The consequences to browse in spanish vs. english when developing loyalty towards a tourist destination on internet

Abstract

This work analyzes whether the cultural values of a language influence when processing information from a website and its effect on the perceived risk online, on the development of positive attitudes toward a Web site and loyalties on the service offered therein. We propose an information-processing model based on TAM in which perceived risk online is an antecedent and consumer loyalty towards the service is the ultimate outcome In order to achieve this objective and test the proposed hypotheses, a between-subjects experimental design was chosen, using one independent variable namely with two level: processing language (Spanish vs. English). The final sample comprised 264 Spanish users. Half the sample browsed in Spanish, and the other half in English. The results demonstrated that the cultural dimension ‘uncertainty avoidance’ moderates the effect of perceived risk on perceived ease of use and usefulness. Perceived ease of use or perceived usefulness influenced to attitude towards the website, depending on whether the language used to process the information on the site conveys cultural values with a shorter or longer-term orientation. Languages, as a cultural framework, didn´t moderate the relationship between attitude towards the website and loyalty towards the tourist destination.

Keywords

• language
• perceived risk
• loyalty
• tourism
• cross-cultural study
• culture