IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/qualqt/v54y2020i3d10.1007_s11135-020-00971-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of online reviews on inbound travellers’ decision making

Author

Listed:
  • Ruwan Jayathilaka

    (Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology)

  • Thanuja Dharmasena

    (United Nations Human Settlements Programme)

  • Nizamuddin Rezahi

    (Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology)

  • Sukheetha Haththotuwegama

    (Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology)

Abstract

This paper explores the hotel experience of inbound travellers to five-star boutique hotels of Sri Lanka and ascertains how hotels have satisfied their customers’ expectations through assessment of the positive and negative reviews. A qualitative research method of content analysis incorporating quantitative elements is engaged for this study. Data comes from a survey conducted by the TripAdvisor website. This study reveals that all dimensions of service quality played an equally important role from the perspective of customers. However, consumers are not satisfied due to the presence of perceived quality gaps. It was revealed that to maximise customer satisfaction, boutique hotels need to refer to online reviews to obtain authentic information from their guests. Sri Lanka is making strong efforts to support its tourism industry which got affected by the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, therefore the findings of this paper will undoubtedly be useful for the trade.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruwan Jayathilaka & Thanuja Dharmasena & Nizamuddin Rezahi & Sukheetha Haththotuwegama, 2020. "The impact of online reviews on inbound travellers’ decision making," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 1005-1021, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:54:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11135-020-00971-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-020-00971-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-020-00971-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11135-020-00971-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. SOFRONOV, Bogdan, 2018. "The Impact Of The Online Environment On Tourism," Annals of Spiru Haret University, Economic Series, Universitatea Spiru Haret, vol. 9(1), pages 231-240.
    2. Sunyoung Hlee & Hanna Lee & Chulmo Koo, 2018. "Hospitality and Tourism Online Review Research: A Systematic Analysis and Heuristic-Systematic Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-27, April.
    3. Fang, Bin & Ye, Qiang & Kucukusta, Deniz & Law, Rob, 2016. "Analysis of the perceived value of online tourism reviews: Influence of readability and reviewer characteristics," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 498-506.
    4. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    5. Liu, Zhiwei & Park, Sangwon, 2015. "What makes a useful online review? Implication for travel product websites," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 140-151.
    6. Syed Abdul Rehman Khan & Arshian Sharif & Hêriş Golpîra & Anil Kumar, 2019. "A green ideology in Asian emerging economies: From environmental policy and sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 1063-1075, November.
    7. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    8. Elvira Ismagilova & Emma L. Slade & Nripendra P. Rana & Yogesh K. Dwivedi, 0. "The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth Communications on Intention to Buy: A Meta-Analysis," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-24.
    9. Maxham, James III, 2001. "Service recovery's influence on consumer satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth, and purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 11-24, October.
    10. Shaw, Gareth & Bailey, Adrian & Williams, Allan, 2011. "Aspects of service-dominant logic and its implications for tourism management: Examples from the hotel industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 207-214.
    11. Xiang, Zheng & Gretzel, Ulrike, 2010. "Role of social media in online travel information search," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 179-188.
    12. Grégoire, Yany & Salle, Audrey & Tripp, Thomas M., 2015. "Managing social media crises with your customers: The good, the bad, and the ugly," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 173-182.
    13. Filieri, Raffaele, 2015. "What makes online reviews helpful? A diagnosticity-adoption framework to explain informational and normative influences in e-WOM," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1261-1270.
    14. Xinxin Li & Lorin M. Hitt, 2008. "Self-Selection and Information Role of Online Product Reviews," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 456-474, December.
    15. Liu, Qianqian (Ben) & Karahanna, Elena & Watson, Richard T., 2011. "Unveiling user-generated content: Designing websites to best present customer reviews," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 231-240, May.
    16. Jianwei Qian & Huawen Shen & Rob Law, 2018. "Research in Sustainable Tourism: A Longitudinal Study of Articles between 2008 and 2017," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, February.
    17. Wu, Laurie & Shen, Han & Fan, Alei & Mattila, Anna S., 2017. "The impact of language style on consumers′ reactions to online reviews," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 590-596.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lakshman Alles & Ruwan Jayathilaka & Nelum Kumari & Taraka Malalathunga & Hashini Obeyesekera & Selvaraj Sharmila, 2021. "An investigation of the usage of capital budgeting techniques by small and medium enterprises," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 993-1006, June.
    2. Georgios Giotis & Evangelia Papadionysiou, 2022. "The Role of Managerial and Technological Innovations in the Tourism Industry: A Review of the Empirical Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sunyoung Hlee & Hanna Lee & Chulmo Koo, 2018. "Hospitality and Tourism Online Review Research: A Systematic Analysis and Heuristic-Systematic Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-27, April.
    2. Book, Laura A. & Tanford, Sarah & Chang, Wen, 2018. "Customer reviews are not always informative: The impact of effortful versus heuristic processing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 272-280.
    3. Yani Wang & Jun Wang & Tang Yao, 2019. "What makes a helpful online review? A meta-analysis of review characteristics," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 257-284, June.
    4. Raffaele Filieri & Elisabetta Raguseo & Claudio Vitari, 2018. "What moderates the influence of extremely negative ratings? The role of review and reviewer characteristics," Post-Print halshs-01923196, HAL.
    5. Mohammad Tipu Sultan & Farzana Sharmin & Alina Badulescu & Darie Gavrilut & Ke Xue, 2021. "Social Media-Based Content towards Image Formation: A New Approach to the Selection of Sustainable Destinations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Caiwei Ma & Norman Au & Lianping Ren, 2020. "Biased minds experience improved decision-making speed and confidence on social media: a heuristic approach," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 593-624, December.
    7. Jooyoung Hwang & Anita Eves & Jason L. Stienmetz, 2021. "The Impact of Social Media Use on Consumers’ Restaurant Consumption Experiences: A Qualitative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-33, June.
    8. Xu, Xun & Lee, Chieh, 2020. "Utilizing the platform economy effect through EWOM: Does the platform matter?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    9. Muhammad Amad Saeed & Ammara Farooq & Wolfgang Kersten & Semah Ibrahim Ben Abdelaziz, 2019. "Sustainable product purchase: does information about product sustainability on social media affect purchase behavior?," Asian Journal of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, December.
    10. Mohd Azhar & Sehar Nafees & Sujood & Sheeba Hamid, 2023. "Understanding post-pandemic travel intention toward rural destinations by expanding the theory of planned behavior (TPB)," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Ben Abdelaziz, Semah Ibrahim & Saeed, Muhammad Amas & Benleulmi, Ahmed Ziad, 2015. "Social Media Effect on Sustainable Products Purchase," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain Management: New Designs and Strategies. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics , volume 21, pages 63-93, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    12. Yi, Jisu & Oh, Yun Kyung, 2022. "The informational value of multi-attribute online consumer reviews: A text mining approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Zajadacz Alina & Minkwitz Aleksandra, 2020. "Using Social Media Data to Plan for Tourism," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 39(3), pages 125-138, September.
    14. Raffaele Filieri & Elisabetta Raguseo & Claudio Vitari, 2018. "When are extreme ratings more helpful? Empirical evidence on the moderating effects of review characteristics and product type," Post-Print halshs-01923243, HAL.
    15. Onofrei, George & Filieri, Raffaele & Kennedy, Lorraine, 2022. "Social media interactions, purchase intention, and behavioural engagement: The mediating role of source and content factors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 100-112.
    16. Zheng, Lili, 2021. "The classification of online consumer reviews: A systematic literature review and integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 226-251.
    17. S. Cicognani & P. Figini & M. Magnani, 2016. "Social Influence Bias in Online Ratings: A Field Experiment," Working Papers wp1060, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    18. Filieri, Raffaele & Lin, Zhibin & Pino, Giovanni & Alguezaui, Salma & Inversini, Alessandro, 2021. "The role of visual cues in eWOM on consumers’ behavioral intention and decisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 663-675.
    19. Caiwei Ma & Norman Au & Lianping Ren, 0. "Biased minds experience improved decision-making speed and confidence on social media: a heuristic approach," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-32.
    20. Babajide Abubakr Muritala & Maria-Victoria Sánchez-Rebull & Ana-Beatriz Hernández-Lara, 2020. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Online Reviews Research in Tourism and Hospitality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-18, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:54:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11135-020-00971-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.