Perceived innovativeness in the travel industry

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2021-09-14

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en

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When travellers want to book their holidays, the number of choices they have are countless. A holiday can be precisely planned by the traveller, or it can be outsourced to an intermediary organisation. The travel market is highly competitive, in that traditional firms are competing with innovative newcomers. Tour operators are intermediary organisations which have to adapt to survive in a quickly changing market—or face the possibility of bankruptcy. The main goal of this research is to identify the area of their business where tour operators in the Netherlands can innovate best to create a stronger position in the market. The research assesses the relationships among four proposed antecedents of perceived firm innovativeness, which indicates how innovative customers perceive a firm to be. Moreover, the relationship between perceived firm innovativeness and the relative attractiveness of a tour operator within the market is discussed. Finally, the relation between relative attractiveness and the purchase intention is assessed. The research is conducted as a survey with 289 respondents, and the conclusions are drawn based on structural equation modelling with the partial least squares method. The results show that the four antecedents do not have a significant influence on the perceived firm innovativeness, while the relations between perceived firm innovativeness, relative attractiveness, and the purchase intention are significantly positive. Moreover, it has been established that the knowledge of the customer, the frequency of booking with a tour operator, and the education level are important influential factors in the model.

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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen