A study of the impact of personal innovativeness on online travel shopping behavior - A case study of Korean travelers

Given online travel shopping is a relatively new concept and innovative behavior, research addressing the effect of traveler's inherent innovative personality on his/her online shopping behavior has relevance. This study examines how online traveler's decision-making paradigm may vary according to the traveler's personal innovativeness level, by utilizing Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975, Belief, attitude, intention and behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley) reasoned action theory as a theoretical background. The results indicate that highly innovative travelers are mainly influenced by their positive attitudes when they embrace online shopping; while less innovative travelers rely on both attitude and the referral's opinions to reduce uncertainty inherent in online transactions. One special finding was that for highly innovative travelers, the propensity to shop for travel-related products would decrease with increasing the referent's social influence. (tD 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.