Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575

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Computers in Human Behavior

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh

Comparing the attributes of online tourism information sources

Eunjung No a,1, Jin Ki Kim b,⇑
a
Korea Aerospace University, Institute for Business Studies, 76 Hanggongdaehang-ro, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-City, Gyeonggi-do 412-791, Republic of Korea
b
Korea Aerospace University, School of Business, 76 Hanggongdaehang-ro, Deogyang-gu, Goyang-City, Gyeonggi-do 412-791, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Ongoing developments in information technology (IT), particularly with respect to the Internet, have led
Available online 26 March 2015 to changes in the way tourism-related information is distributed. These changes have affected the plan-
ning and consumption patterns of tourists before and during their trips. Since the majority of tourists
Keywords: retrieve information from multiple information sources on the web, it is essential to define the differ-
Tourism information source ences in these sources and identify the distinct characteristics or properties of each source in order to
Tourism websites understand the needs and tendencies of tourists. This study classifies online tourism information sources
Online tourism-related information
into four types: blogs, public websites, company websites, and social media websites. Five website attri-
Factor analysis
Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
butes are identified: accessibility, security, information–trust, interaction, and personalization. This study
Multiple comparison uses data from 61 participants. Each participant answered all of the questions for four different informa-
tion sources. This study then conducts an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and a multiple comparison
Scheffé test to verify differences between groups. Based on these five attributes, the results of this multi-
ple comparison show that the overall mean values are relatively high in personal blogs, while security is
the dominant attribute for public websites. The mean values of all five attributes were relatively lower in
SNSes compared to the other sources.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The remarkable growth that has taken place in information
technology (IT), particularly with respect to the Internet, has
essentially changed the way tourism-related information is dis-
tributed. It has also changed the way people plan for and make
decisions about a trip (Beldona, 2005; Buhalis & Law, 2008;
Weber & Roehl, 1999). The growth in the number of Internet users
throughout the world is reported to have reached nearly 2.4 billion,
and the Internet is one of the most influential technologies chang-
ing tourist behavior.
In general, tourism is considered as an intrinsically information-
based phenomenon. In contrast to physical products or goods, tour-
ism products and services cannot be directly seen, felt, or heard in
advance, and production and consumption occur simultaneously
in the same place (Ye, Zhang, Shen, & Goh, 2014). The prices for tour-
ism products and services are also relatively high compared to the
prices of other products and services. These characteristics become
an obstacle when consumers make a decision associated with tour-
ism. That is, for consumers, making a decision and converting it into
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 2 300 0353; fax: +82 2 300 0225.
E-mail addresses: noeunjung@gmail.com (E. No), kimjk@kau.ac.kr (J.K. Kim).
1
Tel.: +82 2 300 0353; fax: +82 2 300 0225.
action are separate events. This gap can only be overcome by using
the available information about the products and services. This
information can be gathered by the consumer prior to purchase or
consumption (Werthner & Klein, 1999).
The Internet is a well-known means to acquire a wide range of
information and allows customers to directly communicate with
online tourism information sources to request information on
destinations, accommodations, attractions, restaurants, shopping,
and so on (Gursoy, Chen, & Chi, 2014). Due to the huge amount of
information available, searching has become an increasingly domi-
nant tool for travelers using the Internet (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). For
example, research suggest that six in 10 of those 15 years of age or
older tend to search for travel information using the Internet. The
utilization ratio of domestic tourism information through smart-
phones has also increased, and there has been a growing interest
in tourism information acquisition through social networking ser-
vice (SNS) channels such as Facebook and Twitter. Indeed, Pan and
Fesenmaier (2006), Xiang, Kim, Hu, and Fesenmaier (2007) have
argued that understanding the online tourism domain is essential
in that it provides an important means for identifying new solutions
to support the travel planning process.
Meeting current trends, tourism information on the web is pro-
vided in various forms, including via public websites (Kao,
Louvieris, Powell-Perry, & Buhalis, 2005; Kaplanidou & Vogt,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.063
0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
2006; Law & Hsu, 2006), company websites (Hyun, 2006; Law &
Hsu, 2006; Rachman & Richins, 1997), and personal websites (per-
sonal travel blogs) (Cai & Jun, 2003; Hyun, 2006; Pan, MacLaurin, &
Crotts, 2007). There has also been a lot of tourism-related research
on online information searches (Beldona, 2005; Hyun, 2006; Pan &
Fesenmaier, 2006; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010), website evaluation
(Loiacono, Watson, & Goodhue, 2000; McKinney, Yoon, & Zahedi,
2002; Mills & Morrison, 2003; Morrison, Taylor, & Douglas, 2004;
Tierney, 2000), and website success factors (Cheung & Law, 2009;
Park & Gretzel, 2007).
Do tourists have any particular sources on the web that they
prefer when they make a travel-related decision? (E.g. What are
the preferred sources when searching for tourism information,
planning a trip, or comparing alternatives?) What are the charac-
teristics of these sources? Are there differences in attributes
according to the sources?
Most of the aforementioned research employed only one type of
online information source to achieve the stated research purposes.
In fact, there is a shortage of research focused on categorizing,
comparing, and analyzing online information sources. However,
since the majority of potential tourists retrieve information
through various channels on the web (Bieger & Laesser, 2004;
Fodness & Murray, 1998), it is important to define the differences
in online tourism information sources and identify the distinct
characteristics or properties of each source in order to understand
the needs and tendencies of travelers. This study, therefore, inves-
tigates the characteristics of online tourism information sources
that have not yet been identified. Tourists integrate multiple online
sources to meet their specific needs.
In this study, using a comparison of the online tourism informa-
tion sources, we identify the characteristics of tourism information
sources by using a common attribute, rather than only features
specific to the tourism information. This is because the wish to
be able to be applied to the different service areas with the proper-
ties derived from them.
2. Literature review regarding online tourism information
sources
This study first categorized online tourism information sources
and identified the meaning and characteristics of each source.
Second, this study drew attributes of online information sources
from reviews and then analyzed the literature on various tour-
ism-related issues such as the e-success factor and the web evalua-
tion factor. Finally, after deriving attributes from tourism-related
websites, this study investigated the relationship between online
tourism information sources and those attributes.
2.1. Online tourism information sources
Many of the existing studies associated with tourism informa-
tion sources tend to be limited inasmuch as they conduct research
using only one type of online tourism information source. There is
little research on classifying a variety of online tourism informa-
tion sources and then comparing and analyzing the attributes of
those sources.
Hyun (2006) analyzed the usage of tourism information web-
sites and classified the typology of websites into portal sites, travel
agency websites, online community sites, public institution sites,
and others (Hyun, 2006). Pan and Fesenmaier (2001) suggested a
type of tourism-related website based on the information
communicated between different users in the tourism field.
Depending on the information flow, they divided tourism-related
websites into two groups: travel websites and tourism websites.
Vogt and Fesenmaier (1998) divided tourism information sources
565
into groups defined as social websites, personal websites, market-
ing (corporate) websites, and editorial websites (see Fig. 1).
Previous research suggests that online tourism information
sources should be classified into the following four types: (1) per-
sonal or travel blogs and Internet cafes containing reviews of items
of interest such as travel itineraries, accommodations, and restau-
rants, (2) tourism-related public agency websites such as the Korea
Tourism Organization, local governments, and the Destination
Marketing Organization (DMO), (3) tourism-related business or
company websites such as travel agencies, airlines, and hotels,
and (4) social media websites such as Twitter (see Fig. 2).
2.2. Personal blogs
Blogs are websites that provide diverse contents often pub-
lished by individuals or a group (O’Leary, 2011). Weblogs or blogs
can be characterized as journals on the web where the content is
arranged in reversed chronological order (Walker, 2005). A blog
is one of the principle platforms for the people in sharing informa-
tion in accordance with their own interests (Chen, Lu, & Tsai,
2014). A blog may contain various types of information and be uti-
lized for a variety of purposes. For example, some bloggers use a
blog as an online diary comprised of their daily life, opinions,
and self-reflection. Other bloggers publish a professional journal-
ism likely to be as well edited, as newspaper or magazine text
(Kang, Bonk, & Kim, 2011; O’Leary, 2011). In this study, a personal
blog is defined as a website where useful information (travel
schedules, photos, maps, etc.) about a variety of travel experiences
is published by individuals.
Blogs have recently shown their market potential in the tourism
industry, and travel advertisements on famous blog sites have
gradually increased as a result. In addition, blogs are an important
tool to identify the needs or interests of tourists. In light of this
trend, Pan et al. (2007) qualitatively analyzed the opinions posted
in leading travel blogs to gain an understanding of their relation-
ship to a specific tourism destination. This analysis was done using
the semantic network analysis and content analysis methods. The
results revealed the strengths, weaknesses, and the competitive
environment of Charleston as a tourist destination. While attrac-
tions such as historic sites and the seaside were found to be the
main strengths of the destination, major weaknesses included
the weather, infrastructure, and restaurants. The results also
showed that the most frequently used keywords demonstrated
that travelers were expressing many different aspects of their tra-
vel experiences in their travel blogs. These included attractions,
accommodations, dining options, and transportation. From a mar-
keting perspective, the results reveal that a travel blog is a useful
and an economical way to gather customer opinions. The develop-
ment of information technology and the growing number of travel
blogs allow destination marketers to monitor their service quality
in a cost-effective way and enhance travel experiences.
Huang, Chou, and Lin (2010) explored the degree of attention
and concern that consumers showed toward travel bloggers.
They hoped to use an involvement theory to understand the
relationship between consumer involvement levels, the advertis-
ing effects of blog messages, and consumer purchase intentions
toward travel products. The results showed the affirmative impact
of the advertisement effect. It also revealed that these advertise-
ment effects directly influenced purchase intention. It also indi-
cated that the greater degree to which travel bloggers became
involved in their trips, the more they formed good impressions
regarding the advertisements on travel blogs. This study pointed
out that travel blogs are a positive way to deliver advertisement
messages. Brand attitude has a decisive effect on the influence of
advertising on purchase intention, and so brand management plays
an important role in marketing.
566 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575

Fig. 1. A conceptual model of the research. ⁄ This study refers to Hyun (2006) for the classification of online tourism information sources. ⁄⁄ This study refers to Loiacono
et al. (2002), Mills and Morrison (2003), Schaupp and Bélanger (2005), Wang and Lin (2012), Lee (2010) for the attributes of websites.

Fig. 2. Types of online tourism information sources.

2.3. Public websites In research focused on tourism-related public websites,

A public website is a site made by a local, state, or national
organization (Søruma, Andersen, & Vatrapu, 2012). Tourism-re-
lated public websites include the sites provided by the National
Tourism Organization (NTO) and the DMO. While their approach
and structures vary, tourism-related public websites are
intended to inform tourists or support tourism in order to
increase the number of visitors. For example, the KTO website
(www.visitkorea.or.kr) provides information on where to go,
where to stay, and what to eat in Korea. This information is
provided in the language of each country in the world, for locals
as well as foreigners. In this study, a public website is defined
as a site where tourism information is provided by a
tourism-related department or organization of a local or national
government.
Kaplanidou and Vogt (2006) employed the technology acceptance
model to investigate the usefulness of the DMO website as well
as its effect on the intention to travel to the destination. This
study proposed a website usefulness model that took into
account specific website features and the impact on the intention
to travel. Website features such as ease of navigation (ease of get-
ting to the information the user wants), content (a function of
text and visuals), accessibility (load times for website features
and web pages), and consumer characteristics (including
Internet use, online trip-planning experiences, and previous visits
to a destination or its website) were used as explanatory vari-
ables in the model. The results showed that content factors (trip
information functionality and motivation visuals) were the most
significant predictors of website usefulness, while navigation
and accessibility were the least significant. The results also
 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
indicated that website usefulness was a crucial driver of intent to
visit a destination, while previous experiences at a destination or
its website had a negative impact on intent to travel.
Kao et al. (2005) investigated website satisfaction by using
NTO websites. Information quality and system quality were used
as independent variables to examine consumer satisfaction con-
cerning the websites. The findings demonstrated that, first, the
information users look for is generally associated with local
maps, transportation, and accommodation. This information is
essential for planning a trip. Second, information quality is
related more to website satisfaction than system quality, and
website satisfaction has a positive influence on intention to reuse
or recommend the website to other users (Kwon, 2009).
However, website satisfaction does not affect the intent to visit
a country.
2.4. Company websites
A company website is an informational site operated by a busi-
ness or other private enterprise to offer specific information deal-
ing with a business, organization, or service (Cappel & Huang,
2007). Tourism-related companies such as airlines, car rental com-
panies, cruise lines, hotels, railway companies, and travel agencies
provide tourism-related services to the public. On their websites, it
is possible to purchase tourism products and services through an
online payment system. It is also possible to get travel information
related to that particular business area. In this study, a company
website is defined as a site in which tourism information or prod-
ucts and services are provided by tourism companies, including
airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines, hotels, railway compa-
nies, and travel agencies.
Rachman and Richins (1997) investigated the websites of New
Zealand tour operators to determine their development status.
They reviewed 50 tour operator websites in the country. The
main purpose of these websites was to provide logistical data
and information. In the first part of their study, three groups of
respondents (tourism academicians, tourism industry profes-
sionals, and tourists) ranked the importance of 59 tour operator
website characteristics. The researchers received similar
responses from all three categories of respondents. 11 of the
top 15 features were regarded as important. The 11 features
included the price of products and services, online reservation
and ordering, travel schedules and planners, maps, and transport
information. In the second part of their study, the authors calcu-
lated the expectation score for the 59 features. The expectation
score represented the importance of each website feature. The
highest five expectation means were emails, the price of products
and services, online reservations, checking availability, and prod-
ucts and services.
Law and Hsu (2006) conducted a study assessing the impor-
tance of hotel website dimensions and attributes. They compared
individuals who simply browsed hotel websites for information
with individuals who actually made purchases in the form of
online bookings. Extracted from previous research, they were able
to evaluate websites on five distinct dimensions – reservation
information, facilities information, contact information, surround-
ing area information, and website management.
The results showed that reservation information was perceived
as the most important factor among the five dimensions. The
results also showed that both online purchasers and online brow-
sers viewed room rates as the most important attribute of the
reservation information. However, online purchasers considered
different attributes such as the ability to check rates and availabil-
ity as well as to make online and/or real-time reservations as more
important than online browsers.
567
2.5. Social media websites
Social media or social networking services (SNSes) are web-
based services that link users around the globe within a single sys-
tem. There are a variety of ways to indicate the characteristics and
nomenclature of these connection relationships (Boyd & Ellison,
2007). Namely, social media refers to the methods by which interac-
tions and communication takes place among people who create,
share, and exchange information and ideas. This information
includes interests, experiences, activities, opinions, or real-life con-
nections. Recent research suggests that due to the development of
telecommunication technology and the dissemination of mobile
devices, the use of SNSes is rapidly increasing worldwide. The pur-
poses and impact of social media are diverse. People are sharing
relationship-based information, and this information can serve as
a new tool within social media sites. For instance, travelers publi-
cally post information on destinations, and they also scrap and share
travel-related information provided by others (Chung, Han, & Koo,
2012).
In this study, social media websites are defined as sites in which
interactions or communication take place among people who cre-
ate, share, and exchange tourism information such as trip ideas.
This information could include real-time weather or traffic, travel
activity experiences, and opinions on tourist attractions or destina-
tions. Moreover, the information on the social media is on real-
time, and it is accessible any time in any place.
Due to the recent development of telecommunication technol-
ogy and dissemination of mobile devices, a considerable number
of online travelers have begun using social media websites. These
websites vary from consumer-generated content (CGC) social net-
works like Facebook and Twitter to media sharing sites like
YouTube to consumer review sites like Consumers Reports
(Gretzel, 2006; Pan et al., 2007). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define
social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on
the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which
allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.
Many of these websites assist consumers in posting and sharing
their travel-related opinions, comments, and personal experiences,
which serve as information for others (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010).
Xiang and Gretzel (2010) investigated social media appearing in
search engine results in the context of travel-related searches.
Using a set of predefined, top level, travel-related keywords, includ-
ing accommodation, hotel, activities, restaurant, and shopping) in
combination with nine U.S. tourist destination names, this study
identified key characteristics of a traveler’s use of a search engine
for travel planning. The analysis results demonstrated that among
the total search results, social media constituted a substantial por-
tion, suggesting that search engines direct travelers to social media
sites. The analysis results also provided a breakdown of the types of
social media and the associations between social media and search
queries. For example, virtual community sites were highly
associated with the keywords tourism, activities, attractions,
accommodations, and hotel. Sites for social networking, photo/
video sharing, and blogs were closely grouped together, and they
were related to keywords such as events, nightlife, and park.
2.6. Attributes of online tourism information sources
There are a large number of studies on the properties of online
tourism information sources. After reviewing a wide range of tour-
ism-related research on issues such as website success factors
(Cheung & Law, 2009; Delone & McLean, 2003; Park & Gretzel,
2007), web evaluation factors (Morrison et al., 2004; Park &
Gretzel, 2007), Webqual/E-quality factors (Aladwani & Palvia,
2002; Cai & Jun, 2003; Loiacono, Chen, & Goodhue, 2002), E-satisfac-
tion factors (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003; Kao et al., 2005; Mills &
568 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
Morrison, 2003), and attributes related to SNSes or blogs (Huang
et al., 2010; Lee, 2010; Richter & Koch, 2008), in connection with
the attributes or properties of online tourism information sources,
this study selected the five most widely used attributes: (1)
accessibility, (2) trust, (3) personalization, (4) security, and (5) inter-
action. Summarizing 153 academic papers, Park and Gretzel (2007)
demonstrated the most frequently used concepts in research on
tourism-related websites: information quality (87%), ease of use
(60%), security/privacy (43%), interactivity (39%), accessibility
(29%), personalization (19%), and trust (18%). These results are
almost identical to the attributes this study has drawn.
2.6.1. Accessibility
Accessibility refers to the extent to which the information and/or
services offered by a website can be obtained and used without dif-
ficulty. This attribute deals with the degree to which customers can
easily find the information and/or services provided by online infor-
mation resources (Ho & Lee, 2007). Mills and Morrison (2003) uti-
lized access factors to verify attributes of online user satisfaction
with travel websites. Using their e-satisfaction model, they
attempted to determine whether or not users could access travel
websites anywhere at any time. Lee (2010), however, defined ease
of accessibility for blogs as the ability to easily access information
without a sign-up process. Loiacono et al. (2002) defined accessibil-
ity as an attribute that allows for easy operation and navigation, or
ease of use, in terms of intuitive operations.
After reviewing the previous research, this study defines
accessibility as an attribute representing the extent to which trave-
lers can easily access and use online tourism information sources.
H1. There are no differences between the population means of
tourism information sources in terms of accessibility.
2.6.2. Security
Security is used to describe website properties in many areas,
such as commercial market, financial sector, and public institutes,
since users tend to be sensitive concerning the potential abuse or
misuse of provided personal information such as credit card num-
bers. The quality of a website depends on the site’s ability to pro-
tect a user’s personal information as well as information provided
by the operators of the website (Madu & Madu, 2002).
According to Mills and Morrison (2003), security was defined as
the safety of personal information during transactions on a travel
website. Security also refers to privacy characteristics that are
essential for online transactions (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, &
Malhotra, 2002). Park and Gretzel (2007) summarized the key eval-
uation factors used in tourism related web evaluation studies and
non-tourism related web evaluation studies. Of those factors, secur-
ity was described in the following three ways: protecting informa-
tion during transmission and subsequent storage, security for online
purchases/reservations, and privacy/confidentiality statements.
Based on the prior research, this study defines security as an
attribute representing the extent to which a website can demon-
strate itself to be trustworthy regarding the protection of a user’s
personal information.
H2. There are no differences between the population means of
tourism information sources in terms of security.
2.6.3. Information–trust
Tourism is an information-based business, and due to the charac-
teristics of tourism products and services, including intangibilities,
information is essential. Thus, it is crucial that quality information
is provided by online tourism information sources and that it meets
the needs and expectations of consumers. Information quality has
also been generally recognized as a key element of the perceived
quality of service (Kim, Lee, & Hiemstra, 2004; Novak, Hoffman, &
Yung, 2000; Zeithaml et al., 2002). Based on past research, the com-
mon criteria for assessing information content include accuracy,
timeliness, its concise nature, relevance, reliability, and complete-
ness (Ho & Lee, 2007). Information quality is the ability of the system
to convey the intended meaning of information (Wang & Lin, 2012).
Informational fit to task was utilized as information quality was
defined as the degree to which the information offered on the web-
site satisfies job requirements and achieves an improvement of per-
formance (Loiacono et al., 2000, 2002).
Trust is the dimension describing the customer’s belief in the
online seller and their computer system and the overall minimiza-
tion of the customer’s worries and regrets (Schaupp & Bélanger,
2005). Lee and Lin (2005) defined trust as a customer perception
of the level of trust mechanisms provided by an online store, while
Belanger, Hiller, and Smith (2002) defined trustworthiness as a per-
ception of confidence in the e-marketer’s reliability and integrity.
In this study, a combination of the information quality and trust
constructs corresponds to the information–trust dimension. Trust is
often closely connected to security or online transactions, but infor-
mation–trust is defined as an attribute indicating user perception of
the level of trust associated with information provided by the
sources.
H3. There are no differences between the population means of
tourism information sources in terms of information–trust.
2.6.4. Interaction
Alba et al. (1997) defined interactivity as a dimension with a
feature of endless bilateral communication between two parties
– buyers and sellers. Mills and Morrison (2003) also defined
interactivity as the speed of a travel website, as felt by the user.
In this study, interactivity was included as a part of the travel web-
site interface, while Lee (2010) defined interaction for blogs as a
quick response between the users and the administrators. Dueze
(2001) claimed that interactive features on the website could be
categorized by three groups: navigational, functional, or adaptive
interactivity, referring to the principal characteristics (hypertex-
tuality, interactivity, and multimediality) of online journalism.
According to Berthon, Pitt, and Watson (1996), consumers tended
to be more positive, favorable, and friendly toward websites per-
ceived to have higher interactivity compared to those sites per-
ceived to have lower interactivity. Thorbjørnsen, Supphellen,
Nysveen, and Pedersen (2002) claimed that customers with exten-
sive Internet experience had more positive and stronger brand
relationships than those customers with limited Internet experi-
ence. This was a result of the analysis on the impact of interactive
communication to the marketing effect. Kim, Son, and Suh (2012)
showed that ensuring high interactivity with mutual communica-
tion in real time increased the customer’s cognitive satisfaction in
processing communication with the company via microblogging.
From the previous studies, this study defines interaction as an
attribute that facilitates immediate actions such as real-time feed-
back and active communication. For example, this would include
information or idea sharing between a user and an administrator.
H4. There are no differences between the population means of
tourism information sources in terms of interaction.
2.6.5. Personalization
Personalization has been used in a variety of ways, including
with tailored communication (Loiacono et al., 2000, 2002), and
 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
Fig. 3. Previous research on online tourism information sources.
customization (Ho & Lee, 2007; Schaupp & Bélanger, 2005) (Lee &
Lin, 2005; Park & Gretzel, 2007). Park and Gretzel (2007) defined
personalization as individual attention to any product or informa-
tion, or the customization of products or information. Loiacono
et al. (2000, 2002) defined personalization as tailored communica-
tion between consumers and the firm. According to Ho and Lee
(2007), customization may be regarded as the extent to which a
website can tailor-make services to fit individual customer needs.
For example, this could refer to the extent to which the customized
content of the website can provide a user with relevant and up-to-
date information that will meet his specific needs. This dimension
involves individual designs for clients in accordance with their pat-
terns of consumption and preferences resulting in an optimum
online experience. Customization saves the customer time and
even increases the perception of service quality (Ball, Coelho, &
Vilares, 2006; Madu & Madu, 2002). Schaupp and Bélanger
(2005) demonstrated the characteristics of product customization
used in this study. The features are as follows: (1) providing a cus-
tomizable product, (2) offering online configuration capabilities,
and (3) the number of options that are available for the product
(see Figs. 3 and 4).From the prior research, this study defines per-
sonalization as the ability of a user to obtain specific or perfect
information to meet their needs.
H5. There are no differences between the population means of
tourism information sources in terms of personalization.
3. Research methods
This study investigated traveler dependency on tourism infor-
mation sources through website attributes. In terms of methodol-
ogy, this study carried out a factor analysis with survey data and
then finalized the constructs regarding the measurements of
Fig. 4. Instrument development process.
569
reliability and validity. Based on the preceding research, online
tourism information sources were first classified into four types:
blogs, public websites, company websites, and social media web-
sites. Second, website attributes were proposed by drawing on pre-
vious studies on the website evaluation factor, e-commerce
success factor, web satisfaction, and so on. On the basis of proper-
ties the main references tested, we create a tool for measuring the
attributes of tourism information source and have confirmed it
through the pre-test. Then, utilizing the factor analysis, the pro-
posed model was tested with the data. The data were also collected
and analyzed to determine whether or not differences in user per-
ceptions of website attributes varied between four online tourism
information sources. To verify whether or not differences existed,
an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted for each ques-
tion. Then a Scheffé test as a multiple comparison was carried out
to verify which groups were different. SPSS18 was used as a sta-
tistical package for the testing.
3.1. Instrument design
In order to measure traveler dependency on tourism informa-
tion sources through website attributes using the constructs devel-
oped, this study adopted validity scales and experimental
procedures. Most of the items were chosen from the previously
available literature to maintain content validity (Straub,
Boudreau, & Gefen, 2004). All measurements were tested for relia-
bility and validity. First, an initial version of the instrument was
developed. To examine the proposed model, 39 questionnaire
items adapted from prior research (Cai & Jun, 2003; Delone &
McLean, 2003; Lee & Lin, 2005; Loiacono et al., 2002; Mills &
Morrison, 2003; Park & Gretzel, 2007; Richter & Koch, 2008;
Schaupp & Bélanger, 2005; Wang & Lin, 2012) were utilized. Each
statement was measured with a five-point Likert scale where one
represented a response of strongly disagree and five represented
strongly agree.
3.2. Data collection
This study performed empirical exploratory research on the
dependency of travel information sources through website attri-
butes. An empirical test was conducted based on a survey sample
of people who had searched for travel information using the
Internet attending graduate students in school of business in
Korea. The responses were collected and analyzed to verify
whether or not there were differences in user perceptions of web-
site attributes between four online tourism information sources.
Through the factor analysis, this study refined a measurement
instrument made by referring to the previous literature. Based on
the results of the test, this study further developed an instrument
to measure the major attributes (see Table 1).
A total of 110 questionnaires were distributed and this study
finally obtains the data from a total of 61 participants. Each partici-
pant answered all of the questions for four different information
 570 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575

sources. The sample consisted of 42.6% male and 57.4% female par-

Anderson and Srinivasan (2003),

ticipants ranging from 20 to 59 years old, the majority of which
Cheung and Law (2009), Delone

Morrison et al. (2004), Park and

Tailored communications Aladwani and Palvia (2002), Cai

Huang et al. (2010), Lee (2010)

and Jun (2003), Loiacono et al.
and McLean (2003), Park and

were in their twenties and thirties (45.9% and 39.3%). Since people

Kao et al. (2005), Mills and

who search for tourism information using the Internet tend to be in

Richter and Koch (2008)

their twenties or thirties, this survey sample was deemed to be
suitable for use. Table 2 shows the demographics of the respon-

Morrison (2003)
dents for the test.
Gretzel (2007)

Gretzel (2007)

(2002, 2000)
References

4. Results

4.1. Attributes of online travel information sources

To identify the measurement scales and to purify their dimen-

sionality, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted. Before run-
Personalization

Personalization

Personalization
Personalization

ning a factor analysis and reliability check, this study tested

whether or not the data met the assumption for a factor analysis.
The following three steps were carried out: the correlation coeffi-
cient was derived from the questionnaires, a Bartlett’s test of
sphericity was conducted, and a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) mea-
Exchange

Sharing

sure of sampling adequacy (MSA) was determined.

Validity is the extent to which a concept or measurement is
well-founded and corresponds accurately to what we know or
Interactivity feedback

measure. In other words, it is the degree to which it measures what

it is supposed to measure. Testing validity involves checking
whether or not the items measure the construct in question or
Security Privacy Interactivity

Interaction
Interaction
Interaction

other constructs.
Reliability is used to describe the overall consistency of a mea-
surement and the most common index of the validity of measures.
It is used to check whether the scale items measure the construct
Security

Security

Security
Security

Table 2
Respondent characteristics.

Category Item Subjects

Informational fit to task

Frequency Percentage
Information quality

Information quality

Information quality

Age 20–29 28 45.9

30–39 24 39.3
40–49 5 8.2
Incentives

50–59 4 6.6
Occupation Student 19 31.1
Administrative/clerical 13 21.3
of information

job
Information-trust

Professional/ 13 21.3
reliability

specialized job
Sales or services 11 18
Reliability

position
Technician/production 2 3.3
Trust

Trust

Ease accessibility Trust

Availability access Trust

worker
Homemaker 0 0
Other 3 4.9
Frequency of trips (within <1 4 6.6
Availability

one year)
1–2 times 15 24.6
Navigation/search, Access

3–4 times 18 29.5

Attributes of online tourism information sources.

5–6 times 9 14.8

>7 15 24.6
transaction utility

The most used travel Map 7 4.4

Accessibility

information on the web

Web evaluation factor Ease of use

Ease of use

Ease of use
Usability

(multiple responses
possible)
Weather 10 6.3
Traffic 7 4.4
E-Commerce success

Accommodations 39 24.5
Blog characteristics
WebQual/E-quality

SNS functionalities

Transportation 21 13.2
Initial instrument
Final instrument

Restaurants 35 22.0
E-Satisfaction

Shopping 6 3.8
Destination 11 6.9
factor

Attractions 18 11.3
Table 1

Festivals 4 2.5
Other 1 0.6
 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575 571

in question or other (related) constructs. For example, a measure-
ment is said to have high reliability if it produces similar results
under consistent conditions. For each construct, to assess the con-
sistency of the entire scale, a reliability check was performed with
Cronbach’s alpha. Generally, the accepted lower limit for
Cronbach’s alpha is 0.7 in an established study, although it may fall
to 0.6 in an exploratory study (Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Hair,
Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). In this study, measurement
items with a factor loading bigger than 0.6 were acceptable and
were used as final components of a specific factor. Table 3 presents
the results of the factor analysis and the reliability check.
Table 3 shows the results of the factor analysis and the reliabil-
ity test for five constructs, namely interaction, information–trust,
availability, security, and personalization. The factor analysis was
carried out with a factor loading of 0.6 as the cut-off criteria. The
question item that had the lowest maximum factor loading was
removed, and the factor analysis was repeatedly conducted until
it was greater than 0.6. Eight items were finally eliminated. Five
constructs have eigenvalues greater than 1.0, resulting from vari-
max rotation. These five constructs showed a total variance of
69.86%. In the reliability test, each construct was greater than
0.8, which means that all constructs had high reliability. In addi-
tion, the KMO index was 0.908, and the Bartlett test was
5801.798 (d.f. = 465) with a significance of 0.000. This implies that
the correlation between variables with other variables was very
well explained, and the use of the factor analysis was appropriate
due to the presence of common factors. The final instrument had
five constructs, which contained 31 question items, as listed in
Appendix A.
4.2. Comparing the attributes of online tourism information sources
The results of the ANOVA test indicated that there were sta-
tistically significant differences (a = 0.05) between online tourism
information sources (personal travel blogs, public websites, com-
pany websites, and SNSes) for five attributes of websites: (1) inter-
action, (2) information–trust, (3) accessibility, (4) security, and (5)
personalization. In this study, the attributes of website are used as
a dependent variable and the four online tourism information
sources are used as an independent variable. The mean values of

Table 3
Rotated factor loadings of online tourism information source attributes.

Constructs
Information-
Interaction Accessibility Security Personalization
trust
IN1 .882 .022 .042 .063 .094
IN2 .878 .098 .115 .020 .102
IN3 .843 .121 .159 -.111 -.026
IN4 .827 .216 .229 -.093 .077
IN5 .769 .120 -.012 .195 .150
IN6 .713 .220 .258 -.076 .177
IN7 .641 .058 .420 -.064 .073
IN8 .613 .119 .526 -.127 .022
InfoT1 -.002 .771 .039 .343 .197
InfoT2 .124 .768 .201 .177 .127
InfoT3 .182 .750 .225 .045 .137
InfoT4 .088 .746 .135 .144 .180
InfoT5 .170 .717 .323 -.007 .053
InfoT6 .118 .712 .305 .109 .098
InfoT7 .089 .695 .222 .205 .156
InfoT8 .179 .632 .350 -.059 .133
AV1 .156 .270 .767 -.034 .065
AV2 .113 .144 .764 -.049 .117
AV3 .191 .134 .761 .109 .210
AV4 .293 .202 .755 -.028 .220
AV5 .150 .381 .716 .075 .162
AV6 .123 .226 .687 -.019 -.084
AV7 .076 .400 .652 -.016 .027
SEC1 -.030 .056 .066 .903 .026
SEC2 -.050 .180 -.016 .891 .026
SEC3 .008 .172 .026 .890 .050
SEC4 .018 .081 -.046 .830 .138
SEC5 -.026 .127 -.069 .819 .081
PE1 .185 .285 .102 .156 .775
PE2 .113 .265 .246 .185 .736
PE3 .273 .403 .187 .027 .650
Number of items 8 8 7 5 3
Eigenvalue 5.298 5.270 4.942 4.162 1.985
Percentage of variance 17.091 16.999 15.943 13.425 6.403
Cronbach's alpha 0.928 0.914 0.905 0.928 0.805
KMO 0.908
572 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
the independent variables were obtained from 244 questionnaire
responses, and they refer to the score of the items grouped by attri-
bute. The results of the mean values of the five attributes of online
tourism information sources are shown in Table 4. In order to see if
there were any variances in mean values between the selected
online tourism information sources, further verification was
sought using ANOVA as a multiple comparison. Upon examination
of variances in attributes between the online tourism information
sources, there was a significant variance for interaction, informa-
tion–trust, availability, security, and personalization at the signifi-
cance level of 0.05. In other words, all of the website attributes
showed a significant variance for the four online tourism informa-
tion sources. Based on these findings, there is support for the idea
that the attributes play differentiated roles in various online tour-
ism information sources.
Further examinations were necessary to find the extent to
which variances in website attributes existed for the four online
tourism information source groups. One of the most common tools
to verify such variances is the use of multiple comparisons. For
each of the five attributes, where there were statistically significant
differences between the four online tourism information sources, a
test to verify the homogeneity of dispersion was conducted. (If
homoscedasticity was assumed, this study utilized a Scheffé test,
and if it was not assumed, a Dunnett’s T3 test was used.) This
determined that there were variances in particular groups: (1) per-
sonal travel blogs, (2) public websites, (3) company websites, and
(4) SNSes (see Table 5).
1. Note: { } indicates a group of attributes that have a significant
relationship. There is a significant difference between { }, and
there is no significant differences within the { } at the significant
level of 0.05.
2. In the case of accessibility, the results of the Dunnett’s T3 test was
used because it was not supposed to measure the homogeneity of
dispersion, but rather the results of the Scheffé test. It was used in
the case of the remaining four attributes: interaction, informa-
tion–trust, security, and personalization.
For each of the five attributes (derived from previous studies),
there was a statistically significant difference between groups
(online tourism information sources). The significant probabilities
of the five attributes – interaction, information–trust, accessibility,
security, and personalization – were less than 0.001. It was revealed
that there were differences depending on the four types of tourist
information according to the attributes of the sources.
A Scheffé test or Dunnett’s T3 test was then conducted to verify
which specific groups (online tourism information sources) were
different.
Examining the overall mean values of the sources by attributes,
information–trust, accessibility and personalization attained the
highest scores for personal blogs, while security prevailed for pub-
lic websites. Interaction was highest for SNSes followed by per-
sonal blogs. The mean values of all five attributes were relatively
lower in SNSes than in other sources. For every attribute, personal
blogs became accepted as the most positive sources, while SNSes
were perceived to be the least positive sources.
Table 4
ANOVA test results for online tourism information source attributes.
Attributes of online tourism information sources Interaction
F-ratio 25.388***
Note: ⁄ p < 0.1, ⁄⁄
p < 0.05, ⁄⁄⁄
p < 0.01.
Table 5
Attribute scores of online tourism information sources and multiple comparisons.
Blogs Public Company SNSes Significant
(1) websites (2) websites (3) (4) groups
Interaction 3.5943 2.5984 2.7951 3.6885 {2, 3}{1, 4}
Information– 3.5881 3.2705 3.125 2.7848 {4, 3}{3, 2}{2, 1}
trust
Accessibility 4.0984 3.281 3.1077 3.2201 {3, 4, 2}{1}
Security 2.5311 3.2066 3.0492 2.3443 {4, 1}{3, 2}
Personalization 3.3825 3.0328 3.2131 2.7869 {4, 2}{2, 3, 1}
Of all five attributes, regarding interaction, {blogs and SNSes}
showed higher scores than {public websites and company web-
sites}. This means that personal information sources such as blogs
and SNSes were better in terms of user perception for retrieving
information or as communication environments. For informa-
tion–trust, {blogs} were separated from {company websites and
SNSes} and {SNSes} were separated from {blogs and public web-
sites} This means that people tended to accept information
described as personal experiences on faith rather than commercial
information. However, {SNSes} were not recognized as a medium
to send and receive reliable information in the tourism field. For
accessibility, {blogs} showed a significantly higher score than other
sources {public websites, SNSes, and company websites}. This
means that blogs were the largest and most accessible source on
the web for tourism. {Public websites and company websites}
had the highest scores, while {blogs and SNSes} had the lowest
scores with respect to security. Lastly, personalization was rela-
tively high in {blogs and company websites}, while weak in
{SNSes}. This means that blogs were already widely used, and there
was a sufficient pool to retrieve the desired information from
blogs. A user can search for the desired information by inputting
a personal condition into a company website. In SNSes, the ability
to share common information was more valuable than the ability
to get personalized information.
5. Conclusion
This research analyzed the types and attributes of online tour-
ism information sources and investigated the differences in
sources depending on the source attributes.
First, in consideration of the previous research on tourism (e.g.,
research on website success factors, web evaluation factors, webq-
ual/e-quality factors, e-satisfaction factors, and attributes related
to SNSes or blogs), five attributes of online tourism information
sources were identified through a factor analysis: accessibility,
security, information–trust, interaction, and personalization.
Accessibility refers to how easily travelers can access and use the
online tourism information source. Security is an attribute
representing how trustworthy a website is regarding personal infor-
mation protection for its users. Information–trust is an attribute
indicating a user’s perception of the level of trust associated with
information provided by online tourism information sources.
Interaction is defined as an attribute that facilitates immediate
actions such as real-time feedback as well as active communication
Information–trust Accessibility Security Personalization
11.297*** 16.929*** 11.442*** 5.419***
 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575
such as information/idea sharing between users or between a user
and an administrator. Personalization demonstrates the extent to
which a user can obtain specific information to meet their individual
needs.
Second, looking at the overall mean values of the online tourism
information sources by attributes, interaction, information–trust,
accessibility, and personalization were relatively high in personal
blogs, while security was dominant in public websites. The mean
values of all five attributes were relatively lower in SNSes than in
other sources.
Examining all five attributes in detail, with regard to interac-
tion, it can be inferred that people perceive personal blogs and
social media websites as more interactive than public websites
and company websites. That is, people believe that personal infor-
mation sources like personal travel blogs and Twitter or Facebook
provide a better communication environment than public websites
and company websites to retrieve necessary information or ask
travel-related questions.
In terms of information–trust, people perceive personal blogs as
being different from company websites and social media websites.
Also, social media websites are distinct from personal blogs and
public websites. In other words, people tend to trust tourism infor-
mation created from private experiences on personal travel blogs
more than commercial information on a company’s website. In
the tourism industry, social media is not recognized as a medium
to send and receive reliable information. This is because it is not
yet possible to search or share tourism information through social
media interfaces.
For accessibility, it has been revealed that people believe
personal blogs are more accessible than other sources. That is to
say, it is easy to access blogs because they are more exposed to
users and are being searched more often than other sources. In
addition, blogs are distinct from any other source in terms of
accessibility because they incorporate complex procedures such as
subscriptions.
With respect to security, it has been shown that people believe
public websites or company websites are safer than blogs and
social media websites since they offer organizational security man-
agement systems. On the other hand, people do not regard security
as an important factor in the case of blogs or social media websites.
This is because these mediums do not require any security proce-
dures when sharing or searching for tourism information.
Finally, regarding personalization, people perceive that personal
blogs and company websites offer more customized travel infor-
mation than social media websites. Personal blogs are already
widely used to search for tourism information, and there is a suffi-
cient pool of blogs from which to gather information. In addition,
people can find customized information utilizing personal condi-
tions in company websites. For example, people can search for
tickets using conditions such as the airlines, dates, times, non-stop
flights, or stopover flights on travel agency websites. In the case of
social media websites, people recognize that it is a means of shar-
ing information, but they do not seem to recognize it as a source for
personalized tourism information.
5.1. Implications
First, personal blogs showed higher values than other sources
with regards to the attributes of information–trust, accessibility,
and personalization. Interaction was the second-highest attribute
in personal blogs. It can be inferred that people are interested in,
and tend to trust, tourism information consisting of actual travel
experiences by individuals. Personal travel blogs also serve as an
appropriate communication tool for destination images, itinerary
stories, comments, opinions, social communities, and so on.
People can find customized information because there is a sufficient
573
amount of content available on the Internet. People can also find
customized information by inputting preferences. In addition, they
do not need to engage in a special sign-up process. This makes blogs
more useful and means they will be visited more frequently and
more easily.
Second, public websites showed relatively higher values in the
attributes of security, information–trust, and accessibility. This is
perceived as the result of a general recognition that the security
systems of public institutions will be better than those of private
companies. However, people tend to believe that not only is it
harder to get appropriate tailored information on a public website,
but it is also more difficult to communicate with that website.
Therefore, on tourism-related public websites, there is a need to
organize the information more concretely and in a well-organized
manner to meet the needs of tourists. In addition, there is a need to
create or vitalize a method of communication with and for users.
For example, a review board could be implemented that would
allow users to share personal experiences and information
obtained from other pages within the public website.
Third, company websites showed the second highest values in
the attributes of security and personalization. Company websites
were considered inferior in the attributes of information–trust,
accessibility, and interaction. It can be inferred that consumers
tend to think that the information offered by company websites
might be being recommended for commercial purposes (advertis-
ing), or that the fairness of the information might be biased. In
order to improve tourist perceptions or positions on travel-related
company websites, active feedback to user questions regarding
products and/or services is required. Efforts should also be made
to improve the interaction between users and public websites.
Lastly, social media websites showed relatively low values in all
attributes except interaction. It can be concluded that in the tourism
sector, social media websites are not yet recognized as a source of
information acquisition because they do not actively search for
and share tourist information. However, because of their interactive
nature, they have enormous potential for development as a space to
share personal tourism experiences (Marzo-Navarro & Pedraja-
Iglesias, 2012). People believe that social media websites such as
Twitter and Facebook provide more active communication environ-
ments than other sources for retrieving information or asking tra-
vel-related questions. Thus, the government and businesses
associated with tourism will have to pay more attention to social
media websites.
This study applies general attributes of online websites to com-
pare the online tourism information sources rather than tourism-
specific attributes. This kind of try will help extend the model of
attributes with other services areas. This study shows a relevant
example to generalize the attributes of online websites.
6. Limitations and future studies
There are some limitations to this study that could give way for
future studies. One of the most important limitations of this
research is the sampling. The samples were collected only in
Korea and were small in number. In addition, the majority of sur-
veyed participants were in their twenties and thirties (45.9% and
39.3%). Since the age groups of people who search for tourism
information through the Internet or social media have gradually
increased and diversified, it would be interesting to test the pro-
posed model in this research with a more diverse sample. This
research could also be extended to include results from both
Korea and other countries.
Compared with countries in the West, social media use with
respect to tourism information has a longer history. Therefore, it
is difficult to apply the results of this research internationally.
However, since the interest in and actual use of social media is
574 E. No, J.K. Kim / Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015) 564–575

increasing, this research will serve as valuable comparative data if Appendix A (continued)
a follow-up study is carried out.
Constructs Index Question items
Appendix A. Final instrument for measuring the attributes of SEC3 I am confident in the security
online tourism information sources offered on ()
SEC4 I feel safe providing my
Constructs Index Question items personal information on ()
SEC5 () Protects my personal security
Interaction IN1 There is very little waiting time
between my action and the ()’s Personalization PE1 () Allows me to interact with it
response to receive tailored information
IN2 () That I use is highly PE2 () Provide easy-to follow paths
responsive to users and links
IN3 () Is interactive PE3 I can interact with () in order to
IN4 I can smoothly communicate get information tailored to my
with () specific needs
IN5 () Actively accepts my
proposals and opinions
IN6 There are a lot of other users’
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