Int. J. Tourism Policy, Vol. 9, No.

2, 2019 155

Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among

consumers availing travel services

Sanjay Kumar Singh

International Sales and Marketing,
EMMBI Industries Limited,
Mumbai, India
Email: sanjay.sin17@gmail.com

Lalit Mohan Kathuria*

School of Business Studies,
Punjab Agricultural University,
Ludhiana, India
Email: lalit_kathuria@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract: Globally, digital tools are increasingly being used for planning travel
services. Prospective travellers have found a new way of gaining information
through electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). Online travel portals comprise a
majority of the digital commerce share. A large number of consumers now read
e-WOM information before purchasing the product or service. This study was
undertaken to explore the use of e-WOM information, and to examine the
adoption of e-WOM information among consumers availing travel services.
Data were collected from 240 respondents of three Indian cities using a
structured questionnaire. Analysis was undertaken using exploratory factor
analysis, and multiple linear regression. The study highlighted that respondents
use online reviews for gaining information about travel destination, selecting
the place of destination, choosing hotels and the place(s) to eat, etc. Consumers
opined that using online reviews reduced the chance of making a bad decision
about pleasure trips, and helped them plan trips in a better way. Factors like
‘attitude’, ‘perceived usefulness’, ‘perceived risk’, and ‘perceived value’
significantly influence e-WOM adoption among consumers.

Keywords: electronic word-of-mouth; e-WOM; travel; tourism; factors;

adoption; attitude; perceived usefulness; perceived risk; perceived value.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Singh, S.K. and

Kathuria, L.M. (2019) ‘Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among
consumers availing travel services’, Int. J. Tourism Policy, Vol. 9, No. 2,
pp.155–173.

Biographical notes: Sanjay Kumar Singh is a BTech (Mechanical

Engineering) graduate from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana
(India) and MBA from School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural
University, Ludhiana (India). Currently, he is working as Executive
(International Sales and Marketing) in a reputed company at Mumbai.

Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

156 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

Lalit Mohan Kathuria is a Professor in the School of Business Studies, Punjab

Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and has 25 years of teaching and corporate
experience. He has been teaching brand management, marketing strategy,
advanced marketing management, and international marketing courses to
MBA, MBA (Agribusiness), and PhD students. He has published several
research papers in international and national journals of repute like Food
Quality and Preference (Elsevier), British Food Journal (Emerald), Journal of
Food Products Marketing (Taylor & Francis), Competitiveness Review
(Emerald), etc. He has co-authored two books and also, successfully completed
two Government of India (AICTE and DST) sponsored research projects as
Principal Investigator/Co-principal Investigator. He is a regular reviewer for
many international journals like International Journal of Bank Marketing,
Competitiveness Review, British Food Journal, International Journal of
Emerging Markets, etc. His current research interests include brand
management, food marketing, digital marketing, and analysing sector-specific
competitiveness.

1 Introduction

India’s travel and tourism sector ranks seventh in the world in terms of its total
contribution to the country’s gross domestic product. Total contribution by travel and
tourism sector to India’s gross domestic product is expected to increase from
Rs 15.24 trillion (US$ 234.03 billion) in 2017 (equivalent to approximately 9% of India’s
GDP) to Rs 32.05 trillion (US$ 492.21 billion) in 2028. As of 2017–2018, about
80 million people are employed in India’s tourism sector accounting for approximately
12% of total employment in the country. Travel and tourism is the third largest foreign
exchange earner for India. The Government of India has set an ambitious target of 20
million foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) by 2020 and double the foreign exchange earnings.
According to World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), India’s domestic travel
accounted for 88% of the tourism sector’s contribution to GDP in 2016.1,2 Between 2016
and 2026, the top 10 fastest growing destinations for leisure travel spending are expected
to be India, followed by Angola, Uganda, Brunei, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Oman,
Mozambique and Vietnam.3,4 The global middle class is forecasted to grow by another
three billion people between 2011 and 2031, and the majority of this will come from
emerging markets, with China and India leading the way.3,5 By 2020, the number of
internet users in India, will more than double characterised by 3Ms (metro, male,
millennials). Globally, digital tools are increasingly being used for hotel bookings with
online penetration greater than 40–50% in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, and
China. India is going up the ladder with 17% of its hotel bookings made online today
highlighting a greater growth potential in this sector. Also, more women and older people
would start using internet. Due to consumer maturity and improved network
infrastructure, the share of lower tier cities is expected to increase. This shift in the
internet users’ profile will require travel marketers to rethink their marketing offerings on
language, content, pricing etc.6,7
Gone are the days when travellers used to look for different information sources like
magazines, newspapers, friends and relatives for getting information regarding places to
be visited. Prospective travellers have found a new way of gaining information through
e-word-of-mouth (e-WOM). Word-of-mouth (WOM) communication includes
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 157

consumers’ comments (positive or negative) about products and services directly from
another individual (Arndt, 1967; Hennig-Thurau and Walsh, 2004; Bronner and Hoog,
2011). Word-of-mouth can be defined as “an oral, person-to-person communication
between a receiver and a communicator whom the receiver perceives as non-commercial,
regarding a brand, product, or service” (Arndt, 1967). Consumers receive informal
communications through internet regarding characteristics, usage, or feedback regarding
goods and services in question (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012). One of the studies reported
that about 9% of Indian internet users submit content online, and a large majority of the
consumers trust consumer’s online opinions3. Many studies have concluded that WOM
has a strong influence on the consumer purchase of new products or services (Engel et al.
1969). Wilson and Sherrell (1993) reported that word-of-mouth assumes higher
significance due to more credibility of information coming from a user or a consumer.
Also, one of the major advantages of positive WOM from satisfied customers is the lower
cost of attracting new customers (Fornell, 1992; Anderson, 1998). As internet has
connected global consumers through social networking websites, comparison websites,
and online community platforms, many studies reported that online user reviews have
become a better source of information for consumers as compared to offline WOM
communication (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010).
Due to paucity of time, consumers now prefer to make purchase decisions in the
comfort of their home. Statistics indicated that usage of online videos, audio clips, blogs,
sharing of photos has been on an increasing trend and benefits from these interactivities
can be significant (Kasavana et al., 2010). Consumers rely more on information about
hotel services given by fellow customers as consumers consider such information to be
more trustworthy (Wilson and Sherrell, 1993; Senecal and Nantel, 2004; Kardon, 2007;
Litvin et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2015). Sigala (2009), in a study on e-service quality
highlighted that hotels coordinate with their consumers to share their experiences (using
videos and stories) for assisting the prospective consumers in making decisions. Although
researchers have been tracking travellers’ information search behaviour (Fodness and
Murray, 1997) for a number of years, it is only in the recent period that researchers have
started focusing on use of available online information to plan their trips. Jensen and
Hjalager (2013) focused on comparative information searches before and during the trips
which revealed that informational search is more intense before the plan of trip rather
than during the trip. Jeng and Fesenmaier (2002) focused on the factors that influence the
decision-making ability of travel recommendation systems. Consumers are now getting
influenced by online travel communities and travel marketers have also started giving
attention to online communities (Smith et al., 2005). In online travel community postings,
members discuss their experiences and expertise which they have gained after visiting the
destination. Many a times, members post information like advice, recommendations,
suggestions, etc. about the destination. Travellers share the information regarding places
to visit, places to stay, and places to see at the destination (Litvin et al., 2008). In the
travel industry, word-of-mouth becomes more important as it is difficult to pre-judge the
intangible products before their actual use. Online WOM is a kind of electronic version
of traditional WOM and consists of consumer views and comments on their travel
experience (Bronner and Hoog, 2011; Filieri and Mcleay, 2013). WOM helps in
attracting tourists and leads to a multiplier effect (Reingen and Kernan, 1986).
In case of digital word-of-mouth scenario, it becomes important to analyse and
understand the influence of one consumer on another (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012). The
158 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

increasing importance of information and communication technology in hospitality and

tourism has necessitated the study of the impact of e-WOM (Law et al., 2014). E-WOM
has emerged as an important competitive advantage tool due to lack of trust in
advertising.
E-WOM, has been used as a pre-requisite to sources of information like advertising,
and is especially relevant for analysing tourists’ attitudes toward destinations (Albarq,
2014; Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012). Travellers use internet as an important source of
information to plan their trips. The different sources have created an information
overload for many travellers which have led travellers towards user generated content
such as online reviews (Setiawan et al., 2014).
In the past, prospective traveller(s) would often discuss their travel plans with their
friends and relatives. Upon the feedback received from these sources, the consumer
would plan their travel itinerary, places to be visited, hotels to be used for the stay, and
the restaurants for eating food, etc. But the times have changed now. Interaction with
relatives and friends has been on the decline due to nuclear family structure, and
individuals are trying to fill this void with technology. Rather than in-person socialising
or visiting their relatives and friends, consumers are more interested in spending their
leisure time on chatting, blogging, reading online reviews, etc. This has led to a shift in
the decision-making criteria for travel planning. Prospective travellers are now looking at
many sources of information for making their travel plans, and online reviews have
emerged as an important source of information for this purpose. Consumers now scan
through feedback given by other travellers for deciding the places to visit and other travel
related activities. Use of e-WOM as a promotion tool is slowly gaining momentum. Also,
in some countries, safety-specific issues force prospective travellers to gather information
from different sources including e-WOM. As many Indian consumers are now exploring
travel destinations outside India, which is leading to higher use of internet and online
sources before making a decision. Consumers wish to make an informed choice and
online reviews are helping them a lot in doing so. It is in the light of the above-mentioned
discussion, that through this study, the authors have attempted to analyse the factors
influencing E-WOM adoption among consumers, and to further analyse the relationship
between different factors and E-WOM adoption. The use of online social networking for
making tourism-related decisions is a new research area (Kasavana et al., 2010; Di Pietro
et al., 2012) which is under-investigated in emerging countries like India. The present
study has a multi-disciplinary linkage between business management and consumer
behaviour science.

2 Review of literature

The review of past literature has been presented in this section. e-WOM is an
interpersonal marketing communication tool which influences the consumer purchase
decisions (Litvin et al., 2008; Liang et al., 2013), and those who are predisposed to
purchase are more likely to receive favourable WOM from others (Arndt, 1967; Laczniak
et al., 2001; Fan and Miao, 2012). Word-of-mouth also affects customer perceptions and
loyalty intentions (Herr et al., 1991; Gruen et al., 2006).
Many studies have been undertaken on analysing the influence of e-WOM on
consumer purchase decision. For example, Gremler et al. (2001) found that a positive
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 159

relationship between company’s employees and their customers resulted in spreading

positive WOM. Thorson and Rodgers (2006) examined the e-WOM effects in political
arena focusing on citizens’ intentions to vote, and their attitude towards the candidate.
Hung and Li (2007) analysed the influence of e-WOM on virtual consumer communities
among Chinese consumers interested in beauty products and found responses such as
sources of social capital, brand choice facilitation, persuasion knowledge development,
and consumer reflexivity. Cheung et al. (2008) studied the influence on individuals based
on actual advice, recommendations, and suggestions received through electronic mode.
Daugherty and Hoffman (2014) found word-of-mouth as a significant factor influencing
consumer behaviour. Shamhuyenhanzva et al. (2016) examined the influence of e-WOM
communication on purchase decision, and examined the effects of variables like authority
and interestingness on e-WOM credibility, as mediated by source trustworthiness. Erkan
and Evans (2016) highlighted that quality, credibility, usefulness, adoption of
information, information needs, and attitude towards information were the key e-WOM
factors influencing consumer’s purchase intentions.
Previous studies also analysed the gender differences of online reviews’ influence,
willingness to recommend, and different factors leading to generation of online reviews.
For example, Gretzel et al. (2007) found gender differences for perceived impact of
reviews, with female reaping greater benefits from using reviews, especially in terms of
enjoyment and idea generation. Lee and Youn (2009) studied the effect of e-WOM on
consumer willingness to recommend. Cantallops and Salvi (2014) identified from
consumer and company perspective the review-generating factors (previous factors that
cause consumers to write reviews) and impact of e-WOM. Pan and Chiou (2011) studied
the effects on perceived trust of online information and subsequent attitude of perceived
strong vs. weak social relationships among net pals and positive vs. negative messages.
Reichelt et al. (2014) offered an empirical and theoretical validation of how specific
utilitarian and social functions of e-WOM affect attitude toward and intentions to read
E-WOM.
Also, previous studies have been undertaken to explore the usefulness and influence
of e-word-of-mouth in travel industry. Fakharyan et al. (2012) explored influence of
online word-of-mouth communication on traveller’s destination attitude. Filieri and
McLeay (2013) revealed that the travellers who are highly involved adopt both central
(information quality) and peripheral (product ranking) routes when they process
information from online reviews. Bronner and De Hoog (2011) concluded that
vacationers read, used information from the Internet during their choice process, and also
posted information on the Internet. Jeong and Jang (2011) suggested that restaurant’s
food quality positively influences customers to spread positive E-WOM. The authors
investigated sources of positive E-WOM and types of E-WOM media used among
opinion leaders in the restaurant industry. Ladhari and Michaud (2015) studied the
influence of online comments regarding trust and attitude toward the hotel intentions,
regarding booking a hotel, and perception towards its website. Blas and Buzova (2016)
analysed the qualitative (electronic word-of-mouth from Trip Advisor) and quantitative
(personal interviews with tourists) data for examining the importance of guided tours in
cruise tourists experience. Khan and Khan (2016) found convenience, risk reduction and
social reassurance as driving forces among tourists to engage in E-WOM in the
pre-purchase stage.
160 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

With the increasing use of internet by travellers in India, there existed a need to
explore the consumer attitude towards e-WOM, and identify the factors influencing
e-WOM adoption among consumers availing travel services.

3 Research hypotheses

3.1 Attitude
Attitude is the assessment of the user or individual towards the technology (Davis, 1989).
Both negative as well as positive online reviews influence the consumer attitude but
consumer attitude becomes unfavourable as the proportion of negative reviews increases
(Zhao et al., 2015). Positive attitude encourages trustworthiness in the online
environment (Lu et al., 2010; Fang et al., 2016). E-WOM influences the consumer
attitude, and further, a positive online review improves the consumer attitude towards
tourism, and (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012). Hence, we hypothesise that:
H1 Attitude influences e-WOM adoption.

3.2 Perceived usefulness

As stated by Davis (1989), perceived usefulness is the degree to which an individual
believes that undertaking certain behaviour will be useful to him/her. Perceived
usefulness is one of the most important factors in adopting E-WOM (Willemsen et al.,
2011; Zhao et al., 2015). Research studies such as Cheung et al. (2008), Park and Lee
(2009), Di Pietro and Pantano (2013), Zhao et al. (2015) and Shen et al. (2016) have
shown that usefulness of online reviews influence the decision making of individuals.
Therefore, we hypothesise that:
H2 Perceived usefulness influences e-WOM adoption.

3.3 Perceived risk

Perceived risk refers to certain types of financial, product performance, psychological,
physical, security and privacy risks when customers make any transactions. Perceived
risk is about consumers’ feelings of likelihood and unpleasant consequence because it
plays a significant role in the process of decision making. Different components of
perceived risk are uncertainty, consequences, the amount at stake, inherent risk, handled
risk, as well as various possible losses such as financial, psychosocial, physical,
performance, and time loss (Hussain et al., 2017). Many studies suggested that perceived
risk is greater in an online environment than in an offline environment (Doolin et al.,
2006; Drennan et al., 2006; Pires et al., 2004; Alhidari et al., 2015). The system of
security has a great effect on the adoption of E-WOM (Law and Leung, 2002; Law and
Wong, 2003; Wang and Wang, 2010). Consumers perceive risk when they face
uncertainty and potentially undesirable consequences as a result of a purchase; such
perceived risk then influences their intentions to engage in a purchase transaction. Thus,
we propose the following hypothesis:
H3 Perceived risk influences e-WOM adoption.
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 161

3.4 Perceived value

Perceived value is the consumer’s overall evaluation of the usefulness of a product or
service based on perceptions of what is received and what is given. In the e-commerce
context, it is the consumer’s assessment of benefits against costs when shopping with an
online seller (Zeithaml, 1988; Chen and Chen, 2010; Ponte et al., 2015). In the monetary
perspective, value is generated when less is paid by using coupons or promotions for
goods (Bishop, 1984). Perceived value is the evaluation of the benefits of a product or a
service by customers based on their advance sacrifices and perceived performance (Kuo
et al., 2009). In the tourism field, Llach et al. (2013) highlighted the significant and
positive influence of perceived value on purchase intention of airline tickets. Thus the
hypothesis is
H4 Perceived value influences E-WOM adoption

4 Conceptual model

Based on the above proposed hypotheses, the authors have developed a conceptual
framework (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Conceptual framework regarding E-WOM adoption

Attitude

Perceived
usefulness
E-WOM adoption

Perceived risk

Perceived value

5 Research methodology

For the present study, a sample of 240 respondents from three large cities of India namely
Mumbai, New Delhi (NCR) and Ludhiana was selected by using convenience sampling.
Respondents, who had undertaken at least one pleasure trip during the last three years,
were included in the study. A structured and non-disguised questionnaire was used for
collecting primary data and a five-point Likert scale was used to get the consumer
162 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

responses. The questionnaire was pre-tested and suitable modifications were

incorporated. The data was collected by personally contacting the respondents. The
collected data were analysed using various statistical tools like mean score, exploratory
factor analysis, and multiple linear regression. Exploratory factor analysis is used to
identify the underlying dimensions of factors that explain the correlations among a set of
variables (Malhotra and Dash, 2016). Principal components and factor analysis include a
family of exploratory data analysis procedures that are used to identify a relatively small
number of dimensions or themes underlying a relatively larger set of variables. These can
be applied to a set of items on a survey or to a set of already developed measures (Meyers
et al., 2013). Multiple regression involves a single dependent variable and two or more
independent variables (Malhotra and Dash, 2016)

6 Construct measures

The participants were asked to provide their response for different statements related to
perceived usefulness, attitude, perceived risk, perceived value, and E-WOM adoption.
There were, in total, 26 statements out of which 22 statements were related to
independent variables such as perceived usefulness, attitude, perceived risk, and
perceived value. Four statements were related to the dependent variable, e-WOM
adoption. Out of 26 statements, 18 statements were developed through previous research
studies like Wixom and Todd (2005) (four items); Gretzel et al. (2007) (12 items); Filieri
and McLeay (2013) (one item); and Zhao et al. (2015) (one item). The remaining items
were modified/developed by researcher based on the past research studies such as
Cheung et al. (2008), Jalilvand and Samiei (2012), Filieri and McLeay (2013), Abubakar
and Ilkan (2016), etc.

7 Results

The findings revealed that about 61% of the respondents were male, and about 75% were
between 18–40 years age group, and approximately 25% of the respondents were more
than 40 years of age. A large majority (94%) of respondents were graduate and above.
About 42% of the respondents were in-service whereas about 33% were in business and
self-employed. About 26% of the respondents had annual income between Indian rupees
0.3-0.6 million (Indian rupees 3–6 Lakhs), whereas approximately 62% had annual
income more than Indian rupees 0.6 million (Indian rupees 6 Lakhs). The findings also
revealed that about 43% of the respondents had made an annual expenditure between
Rupees 10,000-30,000 on pleasure trips, and about 28% spent Rupees 40,000 annually on
pleasure trips.

7.1 Use of internet and travel websites for travel planning

More than 90% of the respondents used internet for travel planning. Approximately,
76.2% of the respondents preferred online booking method whereas 23.8% of the
respondents preferred offline booking method. The results highlighted that there was an
association between age and preferred method of pleasure trip booking (chi-square value
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 163

was found to be significant at 5%). Respondents perceived internet as an important

(Mean score 4.08) source of collecting information for travel planning.
To study the purposes of using online information for travel planning, the respondents
were asked to rate, on a 5-point Likert scale, various statements highlighting the
importance of information for travel planning. The results revealed that respondents
visited websites for gaining information regarding place(s) to visit (3.96), exploring the
different destinations (3.86), information regarding pre-selected destination (3.80),
information regarding accommodation at the selected destination (3.79), information
regarding mode of travel (3.79), and information regarding package deals (3.78), reviews
(3.69), and stories (3.44).

7.2 Consumer attitude towards E-WOM and its influence on E-WOM adoption
To study the consumer attitude towards E-WOM and its influence on E-WOM adoption,
the respondents were asked to rate various statements on a 5-point Likert scale. These
statements (Table 1) were developed with the help of pervious literature.
Table 1 Attitude of respondents towards online reviews

Mean Standard
Statements
score deviation
I find using online reviews reduces the chances of making a bad decision. 3.92 0.68
I find using online reviews help me plan my trips more efficiently. 3.86 0.62
I find using online reviews make me feel excited about travelling. 3.86 0.70
I find getting online reviews information is easier. 3.86 0.83
I find using online reviews help me evaluate alternatives. 3.84 0.80
I find using online reviews as valuable 3.84 0.68
Online reviews help me in reducing the time in searching for accommodations. 3.82 0.78
I find using online reviews provide me with ideas. 3.80 0.67
I find using online reviews help me in avoiding making a risky decision. 3.80 0.69
Online reviews help me in reducing wasteful expenditure. 3.78 0.75
I find using online reviews help me save time in the travel planning process. 3.77 0.80
I find using online reviews increase my confidence in the decisions I make. 3.76 0.71
I find using online reviews help me imagine my trips more vividly. 3.74 0.74
I find using online reviews is a pleasant experience. 3.74 0.81
I find using online reviews make easier to reach decisions. 3.72 0.65
I find using online reviews make travel planning more enjoyable. 3.71 0.71
I find using online reviews add fun to the travel planning process. 3.71 0.93
I find online reviews as user-friendly. 3.71 0.90
I find using online reviews help me to avoid places/ services which I cannot 3.69 0.71
enjoy.
Online reviews help me in increasing the security of the family. 3.68 0.77
I find using online reviews as favourable. 3.67 0.80
I find using online reviews as enjoyable. 3.66 0.79
Online reviews help me in increasing the financial savings. 3.65 0.84
I find using online reviews help me to reduce the likelihood that I later regret a 3.54 0.75
decision.
164 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

Factor analysis was applied to generate meaningful factors. For the factor analysis,
24 items were included and were checked for reliability. Correlation matrix depicted
sufficient correlations to carry out factor analysis. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (0.918)
and Bartlett’s test of sphericity highlighted the appropriateness of factor analysis.
Bartlett’s test of sphericity was used to test the hypothesis that the variables were
uncorrelated in the population. A large significant value of the test statistic showed that
statistically significant number of correlations existed among the variables. Further,
reliability analysis was undertaken, and on overall basis reliability coefficient
(Cronbach’s alpha) came out to be 0.950, which is more than acceptable limit of 0.70
(Hair et al., 2006). Also, the Cronbach alpha value was calculated for each component
and came out to be greater than 0.8 for each component (see Table 2).
Table 2 Reliability statistic (Cronbach’s alpha)

Factor Cronbach’s alpha

Attitude 0.915
Perceived usefulness 0.875
Perceived risk 0.823
Perceived value 0.821

The data obtained were executed using principle component method utilising varimax
rotation. Only those variables were considered whose eigenvalue was greater than 1, and
the variables with factor loading greater than 0.5 were considered for evaluation purpose.
Resultant output matrix (Table 3) shows factors extracted along with items, percentage of
variance covered, respective eigenvalues and factor loadings.
The results yielded four components, accounting for 64.52% of the total variance.
These components accounted for 20.30%, 16.31%, 14.88%, and 13.01% of the total
variance (Table 3).
The first component named ‘attitude (ATT)’ included items namely ‘I find getting
online reviews information is easier (0.788)’, ‘I find using online reviews is a pleasant
experience (0.784)’, ‘I find using online reviews as enjoyable (0.752)’, ‘I find online
reviews as user-friendly (0.689)’, ‘I find using online reviews as favourable (0.746)’ and
‘I find using online reviews as valuable (0.716)’ and ‘I find using online reviews help me
evaluate alternatives (0.576). The second component was named as ‘Perceived
Usefulness (PU)’ and included items named as ‘I find using online reviews increase my
confidence in the decisions I make (0.754)’, ‘I find using online reviews help me imagine
my trips more vividly (0.676)’, ‘I find using online reviews add fun to the travel planning
process (0.646)’, ‘I find using online reviews help me plan my trips more efficiently
(0.621)’, ‘I find using online reviews help me save time in the travel planning process
(0.623)’ and ‘I find using online reviews provide me with ideas (0.589)’. Component 3
was named as ‘perceived risk (PR)’ and included items namely ‘I find using online
reviews help me to reduce the likelihood that I later regret a decision (0.650)’, ‘I find
using online reviews make easier to reach decisions (0.715)’, ‘I find using online reviews
make travel planning more enjoyable (0.617)’, ‘I find using online reviews help me to
avoid places/ services which I cannot enjoy (0.600)’ and ‘Online reviews help me in
reducing the time in searching for accommodations (0.572)’. Component 4 was named as
‘perceived value (PV). This component included items such as ‘online reviews help me in
increasing the security of the family (0.835)’, ‘online reviews help me in increasing the
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 165

financial savings (0.701)’, ‘online reviews help me in reducing wasteful expenditure

(0.657)’ and ‘I find using online reviews help me in avoiding making a risky decision
(0.587)’.
Table 3 Resultant output matrix

Component
Statements Perceived Perceived Perceived
Attitude
usefulness risk value
I find getting online reviews information is easier. .788 .192 .240 .088
I find using online reviews is a pleasant experience. .784 .279 .163 .211
I find using online reviews as enjoyable. .752 .417 -.005 .192
I find using online reviews as favourable. .746 .175 .277 .262
I find using online reviews as valuable .716 .211 .302 .208
I find online reviews as user-friendly. .689 .147 .375 .174
I find using online reviews help me evaluate .576 .394 .366 .115
alternatives.
I find using online reviews increase my confidence in .161 .754 .135 .357
the decisions I make.
I find using online reviews help me imagine my trips .323 .676 .160 .280
more vividly.
I find using online reviews add fun to the travel .482 .646 .308 -.078
planning process.
I find using online reviews help me save time in the .182 .623 .383 .233
travel planning process.
I find using online reviews help me plan my trips .309 .621 .165 .267
more efficiently.
I find using online reviews provide me with ideas. .320 .589 .287 .155
I find using online reviews make easier to reach .308 .194 .715 .095
decisions.
I find using online reviews help me to reduce the .255 .065 .650 .297
likelihood that I later regret a decision.
I find using online reviews make travel planning .124 .419 .617 .098
more enjoyable.
I find using online reviews help me to avoid places/ .316 .179 .600 .277
services which I cannot enjoy.
Online reviews help me in reducing the time in .182 .277 .572 .438
searching for accommodations.
Online reviews help me in increasing the security of .201 .114 .104 .835
the family.
Online reviews help me in increasing the financial .108 .150 .411 .701
savings.
Online reviews help me in reducing wasteful .258 .302 .297 .657
expenditure.
I find using online reviews help me in avoiding .141 .432 .074 .587
making a risky decision.
Total variance explained (%) 20.30 16.31 14.88 13.01
Cumulative variance explained (%) 20.30 36.62 51.50 64.52
Notes: Extraction method – principal component analysis; rotation method – varimax;
Components: attitude (ATT), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived risk (PR),
perceived value (PV).
166 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

7.3 Influence of generated factors on E-WOM adoption among consumers

E-WOM adoption was measured through different statements (see Table 4) like ‘I would
continue using online reviews in the future for availing travel services’, ‘I would
recommend using online reviews to my friends’, ‘I would increase the use of online
reviews in my other travel-related purchase decisions, and ‘I would recommend using
online reviews to my relatives’.
Table 4 Adoption of E-WOM among consumers

Statements Mean score Standard deviation

I would continue using online reviews in future for 3.89 0.71
availing travel services.
I would recommend using online reviews during 3.79 0.70
availing travel services to my friends.
I would increase the use of online reviews in my other 3.75 0.71
travel related decisions.
I would recommend using online reviews to my 3.65 0.75
relatives during availing travel services.

A new variable was created by taking mean of scores assigned to different variables by
the respondents and this new variable was considered as dependent variable measuring of
e-WOM adoption among consumers. Regression analysis was applied to find out the
relationship between generated factors and e-WOM adoption. Factors, so generated
through exploratory factor analysis such as ‘attitude (ATT)’, ‘perceived usefulness (PU)’,
‘perceived risk (PR)’, and ‘perceived value (PV)’ were considered as independent
variables in the proposed model.
The equation for studying the relationship is given as below:
Yi∗ = α + β1 ATT + β 2 PU + β3 PR + β 4 PV + εi

The effect of each dimension derived from factor analysis was examined on adoption of
online reviews by the respondents. For this model, the adjusted R-square was 0.609
(Table 5).
Table 5 Model summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R square Std. error of the estimate

0.785 0.616 0.609 0.366

Table 6 Resultant output of regression analysis

Unstandardised Standardised
Model coefficients coefficients t-value p-value
B Beta
(Constant) 3.769 159.659 0.000
Attitude (β1) 0.253 0.433 10.698 0.000
Perceived usefulness (β2) 0.242 0.414 10.240 0.000
Perceived risk (β3) 0.243 0.416 10.290 0.000
Perceived value (β4) 0.170 0.290 7.173 0.000
Note: Predictors – ‘attitude (ATT)’, ‘perceived usefulness (PU)’, ‘perceived risk (PR)’,
‘perceived value (PV)’.
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 167

The independent variables (Table 6) such as ‘ATT (β1 = 0.433, p< 0.001)’,
‘PU (β2 = 0.414, p < 0.001)’, ‘PR (β3 = 0.416, p< 0.001)’, and ‘PV (β4 = 0.290, p <
0.001)’ indicated a statistically significant influence on e-WOM adoption.
Table 7 Summary of hypotheses testing

Hypothesis Result
H1 Attitude influences e-WOM adoption Supported
H2 Perceived usefulness influences e-WOM adoption Supported
H3 Perceived risk influences e-WOM adoption Supported
H4 Perceived value influences e-WOM adoption Supported

Findings (Table 7) revealed that all the four hypotheses were supported, and it was
concluded that a significant relationship exists between identified factors (consumer
attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, perceived value) and e-WOM adoption.

8 Discussion

This paper sought to analyse the factors influencing consumer attitude towards adoption
of e-WOM for availing travel services. The research model was developed, based on the
proposed hypotheses for the study. It discussed the relationships between independent
variables namely attitude, perceived usefulness, perceived risk and perceived value with
e-WOM adoption as dependent variable. The results of the study validated the model and
supported all the hypotheses. The results were in line with the previous research studies.
The prospective travellers can make use of electronic word-of-mouth as a tool for
gaining useful information about the destinations to be visited and they can make
informed decisions about the places to be visited. Further, e-WOM would help the
travellers in finding suitable accommodation, and addressing safety issues, especially for
women travellers. According to World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report 2017, India has improved 12 places to reach the 40th position
globally but India needs to improve upon some important parameters such as human
resources (87th), health conditions (104th), tourist service infrastructure (110th) in terms
of additional accommodation capacity and entertainment facilities), and security concerns
(114th).3 As perceived usefulness and perceived value emerged as significant influencers
of e-WOM adoption, thus, the hotel managers, hotel owners, destination marketing
managers, government functionaries, and authorities should promote useful and
authenticated information. It would be of great help to the e-WOM users if the contact
information, pictures of the places visited, etc. are included in the reviews. Number of
reviews available is emerging as a deciding factor for making decisions based upon
e-WOM information. Travel industry authorities and participants can undertake suitable
modifications in their marketing strategy for influencing the e-WOM users’ attitude.
Efforts could be undertaken to enhance perceived usefulness and value of e-WOM in
travel decisions, and to highlight the importance of e-WOM in reducing risk related to
travel matters.
168 S.K. Singh and L.M. Kathuria

9 Conclusions

With the introduction of new promotion tools and technology, travellers are turning
towards online medium to make their decisions. As e-WOM information is mostly
provided by the fellow users, it is considered to be more honest and trustworthy
information. This study was envisaged to identify the factors influencing the e-WOM
adoption among prospective travellers. The results of the study provided some important
insights. Respondents used travel websites mostly for gaining information regarding
places to be visited and exploring different destinations. Most of the respondents read
online reviews before availing travel services and internet was most preferred source of
information for finding travel services followed by travel agents and newspapers. Further,
respondents were using online reviews for gaining information about travel destination;
to select the place of destination; for selecting the place(s) to eat, stay, and see; and for
deciding the time of visit, and for gaining information about means of available transport.
Respondents perceive that using online reviews reduces the chance of making a bad
decision about pleasure trips and help them plan trips more efficiently. Also, they find
getting online reviews information as easy.
The present study makes a specific theoretical contribution in identifying the
significant variables influencing the e-WOM adoption in developing countries. The
peculiar characteristics of the developing countries like safety issues, lack of
infrastructure etc. motivate future travellers to finalise their travel destination very
carefully after a thoughtful analysis of the information gathered through different sources.
Most of the middle income travellers in India have to make serious efforts towards saving
funds for planning a vacation trip. Even some of the other consumptions need to be
postponed thus highlighting the importance of careful planning using different sources of
information, and e-WOM is emerging as an important source not only in purchase of
goods but also services especially travel services. The present study is one of the few
studies undertaken in India empirically investigating the adoption of e-WOM among
travellers. These conclusions would be useful for both researchers and practitioners in
travel industry. Travel now-a-days entail a large amount of efforts and investment.
Through use of online reviews, the different stakeholders such as country ambassadors,
hotel and destination managers could reduce the risk of consumer investment going bad.
Managers could leverage the strength of online reviews as travellers act as co-marketers
(Gretzel et al., 2012) by giving influencing reviews impacting travellers’ decisions
strongly (Bickart and Schindler, 2001; Senecal and Nantel, 2004 cited in Filieri and
McLeay, 2013). The stakeholders should try to devise marketing strategies to deliver
customer satisfaction so that consumers report positive e-WOM and marketers could
develop ways to incentivise their customers to provide useful information through
e-WOM.

10 Limitations

Some of the limitations of this research have been pointed out. The sample size included
in the study is small and a large diversified sample would help in generating more
meaningful results. The future studies could investigate and compare the e-WOM
adoption on the basis of gender, and urban/rural travellers. Destination specific studies
could be undertaken to explore the determinants of e-WOM adoption. Further, the impact
 Factors influencing e-word-of-mouth adoption among consumers 169

of e-WOM adoption could be measured in future studies based on emerging countries

data.

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