International Journal of Tourism Research, Int. J. Tourism Res.

(2014)
Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.2022

The Role of Website Quality on PAD, Attitude and Intentions to Visit and
Recommend Island Destination
SANDRA MARIA CORREIA LOUREIRO*
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU/UNIDE), Marketing, Operations and General Management
Department, Av. Forças Armadas 1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the effect of website stimuli on positive attitude and intentions to visit and recommend, through three emotional re-
sponses (pleasure, arousal and dominance). The model was tested regarding three island-related websites. Findings show the role of emo-
tions as mediators between website quality attitude and intentions. Arousal and dominance are revealed to be more important in the
formation of a positive attitude than pleasure. Visual appeal and ease of use, followed by information, seem to be the most important com-
ponents in forming a perception of the islands’ website quality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Received 04 October 2013; Revised 21 March 2014; Accepted 23 July 2014

key words website evaluation; emotions; tourism on islands; attitude; intention to visit and recommendation

INTRODUCTION In the context of environmental psychology, studies have

According to the European Union (2013), a majority (53%) of
the people who took holidays lasting at least four nights said
that they had used the Internet to make their arrangements and
40% mentioned Internet websites as the main source used
when making decisions about travel plans. Therefore, the
Internet has become an important tool for arranging holidays.
Previous studies in the tourism and hospitality context
have been devoted to analysis of website features and charac-
teristics associated with different sectors, such as hotels and
accommodation (e.g. Law and Cheung, 2005; Bai, Law, &
Wen, 2008), travel destinations (Han & Mills, 2006) and
online travel agencies (Tsang, Lai, & Law, 2010). Several
studies have suggested and tested the effect of website
characteristics and features on attitude and satisfaction
(e.g. Wen, 2009), satisfaction and purchase intentions (e.g. Bai
et al., 2008) and attitude and purchase intentions (e.g. Tang,
Jang, & Morrison, 2012; Rasty, Chou, & Feiz, 2013).
However, in the tourism and hospitality context, studies do
not tend to explore the mediating effect of emotions between
website stimuli and outcomes (such as attitude, satisfaction
or purchase intentions).
Nevertheless, an individual’s emotional state can influence
information processing, evaluations and judgments (Bagozzi,
Gopinath, & Nyer, 1999). Isen, Shalker, Clark, and Karp
(1978) demonstrated that individuals in whom a positive
mood was induced were more likely to rate cars and TV more
favourably. Schwarz and Bless (1991) also found that indi-
viduals may assume that their mood states are affective reac-
tions to the object being evaluated and base their evaluation
on their affective states.
*Correspondence to: Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Instituto Universitário
de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit (BRU/UNIDE), Marketing,
Operations and General Management Department, Av. Forças Armadas
1649-026 Lisbon, Portugal.
E-mail: sandramloureiro@netcabo.pt
shown that human judgments on diverse samples of stimuli
can be characterized in terms of emotions, which, in turn,
lead to response (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). Mehrabian
(1996) proposed three dimensions of emotions, designated
as PAD (pleasure, arousal, dominance), to illustrate that when
an individual enters an environment, the three emotions are
induced. Therefore, emotions influence evaluation (Bagozzi
et al., 1999) and should be considered in the tourism and hos-
pitality context, particularly in the case of websites because
they have become the preferred source for making decisions
about holidays.
Therefore, a research question arises: How can PAD influ-
ence the attitude and intentions of individuals exposed to
stimuli from travel destination websites? As such, this study
aims to investigate (a) the effect of website stimuli on emo-
tional responses (pleasure, arousal and dominance), (b) the
relationships among emotional responses and (c) the influ-
ence of these emotions on attitude and intentions.
The websites of island travel destinations are selected to
generate the stimuli. Websites of islands as destinations have
not been the subject of extensive study. Islands have a unique
tourism appeal related to the feeling of separateness and differ-
ence, which can increase the desire for diversity in potential
tourists, while in pursuit of leisure, different climates, physical
environments and culture (Butler, 1993). The importance of
tourism in islands’ economic development has been recog-
nized (Hampton & Christensen, 2007). Because of the impor-
tance of the tourism in islands’ economy, understanding the
effect of the websites’ characteristics on attitude and intentions,
through PAD, may contribute to captivate more tourists.
Following the introduction, this study presents a literature
review focussed on website quality in the tourism and hospi-
tality context, emotions and responses such as attitude and
intentions. Next, the methodological process for data collec-
tion, measurement scales and data analysis is presented.
Finally, results, conclusions and implications are discussed.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

S. M. C. Loureiro
CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS
DEVELOPMENT
Theoretical background
The environmental psychologists Mehrabian and Russell
(1974) proposed a framework, also known as the S-0-R model,
in which emotions appear as mediators between stimuli and
response. The three dimensions of emotions considered as
capturing emotional responses to environmental stimuli are
PAD (Mehrabian, 1996; Richins, 1997).
The acronym S-O-R means stimuli (S), organism (O) and
responses (R). Stimuli may be images, sounds, smells, tastes,
colours, words or the information, design, features and other
characteristics of a place, an offline or online store, or desti-
nation websites. The organism refers to the intervening inter-
nal process between the stimuli and the individual’s reaction.
An individual integrates and converts the stimuli into mean-
ingful information and uses it to understand the environment
before making a judgment, decision or evaluation. Thus, the
stimuli cause a change in the individual’s emotional state.
Finally, the response includes attitudes and/or behavioural
reactions.
The S-O-R model has been applied to traditional retail
stores since the 1980s (e.g. Donovan & Rossiter, 1982).
More recently, the model has also been used in the online
retail context. For instance, De Wulf, Schillewaert, Muylle,
and Rangarajan (2006) found that an online store with cor-
rect online characteristics and features can please its clients
and may lead them to navigate, search more and continu-
ously use it. Several studies in the retail context proved that
the S-O-R model is valid in predicting emotions and behav-
iours (e.g. Menon & Kahn, 2002; Eroglu, Machleit, & Davis,
2003; McKinney, 2004; Wu, Cheng, & Yen, 2008).
In the tourism and hospitality context, previous studies
tend to analyse the effect of website features and characteris-
tics on consumers’ attitude, satisfaction or purchase inten-
tions (e.g. Bai et al., 2008; Wen, 2009; Tang et al., 2012).
Nevertheless, the mediating role of emotions does not tend
to be analysed. The components of S-0-R are further ex-
plored below.
Website quality
Website quality, meaning the tourist’s overall judgment of a
website’s excellence and superiority, has been a research
theme of interest during the first two decades of the 21st
century. Han and Mills (2006) made one of the first extensive
literature reviews in this field, considering 55 articles
(1996–2005) on website effectiveness in hospitality and tour-
ism, which revealed a total of 47 different instruments that
have been used to evaluate hospitality and tourism websites.
The 47 instruments comprised three main features: aesthetic
features (destination visualisation and web design); informa-
tive features (uniqueness, monetary value and cultural pro-
motion); and interactive features (e-travel planners and
online communities).
Park, Gretzel, and Sirakaya-Turk (2007) conducted a liter-
ature review of dimensions of website quality (2000–2006).
They found six core dimensions: ease of use (functionality,
accessibility, consistency and effective navigation, search
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
capability), security/privacy (personal information safe, as-
surance that shopping data are not shared, and security of
credit card information), information/content (reliable, rele-
vant and up-to-date information), responsiveness (respon-
siveness to consumers’ requests and providing appropriate
information when customers have a problem), visual appeal
(website creativity, multimedia, colour graphics, images
and animations), and fulfilment (accuracy of service prom-
ises, exactly the same as ordered, and ease of tracking the
items purchased).
In the same vein, Ho and Lee (2007) study attempts to
identify the dimensions of e-travel services. E-travel services
refer to those provided by the websites of intermediary firms
and agencies in the tourism sector. The five dimensions
found are the following: information quality (accurate, con-
cise and updated information), security (appropriate security
feature, company reputability and full confirmation of online
payment), website functionality (helpful search function,
functions properly, linked quickly, provides in-depth infor-
mation for customers making purchasing decisions, with
comprehensive and easy to find useful information), customer
relationships (develops a platform for users to exchange
travel experiences, easy for users to turn to the chat room
for more information, has personalized features for users)
and responsiveness (provides FAQ information, responds to
users’ inquiries promptly, and help is available when prob-
lems are encountered). Unlike Park et al. (2007), Ho and
Lee (2007) do not contemplate visual appeal issues.
Bai et al. (2008) consider two major constructs when
evaluating hospitality and tourism websites: functionality
(contents, i.e. information about purchase, service/products,
destination and contact) and usability (issues of design such
as language, layout and graphics, information architecture,
user interface and navigation). For Bai et al. (2008), func-
tionality is very close to the information/content dimension
of Park et al. (2007), and usability is associated with the
visual appeal of Park et al. (2007). Law and Bai (2008) also
consider the functionality and usability of travel websites.
For Wen (2009), the quality of travel website design re-
fers to the effectiveness of three dimensions: information
quality (proper quality and quantity of information), system
quality (technical characteristics of a website design such
as usability, availability, reliability, adaptability and response
time), and service quality (agent-based search engines, push-
based services, links and location-based services on mobile
terminals preferred by e-travellers) of a travel website. Sys-
tem quality, suggested by Wen (2009) in his theoretical
study, comprises ease of use and responsiveness presented
by Park et al. (2007). Information quality regards the
information/content of Park et al. (2007) or even the func-
tionality of Bai et al. (2008). However, Wen (2009) suggests
more studies to capture the dimensionality of e-service qual-
ity and analyse the influences of value-added services on
tourist satisfaction.
Based on the original e-service quality model suggested
by Park et al. (2007), Tsang et al. (2010) adopt a qualitative,
followed by a quantitative approach in order to develop a
scale of e-service quality for online travel agencies in Hong
Kong. Their scale has six dimensions: functionality (functions,
Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

accessibility, search capability and effective navigation), in-
formation quality and content (accuracy, up-to-date and con-
cise nature, reliability and completeness of information),
fulfilment and responsiveness (accuracy of service promises
and willingness to provide prompt service), safety and secu-
rity (indicating how a website proves its trustworthiness),
appearance and presentation (reflecting the design and presen-
tation of websites in terms of the use of colour, text, multime-
dia and interfaces) and customer relationship (customization
features and interactive communication available).
According to the study of Park et al. (2007), functionality
in the scale used by Tsang et al. (2010) is one of the most im-
portant dimensions of e-service quality. The study of Tsang
et al. (2010) combined fulfilment and responsiveness into
one dimension. Therefore, fulfilment and responsiveness
and customer relationship are the only two dimensions that
differ from the original scale proposed by Park et al. (2007).
More recently, Hwang, Yoon, and Park (2011) focus on
the effectiveness of online advertisements for casual-dining
restaurants. They consider that web advertisements should
be visually captivating, have interesting contents and should
be easy to navigate. Here, cognitive (informativeness, inac-
curacy and reliability) and affective responses (negative
response, positive response and displeasure) were used as
critical components to evaluate websites. However, the study
of Hwang et al. (Hwang et al., 2011) does not follow the
same pattern as previously mentioned studies in assessing
websites. Instead, it is inspired in traditional advertising eval-
uation. Nevertheless, cognitive response is quite close to in-
formation quality proposed by Wen (2009) and Wen (2012)
because the study of Hwang et al. (2011) measures reliable,
accurate and sufficient information through cognitive response.
Tang et al. (2012) consider website design characteristics
(appearance, layout, functionality and ease of use) and infor-
mation quality (information, sufficiency, relevance, timeliness
and usefulness) in assessing destination websites. Website
design characteristics comprise two dimensions suggested by
Park et al. (2007), visual appeal and ease of use, and informa-
tion quality deals with information features as considered by
Park et al. (2007) in their dimension of information/content.
Rasty et al. (2013) measure Internet travel advertising (ad)
content design using a group of seven items covering anima-
tion effects, position and size, pictures and texts in ads,
exposure frequency and length, advertising creativity, ad in-
teractivity and the whole appearance of the advertisement. In
this study, Rasty et al. (2013) are less interested in measuring
the visual appeal of website information, as in the case of
Hwang et al. (2011), and more concerned with capturing
the visual appeal, creativity and interactivity of the website
advertisement. Thus, the study of Rasty et al. (2013) is not
devoted to a tourist’s opinion of website quality but a deci-
sion on online travel advertising.
Table 1 summarizes the main components of website
quality that have been identified in prior studies over the last
five years (2008–2012) and published in tourism and hospi-
tality journals. Table 1 contains only studies that used tour-
ists or potential tourists as the target sample. According to
Law et al. (2010, p. 310) and also based on studies in the last
five years, there is no standard method of evaluating
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Role of Website Quality on Island Destination
Table 1. Website quality components
Author(s) (year) Website quality components
Bai et al. (2008) Functionality and usability
Law and Bai (2008) Functionality and usability
Wen (2009) Information quality, system quality,
service quality
Tsang et al. (2010) Functionality, information content and
quality, fulfilment and responsiveness,
safety and security, appearance and
presentation, customer relationship
Hwang et al. (2011) Informativeness, inaccuracy, reliability,
negative response, positive response and
displeasure
Wen (2012) Information quality, system quality, service
quality
Tang et al. (2012) Website design characteristics and
information quality
websites, and no standard website attributes or features that
can be integrated into website evaluation in tourism and hos-
pitality. Law et al. (2010, p. 310) highlight that ‘researchers
do, and should, choose the most appropriate approach for
their research objectives, target markets and stakeholders’.
Therefore, consistent with Park et al. (2007) and regarding
the characteristics of official island destination websites for
tourism and hospitality, the current study adapted the dimen-
sions of visual appeal, ease of use, information/content and
introduction of interactive features (Han & Mills, 2006).
Pleasure, arousal and dominance as emotions
Environmental stimuli initiate the perceptual feeling and may
cause a change in the emotional state (Sherman, Mathur, &
Smith, 1997) of the individual. The emotional state has
been conceptualized with pleasure, arousal and dominance
(e.g. Eroglu et al., 2003; Dailey, 2004). However, only a
few studies have analysed the effect of dominance as an
important emotional response (e.g. Ward & Barnes, 2001;
Lunardo & Mbengue, 2009). This may be influenced by
the initial findings of Russell and Mehrabian (1976), who
consider both arousal and pleasure as explaining most of
the variances in environmental responses. Nevertheless,
the current study analyses the effect of website stimuli on
three emotional responses: pleasure, arousal and dominance.
Pleasure is defined by Menon and Kahn (2002, p. 32) as
‘the degree to which a person feels good, joyful, happy, or
satisfied in a situation’. Pleasure is the affective response to
a stimulus, based on the extent to which the stimulus enables
people to achieve their main objectives (Kaltcheva & Weitz,
2006). Therefore, in this study, pleasure is defined as the
degree to which an individual feels pleasure or happy when
experiencing (looking at and using) a specific island website.
Arousal is associated with the degree of stimulation
caused by a stimulus and is defined as the extent to which
a person feels excited, alert and active (e.g. Menon & Kahn,
2002; Wu et al., 2008). This activation reflects the affective
dimension that ranges from sleep to frantic excitement
(Kaltcheva & Weitz, 2006). In this study, the concept is defined
as the degree to which an individual who experiences (visits
and uses) an island website feels excited and stimulated.
Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr
S. M. C. Loureiro
Dominance refers to the degree of influence and power on the
service specification, realization and outcome (Van Raaij &
Pruyn, 1998). Consumers tend to seek satisfaction of their desire
for dominance in the exchange relationship (Ward & Barnes,
2001). For the purpose of this study, dominance refers to an indi-
vidual feeling in control, autonomous and free when visiting an
island website. Donovan, Rossiter, Gilian, and Nesdale (1994)
note that arousal and pleasure explain most of the variances;
and thus, dominance is a redundant dimension. For this reason,
most studies tend to neglect dominance. Nevertheless, domi-
nance in an online environment can be a more important factor
than in an offline environment because the navigational system
of a website may enhance the individual’s control and improve
the experience (Dailey, 2004; Lunardo & Mbengue, 2009).
Several studies consider that the three emotions are inde-
pendent of each other across individuals (e.g. Donovan et al.,
1994; Menon & Kahn, 2002; Massara, Liu, & Melara, 2010).
Other studies point out that arousal and pleasure are corre-
lated (e.g. Kuppens, 2008) or that dominance has a positive
direct influence on arousal and pleasure (e.g. Hui & Bateson,
1991; Ward & Barnes, 2001). However, Lunardo and Mbengue
(2009) showed that perceived control has no direct influence on
pleasure. Ho and Lee (2007) found that in the case of online
purchase, website dominance has a direct influence on energetic
arousal, and this, in turn, influences pleasure. Sherman et al.
(1997) also showed the positive effect of arousal on pleasure.
According to previous research, this study considers that
the visual appeal, information, ease of use and interactive
features of an island website (island website quality) are
stimuli that can generate a feeling of control, dominance,
excitement and pleasure. If an individual feels in control,
autonomous and free when visiting an island website, he/she
may feel excited and stimulated and this feeling of arousal will
give way to happiness and pleasure. So, the following hypoth-
eses are proposed (refer to Figure 1):
H1: Stimuli of island website quality have a positive effect
on pleasure (H1a), arousal (H1b) and dominance (H1c).
H2: Dominance has a positive effect on arousal during the
experience of visiting an island’s website.
Figure 1. Proposed model. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jtr
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
H3: Arousal has a positive effect on pleasure during the
experience of visiting an island’s website.
Attitude towards a website and intention to visit and rec-
ommend as a response
Based on framework of Mehrabian and Russell (1974), the
three dimensions of emotions (pleasure, arousal and domi-
nance) can lead to response or in the retail context to
approach/avoidance behaviour because the response represents
the final outcome, approach/avoidance behaviours. Approach
means positive actions or behaviours such as a positive atti-
tude, intention to stay and to buy, and avoidance refers to the
opposite (e.g. Menon & Kahn, 1995; Eroglu et al., 2003).
For instance, Donovan and Rossiter (1982) adopted time and
money spent, returning and store exploration as approach
behaviours. Menon and Kahn (1995) showed that pleasure
and arousal have a positive impact on approach behaviours
such as browsing, unplanned purchasing and seeking out more
stimulating products. Eroglu et al. (2003) consider that positive
emotions (pleasure and arousal) exert a strong positive effect
on satisfaction and approach/avoidance behaviours. Perceived
control (like dominance) has a direct impact on behaviour
(Bagozzi, 1992). Koo and Lee (2011) also demonstrated the
positive effect of dominance on intention, that is, the intention
to use and recommend the website in the future.
In this study, the response is operationalized as attitude to-
wards the website and the intention to visit and recommend
it. Traditionally, attitude towards an advertisement refers to
the formation of a positive or negative reaction to a particular
advertising stimulus during a particular exposure (Lutz, 1985;
MacKenzie, Lutz, & Belch, 1986). Following this conceptu-
alization, attitude towards the island’s website is the reaction
to a particular island website stimulus. Thus, based on previ-
ous research, we may infer that an individual who feels plea-
sure, arousal and control during the experience of visiting an
island’s website will have a positive attitude towards the
website. A positive emotional state will impact positively on
attitude towards the island website.
Several studies highlight that when consumers react
favourably to an advertisement for a product/service, they
are more likely to purchase the product/service (e.g. Haley &
Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

Baldinger, 2000; Shih, 2004). Therefore, consumers’ attitude
can forecast their purchasing intentions and behaviour, both
in online and offline contexts (e.g. Shih, 2004; Bruner &
Kumar, 2005; Karson & Fisher, 2005; Hwang et al., 2011;
Wen, 2012). The current study defines intentions to visit and
recommend as an individual’s willingness to visit and recom-
mend the island to others.
As mentioned above, emotions influence behaviours. Pos-
itive emotions tend to lead to approach behaviours, such as
satisfaction, time and money spent in purchasing, returning
to a place, or intention to use and recommend the website
in the future (e.g. Menon & Kahn, 1995; Eroglu et al.,
2003; Koo & Lee, 2011). So, an individual who feels plea-
sure, arousal and control when visiting an island’s website
will be more likely to intend to visit and recommend the
island to others. Therefore, the following hypotheses are
considered (refer to Figure 1):
H4: Attitude towards an island’s website is a function of
pleasure (H4a), arousal (H4b) and dominance (H4c).
H5: Intention to visit and recommend the island is a func-
tion of pleasure (H5a), arousal (H5b) and dominance (H5c).
H6: Attitude towards an island’s website has a positive ef-
fect on the intention to visit and recommend the island.
METHODOLOGY
Data collection
To test the hypotheses of the proposed model, we used real
websites of three island destinations: Madeira (801 km2;
population 267,000 inhabitants), Malta (316 km2; population
412,966 inhabitants) and Okinawa (2,271 km2; population
1,392,503 inhabitants). These islands were selected because
they are located in different parts of the globe (Atlantic
Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Pacific Ocean) and the
websites offer a version in Portuguese or at least in Spanish.
This version is important especially for participants over
50 years old, with greater difficulty in understanding a lan-
guage other than Portuguese.
Participants were sought in two major cities in Portugal.
The aim of the study was explained, and participants were
invited to visit and navigate a real website for at least five
minutes (never having browsed the website before), before
filling in the questionnaire. Each participant selected only
one island website, bearing in mind that the participant had
not yet visited the island. Data were collected using computer
labs in universities, which allowed monitoring the process of
visiting the website and completing the questionnaire. After
deleting incomplete survey questionnaires, a total of 270 useful
questionnaires were considered for data treatment. The sample
consisted of 51.8% female and 48.2% male, and most respon-
dents are under 35. Nevertheless, individuals over 35 with
Internet skills also participated (refer to Table 2). This profile
is in accordance with European Union statistics (European
Union, 2013), i.e. males and females are almost equal in per-
centage when opting to use the Internet to search for
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Role of Website Quality on Island Destination
Table 2. Sample profile
Gender Age
Female: 51.8% 18–25: 43.7% 26–35: 28.1% 36–45: 5.2%
Male: 48.2% 46–55: 2.2% 56–65: 11.1% 66–75: 8.1%
76–85: 1.5%
information and make a decision, and people under 50 are
more likely to use the Internet to make a decision about
holidays.
Measurement scale
The items in the questionnaire were first written in English
based on the literature review, translated into Portuguese,
and then back translated to English to guarantee that the
items in Portuguese communicated similar information as
those in English (Sekaran, 1983). A pilot sample of eight per-
sonally interviewed potential participants was used to ensure
that the wording of the questionnaire was clear.
The questionnaire comprises 32 items and socio-demographic
variables. For each construct, respondents were asked to rate their
degree of agreement and disagreement with its measuring items
on a 5-point Likert-type scale, except for emotions. Regarding
pleasure, arousal and dominance, the participants were asked to
rate how often they experienced such an emotion during the visit
and when surfing the island website using a scale from 1 (Never)
to 5 (Always).
The four components of island website quality were
adapted from the literature review (Han & Mills, 2006; Park
et al., 2007) and also based on the specific characteristics of
the islands’ websites. Pleasure, arousal and dominance items
were adapted from Mazaheri, Richard, and Laroche (2011).
Attitude towards the website, with three items, was based
on Mazaheri et al. (2011). The intention to visit and recom-
mend the island, with four items, was adapted from Koo
and Lee (2011) and Loureiro and Kastenholz (2011). The last
part of the questionnaire concerns socio-demographic data
such as gender and age.
Data analysis
A structural equation model with a partial least squares (PLS)
approach was used to test the hypotheses and validate the re-
search model. SmartPLS 2.0.M3 software was used to perform
the analysis, accessed at www.smartpls.com. Covariance-
based SEM, such as linear structural relations (LISREL), re-
quires multivariate normal distribution of the data and a
sample size at least five times the number of parameters to
be estimated. PLS employs a component-based approach for
estimation and places minimal restrictions on sample size
and residual distribution. PLS is not contingent upon data
having multivariate normal distribution and interval natures
and not restrictive in terms of sample size (Fornell and
Bookstein, 1982; Chin, 1998).
In terms of the advantages of this analysis, PLS simulta-
neously estimates path coefficients and individual item load-
ings in the context of a specified model (Chin, Marcolin, &
Newsted, 2003). Tenenhaus, Vinzi Vincenzo, Chatelin, and
Lauro (2005) propose the geometric mean of the average
communality (outer mode) and the average R2 (inner model)
Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr
S. M. C. Loureiro

as overall goodness of fit (GoF) measures for the PLS (cross
validated PLS GoF), which range from 0 to 1. Wetzels,
Odekerken-Schröder, and van Oppen (2009) note that three
different effect sizes for R2 have different acceptable GoF
values. The effect size for R2 (f2) defined by Cohen and
Cohen (1983, p. 155) is determined by f2 = R2 / (1 R2).
Thus, the effect sizes for R2 include the limits: small = 0.02,
medium = 0.13, and large = 0.26. The following GoF criteria
for each effect size have been proposed: GoFsmall ≥ 0.1,
GoFmedium ≥ 0.25 and GoFlarge ≥ 0.36 (Wetzels et al., 2009).
The model of the current study has a second-order forma-
tive factor conceptualization: island website quality. There-
fore, PLS is chosen to accommodate the presence of a large
number of manifest variables and formative factors (Chin
et al., 2003). In order to test the model with formative fac-
tors, this study used the repeated indicators method (Chin
et al., 2003; Kleijnen, de Ruyter, & Wetzels, 2007).
RESULTS
Measurement model
In order to analyse the measurement, first, the suitability of
the measurements is assessed by evaluating the reliability
of the individual measures and the discriminant validity of
the constructs (Hulland, 1999). Item reliability is assessed

Table 3. Measurement model

Mean (SD) Composite
Latent variables and items items Mean LV Item loading reliability AVE
Design-visual appeal 4.2 0.898 0.638
Website looks attractive 4.3 (0.76) 0.838
Website looks organized 4.3 (0.75) 0.749
Website uses multimedia features properly 4.2 (0.82) 0.800
Website uses colours properly 4.2 (0.74) 0.835
Website uses fonts properly 4.1 (0.81) 0.766
Information/content 4.0 0.912 0.722
In this website, I have the full information at hand 3.9 (8.3) 0.878
Website provides in-depth information 3.9 (8.6) 0.873
Website gives me enough information, so I can identify what I want to the 3.8 (8.6) 0.824
same degree as if I am in personal contact with someone from a tour
operator
Website is a very good source of information 4.3 (6.7) 0.824
Ease of use 4.0 0.907 0.709
It is easy to get around and find what I want on this website 4.1 (8.8) 0.836
I can go to exactly what I want quickly 3.9 (8.8) 0.858
Websites have well-arranged categories 4.3 (7.9) 0.822
I can find what I want with a minimum number of clicks 4.0 (7.4) 0.852
Interactive features 3.8 0.887 0.611
The website presents links or contact information to hotels/accommodation 3.8 (1.01) 0.863
in island destination
The website presents links or contact information to local attractions 3.8 (0.90) 0.808
The website presents links or contact information to local restaurants 3.7 (1.15) 0.736
The website presents links or contact information on events and festival 3.6 (1.11) 0.736
reservations
The website presents maps of major attractions 3.9 (0.99) 0.756
Pleasure 3.5 0.911 0.836
(1-Never; 2-Almost never; 3-Sometimes; 4-Frequently; 5-Always)
How often you experienced? Happy 3.4 (1.00) 0.924
How often you experienced? Pleasure 3.6 (0.94) 0.908
Arousal 3.3 0.882 0.789
(1-Never; 2-Almost never; 3-Sometimes; 4-Frequently; 5-Always)
How often you experienced? Excited 3.1 (0.98) 0.909
How often you experienced? Stimulated 3.6 (0.89) 0.866
Dominance 3.9 0.891 0.731
(1-Never; 2-Almost never; 3-Sometimes; 4-Frequently; 5-Always)
How often you felt in control over your visiting experience at this website 3.8 (0.78) 0.873
How often you felt autonomous during your visiting experience at this 3.9 (0.81) 0.876
website
How often you felt free during your visiting experience at this website 4.0 (0.77) 0.814
Attitude towards the website 4.2 0.924 0.860
This website is good 4.2 (0.72) 0.918
I like this website 4.3 (1.10) a
I react favourably towards this website 4.1 (0.80) 0.986
Intentions to visit and recommend 4.0 0.912 0.721
The desire to visit this island destination is high 4.2 (0.96) 0.819
The probability that I would consider this island destination is high 3.8 (1.19) 0.819
I will speak well about this island destination to other people 3.9 (1.14) 0.856
I will recommend this island destination if someone asks for my advice. 4.1 (1.09) 0.901

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr
 The Role of Website Quality on Island Destination

by examining the loading of the measures on their corre- Structural results

sponding construct. Items with loadings of 0.707 or higher
should be accepted, which indicates that more than 50% of
the variance in the observed variable is explained by the con-
struct (Carmines & Zeller, 1979). In this study, only one item
(refer to Table 3) has an item loading lower than 0.707 and
was thus eliminated from the structural analysis. Composite
reliability was used to analyse the reliability of the constructs
because it has been considered to be a more accurate mea-
surement than Cronbach’s alpha (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).
Table 3 shows that all constructs are reliable because the
composite reliability values are over 0.8 (Nunnally, 1978).
The measures demonstrated convergent validity as the aver-
age variance of manifest variables extracted by constructs
(AVE) are at least 0.5, indicating that more variance is explained
than unexplained in the variables associated with a given con-
struct. The criterion used to assess discriminant validity was pro-
posed by Fornell and Larcker (1981) and suggests that the square
root of AVE should be higher than the correlations among the
constructs in the model. In this study, all constructs have discrim-
inant validity because all correlations are lower than the square
root of variances extracted, showing that all indicators are better
explained by their respective constructs than other constructs
explaining indicators in different constructs (refer to Table 4).
The structural results are presented in Figure 2. A non-
parametric bootstrapping procedure with 500 re-samples
was performed to obtain the path coefficients, their respec-
tive standard errors and t-statistics for path coefficients
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Chin, 1998). All path coefficients
are found to be significant at the 0.001, 0.01 or 0.05 levels,
except the relationship between island website quality →
pleasure, pleasure → attitude, arousal → intention to visit
and recommend and dominance → intention to visit and rec-
ommend. Thus, H1, H4 and H5 are only partially supported.
H2, H3 and H6 are fully supported. Nevertheless, as models
yielding significant bootstrap statistics can still be invalid in a
predictive sense (Chin, 1998), measures of predictive valid-
ity (such as R2 and Q2) for focal endogenous constructs
should be employed. All values of Q2 (chi-squared of the
Stone–Geisser Criterion) are positive, so the relations in the
model have predictive relevance (Fornell & Cha, 1994).
The model also demonstrated a good level of predictive
power (R2) as the modelled constructs explained 43% of the
variance in word of mouth. In fact, the good value of GoF,
regarding the large effect size, and the good level of predic-
tive power (R2) reveal a good overall fit of the structural
model (refer to Figure 2).

Table 4. Discriminant validity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1. Pleasure 0.915
2. V. appeal 0.473 0.798
3. Arouusal 0.706 0.477 0.888
4. Attitude 0.547 0.676 0.579 0.927
5. Dominance 0.573 0.430 0.582 0.522 0.855
6. Ease of use 0.484 0.635 0.533 0.600 0.488 0.842
7. Information 0.418 0.542 0.486 0.568 0.369 0.688 0.850
8. Intentions 0.527 0.458 0.507 0.598 0.482 0.414 0.365 0.849
9. Interactive 0.326 0.448 0.425 0.547 0.310 0.634 0.621 0.220 0.781
Values on the diagonal (in bold) represent the square root of AVE.

Figure 2. Structural results. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jtr

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res. (2014)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr
S. M. C. Loureiro
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Main conclusions and research contributions
This study followed the perspective of Mehrabian and Russell
(1974) in which stimuli lead to emotions and then to
responses or approach/avoidance behaviour. Therefore, a
model is proposed integrating components of island website
quality as stimuli for three emotions (pleasure, arousal, and
dominance) and attitude towards the website, as well as inten-
tion to visit and recommend the island as a response. To the
best of our knowledge, based on the literature review, this is
the first attempt to adapt components of website quality to
the context of island websites, consider the interrelationship
of the three emotions, use a website instead of only intentions
and test a model that could increase our knowledge about
online tourist behaviour.
The findings reveal that the four components of island
website quality seem to be appropriate as stimuli in the con-
text of island websites. Participants in this study give special
attention to the ease of using the website and its visual appeal
(attractiveness, colours, fonts or multimedia features). Inter-
estingly, the four components do not contribute significantly
to a feeling of pleasure and happiness. However, this feeling
of pleasure can be achieved through dominance and arousal.
In fact, the feeling of being in control, autonomous and free
during the website visit appears as an important driver of
excitement and pleasure.
Regarding outcomes, other interesting findings emerge.
Dominance and arousal are two strong feelings leading di-
rectly to a favourable attitude towards the website, and this,
in turn, enhances the intention to visit and recommend the
island. However, only pleasure can directly influence the
intention to visit and recommend the island.
The findings highlight the importance of dominance in an
online environment, as suggested by Dailey (2004) and
Lunardo and Mbengue (2009) in a more utilitarian context.
Indeed, dominance has a positive influence on arousal and
pleasure as Ward and Barnes (2001) noted in a retailing en-
vironment. Finally, a favourable attitude towards the website
influences positively the intention to visit and recommend
the island.
Summarizing, for academics, the present study has theo-
retical implications because it (1) highlights the role of island
website stimuli on PAD, attitude and intentions; (2) demon-
strates the importance of dominance in an online tourism
context; (3) shows the interdependence between dominance,
arousal and pleasure; and (4) shows the influence of a
favourable attitude on intentions to visit and recommend
the island. Based on a systematic collection of articles on this
steam of research, this study is the first attempt to incorporate
the emotions (PAD) as mediators between destination
websites’ stimuli, called website quality, and responses (atti-
tude and intentions).
Managerial implications
This study also provides practical implications. A well-
designed, uncluttered structure, appropriate multimedia fea-
tures and colours, easily used navigational cues, interactive
features and well-balanced information will make potential
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
tourists feel in control and autonomous. The feeling of being
in control, free and autonomous produces excitement and
pleasure regarding the website. A potential tourist who feels
happy and pleased when navigating and using the website is
more willing to visit the destination and recommend it to
others. Therefore, designers and managers should concen-
trate on evoking positive emotions.
Managers should implement diverse policies in order to
reinforce positive emotions and a favourable attitude/reaction
towards the website, such as creating entertainment character-
istics (e.g. games, promotions, alternative destination images)
during the visit to the website. However, these entertainment
characteristics should be carefully introduced as they could
have different effects depending on the user’s personality or
age. For instance, young adults could enjoy games and pro-
motions, but others may prefer to see alternative destination
images. It is therefore important to understand the profile of
potential target tourists.
Limitations and further research
The current study has several limitations. First, the study used
a small size convenience sample. Although people outside the
traditional university universe, such as pensioners and people
in different professions, were recruited, more care should be
taken in recruiting participants with diverse characteristics.
Secondly, the study included only four components of
website quality, based on the literature review and analysis of
the characteristics of island websites. However, website design
does not significantly influence pleasure. So, in the future, the
model could be tested incorporating another component of
website design that has not yet been investigated: entertain-
ment. Here, destination websites should introduce features that
could amuse potential tourists, e.g. games and small offers.
Nevertheless, this should be analysed carefully as it may be
appreciated by young tourists but not by older ones.
Thirdly, future studies can explore user profiles (age, gender,
income or social status, personality traits, self-esteem) as mod-
erating variables. For instance, the personality dimensions of
introversion/extroversion and emotional stability/neuroticism
can influence the perception of website quality, influence
emotion feelings, behavioural intentions and actual use. Be-
cause extroversion involves characteristics like talkativeness,
assertiveness and risk-taking (Amichai-Hamburger, 2005),
this type of tourist could appreciate more interactivity with
website managers or prefer not to use the website to purchase
products. Fourthly, the proposed model could be tested in
diverse cultural contexts.
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