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EMCIS 2012: developing scalable information systems in turbulent times - part 2
Edited by Professor Zahir Irani
1. Introduction
There are numerous studies on online customer behaviour concerning aspects such as browsing attitudes, continuous intention to use a web site, willingness to purchase or shopping interests. Research has commonly focused on specific industries or sectors, such as retailing, banking, governmental transactions and hotel booking. This study focuses particularly on a significant yet under-investigated industry, namely: airline or aviation. According to [27] Law and Leung (2000), making travel arrangements online is the internet's second-largest commercial area after computer technology, yet many airline companies still do not have sufficient knowledge to build a "useful" web site. To date, there has been only limited research in the context of tourism web site evaluation ([28] Law et al. , 2010). Meanwhile, the internet has become one of the most important platforms for travel-related service entrepreneurs in terms of providing facilities to their target customers ([19] Ho and Lee, 2007).
Online services, such as flight booking, selecting seats, web check-in and, more importantly, buying tickets are all considered essential for airline companies to succeed. Accordingly, it is important to gain a better understanding into the behaviours of travellers when they complete their online travel arrangements. Literature from online consumer behaviour, web quality and travel and tourism has been consulted with the aim of proposing a conceptual framework that can analyse travellers' behaviours and the factors able to influence users in utilising airlines' web sites for their air-ticket purchasing needs.
2. Airline industry (study context)
Airline companies are facing significant challenges in covering running costs and gaining profits at the same time. Moreover, with competition between travel agencies, traditional airlines and low-cost carriers, it has become essential to adopt smart solutions to reduce costs. E-solutions, however, are effective both in directly reducing operating costs and in making the enterprise more efficient, productive and customer-centric ([45] Taneja, 2002). This is especially true in an industry with long-term growth, such as within the travel industry. Utilising the internet to provide services is believed to be essential for any airline to succeed; however, merely providing the service is not enough; rather, encouraging more customers to use these services rather than traditional ones plays an...