| dc.description.abstract | This research aims to puzzle out the extent to which the attributes of the
online customer review (OCR) (i.e., quality, credibility, and sidedness) can induce the
possibility to adopt the OCRs’ information, and consequently, the purchase intention of
the Vietnamese whilst seeking information about lodgings on Agoda’s website – one of
the world’s fastest-growing online travel agencies (OTAs). The target respondents for
the research are the Vietnamese who have, at least once, used Agoda to make a reservation
with the information accumulated from reading Agoda’s customers’ OCRs. The
research was carried out from September 2018 to January 2019, using the quantitative
approach with 260 qualified data among 309 responses obtained via the survey posted
in online travel groups on the social media networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit).
The research has used the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method of the Structural
Equation Modeling (SEM) technique, i.e., the PLS-SEM technique and the Goodness
of Fit Index (GFI) value in evaluating the outer and inner model and the model fit of
the research framework. The empirical findings have proved that the OCRs’ attributes
can enhance the information adoption process, which can induce the purchase intention
of Agoda’s Vietnamese customers. Furthermore, the research has broadened the existing
literature about electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) with some noteworthy peculiarities
existed due to the uniqueness of the OTAs' nature.
Additionally, the research has also confirmed again the significance of using
Sussman and Siegal (2003)’s Information Adoption Model (IAM) in the information
field by adopting four among five initial elements of the model and replacing the remaining
one, the source credibility, with the information credibility. Still, there exist
several limitations due to the sampling and approaching methods of the research. Last
but not least, the findings have also provided rich understandings about how the OCRs
can induce customer purchase intention, and offered some recommendations that might
be useful for Agoda and other travel-related units in approaching the Vietnamese. | en_US |
