Applying Flow Theory to the Online Booking Experience: The Role of Utilitarian and Hedonic Features

Abstract

The transformations experienced in the tourism industry along with developing internet technologies are bringing out new distribution channels. The presentation of tourism products through these channels has also been rapidly accepted by the tourists. Online travel sales exceeding 690 billion dollars together with developing mobile payment options have made online purchasing behaviors an important issue. Although Flow Theory had been previously used in the fields such as adventure and sports, in the course of time it has started to be used also for understanding online consumer behaviors and it was seen that it has positive effects like trust, and e-loyalty in users. Therefore, determination of the factors that will provide consumers with flow experience in online environments, has also become an important issue. In this study, the features of a booking site that will provide consumers with flow experience were examined and which factors are more effective in the flow theory was searched. Consequently, it was determined that the flow experience is affected by utilitarian and hedonic features offered to consumers. Additionally, it was also observed that hedonic features offered to the consumers during the purchasing process affects the flow experience more than utilitarian features.