Direct and indirect tourism online channels. Do they have a different potential for customer loyalty?

To manage their competitive goals, e-tourism service companies, in direct and in indirect channels respectively, need to know the antecedents of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty, generated by satisfaction in its various forms, is the cornerstone of the company's assets and financial susta...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Múgica Grijalba, José Miguel, Berné, Carmen
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2020
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Pública de Navarra
Repositório:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/39081
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/39081
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Customer participation
Intentional loyalty
OTAs (online tourism agencies)
Satisfaction
Tourism online channels
Transaction costs
Descrição
Resumo:To manage their competitive goals, e-tourism service companies, in direct and in indirect channels respectively, need to know the antecedents of customer loyalty. Customer loyalty, generated by satisfaction in its various forms, is the cornerstone of the company's assets and financial sustainability. Current literature does not provide a comparative analysis on this issue. To fill this gap, this research presents a model that includes customer satisfaction and participation as the main drivers of customer loyalty. The empirical research relies on one survey conducted by a market research company addressed to Internet users in Spain with experience in online purchases of tourism products. The estimation method is 3SLS (Three-Stage Least Squares), a simultaneous equations model applied to the database obtained. The results reveal a different potential of the two types of e-channels in producing higher levels of loyalty through customer participation. Increasing the participation of customers in indirect e-tourism channels results in higher returns on loyalty while the impact is lower in the direct channels. These findings are especially interesting for tourism service providers.