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The Routledge Handbook of Hospitality Management

Ioannis S. Pantelidis

Consumer behaviour models in hospitality and tourism

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Ioannis S. Pantelidis
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5
Consumer behaviour models
in hospitality and tourism
Ioannis S. Pantelidis

Introduction
One of the most elusive goals in hospitality management has been to understand how consumers
think and how they make their decisions when buying hospitality products. One part of the
challenge has been the complexity of the hospitality product, which includes both tangible and
intangible elements. The second part of the challenge has been the fact that traditionally researchers
had relied on models that were originally designed for tangible purchasing activities. The third
and final part is that models have not been a great help in achieving a deeper understanding of
consumer behaviour and consumer behaviour research has been moving away from models and
towards understanding processes. However, we need to recognise that hospitality research often
borrows from other disciplines and thus finds itself a late adopter of approaches that in other
fields have reached a new level of understanding.
Still, it is quite important for us to understand some of the history of consumer behaviour
models. History reveals trends, gaps and errors that can help us strengthen our future approaches
to consumer behaviour research and understanding. In this chapter we consider models and
attempts at understanding consumer behaviour in hospitality and tourism from the past, with
a focus on the absence of real understanding of individual consumer differences and in particular
the absence of personality aspects and variables.
Given the complexity of tourist motivations and tourist decision making (Drew and
Woodside, 2008), we must always remember that the original models were mainly used within
the context of tangible goods. Crozier and McLean (1997) criticised those models for their lack
of empirical research in relation to services as opposed to products. However, a small number
of researchers, even as far back as three decades ago, attempted to align the tourism offering to
such models (Wahab, Crampon and Rothfield, 1976; Schmoll, 1977; Mayo and Jarvis, 1981).
In the following sections of this chapter we attempt a chronological approach of key theorists
from the late 1970s to the late 2000s, attempting to reveal the evolution of consumer behaviour
thinking in hospitality and tourism through the prism of the developed models of the time. As
we examine these models and theories, a trend emerges. Individual differences and personality
variables begin appearing in models only after the turn of the millennium. It is almost as if an
invisible barrier held back researchers from attempting a deeper understanding of the consumer
as an individual within hospitality and tourism research.

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Consumer behaviour models

Wahab’s tourism marketing

This early text of tourism marketing (Wahab et al., 1976) gives insights into the way tourism
marketing was approached, although the chapter on marketing research rather suggests the lack
of any meaningful research in the field at the time. It introduces methods of product visitor
and destination-orientated marketing and differentiates the tourist product as one that requires
highly complex decision making from the consumer. In today’s market, where consumers may
habitually book a weekend away at a touch of a button, the theories in the book may not apply.
The chapters that attempt to focus on consumer behaviour rely on the existing, predominant,
early consumer behaviour models – something that Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) consider a
weakness. Another weakness they identify is that the authors appear to neglect interpersonal
and family influences. Overall, the text shares the weaknesses of the early models, but the first
chapter provides an understanding of how tourism marketing differed from other types of
marketing at the time.

Schmoll’s tourism promotion

Schmoll (1977) suggested a model in which consumer decisions were the result of five
elements: travel stimuli, such as guide books; word of mouth, advertising and promotion; personal
and social determinants, including external variables such as images; constraints such as cost and
time; and finally, characteristics of the service destination such as the perceived link between
cost and value or range of attractions offered. Although Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) criticise
the lack of clarity of some operational definitions and the fact that the theory is based on grand
models, Schmoll’s early work offers an insight into which factors may affect decision making
and provides the groundwork for mapping theory to practice.

Psychology of leisure travel by Mayo and Jarvis

An interesting review of how tourist behaviour knowledge expanded up to the 1980s is delivered
by Mayo and Jarvis (1981). The authors investigate and touch upon variables such as consumer
needs and motivations in the tourism context. They make the distinction for travellers between
routine impulsive and complex decision making. Although they argue that the decision-making
process can be traced through various stages, the lack of empirical data does not convince the
authors that their model can be utilised for the purposes of this research. They do refer to
psychological profiling as well as social (although the stress is on social, such as the effect of
groups or family on the decision-making process) in order to better understand the consumer
process but the suggestions remain at a superficial level.

Mathieson and Wall model of travel-buying behaviour

Mathieson and Wall (1982) suggested a five-stage model of travel-buying behaviour, but the
model is linear in nature and fails to recognise how individual differences may affect some of
the stages. They also fail to identify the social impact of the process but suggest (1982: 24) that
social impacts can be thought of ‘as changes in the lives of people who live in destination
communities, which are associated with tourist activity’.
The five stages of their model are 1. Felt need/travel desire, 2. Information collection, 3.
Travel decision, 4. Travel preparation and travel experiences, and 5. Travel satisfaction outcome
and evaluation (Mathieson and Wall 1982: 95).

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Ioannis S. Pantelidis

The first stage fails to highlight the various roles the consumer may be adopting, such as
those reported by Solomon et al. (2006). Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) further criticise the
model for the omission of variables such as perception, memory and personality, as well as for
its lack of parsimony and low exploratory and predictive power.

Vacation destinations by Van Raaij and Francken

Van Raaij and Francken (1984) argue that lifestyle, equity and attribution are variables that may
serve well in understanding vacation behaviour. The difference to other approaches is the focus
they place on joint decision making. They also argue that decision making is a sequential process.
The variables of the model remain unclear making it hard to operationalise. However, their
model does recognise the effect of consumer personality on the process, which adds to the
evidence that more and more researchers either suspect or are convinced of the effects of
personality (or self-image in some cases) on the process of consumer behaviour.

Consumer behaviour in tourism by Moutinho

In this short review of consumer behaviour, Moutinho (1986) attempts to deliver an understanding
of consumer behaviour starting from an analysis of tourism through the internal-external models
to attempting to understand intention by utilising some of Aijzen’s earlier work. The review
lacks any supporting empirical data and the weaknesses of the approach became apparent when
the author attempted to explain the possible consequences of tourist behaviour after the
evaluation of satisfaction. For example, he suggests that a satisfied tourist may either discontinue
or continue purchase behaviour (Moutinho, 1986:34) whilst a partially satisfied one may discon-
tinue, continue purchase with reservations or change behaviour. However, it is the lack of
satisfaction as a predictor of consumer behaviour that has led researchers to develop alternative
models to the grand ones and, considering the alternative products or limitations to one’s optimal
choices, a satisfied customer for example may still change their purchase behaviour. He concludes
with a model of tourist behaviour derived from his PhD – a rather complex model that at best
would be difficult to operationalise. He cites personality at part 1 of his model, the pre-decision
and decision processes, but gives no indication if any of the variables of this stage were tested
and it appears that most of the variables are simply based on assumptions from previous readings.

Gilbert’s consumer decision framework

Gilbert (1991: 101) argues that the existing models had all been tested for tangible products but
very little research had been conducted attempting to test those models on services. He proposes
a framework (see Figure 5.1) that highlights the influences both from social characteristics such
as family or culture, as well as individual characteristics such as personality. This framework
strengthens the view that personality is suspected as an antecedent by many models but is not
researched in depth in order to confirm if it is a measurable variable or how it may affect the
decision-making process.

Integrated model of self- and functional congruity in predicting

travel behaviour
Sirgy et al. (1991) argue that consumer behaviour is more easily predicted by measuring
functional congruity rather than self-congruity but suggest that self-congruity influences

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Consumer behaviour models

Socioeconomic Cultural
influences influences

Motivation or Perception
Energizers

Consumer or
Decision-maker

Personality/ Learning
Attitude

Reference group Family

influences influences

Figure 5.1 Gilbert’s consumer decision framework

Source: Gilbert (1991: 79)

functional congruity. Sirgy et al. (1997) developed a model that they suggest explains and predicts
travel behaviour. In his model Sirgy considers that destination environment affects destination
visitor image and tourist-perceived utilitarian attributes. Self-congruity is central to his model
and it is one of the few early models that includes a psychological dimension to the purchasing
process (Sirgy et al. 1997: 231). The model is a small departure from the grand models that
attempted to understand consumer behaviour mainly from a functional perspective and served
as evidence that researchers are focusing more and more on trying to understand the human
nature of the consumer. The major criticisms of congruity theory are those of methodological
issues, i.e. the unsubstantiated notion that consumers may only purchase products or services
that match their self-concept, and that the effect of actual and ideal congruity on purchasing
behaviour has not been well developed (Earl and Kemp, 2002).

Application of the theory of planned behaviour to leisure choice

Ajzen and Driver (1992) conducted the first study that attempts to evaluate the theory of planned
behaviour (TPB) in the context of leisure. They report good results that support the utility of
the TPB in the context of leisure for all three determinants: attitude towards behaviour, subjective
norm and perceived behavioural control. They provide a theoretically sound explanation, even
though the study does not show an in-depth understanding of the leisure industry. Their study
focuses on proving the TPB within leisure rather than the other way around, and the validity
of self-reported leisure activities is questioned by Sirakaya and Woodside (2004). Post-1990s
studies that utilise the TPB in the field of tourism and hospitality include the study of
relationships of restaurant management in supporting employees’ training (Roberts, 2008) and
O’Fallon, Gursoy and Swanger’s (2007) study of intentions of genetically modified goods. Both
studies show evidence that the TPB can be applied to the field of hospitality, with both studies
showing a strong reliability of determinants, with intention as the strongest.

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Middleton’s tourist stimulus-response model

Middleton (1994) adapted the stimulus-response model to fit the decision process of tourists.
Apart from the fact that he considers tourism by its nature to be a combination of products and
services, there are some distinct adaptations to the Keegan et al. (1992) model. Middleton has
separated the communication channels in the stimulus part of the model, highlighting the fact
that often tourism products are intangible and the promise of the brand through advertising is
the marketer’s attempt to create some feeling of tangible elements so that the consumer trusts
the product. He also attempts to clarify the ‘black box’ area by separating motivation and
communication filters such as learning, perception and experiences. He does list psychographic
characteristics within the motivation stage but does not provide any evidence or in-depth analysis
of this variable (or collection of variables). Finally, he adds the post-purchase stage and highlights
the effect of emotions on the consumer behaviour process. See Figure 5.2.

Tourist choice processes

Woodside and Lysonski (1989) supported the argument that tourist behaviour can be studied
in stages and their model considers previous experience and how that influences future choices.
It is the familiarity of the destination that they claim influences consumer preference, amongst
other influencers such as marketing and individual characteristics. They created a model that
combines research findings from the fields of marketing psychology and tourism in order to
come up with a general model of tourist destination choice. In their model they group
marketing variables and traveller variables that affect destination awareness, which in turn affects
traveller destination preference (also influenced by traveller variables), which in turn affects
intention to visit.

Buyer characteristics
and decision process

Communication Communication Purchase outputs

Stimulus input channels filters Motivation (Response)

Range of Demographic
Advertising Learning economic and
competitive
Sales promotion social position
goods produced
Brochures
and marketed
Personal selling Psychographic
by the tourist Product
PR characteristic
industry Brand
Perception
Price
Needs
Outlet
Wants
Friends Goals
Family
Reference Experience Attitudes
group

Post-purchase and
post-consumption feelings

Figure 5.2 Middleton’s stimulus-response of tourism behaviour

Source: Middleton (1994: 105)

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Five years later Woodside and MacDonald (1994) built on the idea of familiarity and suggest
two polarised types of behaviour: in one familiarity constitutes loyalty and in the other an
individual’s previous visitation suggests the notion of ‘been there, done that’. Such polarised
behaviour from the same experience would require a further study on individual characteristics,
and indeed personality may account for how different individuals perceive previous experience
differently. They conclude that decisions may not always be rational and that interactions with
other travel companions have an effect on behaviour. Decrop (1999) suggests that Woodside
and MacDonald fill, to some extent, the gap that previous research illustrated. That gap was
the failure to cover the cognitive and affective judgements, intentions and practices of tourists.
However, the author believes that a balance between the areas that Decrop points to and the
psycho-behavioural aspects is not achieved. Both the Woodside and Lysonski (1989) and
Woodside and MacDonald (1994) papers miss the possible effects of personality on the behaviour
process of the consumer.

Consumer behaviour in tourism by Swarbrooke and Horner

Swarbrooke and Horner (2007) argue that most consumer behaviour models in tourism are
simplistic and they suggest that the characteristics of tourism as a product make it so complex
that it would require more sophisticated models in order to try to understand it. Their model
(Swarbrooke and Horner; 2007: 48) describes the characteristics of tourism, providing eleven
areas for consideration, including tourism product as service product, a distinction between
consumer and customers, and the fact that products can be sold individually and in combination.
They suggest that the complexity of tourism is further enhanced by the different motivators,
which they categorise as cultural, status, physical, emotional, personal and personal development
types.
Figure 5.3 shows the different types of factors that influence decisions according to the authors
and it is one of the first texts that mention personality as a factor. Although the authors do not
offer their own version of a model that can be effectively utilised for empirical research in the
field of tourism, they do provide a useful review of models and processes that are often used
and provide an interesting critique of them.

Solomon’s European perspective on consumer behaviour

Solomon et al. (2006) highlight the fact that early models referred to the field as ‘buyer behaviour’,
emphasising the transactional part of the whole process. They highlight the fact that if market
is the stage then the consumer may take the part of many actors and the buyer may not be the
product user or in fact the person that influenced the purchase in the first place. Looking at
the purchasing process at three distinct stages (pre-, during and post-purchasing) they highlight
a number of issues that may arise in comparing consumer approaches to those of marketers
(Solomon et al. 2006: 7). The authors describe the exchange between the consumer and the
product or service provider as an ‘integral part’ of the consumer behaviour (CB) process. They
also suggest that firms can influence the process by designing marketing messages that target
the specific needs and wants of the consumer under a given circumstance. Although the authors
do not follow a particular model in their textbook, their take on the issues in the consumption
process and the criticism of early behaviour models that focus only on the buying part of the
process and mainly have products in mind allows a refreshing eye on the plethora of consumer
behaviour theories and models available to a scholar of consumer behaviour.

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Internal to the tourist External to the tourist

Personal Availability of suitable

motivators products

Personality Advice of travel agents

Disposable income Information obtained

from destinations,
tourism organisations
Health
and the travel media

Family Word-of-mouth
commitments recommendation of friends
and family
Work
commitments DECISION

Past
experience Political restrictions on
travel e.g. visa requirements,
war and cases of civil strife
Hobbies and
interests

Existing knowledge Health problems

of potential holidays and vaccination
requirements in
Lifestyle destinations

Attitudes, opinions Special promotions

and perceptions and offers from
The climate/ tourism organisations
destination
of regions

Figure 5.3 Factors influencing holiday decision

Source: Swarbrooke and Horner (2007: 48)

The issues are very generic and do not probe further into the realm of individual differences
in any detail, but the three-tier distinction and the differentiation of issues between consumers
and marketers helped focus the researcher’s thoughts – in particular the consumer’s purchase
stage issues crystallised the area on which the researcher should focus. After all, what may be
stressful or pleasant for one consumer might be challenging or unpleasant for another, and how
personality may affect this might be easier to measure at this particular stage.

Online consumer behaviour

As online purchasing is picking up pace and more of the products and services that were purchased
in the traditional context find their place on the Internet, developing models and understanding
CB in an online context is becoming increasingly a necessity for an area that is still relatively
under-researched. Some authors have attempted to explore online CB and suggest models of
information processing that would offer advantages to online marketers (Stibel, 2005). Although
it is important to remember that offline qualities of a product or service may affect the
perception of the online services or products offered (Kwon and Lennon, 2008), in the context

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of tourism and hospitality at the pre-purchase stage of the decision process for a first-time
customer, the offline qualities may not be as important unless the customer is influenced by
online reviews of previous customers (an increasingly important online element for the
consumer).
By ‘online consumer behaviour’, the author means that he is interested in all relevant CB
that takes place on the Internet. Internet activity, on this occasion, refers to all activity related
to content on the World Wide Web, email transactions, and file transfer protocol (FTP) activity.
Online CB can occur every time a consumer connects on the Internet, utilising the plethora
of tools whilst connected to this vast network.
Sheth and Sisodia (1997: 37) correctly evaluated the evolution of the information age more
than a decade ago by saying

a marketing revolution is only just beginning, we are now climbing onto a technological
treadmill. Companies that are not already on board may not be able to make up for lost
ground. New entrants will base their business model on the starkly different models of the
information age. Consequently these new entrants will create numerous stranded assets
amongst traditional marketers.

Fast-forward almost a decade and Mishra and Olshavsky (2005) suggest that the use of the Internet
has brought such change to the process of consumer decision making it can be argued that
today’s consumers are far more rational than those of the past. For example, the latest
advancements in search engine technology enable the consumer to make their optimal choice
without the need to consider all the alternatives. They argue that Simon (1955) based his theory
on bounded rationality on three assumptions that are now defunct: the limited knowledge of
individuals; the cost of collecting and storing information; and the requirement of a trial-and-
error search process. All of these have been addressed by the power of the Internet. Data are
easily stored and retrieved at no cost or very little cost to the individual and the plethora of
customer-generated content and reviews removes a large part of the need for trial and error.
Mishra and Olshavsky (2005) suggest that the developments in technology will enable the
consumer to become a much more rational consumer than ever before. For example, past research
has shown that consumers tend only to visit the first few ‘hits’ of a search results page, making
the consumer less rational since s/he has not investigated all the alternatives (Hoque and Lohse,
1999). However, as search engine technology becomes better at bringing only the most relevant
results, the consumer now can make a choice from the best alternatives and thus s/he is brought
one step closer to an optimal decision. Wu (2003) utilised an early Fishbein model of beliefs
and attitudes to explore attitudes of online shoppers. His research suggests that the model could
measure consumer attitudes in this context and, although the author mentions personality as
one of the characteristics, there is no effort made to measure it as such.

Pre-purchase and online information systems

Perhaps one of the biggest influences of this rapidly evolving online technology is on the early
stages covering the pre-purchase and information search – in particular, the external information
stage as seen in the model by Crotts (1999) (Figure 5.4).
Crotts (1999: 153) recognises the importance of the World Wide Web and describes it as a
‘source of vicarious pleasure’. This was ten years ago when websites could still be considered
in their infancy. Today, with the amazing advancements we have seen in web design and customer
participation in the form of consumer-generated content, the World Wide Web has upped its

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Need recognition

internal information
search

Insufficient

external
Insufficient Sufficient information
search

Evaluation

Sufficient

Purchase

Postpurchase
evaluations

Figure 5.4 Crotts’ model of pre-purchase information systems

Source: Crotts (1999: 153)

game considerably, taking the lead in external information searching when considering
international travel. In a research by Nielsen/NetRatings conducted with a sample of 800
consumers of tourist products, it was revealed that consumers trust websites with reviews from
other travellers far more than websites maintained by traditional tourist service providers such
as travel agents or airlines (Teasdale, 2007).
In this particular research, 168 of the 800 survey participants believed websites that feature
reviews by other travellers are more reliable against the 96 who thought travel agent sites more
reliable. This represents a 9 per cent lead of the sites with consumer-generated content over
websites that are maintained by the traditional ‘gatekeepers’ of tourism products. This study is
a confirmation of the fact that the attitudes of online consumers of tourism products are rapidly
changing.

Online CB and e-hospitality

The technology acceptance model is often utilised in such studies (e.g. Kim, Lee and Law,
2008; Huh, Kim and Law, 2009). However, this section attempts to review some of the more
recent work to exhibit the evolution of CB research in the context of hospitality and the Internet,
thus completing the cycle and illustrating the researcher’s thought processes in deciding to pursue
the research in the context of online CB. Essawy (2006), in his attempt to conceptualise online

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relational dimensions, separates the usability dimensions into three distinct phases: interface quality,
quality of information and the quality of service delivered to the customer. He suggests that if
these three contribute to a positive experience, then the attitude towards the site will also be
positive and will yield a positive purchase intention as well as the possibility of revisiting (Essawy,
2006: 50)
Purchase intention does not necessarily yield actual online purchasing. Indeed, in Essawy’s
study it is evident that consumers may utilise online data and then utilise traditional methods
of completing the purchase such as calling the company direct. The study shows good evidence
that if the core product information and usability of the website is not of adequate quality the
consumer will be frustrated and seek alternatives. Sigala (2004) argued that the online consumer
is concerned with technical issues such as privacy and security, and that the areas of hospitality
and tourism online behaviour are under-researched. Sigala and Sakellaridis (2004) explore how
culture may affect online behaviour and this is one of the few studies that explore individual
differences and online behaviour within the context of tourism and hospitality. Although the
findings of that particular paper are not as clear as we might like, it does provide some insight
into how individual differences may affect the online purchasing process. For example, the authors
identify that power distance, masculinity and long-term orientation cultural dimensions show
some evidence that perceptions are affected by some of the qualities of a website. O’Connor
and Murphy (2004), in their review of online consumer decision making, relevant to hospitality,
provide no more than a handful of studies – five to be exact – and none of them focuses on
personality. However, in more recent years some attempts have been made to investigate attitudes,
though not necessarily in the context of online behaviour. For example, Sparksa and Pan (2008)
utilised the TPB to discover attitudes of outbound tourists and report that one-third of their
study participants identified chat rooms as a source of destination information. Bai, Law and
Wen (2008) investigate website quality for hotel websites and show evidence that quality does
affect satisfaction and that in turn affects the intention to purchase.
An important question with research, such as the one conducted by Essawy (2006) or Sigala’s
(2004) on security and privacy, would be ‘How do individual differences affect the point that
the consumer decides to drop out of the badly designed website?’ Would, for example, one
consumer personality type be more likely to continue with a transaction than another? Or does
it really make no difference at all? Do all consumers perceive interface, information and service
quality in the same way or are there distinct differences because of experience, culture or
personality?
One study that attempts to answer such questions is by Ranaweera, Bansal and McDougall
(2008). They argue that personality characteristics are found to have significant moderating effects
on online purchase intentions, and further suggest that personality traits may offer unique
opportunities to marketers in terms of ensuring online loyalty.

Criticisms of behavioural models

Although some criticisms have already been mentioned in the sections above, there are certain
other criticisms of the models. Du Plessis, Rousseau and Blem (1991) rightly suggest that the
primary difference between the various models is the different emphasis researchers place on
variables. And indeed, in this chapter’s review of the relevant literature we see the same variables
appear and a trend emerges of the absence of variables such as personality constructs. With the
introduction of postmodernism in the 1980s, the rational approach to CB was heavily criticised.
Bozinoff (1982) argues that consumers often engage in non-conscious behaviour during the
buying process, so that utilising models that only consider conscious processes is not appropriate.

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As Solomon et al. (2006) suggest, the consumer of today alters their behaviour depending
on familiarity with the process or product, the context of the purchase and the situation.
Therefore, a simplistic model may not be able to capture the whole process. The assumption
that the consumer decision process is sequential and that all stages are pursued has also been
criticised (Martin and Kiecker, 1990). The consumer today is influenced by other people, their
own culture and the culture of others, timing, context and type of product – thus, no single
model could capture all the decision processes. However, some models are better than others
in capturing specific parts of the process. The traditional models include so many variables that
their complexity is reflective of the difficulty of operationalising them into empirical research.
Looking specifically at tourism, Swarbrooke and Horner (2007) are quite critical of the models
utilised in the field, arguing that the models often developed for tourism are so simplistic that
they fail to provide an understanding of its complexities. More particularly, they argue that the
two main weaknesses are the limited value they offer in understanding tourism complexity and
the difficulty for tourism marketers to make any practical use of them. They continue their
argument with the suggestion that there is little empirical research and little evidence that these
models represent the reality of how decisions are made. The models are rather old and don’t
take into account the recent developments in tourism, especially the effect that the Internet,
budget airlines, last-minute purchasing, direct marketing and all-inclusive packages have on the
decision-making process. Finally, the current models fail to capture the cultural elements in
emerging markets.
Further criticisms are: the outlook of tourism as a homogeneous group; the lack of recognition
by many models of the effect of determinants and motivators; the assumption that a high degree
of rationality is part of the process; and the assumption that the process of decision making
remains constant regardless of the type or nature of the holiday. Compared to the true
complexity of the consumer decision process, even the most complex model is still an
oversimplification of how the human mind works. As researchers, do we give up searching for
the truth (or the relative truth in the minds of postmodernists) or do we identify the best model
to utilise for the specific needs of our research? Is there such thing as a best model for hospitality
or should we forget models and focus on processes? Perhaps the following case study will help
the reader consider how to go about better understanding the consumer.

Case study

Not your average consumer

Mr Jones considers himself a technophobe but, having heard so much from his friends about the
savings he could achieve if he booked his holiday online, he decides to give it a go. With the
help of his teenage son he attempts to book a holiday for himself and his family. He is considering
Greece as a destination so he asks his son to look for a quiet Greek island. The son uses the search
engine Google and, entering the keyword ‘Greek island’, gets 172 million results, which terrify
Mr Jones and he decides to opt for a travel agent instead. He visits his usual travel agent and
gets ideas for an island and package prices. Armed with more specific information he decides to
give the Internet ‘a second chance’, he and his son now looking for the island of Leros. This time
Google delivers 990 thousand results, but the son quickly points out that they only need check

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the first few pages. On the first page of result links is Tripadvisor and Mr Jones sees some positive
comments about one of the hotels the travel agent has suggested. A couple of hours later and
Mr Jones with the help of his son has found an online travel agent that can do a similar package
but with savings of at least £50 a day for the family. Mr Jones decides that he needs more time
to think about it and the next week he goes back to his travel agent and books one of the packages
the agent suggested.

Discussion points
If you were to plot a decision-making model for Mr Jones, which of the discussed models is the
best fit? What might be some of the reasons that Mr Jones still decides to book the more expensive
package and how can you plot such seemingly irrational decision on a consumer behaviour model?

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