Factors influencing travellers’ decision-making behaviour towards online travel purchases: a fuzzy-DEMATEL approach

The growth of technology and easy access to the internet have led to an unparalleled boom in online booking. The uncertainty surrounding online travel purchases, however, still makes traveller’s decision-making process very stressful. Hence, this study aims to identify and classify different factors that drive travellers’ decision-making and actual behaviour. This study seeks to fill the void by systematically reviewing and synthesizing the online travel literature. The study utilizes the fuzzy-DEMATEL approach to identify, classify and analyse various factors to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding sets of factors driving travellers’ decisions and their actual behaviour. The findings reveal that travellers’ online travel purchasing behaviour is influenced most by their attitude, while social influence also emerged as a significant factor. This study provides key insights for academics, researchers and practitioners by identifying major factors and sub-factors, along with their causal interactions. This study is novel in its approach as it significantly contributes to existing knowledge by synthesizing the literature and employing the fuzzy-DEMATEL technique in categorizing the key factors that influence travellers’ decision-making and actual purchase.