| Author | Theera Erawan |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
Management of Technology, School of Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Information search plays a noteworthy role in most consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Travel industry, a top internet-influenced industry, has become one of the fast growing and
high revenue generated industry in Thailand. Understanding tourists’ external information
search behavior could provide useful information for both government and tourism-related
business sectors to plan their marketing strategies to help promote Thailand as a travel
destination.
The expansion and the empirical test on tourists’ external information search behavior
model based on theoretical foundations and methodologies, both quantitative and
qualitative approaches, are highly recognized as this research’s main contributions. A
reliable conceptual model was firstly developed based on a so-called “Three-pronged
approach”, an approach to cross validate among the result from literature review, expert
interviews, and an exploratory field study in order to confirm and propose a reliable
conceptual model. The key contribution is to explore and refine determinants of external
information search behavior in the tourism context, the context which has not been fully
explored in the literatures, and the features that could be used to characterize tourists’
external information search behavior. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied
during an exploratory field survey to ensure number of factors and its constructs in tourism
perspective. Findings from the Three-pronged approach suggested 11 components as
determinants of external information search behavior and 4 features that could be used to
define tourists’ external information search behavior itself. Six new variables which did
not exist in the literatures as determinants of external information search behavior were
introduced with satisfactory validity and reliability levels.
The constructs’ validity and reliability were firstly ensured by conducting a Confirmatory
Factory Analysis (CFA) before utilizing a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in
conceptual framework testing. Findings revealed six significant variables that should be
addressed by practitioners in Thailand’s market planning. Those recognized variables are
Perceived Benefit, Perceived Experience, Information Sources Usefulness and
Accessibility, Subjective Norms, Perceived Personal Risk, and Ability to Search. It is a
worthy noted that the last four mentioned variables had not been identified previously |
| Year | 2011 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Management (SOM) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Publication code=SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Donyaprueth Krairit |
| Examination Committee(s) | Tang, John C. S. ;Do Ba Khang;Vatcharaporn Esichaikul ;Chang, Jui Chi |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Mahasarakham University, Thailand |