Examining the factors influencing smartphone apps use at tourism destinations: a UTAUT model perspective

Abstract

Purpose Tourists regularly make use of their smartphones while staying at tourist destinations. Several studies have studied the outcomes of smartphone use at travel destinations. The current paper believes tourists’ use of their smartphone or its apps because of their contact with tour friends, social loneliness-related concerns or its aesthetic scope. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors of continued use of smartphone apps via travelers during their stay at a tourism destination, framed within the UTAUT2 model (unified theory of acceptance and use of technology), given intrinsic user attributes (innovativeness), tourism destination aspect (aesthetic scope and social loneliness) and one of the key characteristics of mobile devices (portability). Design/methodology/approach The sample consists of 357 smartphone users who travelled to some tourist destinations and used some mobile apps during their stay. Data was analyzed using the structural equation modeling approach. Findings The findings of the study show that the UTAUT2 model can effectively explain the use of smartphone apps at tourism destinations and characteristics of the user and mobile device, does affect behaviour outcomes (smartphone, intention to reuse app, satisfaction towards trip and loyalty towards app). Originality/value This paper is mainly important due to its emphasis on smartphone apps’ use during the travel stay, as the majority of the existing literature focusses on prior steps ( service booking).