Impact of Telepresence of Hotel Websites on Behavioral Intention of Indian consumers: A Select Study

Abstract

With the advancement in technology and increasing innovation, the organizational ways of responding to customers’ needs, promoting and advertising the product and service brands has completely transformed. The different market changes and trends broadly impacted the marketing communication process of the organizations. In the world of competitions and technological growth the hotel industry also changed its way of approaching and targeting customers to build strong market presence. The development of virtual world in form of hotel websites and its associated customer experiences have strongly influenced the buying behavior and decision making process. This study talks about the different variables including sensory, cognitive and emotional attributes and their role in influencing customer buying intentions. The present study identifies the antecedents of telepresence by investigating variables including sensory, emotional and cognitive attributes and examines the impact of telepresence on behavioral intentions of customers towards hotel websites. An online self-administered survey was conducted to collect data. This study helps to determine the conceptual framework model fitness through confirmatory factor analysis. The findings of this study state the significance of telepresence theory by exploring various antecedents and outcomes of the customers’ telepresence in a hotel’s website context. It has concluded that higher telepresence leads to positive behavioral intention among customers.