2000; Madu & Madu, 2002; Zeithaml et al., 2002). For example, how can queries or questions from customers be answered quickly and efficiently? How can customers needs and complaints be responded to via in a courteous way? How do the employees of a website deal with customers concerns in regard to transaction completeness? These issues are conceptualized as components of the responsiveness dimension Delivery fulfillment This dimension refers to a website s success in delivering product/service and its willingness to correct mistakes that

5 1438 ARTICLE IN PRESS C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) occur during transactions. It overlaps to some extent with the reliability dimension of Zeithaml et al. (2002), which has been identified as an important factor in e-service quality. Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) especially lay emphasis on the error-free ordering process and on-time delivery of an order for online customers. A website that makes effort to minimize the dissatisfaction with the services provided will receive a higher level of quality evaluation from its customers. Based on the above discussion, possible quality dimensions for e-travel services are proposed. Some dimensions may bear the same labels that have appeared in previous studies; however, the contents may somehow be different in this study. In accordance with the research results of Parasuraman et al. s study (1988), some degree of overlap among these conceptual dimensions may be expected here (e.g., ease of use and availability). In other words, high correlations between these dimensions may exist. The extent to which the dimensions actually capture customer perceptions of e-travel service quality and which trade-offs may exist will be illustrated in the following section. 3. The scale development process 3.1. Generation of scale items Based on the above conceptualization and an extensive review of the related literature, an initial pool of 44 scale items capturing e-travel service quality was generated (see Table 2). Two sets of statements regarding the expected and perceived service quality were developed according to the disconfirmation paradigm. All items were phrased positively and were scored on a seven-point scale ranging from Strongly disagree (1) to Strongly agree (7). To help identify and capture more specific facets of Internet-based travel services, in-depth interviews with 8 online purchasers were conducted. The purchasers were asked to provide open-ended lists of their activities related to e-travel services. The interviews lasted between 60 and 90 min. All of the activities listed by the interviewers fitted well into the previous eight categories of e-travel service quality and confirmed the multidimensional structure of service quality. In addition, the interviewees were asked to describe their experiences and opinions while completing the 44 scale items. It should be mentioned that the questionnaire was initially developed in English and then translated into Chinese. In order to ensure the accuracy of translation, the scale was revised to incorporate the feedback received from these participants on the wording and translation of the statements. The 44-item instrument was then pre-tested with the data collected from 50 online purchasers of e-travel products. For convenience, all of the subjects were college students who were recruited from the university where the author worked. It should be mentioned that these students were an older population than traditional students, and most of Table 2 Initial scale items of e-travel service quality Statements 1. Information accurate 2. Information updated 3. Information concise (not ambiguous) 4. Information relevant 5. Information reliable 6. Feel safe in online purchasing on this site 7. Feel secure providing sensitive information 8. Feel personal privacy protected 9. Company behind the site reputable 10. Won t give customer s (user) information to other sites 11. Has adequate secured feature to protect customers information 12. Make full confirmation in online payment 13. Easy to maneuver 14. Quick and easy to complete a transaction 15. Search function helpful 16. Find the wanted information with a minimum of time 17. Functions as the site should 18. Be linked quickly 19. Easy for customers to make or cancel orders 20. Provides FAQ information 21. Easy to find wanted information 22. Provides in-depth information for customers making purchasing decisions 23. Has comprehensive information 24. Provides online travel consultation 25. Provides URL links to other related sites 26. Responds to users inquiries promptly 27. Help available when problems encountered 28. Employees are ready and willing to respond to customers needs 29. Customers are informed as transaction is completed 30. Provides a message channel for users comments 31. The organization and layout of the site is in a logical fashion 32. Website appears professional 33. Website is visually appealing 34. Has features personalized to users 35. Understands customers needs and gives specific information 36. Offers extra services or information based on all customers preferences 37. Develops a platform for users to exchange travel experiences 38. Customers can express their opinions according to travel theme/ topics 39. Easy for users to turn to the chat room (BBS) for more information 40. Users can make travel-loving friends with the others on this site 41. Easy to track the delivery of products/services purchased 42. Policies for canceling orders laid out on the site are customerfriendly 43. Service representatives did as they promised to or call customers by a certain time 44. Products/services are delivered by the time promised them worked full-time during the day and took courses at night so they were more likely to provide useful information to represent online customers with a variety of website usage and purchasing experiences. The participants were asked to rate the importance of each item and to comment on the statement. To select the items that were deemed to be representative of users considerations in regard to e-travel service quality, a criterion was set. If the average score for the item was below 4.0, the item was considered to

6 C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 3 Scale items retained for online surveys Items 1. Information accurate 2. Information updated 3. Information concise (not ambiguous) 4. Feel personal privacy protected 5. Company behind the site reputable 6. Won t give customer s (user) information to other sites 7. Has adequate secured features to protect customers information 8. Makes full confirmation in online payment 9. Easy to maneuver 10. Quick and easy to complete a transaction 11. Search function helpful 12. Functions as the site should 13. Be linked quickly 14. Easy for customers to make or cancel orders 15. Provides FAQ information 16. Easy to find wanted information 17. Provides in-depth information for customers making purchasing decisions 18. Has comprehensive information 19. Provides URL links to other related sites 20. Responds to users inquiries promptly 21. Help available when problems encountered 22. Customers are informed as transactions are completed 23. Provides a message channel for users comments 24. Has features personalized to users 25. Understands specific needs and gives personal attention 26. Develops a platform for users to exchange travel experiences 27. Easy for users to turn to the chat room (BBS) for more information 28. Easy to track the delivery of products/services purchased 29. Policies for canceling orders laid out on the site are customerfriendly 30. Products/services are delivered by the time promised be less important and was eliminated from the pool. As a result, a total of 30 items appeared to tap purchasers perceptions/expectations of e-travel service quality (see Table 3). Minor wording adjustments were made to clarify the statements and to respond to the collected comments after careful examination. The revised pool of 30 items plus an additional 12 items with respect to users demographics and Internet usage patterns constituted the questionnaire for the follow-up online survey. An iterative process was carried out to develop the e- travel service quality scale and to refine the items. Two studies were conducted. The first study focused on: (1) primarily identifying the underlying dimensions of the scale and condensing the pool of items, and (2) examining the dimensionality and establishing the reliability of the components. The second study sought to confirm the dimensionality of the condensed scale by analyzing fresh data obtained from another online survey First study Data collection In order to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, an online survey was conducted for data collection. The investigation was implemented through the assistance of a major portal website in Taiwan between January 20, 2005 and February 4, While the services of this portal website were close to Yahoo Taiwan, this website was not a seller of travel services. Participants were randomly selected from the address inventory of users of the portal website. s were distributed to invite these selected users to participate in the survey. From these inviting s, the respondents were able to access the website where the WWW questionnaires were posted. In considering the incentive for participating, those who participated in the survey were entered into a sweepstake that offered prizes. To avoid the generation of repeated responses, the respondents were asked to give their ID number for the purpose of screening the sample. Respondents were restricted to those who had purchased travel products within the last twelve months. Because it could not be known if the interviewees were qualified, all the responses were collected and then an investigation was conducted to decide whether the data should be accepted or rejected. Furthermore, in order to ensure the data quality, three scale items were selected to be reversed for negatively worded statements to screen the questionnaires collected. The data were to be discarded if the responses of the three screen questions were inconsistent with those of the original ones. In total, 1114 questionnaires from non-purchasers and 456 questionnaires from online purchasers were collected, respectively. Of those returned by purchasers, 60 questionnaires were eliminated because the respondents engaged in online purchasing over the course of twelve months. In addition, 107 questionnaires were invalid. After editing the data, a total of 289 usable responses were obtained for the data analysis. Table 4 presents the profiles of the sample in terms of the principal socio-demographic characteristics. The sample population had more females (69%) than males (31%). The ages of the respondents had a concentrated distribution where the largest category extended from 25 to 29 years of age (45.7%). The next largest category comprised the respondents from years of age (22.1%). In regard to education level, 54.7% of the respondents were 4-year College educated, 18% had taken some college courses, and 21.5% had received graduate school degrees. Of the total sample, 26.3% were married and remainders were single. In order to assess the representation of the sample, the author collected and compared the Internet users socio-demographic characteristics for these respondents with those reported in prior studies conducted by Yahoo Taiwan, the dominant local portal website. The w 2 -test was conducted. With the exception of age, educational level and monthly income, the survey results of the two studies were similar. It should be noted that more than 10% of Yahoo users were less than 19 years old and likely to be high school students who would not buy travel products online. Therefore, this minor

7 1440 ARTICLE IN PRESS C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 4 Profiles of the respondents from three samples Socio-demographic characteristics Study 1 1 (%) Study 2 2 (%) Gender Male Female Age* 19 years old or below years old years old years old years old years old or above Education* High school or below year college year college/university degree Graduate school Martial status Single Married Other Occupation Farming, fishery, forestry and feeding Manufacturing Information industry Information services Construction Business Transportation Communication Finance/real estate Social work Mass media/advertisement Personal services Business services Public administration Military Teacher (college) Teacher (elementary and high school) Professional Housewife Student Unemployed Other Avg. monthly income* NT$15,000 or below NT$15,001 25, NT$25,001 35, NT$35,001 45, NT$45,001 55, NT$55,001 65, NT$65,001 or above Yahoo Taiwan 3 in 2004 (%) Note: 1. Sample size ¼ 289; 2. Sample size ¼ 382; 3. Sample size ¼ 13,040. *Denotes significant difference at.05 level. discrepancy may have resulted in the differences in the distribution of education level and monthly income between the samples. Other survey data regarding Taiwan s travel services online, which were collected from a local marketing company (Insightxplorer Limited, 2003) indicated a similar sample of online purchasers. The sample population had more females (55%) than males (45%) and had a concentrated distribution in the age group. It seems that young women in Taiwan dominated in purchasing travel products online Study 1: results of exploratory factor analysis Factor analysis was employed by using the service quality scores to identify the dimensionality of the e-travel service quality. In accordance with the disconfirmation paradigm, the service quality score was derived by subtracting the perceived quality score from the expected quality score. The mean value and standard deviation of the service quality score for each measurement statement is presented in Table 5. A principal component factor analysis with Varimax rotation was performed and the factors with eigenvalues greater than one were extracted. To reduce the number of items to a more manageable set, the criteria used in deciding whether to delete an item were low factor loadings (below 0.5) or high factor loadings on more than one factor (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). The items with the low item-to-total correlations, which indicated that the items had a relatively weak relationship with the other items, were also discarded. As a result, five dimensions of e-travel service quality were identified and 27 scale items were retained. With these five factors, 71.8% of the variance might have been explained. It should be noted that the factor of website functionality revealed the highest exploratory power by its extremely high eigenvalue (13.8) among the five factors retained. The finding indicated that the functions of a travel website in relation to navigation, access, and availability were highly emphasized by the customers and regarded as the essence of the supplied services. As to the reliability of these five factors, the high alpha values ranging from 0.83 to 0.93 indicated good internal consistency among the items within each dimension. The combined reliability was even higher (0.96). A summary of the quality attributes of each factor and the corresponding factor loadings is provided in Table 5. In comparing the five extracted factors with the eight original proposed dimensions of e-travel service quality, two of the eight proposed dimensions, information quality and security, remained distinct. As for the other six dimensions, namely, ease of use, availability, customization, community, responsiveness, and delivery fulfillment, these were broken down into three distinct dimensions (D1, D3 and D2 in Table 5), with each consisting of items mainly from two of the original six dimensions. The result of several dimensions being combined into one construct is not unusual. This dimensionality-converging result was also found by Llosa, Chandon, and Orsingher (1998) in their adoption of SERVQUAL. A plausible explanation is

8 C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 5 Summary results of exploratory factor analysis n ¼ 289 Item Mean value (S.D) Factor loading Eigenvalue Variance explained (%) Cronbach s a value Website functionality (D1) Quick and easy to complete a transaction (Q10) 1.02 (1.26).723 Search function helpful (Q11).96 (1.28).723 Easy to maneuver (Q9) 1.03 (1.16).706 Functions as the site should (Q12).97 (1.27).686 Be linked quickly (Q13) 1.09 (1.27).655 Provides in-depth information for customers making purchasing decisions 1.05 (1.20).650 (Q17) Has comprehensive information (Q18).90 (1.21).650 Easy to find wanted information (Q16).79 (1.10).637 Responsiveness and Fulfillment (D2) Customers are informed as transaction is completed (Q18).90 (1.21).773 Responds to users inquiries promptly (Q20) 1.62 (1.67).713 Provides a message channel for users comments (Q23) 1.27 (1.44).710 Products/services are delivered by the time promised (Q30) 1.31 (1.41).671 Help available when problems encountered (Q21) 1.36 (1.44).661 Policies for canceling orders laid out on the site are customer-friendly 1.43 (1.47).571 (Q29) Provides FAQ information (Q15) 1.34 (1.49).563 Customer relationships (D3) Develops a platform for users to exchange travel experiences (Q26) 1.47 (1.62).803 Understands specific needs and gives personal attention (Q25) 1.27 (1.58).776 Easy for users to turn to the chat room (BBS) for more information (Q27) 1.70 (1.72).772 Has features personalized to users (Q24) 1.28 (1.60).565 Easy to track the delivery of products/services purchased (Q28) 1.43 (1.73).532 Information quality (D4) Information accurate (Q1).89 (1.21).846 Information concise (Q3).91 (1.16).820 Information updated (Q2).99 (1.23).807 Security (D5) Has adequate secured feature to protect customers information (Q7).94 (1.12).841 Won t give customer s information to other sites (Q6) 1.34 (1.42).771 Company behind the site reputable (Q5).78 (1.00).547 Makes full confirmation in on-line payment (Q8) 1.06 (1.24).505 Note: Q4, Q14 and Q19 were deleted. that across-dimension similarities or commonality might have resulted in fewer factors than expected. To further investigate the configuration of these dimensions, a cross-validation of the obtained results was undertaken. Using three data sets including the data regarding respondents perceived quality, expected quality and e-travel service quality, the service evaluation factors were individually extracted and three patterns of the dimensional configurations were obtained. A summary of the quality attributes of each factor and the corresponding factor loadings is shown in Table 6. Although the data did not yield an equal number of items (27, 28 and 30 scale items remained, respectively), the analyses rigorously presented the dimensions consistently identified across the data sets. The overall patterns of factor loadings and the number of indicators belonging to each factor were remarkably similar, though not identical. Nevertheless, this finding indicated that there was a basic universality in these quality factors that was highly consistent in regard to the factor structure. The dimensionality of e-travel service quality was primarily validated and five factors were extracted Second study The second study was then conducted to further evaluate the 27-item scale. The corresponding data were collected from another online survey. A similar task was performed and the questionnaire was identical to that in the first study. However, to avoid the problem of repeated responses from the two studies, the respondents targeted were limited in advance to those who had not participated in the first wave survey. In total, 785 questionnaires from non-purchasers and 496 questionnaires from online purchasers were collected in the second wave survey. Of those returned by purchasers,

9 1442 ARTICLE IN PRESS C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 6 Factor loading matrices of five dimensions extracted from three service-quality data sets Items Service quality (Q ¼ P E) Perceived quality (P) Expected quality (E) D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 Q Q Q Q4 a Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q14 a,b Q15 b Q Q Q Q19 a Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Note: The data are from the first study, sample size ¼ 289. a Indicates that the scale items were deleted in the data set of e-travel service quality. b Indicates that the scale items were deleted in the data set of perceived quality. 114 questionnaires were eliminated because the respondents were unqualified or the questionnaires could not be used. After editing the data, 382 usable responses were obtained for further data analysis. As shown in Table 4, the socio-demographic categories (with the exception of age and education) of the sample were similar to those that were reported by the surveys of Yahoo Taiwan and the first study Study 2: results of confirmatory factor analysis To verify the underlying factor structure in the proposed scale from the previous analysis, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The 27-scale items with first-order factor structure (i.e. the dimensions were specified as one level of factors that were mutually correlated) was first tested. The model did not yield an adequate fit (see Table 7), and it was found that several indicators had lower values (below 0.5) for the coefficient of determination (R 2 ). Based on the recommendation of Hair et al. (1998), such variables should be deleted from the model. Indeed, the values of these variables were relatively low compared with the other remaining variables. Thus an iterative elimination process was carried out. As a result, a total of 9 items were successively deleted from the proposed measurement scale. Interestingly, the four items which represented the sub-dimension of delivery fulfillment were all deleted. It may be explained that customers believed these service attributes were important, but not as critical while the travel products could be obtained electronically. Scale items were deleted from the dimensions of website functionality, namely, customer relationships and security. Such an item-elimination made the pool to be a satisfyingly parsimonious one. Table 8 illustrated the goodness of fit of the two scales with or without item-elimination. Furthermore, the high inter-correlation ranging from 0.42 to 0.87 across the factors was strongly suggestive of the presence of a higher-order factor. Then, following the method utilized by Dabholkar, Thorpe, and Rentz (1996), a second-order factor model was developed and estimated to compare the model s performance with alternative structures. The proposed factor structure consisted of a second-order model in which the five factors formed a second-order construct. This was mathematically

10 C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) Table 7 Confirmatory factor analysis of initial 27 scale items (first-order factors) Dimension and label Factor loadings Measurement error R 2 l i t E i t Factor 1. Information quality Information accurate Information updated Information concise Factor 2. Security Company behind the site reputable Won t give customer s information to other sites Has adequate secured feature to protect customers information Makes full confirmation in on-line payment Factor 3. Website functionality Easy to maneuver Quick and easy to complete a transaction Search function helpful Functions as the site should Be linked quickly Easy to find wanted information Provides in-depth information for customers making purchasing decisions Has comprehensive information Factor 4. Customer relationships Easy to track the delivery of products/services purchased Has features personalized to users Understands specific needs and gives personal attention Develops a platform for users to exchange travel experiences Easy for users to turn to the chat room (BBS) for more information Factor 5. Responsiveness and fulfillment Policies for canceling orders laid out on the site are customer-friendly Products/services are delivered by the time promised Provides FAQ information Responds to users inquiries promptly Help available when problems encountered Customers are informed as transaction is completed Provides a message channel for users comments Fit statistics Degrees of freedom 314 w Normed fit index (NFI).95 Non-normed fit index (NNFI).96 Comparative fit index (CFI).96 Goodness-of-fit index (GFI).74 Adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI).69 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).11 Table 8 Competing models of e-travel service quality Scale w 2 df NFI NNFI CFI GFI AGFI RMSEA SRMR Initial scale (27 items, first-order factors) Revised scale (18 items, first-order factors) Final scale (18 items, second-order factors) equivalent to a five-factor correlated model. The two models, one with a higher-order factor and one without, performed similarly for all fitness measures (see Table 8). In addition, following the method proposed by Marsh and Hocevar (1985) that compared the first- and secondorder model, the target coefficient that was used as a

11 1444 ARTICLE IN PRESS C.-I. Ho, Y.-L. Lee / Tourism Management 28 (2007) reference for a higher-order structure justification was calculated by dividing the w 2 value of the first-order model by that of the second-order model, and the value obtained was According to a recommendation by Marsh and Hocevar, the first-order factors could be integrated into a higher-order construct if the target coefficient is close to 1. The target coefficient in this study thus qualified for the standard. Therefore, based on the above results, we concluded that the second-order factor structure was well supported. This suggested that online purchasers evaluated e-travel service quality not only on the basis of the five dimensions but they also regarded the overall e-travel service quality as a higher-order factor that captured a meaning common to all the dimensions. That is, online purchasers evaluated e-travel service quality as a whole rather than in isolation. Table 9 illustrates the results of the analysis for the final set of 18 items that determined e-travel service quality. All estimated parameters were positive and significant at the 0.05 level (if t-values were greater than 1.96). Several commonly utilized indices of the overall fitness of a model GFI, AGFI, CFI, NFI, NNFI, SRMR and RMSEA were included in Table 8. The global fit measure of the model measured by the ratio of w 2 /df was 3.21, which was slightly greater than the two or three times recommended by Carmins and McIver (1981). Overall, the model fitted the data at an acceptable level (NFI ¼ 0.97, NNFI ¼ 0.98, GFI ¼ 0.89, AGFI ¼ 0.85, SRMR ¼ 0.046, RMSEA ¼ 0.078). To assess the internal consistency of a scale, the composite construct reliability and variance-extracted measures for each construct were estimated (see Table 9). The reliabilities of the five constructs regarding e-travel service quality ranged from 0.84 to 0.90, and all exceeded the recommended level of 0.7. For the variance-extracted measures, all the constructs with their Table 9 Confirmatory factor analysis of final 18-scale items (second-order factor) Dimension and label Mean value (S.D.) Factor loadings t values R 2 Factor 1. Information quality (Z 1 ), CCR ¼.86, AVE ¼.68 Information accurate (y 1 ).77 (1.23).84 NA.70 Information updated (y 2 ).99 (1.19) Information concise (y 3 ).96 (1.18) Factor 2. Security (Z 2 ), CCR ¼.84, AVE ¼.64 Company behind the site reputable (y 4 ) 1.13 (1.14).79 NA.62 Has adequate secured feature to protect customers information (y 5 ) 1.45 (1.11) Makes full confirmation in online payment (y 6 ) 1.35 (1.24) Factor 3. Website functionality (Z 3 ), CCR ¼.90, AVE ¼.61 Search function helpful (y 7 ).90 (1.22).72 NA.52 Functions as the site should (y 8 ).95 (1.08) Be linked quickly (y 9 ) 1.10 (1.22) Easy to find wanted information (y 10 ).99 (1.22) Provides in-depth information for customers making purchasing decisions (y 11 ) 1.18 (1.25) Has comprehensive information (y 12 ) 1.12 (1.25) Factor 4. Customer relationships (Z 4 ), CCR ¼.89, AVE ¼.74 Has features personalized to users (y 13 ) 1.35 (1.55).73 NA.53 Develops a platform for users to exchange travel experiences (y 14 ) 1.49 (1.65) Easy for users to turn to the chat room (BBS) for more information (y 15 ) 1.72 (1.63) Factor 5. Responsiveness (Z 5 ), CCR ¼ 0.84, AVE ¼ 0.63 Provides FAQ information (y 16 ) 1.27 (1.33).74 NA.55 Responds to users inquiries promptly (y 17 ) 1.63 (1.58) Help available when problems encountered (y 18 ) 1.40 (1.41) Fit statistics Degrees of freedom 130 w Normed fit index (NFI).97 Non-normed fit index (NNFI).98 Comparative fit index (CFI).98 Goodness-of-fit index (GFI).89 Adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI).85 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA).078 Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR).046 Note: NA indicates those parameters that have been constrained to equal 1 in order to fix the scale of the latent variables. CCR ¼ composite construct reliability; AVE ¼ average variance extracted.