A Holistic Approach to Asses the Determinants of Travel-Tracking Mobile Application Acceptance

This thesis investigated factors affecting travelers\u27 intention to adopt a new type of travel-focused mobile application named travel-tracking mobile applications (TTMA). In general, TTMAs enable travelers to act as travel-posters (i.e., those who use the application to record and post/share their travel routes and travel-related information and experiences), and/or travel-takers (i.e., those who use the application to access, read, and follow the travel routes and other travel-related information and experiences posted/shared by travel-posters). By adopting an extended version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) framework (Venkatesh et al., 2012), the first part of the study examined factors influencing travel-takers\u27 intention to use the information provided on TTMAs. Based on the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (Deci & Ryan 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000) and an extended version of the UTAUT2 framework (Venkatesh et al., 2012), the second part of the study investigated factors affecting travel-posters\u27 intention to post/share their travel-related information on TTMAs. To examine the proposed relationships, this study adopted a two-step approach recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988). The first step included a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the measurement model. The second step of the data analysis employed a structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the study hypotheses. Data collected from 305 mobile app users who traveled for leisure purposes at least once in the last two years demonstrated that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivations, and trust positively; and system privacy, negatively influenced users\u27 intension to use TTMA as travel-takers. In addition, the study results revealed that effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, social benefits, self-image had a positive impact; and location privacy concerns had a negative impact on users\u27 intention to use TTMA as travel-posters. The findings of the current study contribute to the general body of knowledge in the context of technology acceptance in general, and TTMA acceptance in the travel and tourism industries in particular. The study results also provide significant practical implications for hospitality, tourism-related technology companies, and travel entrepreneurs