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Re-visiting Tourism Information Search Process: From Smartphone Users’ Perspective

Sally, Chaang-Iuan Ho

Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan

ciho@cyut.edu.tw

Yu-Chun Lin

Hongwha International Co. Ltd., Taiwan

Yu-Lan Yuan

JinWen University of Science and Technology,

Taiwan

Ming-Chih Chen

Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

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Content

• Introduction• Theoretical background• Methodology• Research findings• Future studies

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Smartphones enter our daily lives

14 ：02

Smart phone

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ICT shapes TIS behavior

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How smartphones impact on tourism domain?

• Tourism information search • Travel planning• Travel decision-making (buying & reservations)• Post-consumption behavior

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So………

• While smartphone users gain more experiences with mobile search

• It is interested in knowing:– How smartphones shape users’ TIS

behavior?

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What is tourism information search (TIS) process?

• TIS activities involve planning, decision-making, and anticipation of the trip with other people.

• TIS process contains a set of complex interactions with people and technology.

• TIS process model is to describe the phenomena.

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What can we do if knowing the TIS process?

• To gain a better understanding of the search characteristics and related patterns.

• To contribute to the propositions/hypotheses and model development.

• To improve the interface and functionality of the search device and associated software.

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Before era of mobile technology, is there any TIS process model?

• Yes! • A few models related to online information

search, e.g., Pan & Fesenmaier (2006).• But, a model from a user-centered

perspective has been proposed........

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Online searching

Priorknowledge

Barriers to search

Process information

Reasons for ending

Summarizeinformation

Exchange Information

Search for more information

A B C D E

A start of online searching

Online searching

An end of online searching

Offline searching

Web users’ TIS process model (Ho, Lin & Chen, 2012)

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Highlights of Ho’s model

• It presents the temporal order in a search process with:– 4 stages from online to offline– 8 common elements

• TIS behavior captures the other information activities (process, utilize & disseminate information).

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Why do we need another model for smartphone users?

• A different information environment:– Search device – Mobile technology – Web 2.0

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Other questions

• Do smartphone users need other tourism information sources?

• How do they use these information sources with mobile search?

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Methodology: qualitative approach

On-site

observ

ations

Design an in

terv

iew

outline base

d on Ho,

Lin &

Chen (2012)

Analyze Data

(coding-thematic

analysis)

Recruit participants (21

respondents reached

theoretical saturation)

Semi-structured

interviews

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Profile of the respondents

21-30 yrs. old

13 11

Service Industries

Bachelor degree

12

Single 17

12 Females

9 Males

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Conceptual model of smartphone users’ TIS behavior

Barriers to searches

Travel decision- makingSearches via editorialcommunications

Internal searches

Mobile search

Preliminary CTISSearches ended

Saving information

Advanced CTISSearches by PC Internet

Summarizing information

P1 P2

P3 P4

P5P6

P7

P8 P9

P10

P11

P12P13

P14

P15P16

P17

P18 P19P20

TIS by using smartphones

Using multipleinformation

channels

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The properties of the search characteristics (1/5)

• Mobile Search: 7 mobile search strategies have been identified to be most commonly used, namely, – using search engines, – using keywords, – using bookmarks, – browsing web pages, – comparing search results, – using e-WOMs, – other approaches (e.g., App).

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The properties of the search characteristics (2/5)

• Preliminary Collaborative TIS: – The collaborative activities in the tourism context

could be done at the same time or not (synchronously or asynchronously).

– The most common activities were to gather, obtain, share, update and verify information.

– The collaborators might be the travel companions, acquaintances or strangers.

– They were co-presence or remote.

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The properties of the search characteristics (3/5)

• Barriers to mobile search: The disturbances could be classified as – Website content (failed to connect and

link to the websites), – Mobile Internet connection, – Mobile appliance (the small screen size

and limited battery usage).

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The properties of the search characteristics (4/5)

• PC Internet search: • Smartphone users may further utilize the PC

Internet for advanced searches. • They revisited the pages/search history for

double-checking or making relevant judgments.

• The PCs were used for compiling, editing, classifying or printing out the information.

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The properties of the search characteristics (5/5)

• Advanced Collaborative TIS: This refers to further communications and discussions with travel companions by evaluating and filtering the information.

• The activities also include seeking personal recommendations from acquaintances.

• The information sources have been expanded to travel agencies or other service providers.

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Highlights of the comprehensive model

• Some elements were identical to those by the PC Internet; but for the others, their nature changed.

• The smartphone provided the mechanism to support the collaborative TIS.

• Most smartphone users utilized multiple information channels.

• Overall, the model was more complicated than used to be, with a variety of patterns.

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7 search patterns (6 sub-models)

　　

Patterns

Characteristics

A B C D E F G

Internal search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Mobile search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Saving information ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Search barriers ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Preliminary collaborative TIS ○ ○ ○ ○      End an mobile search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Summarizing information ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Advanced collaborative TIS ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○  PC Internet search ○ ○          Searches involving editorial

communications

○   ○     ○  

No. of respondents 3 6 3 4 3 1 1

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Highlights of the sub-models

• The discrepancies of the sub-models lie in whether information seekers have certain of features or not (e.g., collaborative search).

• The search patterns imply:– A dependency on mobile search toward Internet

sources– A reduction of the usage of editorial information &

PC Internet

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Conclusions

A conceptual A conceptual model model

21 21 respondentsrespondents

10 search 10 search characteristicscharacteristics

20 research 20 research propositionspropositions

7 search7 search

patternspatterns

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Limitations & future studies

• A small scale of the study• To generalize the theory and to test the

model with a wider population• The search process model may be modified

by different searchers, travel products & situational factors.

• To conduct a panel study using the longitudinal approach

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THANK YOU

ciho@cyut.edu.tw

yoyo@just.edu.tw