Tourist purchases in a destination: what leads them to seek information from digital sources?

Abstract

Purpose – In a context where retail stores are closing down and high streets are declining, the purpose of this paper is to analyse on-site shopping by tourists. This work identifies the drivers that lead tourists to use digital information sources at the beginning of the shopping process. Understanding these drivers can help destination managers and retailers encourage tourists to shop. Design/methodology/approach – A personal survey was conducted in a Spanish city noted for its shopping facilities (Logroño), using a sample of 430 tourists with purchase intention. The survey was designed based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model. A multivariate analysis, based on structural equation modelling, was carried out using partial least squares (PLS), based on variance. Findings – The study’s finding is that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and habit influence intention to use digital sources of information to make purchases in a destination. Tourists prioritise utilitarian over hedonic motivations in the intention to use digital sources of information in tourist shopping. Originality/value – It has been recognised that tourists are the perfect target to revitalise on-site shopping and, therefore, destinations must provide attractive shopping experiences from the outset. Prior to purchase, the search for available information is the first stage of the tourist shopping journey. Although many studies have analysed tourist shopping behaviour, none have focused, using the UTAUT2, on the digital information sources tourists consult pre-purchase. This research develops understanding of tourist shopping behaviour in this new technological context. This can help retailers/destinations provide better services and optimise the shopper's experience from the first stage of the process. 研究目的 – 零售商店陸續倒閉，商業街的經營業務逐漸式微；本文旨在分析遊客在這背景下的現場購物活動。本文擬確定遊客在購物過程的初期驅使他們使用數位資訊來源的誘因；了解這些誘因，將有助目的地管理經理和零售商推動遊客購物活動。 研究設計/方法/理念 – 研究人員在一個以購物設施馳名的西班牙城市(洛格羅尼奧) 進行個人調查，樣本為430名有意購物的遊客。調查是以整合性科技接受使用理論的延伸模型(UTAUT2)為基礎而設計的。研究人員使用以方差為基礎的偏最小平方，來進行以結構方程模型為基礎的多變數分析。 研究結果 – 績效期望、付出期望、社群影響、促成條件和習慣均影響遊客為目的地購物而使用數位資訊來源的意慾。而就這意慾而言，功利動機在優先次序上比享樂動機佔更高的位置。 原創性/價值 – 我們承認，要使現場購物得以復甦，遊客是最適當的目標。因此，旅遊目的地必須從一開始就要給遊客提供愉快的購物體驗。遊客購物前、尋找有關的購物資訊便是這個旅遊購物旅程的第一個階段。分析遊客購物行為的研究為數不少，唯使用第2代整合型科技接受理論(UTAUT2) 、重點探討遊客購物前使用數位資訊來源來尋找資訊的研究則從未見過。本研究讓我們更深入了解遊客在這個新技術背景下的購物行為，這有助零售商/目的地經營者為遊客提供更佳的服務、及優化遊客從購物過程首階段開始的購物體驗。

Keywords

• Tourist shopping
• Digital information sources
• Technology
• UTAUT2
• Logroño