Abstract
Generation Y (Gen Y) travel spending is set to soar and has enormous implications for hospitality firms’ economic sustainability. However, previous studies have failed to examine the hierarchical interrelationship between e-loyalty attributes in the presence of a hierarchical structure and linguistic preferences. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to identify a list of e-loyalty attributes and to examine each attribute’s importance to Gen Y consumers’ e-loyalty intentions in the context of tourism. Drawing on an ad hoc survey of 230 graduate students in Taiwan, the study employs exploratory factor analysis to analyze the method’s validity and reliability. Furthermore, 30 Gen Y consumers are invited to evaluate the identified measures using fuzzy linguistic scales. The fuzzy set theory is then employed to translate the qualitative responses into crisp values. The decision-making trial evaluation laboratory is used to understand the interrelationships between the e-loyalty attributes. The empirical findings reveal that trust, utilitarian features, and hedonic features all play essential roles in Gen Y tourists’ e-loyalty. In addition, perceived enjoyment, website competency, emotional connection, candid and authentic site information, and delightful experiences are crucial factors in the formation of customer e-loyalty. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Highlights
Marketers need to constantly evaluate the marketplace to offer convenient services and products to satisfy their target customers’ changing needs
Built upon the hedonic and utilitarian shopping value theory, we propose a model that delineates the interrelationships among positive online experience, website design, trust, brand equity, and Generation Y (Gen Y) consumers’ e-loyalty behavior in the increasingly competitive tourism context
Gen Y consumers make up the largest customer segment for travel and tourism
Summary
Marketers need to constantly evaluate the marketplace to offer convenient services and products to satisfy their target customers’ changing needs. Generation Y (Gen Y), which refers to those born between 1981 and 1999, termed “millennial”, has emerged as a promising consumer segment with considerable purchasing power. This consumer cohort differs in many ways from previous generations [1]. This tech-savvy generation grew up with personal computers and consumes website information five times faster than previous cohorts. Gen Y makes up more than 25% of the entire population [3], and they would have made 300 million trips in 2020 [4] if people’s consumption behavior was not interrupted by the COVID-19 crisis. Regardless, most major economic sectors (including tourism) are likely to regain momentum once a COVID-19 vaccine becomes
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