Adoption of travel e‐shopping in the UK

This study aims to explore consumers' adoption of internet shopping in the context of UK travel services. The key objective is to identify the profile of internet shoppers and the antecedents of internet shopping adoption for travel services.

The paper includes evidence and findings from an online survey questionnaire distributed to existing travel e‐shoppers in the UK via their e‐mail address. Drawing upon Davis' technology acceptance model (TAM), the study proposes a model for the prediction of internet shopping adoption, with inclusions of personal and cognitive influence. The model identifies the structural relationships among eight constructs, which were examined through structural equation modelling.

The results of this study yield evidence that previous technology acceptance and diffusion research, and specifically the significant body of work based on the TAM, may serve as a foundation for much needed research into consumers' adoption of internet‐related activities. Relationships among primary TAM constructs found in this research are largely consistent with those typical in previous TAM research. The descriptive results present a profile of travel e‐shoppers in terms of demographic, geodemographic and buying patterns. The results explicitly clarified several key contributions to and implications for marketing theory and practice.

The findings will facilitate an understanding of the factors associated with the adoption of travel e‐shopping, thereby enabling retailers and policy makers to better develop appropriate strategies to enhance and promote e‐shopping to future users while retaining existing customers.

Essentially, the research framework explains three basic issues of online marketing: Who actually shops via the internet? What makes consumers adopt internet shopping? Which attributes are relatively important to adoption?