Determinants of Online Hotel Booking Intentions: Website Quality, Social Presence, Affective Commitment, and E-Trust

Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whmm20
Determinants of online hotel booking intentions:

website quality, social presence, affective
commitment, and e-trust
Muslim Amin, Kisang Ryu, Cihan Cobanoglu & Ahmad Nizam
To cite this article: Muslim Amin, Kisang Ryu, Cihan Cobanoglu & Ahmad Nizam
(2021): Determinants of online hotel booking intentions: website quality, social presence,
affective commitment, and e-trust, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, DOI:
10.1080/19368623.2021.1899095
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2021.1899095
Published online: 15 Jul 2021.
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JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2021.1899095
ARTICLE
Determinants of online hotel booking intentions: website

quality, social presence, affective commitment, and e-trust
a b c
Muslim Amin , Kisang Ryu , Cihan Cobanoglu , and Ahmad Nizamd
a
School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Law, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia;
b
Department of Foodservice Management, College of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Sejong University,
Seoul, Korea (The Republic Of); cSchool of Hospitality and Tourism Management, MUMA College of Business,
University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee, FL, USA; dDepartment of Management, Faculty of Economics and
Business, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This study investigates the effect of hotel website quality, social pre Hotel website quality; social
sence, affective commitment, and e-trust on travelers’ online hotel presence; affective
booking intentions. Smart-PLS software was applied to test the commitment; e-trust; online
hotel intentions
hypotheses. The results of this study explain how hotel website qual
ity, social presence, affective commitment, and e-trust have a signifi
cant relationship with online hotel booking intentions. This study
identifies how hotel website quality is a critical driver in developing
affective commitment, e-trust, and online hotel booking intentions.
Travelers who enjoy the social experience with the hotel website
platform are more motivated to book a room at that hotel. This
study confirms the vital role of social presence in enhancing e-trust
and online hotel booking intentions and provides evidence of the
importance of the holistic model in understanding travelers’ deci
sion-making processes, especially when booking a hotel room.
本研究探讨了酒店网站质量、社交存在、情感承诺和电子信任对旅
游者网上酒店预订意向的影响. 应用智能PLS软件对假设进行检验. 本
研究的结果解释了酒店网站质量、社会存在感、情感承诺和电子信
任与在线酒店预订意向的关系. 这项研究确定了酒店网站质量是如
何发展情感承诺, 电子信任和在线酒店预订意向的关键驱动力. 享受
酒店网站平台社交体验的旅客更愿意在该酒店预订房间.这项研究证
实了社会存在在增强电子信任和在线酒店预订意向方面的重要作用,
并证明了整体模型在理解旅行者决策过程中的重要性, 特别是在预
订酒店房间时.
Introduction
Travelers generally explore relevant information before embarking on their trip, and online
hotel booking is the most popular network used by travelers worldwide. Normally, travelers
visit several hotel websites and online travel agencies when they are planning to book a hotel
room. Online hotel booking transactions are expected to continue to grow exponentially.
The literature on hotels suggests that travelers receive several benefits by using hotel
websites, including better prices, increased availability, and access to previous guests’
ratings of a specific hotel (Amin et al., 2013; Azis et al., 2020; Park et al., 2017; Roozen &
CONTACT Kisang Ryu kryu11@sejong.ac.kr Department of Foodservice Management, College of Hospitality &
Tourism Management, Sejong University, Seoul, Korea (The Republic of) 05006
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 M. AMIN ET AL.
Raedts, 2018; Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). Hotel review ratings have played an essential role in
selecting hotel preferences. It describes how review rates strengthen the effect of travelers’
preferences and decision-making processes (Akhtar et al., 2020; Zeng et al., 2020; Zhang
et al., 2019, 2016; Zhou et al., 2020). However, travelers are increasingly demanding high-
quality hotel services. Therefore, developing a more attractive and useful hotel website for
travelers is challenging in the current business environment.
Nowadays, a major focus for website quality is encouraging consumers to interact in the
online transaction environment (Gao & Li, 2019; Lu et al., 2016). In the hotel industry, due
to the intangible nature of the business, many hotels have established websites to connect
with and provide personalized information to their customers (Abou-Shouk & Khalifa,
2017; Amin et al., 2013; Bufquin et al., 2020; Fong et al., 2017; Lee, 2018; Ongsakul et al.,
2021). The majority of scholars have included interface elements such as chats, message
boards, virtual communities, after-sale e-mail services, and human web assistance (Cyr
et al., 2007; Gefen & Straub, 2004; Hassanein & Head, 2007; Kang & Lee, 2018). It is
expected that this technology-driven will play an essential role in generating social presence
in interactions between travelers and hotel websites. Social presence refers to a website’s
ability to convey a sense of human warmth and sociability (Gefen & Straub, 2004; Hassanein
et al., 2009; Lu et al., 2016).
Previous studies have built a link between hotel website quality and e-trust in the online
hotel industry (Ladhari & Michaud, 2015; Li et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2015) and social
presence and e-trust in an online shopping environment (Gao & Li, 2019; Jiang et al., 2019;
Lu et al., 2016). They have also established the impact of social presence on trust in peer-to-
peer (P2P) accommodations (Ye et al., 2020, 2019b). However, the previous studies have
overlooked the important relationships between social presence, e-trust, and commitment
in conjunction with hotel website quality and online booking intentions. For example, Jiang
et al. (2019) and Pavlou et al. (2007) argue that increased social presence might reduce the
perceived social distance between the seller and buyer and increase online trust.
Alternatively, if buyers perceive a sufficient level of social presence and trust, they are
more likely to have affective commitment and behavioral reactions (Algharabat et al., 2018;
Gefen et al., 2003; Hassanein & Head, 2005). Moreover, the interaction between hotels and
travelers is a determining factor in travelers’ emotional experience with hotels (Brakus et al.,
2009; Fuentes-Moraleda et al., 2020; Hwang & Seo, 2016). Although social presence, e-trust,
and commitment in online hotel booking transactions are a psychological traveler micro-
experience and can be changed with the perception of environment and situation. These
unique characteristics of travelers’ behavior in online commercial hotel booking transac
tions have not been fully explained in the existing literature. The effect of hotel website
quality and social presence on e-trust, affective commitment, and online hotel booking
intentions remains unresolved, particularly for commercial hotels. The lack of existing
literature suggests that additional studies are required to analyze social presence, e-trust,
and affective commitment in conjunction with hotel website quality and online booking
intention. Therefore, this study aims to respond to these calls and address the following
research questions: (1) how hotel website quality will enhance e-trust and affective commit
ment and (2) how social presence and e-trust will enhance affective commitment and online
hotel booking intentions.
To address these research questions, this study adopts the revised stimulus-
organism-response (S-O-R) theory (Bigne et al., 2020; Jacoby, 2002), the social
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 3
presence theory (Short et al., 1976), and the commitment-trust theory (Morgan &
Hunt, 1994; Tabrani et al., 2018) to model the complex causal relationships. This
study is designed to investigate the effect of hotel website quality, social presence,
e-trust, and affective commitment on travelers’ online hotel booking intentions. It is
expected to provide a significant contribution to the existing literature in three
ways. First, this study aims to provide a more holistic understanding of travelers’
online hotel booking behavior by investigating the effect of hotel website quality,
affective commitment, and e-trust on travelers’ online hotel booking intentions by
integrating social presence into these links. Second, this study attempts to confirm
the multiple dimensions of hotel website quality. Third, this is the first study to
empirically investigate the effect of social presence on travelers’ trust and online
hotel booking intention in the context of commercial hotels. It is also expected that
the interactions between travelers and the hotel website would create travelers’
experiences. A better understanding of the social presence concept’s relationship
to travelers’ online hotel transactions may help hotel website platforms develop
marketing communication channels to engage with their travelers and enhance
their marketing strategies to build memorable experiences with future online hotel
booking transactions.
Literature review
The revised stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory
According to Mehrabian and Russell (1974), the S-O-R model consists of three compo
nents: stimulus (inputs), organism (processes), and response (outputs). This model pro
vides the theoretical foundation for understanding consumer behavior (Mehrabian &
Russell, 1974). Most scholars have implemented this framework in their studies (Ali et al.,
2016; Kamboj et al., 2018; Kim et al., 2020; Nanu et al., 2020). The S-O-R model postulates
that environmental and informational signals act as stimuli that affect an individual’s
cognitive and affective responses, which affect behavioral intentions (Bigne et al., 2020).
In this study, the stimuli consist of elements of the traveler’s motivation for using the hotel
website. Most scholars argue that various representations and processes are involved when
individuals capture, translate, and adaptively respond to a multifaceted stimulus (Bigne
et al., 2020; H.-J. Chang et al., 2011). In this study, the commitment, e-trust, and social
presence are proposed as organisms. The S-O-R structure’s response component is the
outcome in the form of customers’ approach or avoidance behaviors (Donovan & Rossiter,
1982).
Hotel website quality

Numerous scholars have proposed online website quality from the consumer’s perspective
and developed multidimensional constructs to evaluate online buying experience behaviors
(Ali, 2016; Chang & Chen, 2008; Wang et al., 2015). As the scope of the website quality
definitions and constructs are dissimilar in the literature, debate remains over which
constructs have the most critical impact on website performance. Several scholars have
attempted to incorporate the information aspect, usability (Palmer, 2002), and content
4 M. AMIN ET AL.
sufficiency (Chung & Law, 2003) in defining website quality (Dedeke, 2016). For example,
Chiu et al. (2005) proposed a comprehensive model for measuring website quality in the
context of e-commerce, suggesting four dimensions: information quality, system use,
playfulness, and system design quality.
Moreover, Jeong et al. (2003) conducted a study on the lodging industry and defined
lodging website quality as the “overall excellence or effectiveness of [a website] in
delivering intended messages to its audience and viewers” (p. 162). With this definition,
Jeong et al. (2003) conceptualize the lodging website quality as a multidimensional
construct of accuracy, clarity, completeness, ease of use, navigationality, and color com
bination. Yeung and Law (2004) and Wang et al. (2015) have developed a framework for
reassessing hotel website performance and emphasized that hotel websites’ effectiveness
can be determined by their functionality and usability. Following Wang et al.’s (Wang
et al., 2015) hotel website quality constructs, Ali (2016) has assessed hotel website quality
based on functionality, usability, security, and privacy. The previous instrument was
designed specifically to assess hotel website quality in developing countries. For this
reason, the relevant concept of hotel website quality constructs in this study was derived
from Ali (2016) and Wang et al. (2015) and includes website functionality, website
usability, and website security and privacy.
Hotel website functionality refers to the quality of information capacity, including
a website content’s ability to provide sufficient information about the hotel’s products
and services (Law, 2019; Wong et al., 2020). Researchers generally agree that consumers
are looking for necessary information from the hotel website and are most interested in
reservation, facilities, contact, and availability information (Law, 2019; Leung et al., 2016).
Thus, hotel website functionality is the most crucial factor for travelers when booking via an
online reservation site (Leung et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2015).
Yeung and Law (2004) argue that website usability’s ultimate goal is to make hotel
websites more efficient and enjoyable for users. Website usability is a quality attribute in
providing convenience in a specified website context (Akincilar & Dagdeviren, 2014; Pee
et al., 2018). Additionally, an effective website is more often referred to as having high
usability, a user-friendly and user-centered interface, and practical features (Lee & Koubek,
2010). However, other scholars argue that website usability’s most critical aspects are its
secure login, time-saving, and navigation (Abou-Shouk & Khalifa, 2017). Consequently,
excellent website usability will positively inspire users to spend more time observing the
website and to return in the future (Leung et al., 2016).
Hotel website security and privacy refer to the continuous management of information
protecting it from internal and external risks (H.-b. Kim et al., 2013). Wang and Law (2019)
and Wong and Law (2005) recognize three significant elements in an operational hotel
website: secure payment methods, diverse price ranges for products and services, and user-
friendly systems. For example, when a person shops on the site, online vendors will have
implemented security mechanisms, and online purchasing will be safe (Hartono et al.,
2014). Additionally, the hotel website will collect customers’ data concerning hotel services;
therefore, the hotel must protect customers’ data for the safety of their credit card numbers
and other financial information (Hartono et al., 2014).
Social presence
The first operational concept of social presence was derived from social presence theory
(SPT), explaining that social presence is closely related to intimacy and psychological
closeness (Short et al., 1976). In this definition, social presence emphasizes humans’
perception of social integration through social media platforms by considering how com
munication can support customers by socially recognizing them via the mediated interface
(Algharabat et al., 2018; Obeidat et al., 2020). Other scholars argue that social presence is
a communication channel for specifying how people interact and socialize and defining the
extent of awareness in the medium-technologized interactions synchronously (Gao & Li,
2019; Jiang et al., 2019; Leong et al., 2020; Lim et al., 2015; Tseng et al., 2019; Ye et al., 2020).
According to Lu et al. (2016), social presence is distinguished by three components: the
social presence of the web, the social presence of others, and the social presence of
interaction with sellers. The web’s social presence refers to how well the consumer perceives
a website’s competency to deliver a sense of human social interaction and warmth to its
users. The social presence of others refers to how other social individuals exist and respond
to users in online communities. The social presence of sellers refers to the extent to which
customers perceive the personal characteristics and sensitivity of the service provider
through the online platform (Biocca et al., 2003; Gefen & Straub, 2004; Hassanein &
Head, 2007; Jiang et al., 2019; Leong et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2016; Ye et al., 2020). Various
scholars have established several models of social presence in the literature. However, the
standard definition of social presence has no consensus amongst scholars (Kim et al., 2016).
Therefore, this study has adopted a single-dimensional concept of social presence for the
websites developed by Gefen and Straub (2004), Hassanein and Head (2007), and Ye et al.
(2019b). The websites’ social presence is defined in this study as the opportunity provided to
travelers to gain information with the help of virtual advisors impacting their decision to
reserve a hotel room.
Kaushik et al. (2018) highlight how social presence levels differ across websites and
depend on how the site communicates with users as a social actor, due to the different
communication mediums used by various users. J. Kim et al. (2019) claim that, when
a person is involved in media activities, they tend to experience a robust sense of social
presence. Interestingly, Ye et al. (2020b) argue that, technically, social presence is formed by
the platform’s ability to deliver nonverbal signals (e.g., personal, friendly elements) and
human warmth. Alternatively, social presence may be formed based on the words used in
communication and other components, such as verbal and nonverbal cues and the com
munication’s context (Olson & Ro, 2020; Rice, 1993). Due to the intangible nature of the
social presence of websites that enables customers to perceive the presence of human-like
agents, personalized greetings, human audio and video, socially vibrant scripts, 3D avatars,
and consumer reviews and recommendations (Hassanein & Head, 2007; Kang & Lee, 2018;
J. Kim et al., 2019; Kumar & Benbasat, 2002; Leong et al., 2020). Most studies have provided
a significant contribution to outlining the importance of websites’ social presence in online
transactions (Lu et al., 2016; Ye et al., 2020). Furthermore, the advantages associated with
the social presence of websites can reduce the perceived risk related to online hotel
transactions. A high level of social presence on the web will transform social signals and
information and, therefore, increase transparency and decrease the social distance between
sellers and buyers (Leong et al., 2020; Lu et al., 2016).
6 M. AMIN ET AL.
E-trust
Previous studies have explored the concept of trust from several perspectives (Lu et al.,
2016; Tabrani et al., 2018), which has led to extensive discussion on the role of trust in
a social exchange relationship (Lien et al., 2015). Trust refers to a positive belief in the
reliability and dependability of a person or object (Flavián et al., 2005), which entails a sense
of security and transaction privacy (M.-J. Kim et al., 2011). Most scholars agree that the
definition of trust refers to multidimensional constructs (Doney et al., 2007; Morgan &
Hunt, 1994). Following their work, Tabrani et al. (2018) has conceptualized trust as
consisting of benevolence and credibility. Credibility refers to a customer’s perception of
the trustworthiness of a firm’s words and promises. Benevolence refers to a customer’s belief
that the firm’s aims and intents can create benefits (Doney et al., 2007; Fullerton, 2011).
In online shopping, trust refers to online consumers’ beliefs about and expectations of
the online seller (Gefen et al., 2003; Tran & Strutton, 2020). In the hotel website context,
when consumers feel comfortable interacting in online transactions, they are more likely to
develop trust (Cheng et al., 2019) and demonstrate vulnerability (Kim & Peterson, 2017). In
line with this concept, Lien et al. (2015) contend that guest may be vulnerable to the hotels’
services when guests expect hotels to provide services or products as promised. In addition,
Wang et al. (2015) argue that hotel rooms are generally big-ticket items that increase
intrinsic risks and the degree of uncertainty. However, travelers believe that hotels can
offer the expected services as promised (Assaker et al., 2020; Rather, 2019). More specifi
cally, travelers tend to read online reviews on social media networks to obtain first-hand
information from previous travelers to minimize uncertainty (Jung et al., 2018). Moreover,
Sparks et al. (2016) highlight how travelers who lack personal experience with hotel websites
are more likely to research past travelers’ experiences when using the hotel website. As
a result, a lack of trust in the hotel website is a critical factor that could cause travelers not to
engage in online hotel transactions (Bufquin et al., 2020). Due to the hospitality industry’s
intangible nature, travelers’ state of trust toward the hotel website is a significant determin
ing factor when they consider interactions with hotel websites. The more a traveler trusts
a hotel website, the lower the perceived online transaction risk, and the higher the intention
to book a hotel room (Lien et al., 2015).
Affective commitment
Morgan and Hunt (1994) conceptualize commitment as an exchange partner who is
confident that continuing a relationship with a firm is vital and deserves maximum effort
to maintain it. Other scholars argue that commitment is an emotional stimulus influencing
a person to stay in a relationship with a firm (Tabrani et al., 2018) or an emotional bond
with a hope of getting better benefits by remaining connected (Moorman et al., 1993;
Morgan & Hunt, 1994). Most existing marketing literature conceptualizes commitment as
a unidimensional construct (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). Other scholars have proposed that
commitment (Allen & Meyer, 1990) theory be expanded into three constructs: affective,
calculative, and normative commitment. Based on their work, Tabrani et al. (2018) define
each dimension as follows. Affective commitment refers to customers who have an opti
mistic, psychosomatic connection to a firm causing them to endure the relationship.
Calculative commitment describes a customer’s necessity of sustaining a relationship with
a firm in anticipation of a lack of options and high switching costs. Normative commitment
is defined as an obligation to remain in a relationship because they feel they ought to (Chai
et al., 2015; Shukla et al., 2016; Yao et al., 2019). In the hotel website context, commitment
becomes imperative, as consumers may easily switch to an alternate hotel website with the
simple click of a button. Among the three commitments, affective commitment plays
a significant role in developing travelers’ emotional attachment to a hotel website (Koo
et al., 2020). It is indicated that the higher the level of commitment, the more favorable the
travelers’ perceptions of their hotels (Inoue et al., 2017). Thus, the more robust a traveler’s
commitment is to a website, the higher the traveler’s emotional bond is to their site (Vohra
& Bhardwaj, 2019).
Online hotel booking intentions

Most examined scholars discuss how purchase intention is integral to behavioral intention
dimensions (Ali, 2016; Amaro & Duarte, 2015; Hsu et al., 2018; Zeithaml et al., 1996).
According to Ariffin et al. (2018), online purchase intention is frequently measured to
predict customers’ actual buying behaviors. Additionally, Mohseni et al. (2018) emphasize
that online purchase intention refers to consumers’ willingness to buy and repurchase
a product online. This is consistent with the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991),
the theory of reasoned action (Madden et al., 1992), and the theory acceptance model
(Venkatesh & Goyal, 2010; Wang et al., 2015), and it supports the evidence that the actual
purchase intention is an important predictor of consumers’ behaviors (Amaro & Duarte,
2015; Lee et al., 2018). In the hotel industry, Lien et al. (2015) describe how hotel booking
intention refers to travelers’ willingness to book a room through a hotel’s website.
According Wang et al. (2015), online purchase intention relates to a customer’s desire
and plan to participate in an online deal, including the evaluation processes of website
quality and product information. Following this concept, Huang (2012) explain that, during
the exploration, several interactions occur between the consumer and the website, as the
consumer observes the graphics and reads the text before making a decision. Liu and Zhang
(2014) conducted a study on an online booking channel and identified two factors influen
cing travelers’ transactions online: product-related and channel-related elements. In addi
tion, Li et al. (2017) indicate that the benefits of the official hotel website compared to other
hotel website networks play a critical role in increasing travelers’ online booking intentions.
Hypothesis development
Previous studies have empirically examined how website quality affects e-trust. For exam
ple, Hahn et al. (2017) highlight how atmospheric quality, emotional engagement, and
traveler reviews are the most significant aspects of a hotel website. A website is often the first
interaction between a traveler and the hotel at the initial stage. Similarly, Li et al. (2017)
indicate that hotel website quality (usability, ease of use, entertainment, and complemen
tarity) is essential when travelers make online booking transactions. Interestingly, Wong
et al. (2020) suggest that a well-designed and well-managed hotel website will satisfy
travelers’ needs. In contrast, a poorly managed hotel website can create dissatisfaction,
frustration, and distrust.
8 M. AMIN ET AL.
Bilgihan and Bujisic (2015) support the idea that hotel website design features are vital
for online relationship marketing. M.-J. Kim et al. (2011) and Albayrak et al. (2020) explain
that navigation functionality and perceived security positively impact travelers’ trust. For
example, Ladhari and Michaud (2015) emphasize that, when travelers have positive expec
tations of a hotel website, e-trust is established. At this point, travelers expect that the hotel
will provide services as promised, and this expectations comes from travelers’ confidence in
the hotel website’s validity (Lien et al., 2015). Furthermore, De Wulf et al. (2006) have found
that the pleasure derived from using a website creates a higher level of commitment to
online transactions. Furthermore, Wang and Law (2019) emphasize how privacy and
security play an essential role in enhancing travelers’ intentions to book rooms via the
hotel website. Thus, the following hypotheses were developed:
H1: Hotel website quality has a positive effect on e-trust.
H2: Hotel website quality has a positive effect on affective commitment.
H3: Hotel website quality has a positive effect on online hotel booking intentions.
Research has shown that travelers are more likely to visit a hotel website that they
perceive as trustworthy and dependable (Abubakar et al., 2017; Ekinci & Hosany, 2006;
Wang & Law, 2019). Here, trust is viewed as a process that empowers travelers’ self-
confidence with a detailed reference for choosing a hotel room. A consumer may only
trust a specific hotel (Assaker et al., 2020; Ponnapureddy et al., 2017). Furthermore, most
potential travelers have used online reviews to reduce risk and uncertainty in booking
a hotel room (El-Said, 2020; Sreejesh & Anusree, 2016). When a traveler considers a hotel
website to be dishonest and believes it fails to provide accurate information, the customer
will not complete the booking process for a hotel room. Other scholars claim that a hotel’s
popularity and rating play an essential role in influencing hotel booking intentions (Bufquin
et al., 2020; Casalo et al., 2015). Additionally, Ladhari and Michaud (2015) have identified
that a positive or negative comment from Facebook friends will significantly impact
travelers’ trust of the hotel website and, consequently, reflect their desire to book a room
online. In this regard, a traveler’s trust is subject to the hotel website’s honesty and ability to
provide the expected services and facilities to travelers when they stay at the hotel
(Ponnapureddy et al., 2017; Rather, 2019). In support of this notion, most scholars consent
that travelers who trust online hotel websites are more likely to commit themselves to their
relationship and develop online booking intentions (Agag & El-Masry, 2016). Other
scholars argue that an uninformative website can create mistrust between travelers and
the site (Bilgihan, 2016), and travelers will not purchase hotel products and services if they
do not trust the service provider (Cheng et al., 2019; Kandampully et al., 2015).
Alternatively, high traveler trust in a hotel website will increase travelers’ intentions to
book a hotel room (Ahmad & Sun, 2018; Kim et al., 2019). Moreover, a traveler who has
adequately high commitment will have a strengthened emotional bond and form online
purchase intentions or visit the site more frequently (Koo et al., 2020). Agag and El-Masry
(2016) claim that travelers who have a high commitment to a hotel website are more willing
to book a hotel room and repeat reservations. Thus, the following hypotheses emerge:
H4: E-trust has a positive effect on commitment.
H5: E-trust has a positive effect on online purchase intentions.
H6: Affective commitment has a positive effect on online hotel booking intentions.
Most scholars agree that an effective social presence significantly enhances consumers’
trust and online transactions (Olson & Ro, 2020; Ye et al., 2020). For example, Lu et al.
(2016) explain how the web context’s social presence and the social presence of interaction
with sellers can help consumers’ develop feelings of trust toward online transactions.
Furthermore, Lu et al. (2016) emphasize that a high social presence on a website will deliver
more information and transparency. Consequently, it will be easier to establish
a trustworthy relationship. Moreover, Pavlou et al. (2007) argue that social presence
could reduce the perceived social space between consumers and retailers in online transac
tions, encouraging trust.
Similarly, Hassanein and Head (2005) highlight how increased social presence levels
significantly contribute to developing e-trust in online shopping websites. Additionally,
Pongpaew et al. (2017) make evident that social presence can be presented on-air and it will
significantly enhance commitment and time spent on the website. Jiang et al. (2019)
describe how high social presence stages increase consumers’ intentions to make online
transactions. Ye et al. (2020) emphasize that increasing a website’s social presence will
develop consumer trust and inspire consumer intention to purchase P2P accommodation.
Therefore, the novelty and uniqueness of a consumer’s experience with social platforms will
attract courtesy and encourage awareness of social presence in future consumer intentions
(Fan et al., 2019). Attracting travelers is one of the most fundamental dilemmas in studying
relationships, because personalized attractions are the basis of forming long-term and
committed relationships. When travelers perceive a high level of social presence in hotel
website platforms, it increases their trust and intention to book a hotel room, leading to the
following hypotheses:
H7: Social presence has a positive effect on e-trust.
H8: Social presence has a positive effect on online hotels’ booking intentions.
Methodology
Data collection process
Before distributing a survey to the respondents, the hotels’ star ratings were reviewed.
According to the Culture and Tourism Department of Aceh (2019), there are six four-star
and one five-star hotels operating in Banda Aceh. The hotels’ ratings were reconfirmed on
their websites, Booking.com, Traveloka.com, Tripadvisor.com, agoda.com, and the Aceh
Tourism website. The main objective of selecting four-star commercial hotels was to ensure
the surveyed hotels had implemented online channels for making hotel reservations and
were actively promoting their hotels via hotel websites.
10 M. AMIN ET AL.
Although hotels offer online room bookings directly through their websites, the hotel
industry also allows travelers to book a hotel room via online travel agencies with links
to hotel websites. Therefore, online booking plays an essential role in travelers’ plan
ning. The study population was defined as general travelers who had booked hotel
rooms via hotel websites or online travel agencies (OTAs). Since the travelers had
experienced the quality of OTA websites and hotel booking services, their intention to
book a hotel room through hotel websites and OTAs was investigated. Several research
ers have used these approaches for gathering data from hotel and OTA websites (Abou-
Shouk & Khalifa, 2017; Qi et al., 2013; Wang & Law, 2019; Wong et al., 2020; Y.-W.
Chang et al., 2019).
The initial screening for the survey was conducted by asking a filter question to ensure
that an accurate respondent was approached; this was intended to identify online and offline
guests. The follow-up step was inviting them to take part in the study, during which the
respondent was required to name a website they had used to book a hotel room in the past
three months. A self-administered questionnaire using a convenience sampling approach
was distributed to travelers and tourists visiting Banda Aceh, Indonesia. This sampling
method was employed due to the subjects’ accessibility and proximity to the researchers
(Sekaran & Bougie, 2016).
The study was conducted from June to September 2019. Three students from the public
university were recruited to conduct the survey. The surveys were distributed to travelers
and tourists in each hotel’s lobby between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm. The principal researchers
contacted the general managers of these hotels to obtain a participation agreement.
A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to travelers at the five four-star hotels in
Banda Aceh. A total of 240 questionnaires were returned, which fulfilled the sample size
requirements of the structural equation modeling analysis, recommended by Hair et al.
(2010). The questionnaire was written in both English and Bahasa Indonesian languages
to accommodate respondents from different regions. Two Indonesian experts from public
universities edited the survey for both face and content validity. A minor amendment was
made to follow the context of the study. Table 1 shows the demographic profiles of the
respondents.
Measurement scales
The hotel website quality constructs website usability, website functionality, and website
security and privacy were adapted from Ali (2016), Wang et al. (2015), and Wang and Law
(2019). Five items to measure the websites’ social presences were adapted from Gefen and
Straub (2004) and Ye et al. (2019b). The four items of e-trust were adapted from Agag and
El-Masry (2016). The three affective commitment items were adapted from Fullerton (2011)
and Tabrani et al. (2018). Online hotel booking intentions were measured by four items
adapted from Wang and Law (2019). A five-point Likert scale ranging from (1) “strongly
disagree” to (5) “strongly agree” was employed to measure each construct.
Data analysis
The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was performed
to calculate the measurement and structural models (Hair et al., 2013, 2016) via SmartPLS
Table 1. Respondent profiles.

Respondent Characteristics Number of Respondents Percentage
Gender:
Male 140 58
Female 100 42
Ages:
20–30 years old 20 8
31–40 years old 45 19
41–50 years old 105 44
51 years old and above 70 29
Types of tourist:
International 90 38
Domestic 150 62
Length of Stay (Days):
1– 3 days 120 50
4– 5 days 90 38
6– 7 days 15 6
8– 9 days 10 4
10 days above 5 2
Source of Information about hotels:
Travel Agent Platform 75 31
Hotel Website 165 69
Purpose:
Business 30 12
Pleasure 210 88
software (Ringle et al., 2005). Partial least squares structural equation modeling is a causal-
predictive method that highlights predictions by estimating statistical models (Hair et al.,
2019). Preliminary reasons for choosing a PLS-SEM included the recommended sample size
in selected contexts, distributional assumptions, and statistical power (Hair et al., 2019). In
fact, the PLS-SEM approach is commonly applied in social science disciplines, including
hospitality management (Ali et al., 2018; Amin et al., 2017), as it provides a robust way of
analyzing survey data (Hair et al., 2019). Following Hair et al.’s (Hair et al., 2019) and Amin
et al.’s (Amin et al., 2020) recommendation, two systematic procedures were conducted in
this study: the measurement model and the structural model.
Results
Measurement model
Smart-PLS 3.0 was applied to assess the measurement and structural models. In the
measurement model stage, the construct validity and discriminant validity were identified.
Table 2 shows composite reliability (CR) results, ranging from 0.773 to 0.963, and the
average variance extracted (AVE), ranging from 0.508 to 0.837. It also confirms the
establishment of construct validity (Hair et al., 2019). Following Hair et al.’s (Hair et al.,
2019) procedures, the Fornell-Larcker criteria (Fornell & Larcker, 1981) and the heterotrait-
monotrait (HTMT) method (Henseler et al., 2016) were used to test for discriminant
validity. Table 3 presents the Fornell-Larcker and HTMT results and confirms a lack of
discriminant validity for all constructs.
12 M. AMIN ET AL.
Table 2. Construct validity.

First-order Construct Second-order Construct Items Loadings CR AVE
Website Usability WU1 0.730 0.860 0.508
WU2 0.734
WU3 0.688
WU4 0.747
WU5 0.587
WU6 0.773
Website Functionality WF1 0.672 0.944 0.773
WF2 0.935
WF3 0.906
WF4 0.949
WF5 0.905
Website Security & Privacy WS1 0.902 0.937 0.832
WS2 0.904
WS3 0.930
Hotel Website Quality Website Usability 0.715 0.773 0.532
Website Functionality 0.741
Website Security & Privacy 0.732
Affective Commitment AC1 0.716 0.878 0.709
AC2 0.891
AC3 0.906
e-Trust TR1 0.880 0.937 0.789
TR2 0.848
TR3 0.903
TR4 0.920
Social Presence SP1 0.936 0.963 0.837
SP2 0.901
SP3 0.935
SP4 0.914
SP5 0.887
Online Hotel Booking OB1 0.864 0.942 0.804
Intentions OB2 0.915
OB3 0.944
OB4 0.860
Table 3. Discriminant validity.

Constructs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fornell & Lucker’s (Fornell & Larcker, 1981)
1. Affective Commitment 0.842
2. Online Hotel Booking Intention 0.241 0.896
3. Social Presence 0.281 0.635 0.915
4. Website Usability 0.558 0.235 0.182 0.712
5. Website Functionality 0.282 0.195 0.045 0.230 0.879
6. Website Security & Privacy 0.540 0.381 0.216 0.330 0.34 0.912
7. e-Trust 0.379 0.745 0.639 0.355 0.068 0.322 0.888
Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT)
1. Affective Commitment
2. Online Hotel Booking Intention 0.276
3. Social Presence 0.322 0.668
4. Website Usability 0.693 0.276 0.207
5. Website Functionality 0.323 0.213 0.068 0.268
6. Website Security & Privacy 0.636 0.412 0.236 0.378 0.373
7. e-Trust 0.458 0.803 0.674 0.410 0.108 0.353
Structural model
Following Hair et al.’s (Hair et al., 2019) procedures, the path coefficient (β), coefficient of
determination (R2), and effect size (f2) are reported for a structural model. A bootstrapping
method was used with a re-sampling of 5,000 to test the hypothesis (H1-H8). Table 4 and
Figure 1 show the structural model and hypothesis results. The results show that hotel
website quality has a significant relationship with affective commitment, e-trust, and online
hotel booking intentions. Thus, H1, H2, and H3 are supported. Furthermore, e-trust has
Table 4. Hypotheses testing.

Hypotheses Beta T-Statistics P-Values 2.50% 97.50% r2 f2 Decision
Hotel Website Quality -> Website Usability 0.715 14.975 0.000 0.596 0.792 0.511 1.046
Hotel Website Quality -> Website 0.741 14.779 0.000 0.621 0.814 0.549 1.216
Functionality
Hotel Website Quality -> Website Security & 0.732 20.564 0.000 0.650 0.791 0.537 1.158
Privacy
H1. Hotel Website Quality -> e-Trust 0.216 3.832 0.000 0.111 0.339 0.082 Supported
H2. Hotel Website Quality -> Affective 0.558 12.092 0.000 0.460 0.644 0.479 Supported
Commitment
H3. Hotel Website Quality -> Online Hotel 0.247 4.664 0.000 0.135 0.342 0.101 Supported
Booking Intention
H4. e-Trust -> Affective Commitment 0.193 3.417 0.001 0.079 0.301 0.452 0.057 Supported
H5. e-Trust -> Online Hotel Booking 0.556 12.241 0.000 0.464 0.640 0.459 Supported
Intention
H6. Affective Commitment -> Online Hotel −0.205 3.998 0.000 −0.303 −0.107 0.421 0.067 Supported
Booking Intention
H7. Social Presence -> e-Trust 0.596 11.343 0.000 0.486 0.694 0.624 Supported
H8. Social Presence -> Online Hotel Booking 0.288 6.154 0.000 0.205 0.385 0.638 0.135 Supported
Intention
Note: Significant value at 5% level
Figure 1. Structural model.

14 M. AMIN ET AL.
a significant relationship with affective commitment and online hotel booking intentions.
Thus, H4, H5, and H6 are supported. Social presence has a significant relationship with e-trust
and online hotel booking intentions. Therefore, H7 and H8 are also supported. Table 4 and
Figure 1 present the R-squared values for all constructs. E-trust was explained by 45.2% of
hotel website quality and social presence (R2 = 0.452). Affective commitment was explained
by 42.1% of e-trust and hotel website quality (R2 = 0.421). Online hotel booking intention was
explained by 63.8% of affective commitment, e-trust, and social presence (R2 = 0.638).
Moreover, the effect size (f2) for all constructs is shown in Table 4, where f2 values of 0.02,
0.15, and 0.35 represent small, medium, and large effects, respectively (Hair et al., 2016).
Discussion
This study aims to investigate the effects of hotel website quality, social presence, affective
commitment, and e-trust on online hotel booking intentions. The results indicate that hotel
website quality constructs are well-established and consist of website usability, function
ality, security, and privacy. Website functionality is a crucial determinant of hotel website
quality, followed by website security, privacy, and usability. It shows that travelers are
focused on advancing the info-structure of hotels’ website quality in displaying sufficient
information on products and services to attract travelers. Travelers tend to spend more time
browsing hotel websites that offer and display accurate information. Previous studies
support the idea that appropriate and specific information on hotel websites encourages
travelers to complete online transactions (Law, 2019; Leung et al., 2016). A similar study
conducted by Baek and Ok (2017) on online hotel intentions indicates that website
functionality influences travelers’ booking plans. Finally, the results confirm all of the
hypotheses presented in this study, indicating that hotel website quality, social presence,
affective commitment, and e-trust have significant relationships with online hotel booking
intentions.
Hotel website quality is a fundamental driver in developing affective commitment,
e-trust, and online hotel booking intentions (H1, H2, and H3). This outcome is consistent
with the findings of Agag and El-Masry (2016), Albayrak et al. (2020), and Li et al. (2017).
Improving hotel website quality strengthens travelers’ trust and commitment to booking
a hotel room. A high level of trust and commitment encourages travelers to form online
hotel booking intentions (H4, H5, and H6). These findings support the previous study by
Agag and El-Masry (2016), highlighting the importance of trust and commitment in
developing online hotel booking intentions. Other scholars also emphasize that trust and
commitment are fundamental elements in enhancing travelers’ online booking intentions
(Amaro & Duarte, 2015; Eastlick et al., 2006).
Additionally, increased social presence directly develops e-trust and encourages travelers
to book hotel rooms (H7 & H8). This indicates that the social presence of the website builds
e-trust and increases online hotel booking transactions. In other words, travelers who enjoy
the social experience with the hotel website platform are more motivated to book a hotel
room; consequently, increased social presence develops e-trust and travelers’ online hotel
booking intentions. Thus, when travelers trust an online hotel website’s quality and social
presence before completing an online transaction, the nature of their relationship will be
reflected in their online transactions (Lu et al., 2016). This result is consistent with previous
research studies that determined the existence of relationships between social presence,
e-trust, and online purchase intentions (Dash & Saji, 2008; Ye et al., 2019b). For example,
Kaushik et al. (2018) found that the social presence of a website impacts the formation of
behavioral intentions of using the site. Social presence has been indicated to be one of the
most critical online interchange indicators (Back et al., 2020; Gefen & Straub, 2004; Lu et al.,
2016; Ye et al., 2020). Finally, the findings highlight that, when a traveler perceives a high
level of hotel website quality, social presence, affective commitment, and e-trust, they will be
encouraged to book a hotel room online and may recommend it to other travelers.
Theoretical implications
This study contributes to the current literature in several ways. First, this study addresses
the literature’s research gaps by examining the effects of hotel website quality, social
presence, affective commitment, and e-trust on online hotel booking intentions. Second,
this study confirms that hotel website quality consists of website usability, functionality, and
security and privacy. Website quality plays an essential role in influencing travelers’ online
hotel booking intentions. Previous research studies have adapted the hotel websites quality
constructs in various countries, including studies from Ali (2016), Gao and Li (2019), and
Hahn et al. (2017), Ongsakul et al. (Ongsakul et al., 2021), and Wang et al. (2015). However,
they are limited, as these constructs must be simulated within a specific context. Third, this
is the first empirical study investigating the effect of social presence on enhancing travelers’
trust and online hotel booking intentions. Although Ye et al. (2019b) and Ye et al. (2020)
have examined the impact of social presence on trust and booking intentions, they focused
on P2P accommodations, not commercial hotels. However, there is still not adequate
research in this area. The previous studies have ignored how travelers primarily interact
with hotel website quality. This study has attempted to identify how social presence
enhances e-trust and improves online booking intentions. This study confirms that social
presence has a critical role in enhancing e-trust and online hotel booking intentions.
Furthermore, this study suggests that social presence significantly effects hotel managers’
effectiveness in online interaction with travelers. Therefore, hotels’ abilities to communicate
with travelers using proper channels are expected to increase social presence, reduce
perceived risk, and improve online booking transactions.
Finally, the research findings present the relationships between hotel website quality,
social presence, e-trust, and affective commitment and online hotel booking intentions.
This study provides evidence of the importance of the holistic model in understanding
travelers’ decision-making process, especially when booking a hotel room. In the hotel
industry, products and services are intangible; therefore, it will different from a traditional
transaction. As travelers usually book a hotel room without prior experience in a particular
hotel and then decide whether to use it again in the future.
Managerial implications
This study presents managerial implications. Results show that relationships exist between the
variables. Hotel website users have trust and, thus, commit to continuing to make online hotel
booking transactions. In this study, the most critical indicator of trust and affective commit
ment is hotel website functionality. The greater the hotel’s ability to provide accurate hotel
facilities and reservation information, the more travelers trust and commit to online hotel
16 M. AMIN ET AL.
booking transactions. These findings indicate that hoteliers should utilize the advances of
info-structure technology to facilitate a more convenient experience and enhance travelers’
willingness to book a hotel room. Therefore, hotel website design is essential in enhancing
online booking intentions. Currently, most hotel websites in Indonesia, especially in Banda
Aceh, are continuously improving aspects such as the consistency of the hotel website’s image,
the integrity of the website’s features, and the advantages of the hotel website over other online
booking platforms. Most travelers placed these elements as the most important and necessary
information for room reservation on the hotel website’s design portion of the survey.
According to Dedeke (2016), website design is one of the most critical aspects influencing
travelers to book a hotel online. Thus, when travelers trust a particular hotel website’s quality,
their intention and commitment to revisit the hotel website will be established. For this reason,
hoteliers must build e-trust by implementing effective communication strategies to increase
consumers’ positive perception of the security and privacy of the hotel website (Agag & El-
Masry, 2016; Baek & Ok, 2017).
Travelers’ experiences come from a direct interaction between themselves and the
hotel website. High-experience hotel services will significantly develop travelers’ percep
tions of future consumption experiences (Lee, 2018). Therefore, understanding travelers’
preferences for different booking modes might have significant implications for the
hotel industry. Hotel management must ensure that their websites can deliver excellent
services to travelers. Hotel websites must have a human-computer interaction design to
ensure that travelers can easily navigate the website and find accurate information on
hotel reservations. Furthermore, the hotel industry must move away from traditional
cognitive-driven customer concepts and focus more on human-computer interaction to
engage with travelers. Additionally, knowledge of hotel website quality is critical for
travelers’ correction. For experienced travelers, their intention to revisit a hotel website
is determined by their level of trust. Opposed to inexperienced travelers, experienced
travelers generally have positive information on the hotel website. Moreover, travelers’
most critical concerns are the security and privacy of their payment when using hotel
websites. Therefore, hotels and service providers must reinforce that their websites are
safe to use by providing flash messages on their homepage regarding safety practices.
Developing and maintaining a high-quality hotel website plays an essential role in
reducing unpleasant online booking experiences for travelers and increasing online
sales.
Hospitality industries must understand that the hotel website platform affects travelers’
perceptions of their hotels. Therefore, hotels are encouraged to maintain travelers’ trust in
their websites by infusing human elements and establishing a response system across
various online platforms to create a high social presence level. It can utilize the information
provided in this study to better understand how to interact with travelers viewing the hotel
website platforms. A hotel website platform must assimilate multimedia aspects into the
interface, actual and imaginary interactions (Hassanein & Head, 2007; Ye et al., 2019b).
Therefore, images and features on hotel websites play a significant and essential role in
influencing travelers’ reservation decisions. Most scholars use imaginary communications
such as socially vibrant pictures, text content, human audio and video, and photographs
(Cyr et al., 2007; Gefen & Straub, 2004; Olson & Ro, 2020). Research suggests that hotel
websites should incorporate several interactive and sensory features, such as appealing/
interactive visuals, to engage with their customers (Garcia et al., 2019). At this point, hotel
websites that integrate features of social presence help travelers obtain more value and
unique travel experiences from them and enhance future online hotel transactions. Suppose
low hotel website quality makes it difficult for travelers to accomplish their aims in
searching for a hotel room. In that case, it will create a negative impression for the traveler,
and they will switch to competitors’ websites. However, hotels are still struggling to compete
with online travel agencies, where a significant portion of room bookings is accomplished
instead of on hotel websites. Travel agencies and other intermediaries receive high commis
sion fees and reduce hotel revenues (Boto-García et al., 2021; Law et al., 2015; Lei et al.,
2019). Since OTAs charge a substantial commission fee to hotels, hotels would like travelers
to book future visits from hotel websites instead of OTA websites (Chang et al., 2019). Some
hotels are considering reducing or even avoiding reliance on OTAs through efforts to
increase direct bookings (Ye et al., 2019a). Most travelers will not make a hotel booking
decision based on one factor, such as room or price. Instead, most will compare all booking
preferences from several agencies, which influences their booking decisions (Xue et al.,
2020). Therefore, hotel managers must focus on identifying the main factors encouraging
travelers to book rooms directly via the hotel website and develop a marketing strategy to
enhance travelers’ booking mode preferences.
Ongsakul et al. (Ongsakul et al., 2021) highlight how telepresence can play an essential
role in influencing customers’ decision-making processes. Kaushik et al. (2018) suggest
that the hotel website should perform a more social presence to interact with customers
and increase users’ intentions of releasing information to the site. Researchers agree that
hotel website interface features develop the perception of social presence. Therefore,
social presence is a compulsory situation for establishing trust; when a high level of
social presence is established, a high level of trust will be recognized (Fan et al., 2019;
Gefen & Straub, 2004). Hotel website platforms should consider the social presence
aspect when developing marketing communication channels to engage with their custo
mers and build memorable experiences to encourage future online hotel booking
transactions.
Limitations and future research directions

This study extracted a sample from commercial hotels using a convenience sampling
approach; therefore, the results cannot be generalized. Hotel website quality constructs
may be dissimilar across travel characteristics and individual differences. Thus, the selection
of hotel website quality is more specific to single travelers than business travelers required.
This study focused on one aspect of social presence; therefore, future studies should
consider social presence as a multidimensional construct. Enjoyment constructs should
also be considered as a future research direction. Finally, this study incorporates both hotel
website quality and OTAs and may distort the concepts of hotel website quality and OTA.
Therefore, future research could specify how the concepts are different.
ORCID
Muslim Amin http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0818-5663
Kisang Ryu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7600-5583
Cihan Cobanoglu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9556-6223
18 M. AMIN ET AL.
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26 M. AMIN ET AL.
Appendix A. Survey Instrument

_____________________________________________________________________________
Hotel website usability(Ali, 2016; Wang & Law, 2019; Wang et al., 2015)
The website had a clear language
The website was fast to load
The website had user-friendly layout
The website had well-organized information
Graphics on the website matched with the text
The website had simple navigation (e.g., menu or site map)
Hotel website functionality (Ali, 2016; Wang & Law, 2019; Wang et al., 2015)
The website provided reservation information
The website provided facilities information
The website provided promotions/special offers information
The website provided hotel rooms pricing information
The website provided information of destination where hotel is located
Hotel website security and privacy (Ali, 2016; Wang & Law, 2019; Wang et al., 2015)
The website had privacy policy relating to customers’ personal data
The website had information about secured online payment system
The website had information of third-party recognition
Affective commitment (Fullerton, 2011; Tabrani et al., 2018)
I committed to stay in a relationship with this website
I feel emotionally attached to this website
I feel strong sense of belonging with this hotel website
e-Trust(Agag & El-Masry, 2016)
I believe that this hotel website is trustworthy
This hotel website is reliable
This hotel website has integrity
Hotel official websites provide information in an honest way
Social presence of website (Ye et al. 2019; Gefen & Straub, 2004)
There is a sense of human contact in the hotel website.
There is a sense of personalness in the hotel website.
There is a sense of sociability in the hotel website.
There is a sense of human warmth in the hotel website.
There is a sense of human sensitivity in the hotel website.
Online hotel booking intentions (Wang & Law, 2019; Y.-W. Chang et al., 2019)
I will likely book hotel rooms from hotel websites in the future
I will possibly book hotel rooms from hotel websites in the future
I am willing to book hotel rooms from hotel websites
I plan to book hotel rooms from hotel websites
______________________________________________________________________________

Determinants of Online Hotel Booking Intentions: Website Quality, Social Presence, Affective Commitment, and E-Trust

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Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whmm20

Determinants of online hotel booking intentions:

Muslim Amin, Kisang Ryu, Cihan Cobanoglu & Ahmad Nizam

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2021.1899095

Published online: 15 Jul 2021.

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Determinants of online hotel booking intentions: website

Hotel website quality

Online hotel booking intentions

H1: Hotel website quality has a positive effect on e-trust.

H2: Hotel website quality has a positive effect on affective commitment.

H4: E-trust has a positive effect on commitment.

H5: E-trust has a positive effect on online purchase intentions.

H7: Social presence has a positive effect on e-trust.

Table 1. Respondent profiles.

Table 2. Construct validity.

Table 3. Discriminant validity.

Table 4. Hypotheses testing.

Figure 1. Structural model.

Limitations and future research directions

Appendix A. Survey Instrument

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