Open AccessLocation-based services in tourism: An empirical analysis of factors influencing usage behaviour
Author(s) -
Per Ole Uphaus,
Annika Ehlers,
Harald Rau
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.467
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1314-0817
pISSN - 1994-7658
DOI - 10.54055/ejtr.v23i.386
Subject(s) - expectancy theory , tourism , destinations , marketing , business , service (business) , empirical research , order (exchange) , service provider , location based service , advertising , computer science , economics , geography , telecommunications , management , archaeology , epistemology , finance , philosophy
This contribution focuses on tourists’ usage behaviour of Location-Based Services (LBS) during their vacation. LBS represents technologies that localise a user’s mobile device (Turowski & Pousttchi 2004: 73) to offer services and content based on the user’s current geographical location (Egger & Jooss 2010: 21; Frey et al. 2015: 124). In vacation spots tourists find themselves in a situation characterised by increased information and service needs (Link & Seidl 2008: 56). Given that, LBS are considered to be promising services in the tourist industry (Egger & Jooss 2010: 21). In order to make use of the entire potential of LBS in tourism, the following key question needs to be answered: Which factors influence tourists’ usage behaviour of LBS and which possibilities can be derived for tourism providers and destinations? To answer its research question, this empirical study follows a deductive approach using UTAUT2, a popular technology acceptance model. The findings show a high usage rate of LBS in vacation and indicate that especially performance expectancy, effort expectancy as well as hedonic motivation influence the rate of usage. Considering these main causes, we derive theoretical implications as well as valuable clues for tourism management in practice.