An Application of a Model of Online Travel Community Behavior: Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviors in C-Trip, a Chinese Online Travel Community

Online communities have become a popular and influential venue for tourism information sharing, yet little is known about membership behavior. The purpose of this study is to test a new model of online travel community beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. The model integrates measures proven in traditional consumer behavior theory such as satisfaction, trust and brand attitude, with behavioral measures unique to the online domain, such as stickiness. The results of an online survey of 145 members of C-Trip, a Chinese online community, indicate that the quality of the community significantly influences member satisfaction and trust. However, trust does not influence site stickiness or intention to transact. It is member satisfaction that significantly influences site stickiness, and in turn stickiness influences intention to transact. The relationship from online community quality, to member satisfaction, to stickiness, to transaction suggests a service blueprint for site operators to follow. INTRODUCTION Tourism is an information-rich industry, and more and more travelers rely heavily on the Internet as their single most important source of travel information to make their trip decision (Fodness & Murray, 1998). The advent of online communities (OCs) provides a good platform for both tourism service providers and travelers to exchange travel information (Kim, Lee, & Hiemstra, 2004). Although the importance of travel OCs has been recognized, few studies have examined the behavior of these communities, and the understanding of members’ needs remains fragmented (Wang, Yu, & Fesenmaier, 2002). While several definitions of an OC exist within this relatively new field (Komito, 1998; Turban et al., 2006;), the most common is by Rheingold (1994), who defines an OC as a “social aggregation that emerge[s] from the Net. who may or may not meet one another face to face, and who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks” (pp. 57-58). This study tests a proposed model of online travel community beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, and explores the relationships between these important elements of consumer behavior. The objectives are three-fold: (i) to empirically test a travel OC model that integrates measures of beliefs, attitudes and behaviors; (ii) to better understand the nature of these relationships specifically on intentions to transact as a measure of revenue-generation; and, (iii) to better understand the role of travel OCs in tourism marketing. RESEARCH METHODS To understand the nature and influence of relationships within travel OCs, key behavioral factors have been modeled based on an extensive review of tourism, technology, and marketingrelated literature, and general theories of consumer behavior. The model incorporates three key elements: (i) the beliefs of community members, measured in terms of their assessment of OC quality; (ii) the attitudes of community members, measured in terms of their satisfaction, trust and brand attitude; and, (iii) the behavior of community members, measured in terms of site stickiness, and members’ intentions to transact. The model is presented as Figure 1. Beliefs Attitudes Behavior Figure 1. A Model of Online Travel Community Member Behavior. 1. Beliefs. Member’s beliefs about the quality of an OC can influence individual member attitudes, and thus, can influence the overall sustainability of a community. It has been acknowledged that social online interaction supported by technology is crucial to the success of OCs, including content management and website functionality (Preece, 2000; Wang et al., 2002; Garrety et al. 2004; Lin, 2007). DeLone and McLean (2003) enhanced their original Information Systems Success Model by adding service quality. Kuo (2003) noted that website usability and service quality are key factors that predict members’ intentions to use OCs. Based on DeLone and McLean’s (2003) classification of online quality components, Lin (2007) examined the impact of information quality, system quality and service quality, on the sustainability of OCs. 2. Attitudes. While satisfaction has been extensively researched in the e-commerce context, the exploration of members’ satisfaction within the context of OCs, and the effect of satisfaction on future participation, is at a relatively nascent stage (Valck, Langerak, Verhoef & Verlegh, 2007). Valck et al. (2007) viewed satisfaction as an important indicator of a member’s overall community evaluation, and conceptualized different levels of member interactions with their OC. H3c H3b H3a H2a H2b H1b H1a Online Community Quality