Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

Online purchasing tickets for low cost carriers: An application of the

unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model
T. Escobar-Rodríguez a, E. Carvajal-Trujillo b, *
a
Department of Accounting and Information Systems, University of Huelva, Plaza de la Merced, 21002 Huelva, Spain
b
Department of Business Administration and Marketing, University of Huelva, Plaza de la Merced, 21002 Huelva, Spain

h i g h l i g h t s

We examine determinants of purchasing flights from low-cost carrier websites.

Intention is mainly influenced by trust, habit, price saving, facilitating condition.

Trust is influenced by information quality, perceived security and perceived privacy.

Online purchase is affected by purchase intention, habit and facilitating conditions.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper examines determinants of purchasing flights from low-cost carrier (LCC) websites. In doing so
Received 4 April 2013 an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model is proposed building on
Accepted 25 January 2014 earlier work by Venkatesh, Thong, and Xu (2012). The results, derived from a sample of 1096 Spanish
consumers of LCC flights, indicate that key determinants of purchasing are trust, habit, cost saving, ease
Keywords: of use, performance and expended effort, hedonic motivation and social factors. Of these variables, online
Low-cost carrier
purchase intentions, habit and ease of use are the most important.
E-commerce
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Innovativeness
Trust
UTAUT
Information technology acceptance
Internet marketing

1. Introduction
The deregulation of the air travel market has presented new
opportunities for airlines, and the main impact has been the rise of
the low-cost carrier (LCC) sector with substantial growth rates in
the number of LCC customers (Graham, 2013). Although LCCs first
appeared in the USA in 1971, this low-cost model has spread rapidly
almost everywhere in the world (Doganis, 2010). Thus, worldwide,
in 2011, LCCs accounted for 24% of all aircraft seats compared with
only 8% in 2001 (Graham, 2013). For 2011, LCCs achieved a market
share of 36% in Europe and 30% in North America (Graham, 2013).
The main target market sector for LCCs to date has been tourist
passengers (Brons, Pels, Nijkamp, & Rietveld, 2002), and the growth
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ34 959217821/7839.
E-mail addresses: tescobar@uhu.es (T. Escobar-Rodríguez), carvajal.trujillo@
dem.uhu.es (E. Carvajal-Trujillo).
and success of LCCs have, in turn, had a great influence on the
growth of tourism (Barrett, 2008). LCCs characteristically provide a
basic air transport service with no “frills” and lower fares: the
average LCC fares are 40e60% cheaper than those of the typical full
service carriers (FSCs) (Kim & Lee, 2012; Oliveira, 2008). LCCs
achieve significant cost savings by means of fleet commonality, low
distribution costs by selling air tickets directly to consumers via
their websites (thus avoiding travel agents’ commission), point-to-
point service (rather than hub-to-hub), and non-refundable tickets
(Francis, Humphreys, & Ison, 2004; Kim & Lee, 2012). As stated,
LCCs achieve their objective of offering significantly lower fares
than FSCs by operating with a significantly lower cost structure
(Francis, Dennis, Ison, & Humphreys, 2007, 2004; Pels, Njegovan, &
Behrens, 2009). Although the low fares of LCCs are one of the main
reasons why consumers choose them, there are other factors that
determine the demand for LCCs, such as perceived cost saving and
ease of booking (Jou, Lam, Hensher, Chen, & Kuo, 2008; Ryan &
Birks, 2005). Since direct selling to customers via their website is

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.017
0261-5177/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
the main distribution channel for the tickets of LCCs, as opposed to
travel agents for the FSCs (Chang & Hung, 2013), the future growth
of the LCCs will depend on consumers continuing to access LCC
websites to purchase tickets.
The use of the Internet and other information and communi-
cation technologies (ICTs) by consumers is enabling many com-
panies in the tourism industry to secure valuable competitive
advantages (Kim, Lee, & Law, 2008), offering lower distribution
costs (Kim, Kim, & Shin, 2009), greater tourist satisfaction, and
greater competitiveness and marketing efficacy (Tsai, Huang, & Lin,
2005). On the other hand, these technologies, especially the
Internet, are modifying tourist behavior with respect to the search
for information and, to a lesser extent, to the actual acquisition of
tourism products and services (Law, Qi, & Buhalis, 2010). In the
Spanish context, 68.3% of Spanish Internet users choose their
tourism products and services based on information found on the
Internet and 13.5% of these Internet users have bought this type of
product online (Bigné, Sanz, Ruiz, & Aldás, 2010). In addition, the
Internet facilitates the direct interaction of consumers with the
tourism industry (Buhalis & Law, 2008). In Spain in particular, the
product category of “tickets for transport by aircraft, train, ship and
coach” is the product most frequently purchased online (AIMC,
2012). From the point the view of supply, the development of
LCCs is associated with growing use of new information technol-
ogies such as the Internet, which allows information search and the
purchase of air tickets directly through the websites of LCCs (Aguiló,
Rey, Roselló, & Torres, 2007). In fact, the principal European LCCs
such as Ryanair and EasyJet now sell more than 90% of their tickets
directly through their websites (Koo, Mantin, & O’Connor, 2011).
The considerable development experienced by the LCC sector
and its impact on the growth of tourism (Barrett, 2008) explains the
increasing interest of researchers in the sector. Previous studies on
LCCs have centered on determining the management and market-
ing of LCC services (Grigolon, Kemperman, & Timmermans, 2012;
Kim & Lee, 2012), on defining the influence of LCCs on tourism
(Aguiló et al., 2007; Rey, Myro, & Galera, 2011), and on examining
the impacts of LCCs on airports, including the relationship between
LCCs and airport operators, and the corresponding competitive
airport strategies that have been developed (Francis et al., 2004;
Graham, 2013). The study described here falls within the first-
mentioned line of research. In this field, research questions arise
due to the need to get a better knowledge of the factors influencing
LCC air ticket online purchase acceptance and use by customers.
Specifically, this research focuses on examining the customer fac-
tors affecting the intention to purchase online and the use of LCC e-
commerce websites to make actual purchases of air tickets directly
through these websites.
Despite the increase recorded in research studies on ICTs and
tourism, it is considered important to continue investigating the
field of e-commerce and tourism, and especially to determine how
users’ attitudes toward the websites influence their purchasing
decision process (San Martín & Herrero, 2012). The acceptance and/
or use by individuals of ICTs, such as e-commerce website tech-
nologies, has been analyzed using various different theoretical
models. Prominent among these are the technology acceptance
model (TAM) (Davis, 1989), the theory of planned behavior (TPB)
(Schifter & Ajzen, 1985), and the unified theory of acceptance and
use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis,
2003). In the field of tourism, these models have been applied to
explain users’ adoption (intention to use the technology in the
future, and its actual use in the past) of e-commerce websites or
other types, for hotels (Herrero & San Martín, 2012; Izquierdo-Yusta
& Calderon-Monge, 2011; T.G. Kim et al., 2008; Morosan & Jeong,
2008; San Martín & Herrero, 2012), for airlines (Bigné et al., 2010;
Kim et al., 2009), in Web 2.0 (Casaló, Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2010;
71
Muñoz-Leiva, Hernández-Méndez, & Sánchez-Fernández, 2012),
as an information source by tourists (Castañeda, Frías, & Rodríguez,
2009), and for tourism in general (Ryan & Rao, 2008; Usoro,
Shoyelu, & Kuofie, 2010).
In the context of tourism, this study is based on a new model,
UTAUT2, of the formulation of online purchase intentions and actual
online purchases (Venkatesh et al., 2012). UTAUT2 incorporates
several advances from the original UTAUT model to explain the
intention to use and the actual use of e-commerce website tech-
nology when consumers purchase LCC air tickets directly. In addi-
tion, this paper includes two other factors, “perceived trust” and
“consumers’ innovativeness”; it also adapts the construct “price
value”, which is re-designated as “price saving”. Lastly, a new rela-
tionship is also incorporated, the direct influence of the adapted
“price value” construct (“price saving”) that the consumer is able to
obtain by using the website to purchase airline tickets. Despite the
price saving that consumers can obtain by purchasing air tickets on
LCC e-commerce websites, they have little confidence in these
websites (Kim, Ferrin, & Rao, 2008); this would explain why they
may have no intention of using the website to purchase LCC tickets.
In addition, we include in this study consumers’ innovativeness
because this variable can influence the online purchasing intentions
of consumers (San Martín & Herrero, 2012). Given the relevance of
trust to the online purchase intention, the influence on trust of those
factors relating to the consumers’ perception, such as the quality of
website information, perceived security and protection of privacy, is
also analyzed in this study (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In short, this study
puts forward a model to explain online purchase intention and use
that includes the basic explanatory variables of the UTAUT2 model
(i.e. expectation of site performance, expectation of purchaser effort
involved, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motiva-
tion and habit) as well as the direct influence of the consumers’
innovativeness and trust on their online purchase intention, and
lastly, the adaptation of a basic variable of the UTAUT2 model, price
value (i.e. price saving) and its influences on website use. Again,
given the importance of the variable trust, in this study we analyze
the influence that some of the antecedents of trust, in particular
perceived privacy, perceived security and quality of information,
could exert on this variable.
Other studies carried out in Spain in which the intention to
purchase via a website has been analyzed, have focused principally
on hotels (Herrero & San Martín, 2012; Izquierdo-Yusta & Calderon-
Monge, 2011; San Martín & Herrero, 2012), and only to a lesser
extent on airlines (Bigné et al., 2010). None of those studies have
examined the intention to purchase through the websites of LCCs.
Moreover, those studies have only examined the consumer’s
intention to use websites (in the future), and not the actual use
made (in the past). In their study, San Martín and Herrero (2012)
stated the need to investigate the actual use made of the website
by consumers to make bookings or reservations. This study em-
ploys the UTAUT2 model to examine the process by which Spanish
consumers accept and use the e-commerce websites of LCCs.
The issue of intention to purchase has previously been analyzed
by means of the application of two models e the UTAUT model (San
Martín & Herrero, 2012) and the TAM model (Bigné et al., 2010;
Herrero & San Martín, 2012; Izquierdo-Yusta & Calderon-Monge,
2011; Kim et al., 2009; Ryan & Rao, 2008). These are models
conceived for application in the organizational context (i.e. to un-
derstand those factors that influence employee acceptance and/or
use of ICTs) but not in the consumer context (i.e. to explain spe-
cifically the acceptance and/or use of ICTs by consumers), as is the
case of the UTAUT2 model. UTAUT2 is used in this paper because its
purpose is to study the acceptance and use of LCC e-commerce
websites to purchase air tickets by consumer, while UTAUT2 was
devised to explain the acceptance and use of ICT by consumers.
72 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88

In conclusion, this paper aims: 1) to study the factors affecting Table 1

the intention to use LCC e-commerce websites to purchase tickets; Similarity of constructs with those of the UTAUT.

2) to assess the impacts of perceived trust and innovativeness on Theory/model Core constructs Similar UTAUT
the intention to use LCC e-commerce websites to purchase tickets; constructs
3) to examine how price saving can influence the intention to use Theory of reasoned action (TRA) Attitude towards SI
and the actual use made of LCC e-commerce websites to purchase (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) behavior
tickets; and 4) to analyze the influence of the factors “perceived Subjective norm
Technology acceptance Perceived usefulness PE
privacy”, “perceived security” and “information quality”, on con-
model (TAM) Perceived ease of use EE
sumer trust in the website. (Davis, 1989; Davis, Subjective norm SI
This study is organized as follows. In the next section, we pro- Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989)
ceed to review the related literature and we propose our working Motivational model (MM) Extrinsic motivation PE
(Davis, Bagozzi, & Intrinsic motivation
hypotheses. In the subsequent section, we set out the methodology
Warshaw, 1992)
followed in this study. The results are then presented and in the Theory of planned Attitude towards SI
final section, we give our conclusions and implications for future behavior (TPB) behavior FC
work. (Azjen, 1991; Schifter & Subjective norm
Ajzen, 1985) Perceived behavioral
control
2. Review of the related literature and theoretical
Decomposed theory of planned Attitude towards SI
background Behavior (DTPB) behavior FC
(Taylor & Todd, 1995) Subjective norm PE
2.1. The extended unified theory of acceptance and use of Perceived behavioral
technology (UTAUT2) control
Perceived usefulness
Model of PC utilization (MPCU) Job fit PE
The extended unified theory of the acceptance and use of (Thompson, Higgins, & Complexity EE
technology (UTAUT2) provides an explanation for the acceptance Howell, 1991) Long-term consequences SI
and use of ICTs by consumers (Venkatesh et al., 2012). It constitutes Affect towards use FC
Social factors
an extension of the UTAUT, designated as UTAUT2, which was
Facilitating conditions
devised to explain the acceptance and use of ICT specifically by the Innovation diffusion theory (IDT) Relative advantage PE
consumer, since the UTAUT was originally devised in order to (Moore & Benbasat, 1991) Ease of use EE
explain the factors that affect the acceptance and use of ICT by Image SI
employees. Nevertheless in numerous studies it has been applied in Visibility FC
Compatibility
a consumer context. Furthermore, UTAUT has become a popular Results demonstrability
theoretical choice within the field of ICT (Williams, Rana, Dwivedi, Voluntariness of use
& Lal, 2011). Examples of applications of the UTAUT in consumer Socio-cognitive theory (SCT) Outcome expectationse PE
contexts include the adoption by users of the following information (Compeau & Higgins, 1995) performance
Outcome expectationse
and communication technologies: mobile banking (Zhou, Lu, &
personal
Wang, 2010); mobile phone technologies (Lu, Yao, & Yu, 2005; Affect
Park, Yang, & Lehto, 2007; Wang & Wang, 2010; Zhou, 2011); on- Anxiety
line family dispute resolution services (Casey & Wilson-Evered,
2012); location-based services (Xu & Gupta, 2009); question-
answer services (Deng, Liu, & Qi, 2011); Internet banking and one or other of the four constructs of the UTAUT: performance
(Abushanab & Pearson, 2007; Im, Hong, & Kang, 2011; Riffai, expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), facilitating conditions (FC),
Grantb, & Edgarc, 2012); virtual learning technologies (Chiu & and social influence (SI).
Wang, 2008); e-government (Hung, Wang, & Chou, 2007; Sapio With respect to the relationship between the various constructs,
et al., 2010; Schaupp, Carter, & McBride, 2010; Wang & Shih, the UTAUT posits that performance expectancy, effort expectancy,
2009); e-recruiting (Laumer, Eckhardt, & Trunk, 2010); and online and social influence affect the behavioral intention to use a tech-
purchase intention in regard to rural tourism (San Martín & nology, and the behavioral intention and facilitating conditions
Herrero, 2012). In organizational contexts, the UTAUT model has influence the actual use of the technology (Fig. 1). Therefore, in
been applied to technologies such as: computer use (Al-Gahtani, order for the UTAUT2 to adapt to the acceptance and use of ICT by
Hubona, & Wang, 2007); electronic commerce applications the consumer in a particular market, it integrates three new con-
(Sutanonpaiboon & Pearson, 2006; Wymer & Regan, 2005); virtual structs and new relationships (Venkatesh et al., 2012) and redefines
learning technologies (Van Raaij & Schepers, 2008; Wang, Wu, & the seven constructs from the perspective of the consumer instead
Wang, 2009); human resources databases (Eckhardt, Laumer, & of defining them from the perspective of the employees of an or-
Weitzel, 2009); organizational social networks (Curtis et al., 2010; ganization (Venkatesh et al., 2012). Fig. 1 provides the three new
Sykes, Venkatesh, & Gosain, 2009); e-government (Gupta, constructs incorporated in the UTAUT2: hedonic motivation, price
Dasgupta, & Gupta, 2008); and health information systems value and habit and the new relationships. This is based on the
(Alapetite, Andersen, & Hertzum, 2009; Chang, Hwang, Hung, & Li, following contributing elements: the revisions of the TAM model
2007; Duyck et al., 2010; Kijsanayotin, Pannarunothai, & Speedie, and the UTAUT model by Venkatesh et al. (2003); the extended
2009). TAM (van der Heijden, 2004); various different issues in respect of
To explain the future intention to use a technology and the past the TAM (Benbasat & Barki, 2007; Venkatesh, Davis, & Morris,
and present use of technology in organizational contexts, the 2007); the concept of habit (Limayem, Hirt, & Cheung, 2007); the
original UTAUT represented a synthesis of eight distinct theoretical use of technology (Burton-Jones & Straub, 2006); and the contin-
models taken from sociological and psychological theories utilized uance of ICT usage (Bhattacherjee, 2001; Hong, Thong, & Tam,
in the literature to explain that behavior (Venkatesh et al., 2003). 2006; Thong, Hong, & Tam, 2006). Furthermore, the UTAUT2
Table 1 presents the constructs for each of the eight models com- modifies the definitions of the seven constructs that it takes into
bined in the UTAUT, and the similarities between those constructs account, the four previously cited constructs of the UTAUT model e
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88 73

Fig. 1. UTAUT2 model.

performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and
facilitating conditions e together with three new additional con-
structs e hedonic motivation, price value and habit (Venkatesh
et al., 2012) (Table 2 and Fig. 1).
The performance expectancy construct has been the strongest
predictor of intention to use (Venkatesh et al., 2003). With the
incorporation into the UTAUT2 model of the hedonic motivation or
intrinsic motivation construct, the object is to complement the
UTAUT, which takes into account only the extrinsic motivation or
utilitarian value, through the performance expectancy construct
(Venkatesh et al., 2012). In numerous papers on ICT that have
demonstrated the influence of hedonic motivation on the intention
to use a technology and the actual use of that technology (van der
Heijden, 2004; Thong et al., 2006), this factor has been designated
“perceived enjoyment”. In the consumer context specifically, it has
been demonstrated that hedonic motivation influences technology
acceptance and use (Brown & Venkatesh, 2005; Childers, Carr, Peck,
& Carson, 2001).
With reference to the other new construct incorporated into the
UTAUT2, price value, the object is to take into account the
difference between the organizational context in which the UTAUT
model was configured and the monetary cost that the consumer
could incur by using the technology (in the consumer context).
Whereas in the organizational context a perceived value is assigned
in the UTAUT model to the time and effort incurred by the em-
ployees in the acceptance and use of technologies, in the consumer
context the use of a technology generally has a monetary cost
(Venkatesh et al., 2012) which could influence the consumers’ use
of technology in purchasing-related activities. In many published
studies, factors relating to cost have been incorporated to explain
consumer behavior (Chong, 2013; Dodds, Monroe, & Grewal, 1991;
Wei, Marthandan, Chong, Ooi, & Arumugam, 2009). The perceived
value of a product is determined from the comparison between its
monetary cost or price and its perceived value to the purchaser
(Wen, 2012; Zeithaml, 1988).
The third new construct incorporated in the UTAUT2, “consumer
habit”, has in many studies been considered as a predictor of the
use of a technology (Kim & Malhotra, 2005; Kim, Malhotra, &
Narasimhan, 2005; Limayem et al., 2007). Different authors have,
however, operationalized “habit” as a construct in different ways.

Table 2
Definition of constructs in the UTAUT and UTAUT2.

Core constructs Original UTAUT definitions UTAUT2 definitions

Performance expectancy “The degree to which an individual believes that using the system “The degree to which using a technology will provide benefits to
will help him or her to attain gains in job performance” consumers in performing certain activities”
Effort expectancy “The degree of ease/effort associated with the use of the system” “The degree of ease/effort associated with consumers’ use of
the technology”
Social influence “The degree to which an individual perceives that important others “The consumers perceive that important others (e.g. family
believe that they should use the new system” and friends) believe that they should use a particular technology”
Facilitating conditions “The degree to which an individual believes that an organizational “Consumers’ perceptions of the resources and support available
and technical infrastructure exists to support use of the system” to perform a behavior (e.g. Brown & Venkatesh, 2005;
Venkatesh et al., 2003)”
Hedonic motivation Not considered “The pleasure or enjoyment derived from using a technology”
Price value Not considered “Consumers’ cognitive tradeoff between the perceived benefits
of the applications and the monetary cost of using them”
(Dodds et al., 1991)
Habit Not considered “The extent to which people tend to perform behaviors
automatically because of learning” (Limayem et al., 2007)
74 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
For Kim and Malhotra (2005), “habit” is taken as comparable to
“prior behavior”; for Limayem et al. (2007), “habit“ is the extent to
which individuals believe that their behavior is automatic; and for
S.S. Kim et al. (2005), “habit” is identified with automaticity. In the
UTAUT2 model, habit is operationalized following Limayem et al.
(2007); in other words, “habit” is a self-reported perception.
Limayem et al. (2007) demonstrated the direct effect of habit on the
use of a technology and, additionally, a more moderate effect of
habit on the intention to use, because the stronger is the habit, the
less important is the conscious intention to use the technology
(Limayem et al., 2007). Kim and Malhotra (2005) showed that
“prior use”, which is the way in which “habit” is operationalized, is
a factor of great relevance to the use of technology.
To summarize, the UTAUT2 model considers that the individual
consumer’s intention to use ICT is affected by seven factors: (i)
performance expectancy; (ii) effort expectancy; (iii) facilitating
conditions; (iv) social influence; (v) hedonic motivation; (vi) price
value; and (vii) habit. In contrast, the actual use made of ICT is
influenced by three factors: (i) behavioral intention; (ii) facilitating
conditions; and (iii) habit.
According to Venkatesh et al. (2012), it has been confirmed that
the UTAUT2 model improves the percentage of variance explained
in the intention to use ICT in 18%, and in the actual use of ICT in 12%.
Whereas in the UTAUT model, performance expectancy is the most
important factor for explaining employees’ intention, in the
UTAUT2 model, the construct introduced to adapt it to the con-
sumer use context, hedonic motivation, is more important than
performance expectancy in explaining the intention to use ICT,
unlike the finding of Venkatesh et al. (2003).
The object of the UTAUT2 is to adapt the UTAUT specifically to
the consumer use context by understanding and incorporating the
fundamental constructs that influence the consumer, and the re-
lationships between those constructs. In this study, the UTAUT2 is
applied to analyze the acceptance and use by Spanish air travel
consumers of the e-commerce websites of LCCs to purchase air
tickets. In the Spanish context, San Martín and Herrero (2012)
utilized the UTAUT to analyze the acceptance and use by Spanish
consumers of websites to reserve rural tourist accommodation. In
the present paper, we describe a study to explain the acceptance
and use of LCC e-commerce websites to purchase air tickets, based
on the UTAUT2 model, which was specifically designed to predict
this behavior by consumers, and which has been extended to
include consumers’ innovativeness in respect of new technology,
and consumers’ trust in that technology; in addition, the construct
“price value” has been adapted to the technology under study, as a
result of which the construct has been re-named “price saving”.
Taking into account the relationships and constructs of the
UTAUT2 model, and the literature reviewed previously, we put
forward the following hypotheses in respect of online purchase
intention by consumers:
H1. The performance expectancy in the use of LCC e-commerce
websites positively affects the online purchase intention.
H2. The effort expectancy in the use of LCC e-commerce websites
positively affects the online purchase intention.
H3. The social influence regarding the use of LCC e-commerce
websites positively affects the online purchase intention.
H4. The facilitating conditions perceived in the use of LCC e-
commerce websites positively affect the online purchase
intention.
H5. The hedonic motivation experienced in the use of LCC e-
commerce websites positively affects the online purchase
intention.
H6. The habit regarding the use of LCC e-commerce websites
positively affects the online purchase intention.
H7. The facilitating conditions perceived in the use of LCC e-
commerce websites positively affect the online purchase use.
H8. The habit regarding the use of LCC e-commerce websites
positively affects the online purchase use.
H9. The intention to purchase online via LCC e-commerce web-
sites positively affects the online purchase use.
2.2. Price saving and online purchase intention and use
The UTAUT2 model includes the influence of the “price value”
construct on the consumers’ intention to use technology
(Venkatesh et al., 2012). This construct compares the monetary cost
or price of products or services with their quality/value (Venkatesh
et al., 2012; Zeithaml, 1988). It is important to note that Venkatesh
et al. (2012) incorporate into the UTAUT2 the price value construct
for a technology whose use involve a monetary cost for the con-
sumer, but which does provide several economic benefits to its
users. However, there are studies in which the variable perceived
value has been incorporated for technologies whose use does not
represent a monetary cost for those who use them. For example,
T.G. Kim et al. (2008) analyzed the acceptance by hotel employees
of front office systems (HFOSs) technology.
The concept of perceived value is proportional to monetary cost,
time and distance as well as to the benefits or quality provided
(Gallarza & Saura, 2006; Sweeney, Soutar, & Johnson, 1996;
Woodruff, 1997; Woodruff & Gardial, 1996; T.G. Kim et al., 2008).
Consequently, the perceived value is a net benefit (Seddon, 1997).
T.G. Kim et al. (2008) showed that employees’ intention to use the
HFOS technology, which does not represent any monetary cost for
them, depends on the perceived value of that technology. Thus, in
the variable of perceived value, they do not incorporate the mon-
etary cost of the use of HFOS technology by the employees, but
rather the saving in time and effort that its use represents (T.G. Kim
et al., 2008).
Furthermore, previous studies have incorporated the variable
“price saving” for those technologies, such as purchasing through a
website, whose use does not represent a monetary cost for the
consumer and, in turn, its use enables a lower price to be obtained
(Jensen, 2012). Price saving has been considered as a very impor-
tant factor in consumer online shopping (Bigné et al., 2010;
Reibstein, 2002). Wong and Law (2005) stated specifically that
one of the reasons why individuals reserve hotel rooms through a
website is the price saving that they are able to achieve. In addition,
Babin, Darden, and Griffin (1994) reported that reserving tourism
products and services through a website enables the consumer to
save money or to obtain the best product for a given price. Other
studies have stated that the website facilitates price comparisons
by consumers (Alba et al., 1997). Wu and Chang (2005) also found
that online shopping for tourism products and services reduces
costs and saves time; in other words, it offers a price saving. Jou
et al. (2008) and Ryan and Birks (2005) indicated that the low
fares of LCCs and the perceived cost saving achieved influence the
sale of tickets of LCCs through their websites. Similarly, price saving
or the very low rates that consumers can obtain by means of online
purchasing, which amount to the same thing, together with the
possibility of obtaining various benefits, represents more perceived
value for the consumer, and this in turn leads to increased in-
tentions to purchase online (Han & Kim, 2009; Wen, 2012).
One of the reasons why consumers purchase their air tickets
from LCCs is their lower price in comparison with FSCs, and to
obtain this lower price, i.e. to achieve a price saving with respect to
FSCs, they must purchase the ticket on the LCC website, because
online direct selling is a major part of the business model of the
LCCs (Chang & Hung, 2013). Therefore this price saving that
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
consumers can obtain by purchasing air tickets on LCC e-commerce
websites rather than from FSCs is one of the main factors likely to
influence the LCC online purchase intention and use.
As we have stated the use of e-commerce websites does not
represent any monetary cost for the consumer; in fact, this use can
offer significant monetary savings (Jensen, 2012; Ryan & Rao, 2008;
Wen, 2012) and perceived benefits (Wen, 2012). In the case of our
study, the use of LCC e-commerce websites for purchasing tickets
does not imply any cost to the consumer but instead could mean a
price saving or obtaining a better product or service for the same
price (Babin et al., 1994; Ryan & Rao, 2008). Therefore, the model
proposed in this paper includes price saving and perceived benefits,
rather than the price value construct of the original UTAUT. The
following hypotheses are proposed for these two constructs:
H10. Price saving and perceived benefits in the use of LCC e-
commerce websites positively affect the online purchase
intention.
H11. Price saving and perceived benefits in the use of LCC e-
commerce websites positively affect the online purchase use.
2.3. External variables applied in the extension of the unified theory
of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2)
As proposed by Venkatesh et al. (2012), it is necessary to apply
the UTAUT2 to different technologies and to incorporate other
factors in order to check the application of the UTAUT2 specifically
to the context of consumer behavior. In this paper, we extend the
UTAUT2 to the technology of LCC ticket e-commerce websites by
incorporating the two factors “perceived’ trust” and “consumers’
innovativeness” in order to understand the degree to which the
diverse factors that we take into account exert an influence on the
consumers’ intention and/or actual use of LCC e-commerce web-
sites for purchasing air tickets.
2.3.1. Perceived trust and online purchase intention
Trust is an extremely important factor, particularly in situations
of uncertainty that influence the interactions that take place in a
social context (Luhmann, 1979). Trust has been the topic of studies
in many different fields, including economics, management and
organization, technology, social and institutional contexts, and
behavior and psychology (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In this paper, we
focus on trust in technology, i.e. on the trust between consumers
and the technology inherent in the websites of online sellers.
Previous authors have attributed many different meanings to this
concept or factor, which many have considered abstract and complex
(Corbitt, Thanasankit, & Yi, 2003; Gefen, Karahanna, & Straub, 2003).
In a general way, trust can be defined as the belief that other people
will react in a predictable way (Luhmann, 1979). In the context of e-
commerce, Gefen (2000) defined trust as “a general belief in an online
seller that results in behavioral intention.” Pavlou (2003) conceived of
trust in a very similar way, that is, as the belief that renders consumers
vulnerable to the good faith of online sellers after learning of their
characteristics (Liao, Palvia, & Lin, 2006). In a common context, trust
can be defined as a subjective belief held by one party to a transaction
that the trustee (i.e. the seller) will behave as expected by the other
party, the trustor (i.e. the purchaser) in an interaction, exchange or
transaction (Dasgupta, 1988; Gambetta, 1988). Trust is characterized
as subjective, dynamic, bi-directional, asymmetric, non-transitive
and context-dependent (Li, Pienkowski, Moorsel, & Smith, 2012).
Given that trust is a very relevant factor in any interaction, in
traditional commerce it is essential that customers have trust or
confidence in the seller (Gefen, 2002; Jarvenpaa, Tractinsky, &
Vitale, 2000). In online commerce, however, trust is even more
75
important than in traditional purchasing from a retail outlet (D.J.
Kim et al., 2008). In traditional commerce (i.e. offline or through
a shop or travel agent) trust is fundamentally created in face-to-
face personal relationships (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In contrast, in
e-commerce or online transactions, many of the important face-to-
face signals are not sent or received, and some information
exchanged may be confusing or even false (Riegelsberger, Sasse, &
McCarthy, 2005). For this reason, trust in e-commerce must be
centered more on the process by which the online transaction is
carried out, because consumers may believe that the online sellers
do not intend to fulfill the obligations they promise to meet on the
website (D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Kim, Song, Braynov, & Rao, 2005).
In online transactions, or e-commerce, it is more difficult for
consumers to know whether the online sellers will meet their
commitments; and one of these commitments is to protect the
privacy of consumers’ personal information (Mcknight, Choudhury,
& Kacmar, 2002). Therefore it is essential for online sellers should to
establish trusted transaction processes so that consumers have
confidence in them and consequently form the intention to use
those e-commerce processes (Grabosky, 2001). It must be taken
into account that the design and content of the website can also
influence the trust of the online consumer in the online seller (Vila
& Kuster, 2011). In several previous studies, the influence of trust on
the intention to purchase online has been confirmed (Wen, 2009).
In several studies of e-commerce, trust has been analyzed through
the TAM model (Gefen et al., 2003; Pavlou, 2003; Kim et al., 2009)
and the UTAUT model (Riffai et al., 2012). Thus, for LCC e-commerce
websites for the purchase of air tickets, trust will almost certainly
influence the intention of consumers to use those sites
(Bhattacherjee, 2002; Gefen, 2002; D.J. Kim et al., 2008; McKnight,
Cummings, & Chervany, 1998). Our hypothesis is as follows.
H12. Trust in the use of LCC e-commerce websites positively af-
fects the online purchase intention.
Given the importance of trust in e-commerce and, in turn, in the
intention to use LCC websites for direct purchasing of air tickets,
there is value in analyzing those factors that could lead to increased
perceived trust by consumers. Thus, from their knowledge of the
influence of the factors that can strengthen the consumers’
perceived trust, the LCC managers may be able to design their
websites in such a way that the consumer will infer that trans-
actions can be trusted. Therefore, in this study, we set out to analyze
those antecedents of trust that are associated with consumers’
perceptions, such as protection of privacy, security protection and
the quality of the information given on the website.
Another reason for examining these antecedents of trust is that
their influence has been analyzed in very few previous studies (D.J.
Kim et al., 2008). However, previous authors have stated that they
are very important for e-commerce and website use (Au Yeung &
Law, 2003; Flavian & Cuinaliu, 2006; Kim, Chung, & Lee, 2011;
Wong & Law, 2005). D.J. Kim et al. (2008) confirmed that these an-
tecedents of trust, privacy protection, security protection and quality
of website information, have a great influence on e-commerce. Kim
et al. (2011) found a positive relationship between perceived secu-
rity and perceived trust in e-commerce for tourism products and
services in South Korea. In our literature review no other studies
were found dealing with the influence of privacy protection, security
protection and quality of website information on trust in the online
purchasing of LCC air tickets. Given the importance of these factors
for perceived trust in the direct online purchasing of LCC tickets, we
consider it essential to include them in our study.
2.3.1.1. Information quality. For D.J. Kim et al. (2008), this ante-
cedent can be defined as the consumers’ general perception of how
76 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
accurate and complete the information on the website is, con-
cerning both the products/services offered and the procedure for
carrying out the purchase transaction. For Kuan, Bock, and
Vathanophas (2008) information quality is the consumers’
perception of the degree to which the information on the website is
believed to be accurate, to conform to a format, to have content, and
to be timely.
The information on the website may be rated by consumers in a
range from high to low quality. The information may be rated as
high quality when it is very accurate and reliable. In contrast, it will
be rated as low quality when the information provided on the
website is not accurate, and is unreliable, and especially if it is
found to be misleading (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). Depending on the
quality of information on the website, the consumers may perceive
that the site is or is not suitable for making the required online
purchase correctly (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In other words, when
various websites contain information about similar products, the
factor that induces consumers to opt for one particular website over
the rest to make the required purchase is the quality characteristics
of the information that the site is perceived as providing
(Raganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). To the extent that consumers
perceive that the website of the online seller contains information
of quality, because that information is accurate, comprehensive and
up-to-date, they are likely to deduce that the online seller has the
intention to meet its obligation (D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Wen, 2009).
Thus, the more that consumers perceive that the website of an
online seller contains high-quality information, the more likely
they are to think that the website of the online seller is trustworthy
(D.J. Kim et al., 2008). Proof of this can be found in the study of
McKnight et al. (1998) in which it is demonstrated that consumers
distrust an online seller if they perceive that the information on the
website is not reliable. D.J. Kim et al. (2008) and Liao et al. (2006)
found, in the general e-commerce context, that the information
quality on the website is associated positively with consumers’
trust. In this paper, it is hypothesized that information quality (i.e.
high quality) will be associated positively with trust in the LCC e-
commerce context, as follows:
H13. The consumers’ perception of the quality of website infor-
mation has a positive effect on trust.
2.3.1.2. Perceived security protection. The security measures that
consumers perceive in seller’ websites constitute one of the factors
to which consumers attach most importance for online purchasing
(Kim et al., 2011). Perceived security can be defined as the
perception by consumers that the online seller will have incorpo-
rated the antecedents of security such as authentication, protec-
tion, verification, encryption, and non-repudiation (D.J. Kim et al.,
2008). These are the factors that influence the perceived security
of consumers (Kim et al., 2011). Therefore, if the website of the
online seller provides these security antecedents, it will be
perceived as providing the required protection. If consumers
perceive that the website of the online seller has security attributes
such as a safe shopping guarantee, a security policy, and protection
mechanisms such as encryption, protection, and authentication,
they will deduce that the online seller’s intention is to guarantee
security during online purchasing (Chellappa & Pavlou, 2002). In
addition, the perception by consumer that the online seller meets
these security antecedents will increase the consumers’ trust.
In the general e-commerce context, there have been many
studies in which a positive influence of perceived security on trust
has been found (D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Flavian & Cuinaliu, 2006). In
the e-banking context, Yousafzai, Pallister, and Foxall (2003)
confirmed the effect of perceived security on trust. In the
accommodation sector, Fam, Foscht, and Collins (2004) also found a
positive influence of perceived security protection on consumer
trust. In the online shopping context, for tourism products and
services in South Korea, Kim et al. (2011) found a positive rela-
tionship between perceived security and perceived trust. In this
paper, it is hypothesized that perceived security protection will be
related to trust in LCC e-commerce in the following way:
H14. The consumers’ perception of website security protection
has a positive effect on trust.
2.3.1.3. Perceived protection of privacy. Privacy is one of the prin-
cipal factors that may impede the development of e-commerce
(Yousafzai et al., 2003). For consumers, it is of crucial importance
that online sellers should protect their privacy during online
shopping (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). This factor may be defined as the
probability that the online seller will ensure that the confidential
information on the consumer acquired during the completion of
the online transaction is protected against unauthorized disclosure
or use (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). Another definition is that given by
Yousafzai et al. (2003), who define perceived privacy as “the con-
sumers’ perception regarding their ability to monitor and control
the information about themselves.” During an online transaction,
the online seller requests and collects a large amount of personal
information about the consumer, such as his or her name, home
address, phone number, email address, bank account and credit
card details, etc.; the consumer may suspect that the online seller
will give or sell this information to other entities, companies and
persons (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). Faced with the possibility of this
occurring, the consumer may decide against purchasing online due
to a lack of confidence that the online seller will properly protect
his or her privacy.
It is therefore extremely important that consumers should
perceive that online sellers are taking adequate measures to protect
the privacy of consumers (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In fact, in a survey
conducted, 92% of the respondents reported that, although com-
panies guarantee the protection of their information, they do not
believe that the companies actually do so (Light, 2001). For this
reason, online sellers must protect the privacy of consumers, in
order to increase their trust; this in turn would lead to increases in
e-commerce (D.J. Kim et al., 2008). In the general e-commerce
context, D.J. Kim et al. (2008) confirmed the positive influence of
perceived privacy protection on trust. In the e-banking context,
Yousafzai et al. (2003) found the effect of perceived privacy on trust.
In the context of the accommodation sector, Fam et al. (2004) also
found a positive influence of perceived privacy protection on trust.
In this paper, it is hypothesized that perceived privacy protection
will be related to trust in LCC e-commerce, as stated in the
following:
H15. The consumers’ perception of website protection of privacy
has a positive effect on trust.
2.3.2. Innovativeness and online purchase intention
Consumers’ innovativeness is a factor of great influence on the
adoption of ICT (Agarwal & Prasad, 1998; Citrin, Sprott, Silverman, &
Stem, 2000; Herrero & Rodríguez Del Bosque, 2008; San Martín &
Herrero, 2012). In this paper, we refer to domain-specific innova-
tiveness, because this is the type of innovativeness that has most
frequently been considered as a variable in the literature on e-
commerce (Citrin et al., 2000; San Martín & Herrero, 2012), rather
than innovativeness as it is generally understood. From a cognitive
perspective, general innovativeness refers to the individual’s atti-
tudinal, intellectual, and perceptual characteristics (Joseph & Vyas,
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
1984). Therefore, innovation usually refers to a specific area, i.e. to
the use of a product or service, rather than to general personality
attribute (Lu, Cao, Wang, & Yang, 2011). Gatignon and Robertson
(1985) also stated that consumer innovativeness refers to a
particular product or service and not to a general characteristic of
the consumer’s personality. On the same line, Goldsmith and
Hofacker (1991) stated that innovativeness is specific to a domain.
In several studies in the e-commerce literature, the role that
domain-specific innovativeness plays in the online purchase
intention has been demonstrated in different contexts (Herrero &
Rodríguez Del Bosque, 2008; San Martín & Herrero, 2012; Lu
et al., 2011). Agarwal and Prasad (1998) defined innovativeness in
the domain of information technology as “the willingness of an
individual to try out any new information technology.” Neverthe-
less very few studies have analyzed the influence of domain-
specific innovativeness in the e-commerce context for tourism
products or services; more specifically, no study has been reported
in which the influence of this variable on the LCC ticket purchase
intention has been analyzed. For this reason, we have opted in this
study to include an analysis of the influence of the consumers’
innovativeness in the specific domain of LCC e-commerce websites.
Although some studies have examined the influence of domain-
specific innovativeness in the use of websites for shopping, to
obtain additional empirical proof, it is considered necessary to
analyze the influence of ICT-specific innovativeness on consumers’
intention to purchase online, in the new context of the use of LCC
websites for purchasing air tickets. The research hypothesis
formulated is as follows:
H16. The consumers’ innovativeness in the domain of information
and communication technology affects the online purchase
intention.
3. Methodology
3.1. Measurements
A set of measurement items in respect of e-commerce, ICT
acceptance and the tourism literature (i.e. the original UTAUT
model, the extended UTAUT model (UTAUT2), other studies and
associated theories) were adapted to the specific context of this
study on the online purchasing of air travel tickets from the web-
sites of LCCs (Herrero & Rodríguez Del Bosque, 2008; Jensen, 2012;
D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2011; Kuan et al., 2008; San Martín &
Herrero, 2012; Venkatesh et al., 2003, 2012; Wen, 2012; Wu &
Wang, 2005). Following the procedure described, a total of 51
items was obtained. In Table 3 we present the complete list of items
that have been measured by means of multi-item scales for the
constructs taken into account in this study. The responses of the
survey participants to each of the items were measured on a seven-
point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (¼“strongly disagree”) to 7
(¼“strongly agree”). This is the usual way of measuring variables
that are not directly quantifiable or observed (Churchill & Iacobucci,
2002).
The items in the questionnaire were validated based on the
opinions of a panel of academics and tourism professionals, who
were asked whether the items were appropriate for analyzing
consumers’ acceptance and use of LCC e-commerce websites to
purchase air tickets. Based on the panel’s opinions, a number of
modifications were made to the items to make the meanings
clearer. A pre-test was then carried out on 130 selected individuals
of different ages and genders who had previously purchased air
tickets using an LCC website using quota and convenience sam-
pling. This ensured that those individuals who had not previously
purchased air tickets on LCC websites were eliminated from the
77
pre-test. Based on the results of this pre-test, only minor modifi-
cations were made to the wording of some items to increase clarity
further. The minor modifications were made in few words that the
individuals highlighted as being unclear when the questionnaire
was administered to 130 individuals. These individual respondents
were asked that they pointed out the unclear words when they
answered the items.
The questionnaire was originally drafted in English, but it was
intended for use in Spanish for consumers from Spain who had
experience of using LCC websites to purchase air tickets. Therefore,
the English questionnaire was translated into Spanish by re-
searchers and a professional native English translator, who inde-
pendently translated the English questionnaire into Spanish. After a
careful examination of the differences between these indepen-
dently translated questionnaires in Spanish, a definitive version of
the Spanish questionnaire was agreed. This final version was then
translated back into English by another native English professional
translator to ensure consistency between the English and the
Spanish versions of the questionnaire (Brislin, 1970; Venkatesh
et al., 2012).
Table 3 shows the items for this study and the supporting
literature for each construct. It can be seen that the performance
expectancy construct is composed of four items (San Martín &
Herrero, 2012; Venkatesh et al., 2012). The effort expectancy and
habit constructs are measured by four items each (Venkatesh et al.,
2012). The hedonic motivation and social influence constructs
(Venkatesh et al., 2012) comprise three items each, and the facili-
tating conditions construct (San Martín & Herrero, 2012; Venkatesh
et al., 2012) also comprises three items. The price-saving orienta-
tion construct (Jensen, 2012; Wen, 2012), the consumer innova-
tiveness construct (Herrero & Rodríguez Del Bosque, 2008), and the
consumer trust construct (Kim et al., 2011) are all composed of
three items each. The information quality construct consists of six
items (Kuan et al., 2008). The perceived security and perceived
privacy constructs are composed of five and six items respectively
(D.J. Kim et al., 2008) The behavioral intention construct is
measured by three items (San Martín & Herrero, 2012; Venkatesh
et al., 2012) and the use behavior construct comprises one item
(Venkatesh et al., 2012; Wu & Wang, 2005).
3.2. Sample and data collection
Because the population size for this study is unknown, several
different non-random samplings were made to select the sample
(San Martín & Herrero, 2012). First, the quota sampling method was
used to match the target population structure in both gender and
age (Kim et al., 2009, 2011; San Martín & Herrero, 2012). To
determine the number of Spanish individuals that would be suffi-
cient in each gender and age category, population data were ob-
tained from “Encuesta AIMC a usuarios de Internet 2011” (AIMC,
2012), a study conducted by the “Asociación para la Investigación
de Medios de Comunicación” (see Table 4). Males and females
constitute 54.8% and 45.2%, respectively. The age groups are rep-
resented as follows: 20.95% for ages 18e24 years; 25.6% for ages
25e34; 24% for ages 35e44; and 29.6% for ages 45 and over. Sec-
ondly, convenience sampling was carried out to combine the
various different quotas (San Martín & Herrero, 2012).
The interviewers, from different geographical areas, were
trained in different sessions in the technique for administering the
questionnaire to individual respondents from their particular area
who had used an LCC e-commerce website during the last six
months either to purchase air tickets or to search for specific in-
formation. From December 26, 2012 to February 8, 2013 the final
questionnaire was administered to 1800 individuals from various
geographical areas of Spain who were chosen to match the gender
78 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88

Table 3
Construct measurement.

Construct Item Supporting literature

Performance expectancy (PE)
Effort expectancy (EE)
Social influence (SI)
Facilitating conditions (FC)
Hedonic motivation (HM)
Price-saving orientation (PO)
Habit (HT)
Innovativeness (INT)
Trust (PT)
Information quality (IQ)
Perceived security (PS)
Perceived privacy (PP)
Behavioral intention (BI)
Use behavior (AU)
PE1. I find LCC e-commerce websites very useful in the purchasing process. San Martín and
PE2. Using LCC e-commerce websites increases my chances of achieving things Herrero (2012)
that are important to me in the purchasing process. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
PE3. Using LCC e-commerce websites helps me accomplish things more quickly
in the purchasing process.
PE4. I can save time when I use LCC e-commerce websites in the purchasing process.
EE1. Learning how to use LCC e-commerce websites is easy for me. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
EE2. My interaction with LCC e-commerce websites is clear and understandable.
EE3. I find LCC e-commerce websites easy to use.
EE4. It is easy for me to become skillful at using LCC e-commerce websites.
SI1. People who are important to me think that I should use LCC e-commerce websites. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
SI2. People who influence my behavior think that I should use LCC e-commerce websites.
SI3. People whose opinions that I value prefer that I use LCC e-commerce websites.
FC1. I have the resources necessary to use LCC e-commerce websites. San Martín and
FC2. I have the knowledge necessary to use LCC e-commerce websites. Herrero (2012)
FC3. I feel comfortable using LCC e-commerce websites. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
HM1. Using LCC e-commerce websites is fun. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
HM2. Using LCC e-commerce websites is enjoyable.
HM3. Using LCC e-commerce websites is very entertaining.
PO1. I can save money by examining the prices on different LCC e-commerce websites. Jensen (2012)
PO2. I like to search for cheap travel deals on different LCC e-commerce websites. Wen (2012)
PO3. LCC e-commerce websites offer better value for my money.
HT1. The use of LCC e-commerce websites has become a habit for me. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
HT2. I am addicted to using LCC e-commerce websites.
HT3. I must use LCC e-commerce websites.
HT4. Using LCC e-commerce websites has become natural to me.
INT1. If I heard about a new information technology, I would look for ways to experiment with it. Herrero and Rodríguez
INT2. Among my peers I am usually the first to explore new information technologies. Del Bosque (2008)
INT3. I like to experiment with new information technologies.
PT1. LCC e-commerce websites have integrity. Kim et al. (2011)
PT2. LCC e-commerce websites are reliable.
PT3. LCC e-commerce websites are trustworthy.
IQ1. LCC e-commerce websites provide accurate information I need in the purchase process. Kuan et al. (2008)
IQ2. LCC e-commerce websites provide sufficient information needed in the purchase process.
IQ3. LCC e-commerce websites provide enough depth of information.
IQ4. The information provided by LCC e-commerce websites is helpful to me in the purchase process.
IQ5. The information in LCC e-commerce websites is clear to me.
IQ6. LCC e-commerce websites provide up-to-date information.
PS1. The LCC e-commerce websites implement security measures to protect users. D.J. Kim et al. (2008)
PS2. The LCC e-commerce websites usually ensure that transactional information
is protected from accidentally being altered or destroyed during a transmission on the Internet.
PS3. I feel secure about the electronic payment system of the LCC e-commerce websites.
PS4. I am willing to use my credit card on these websites to make a purchase.
PS5. I feel safe in making transactions on these websites.
PP1. I am concerned that LCC e-commerce websites collect too much personal D.J. Kim et al. (2008)
information from me.
PP2. I am concerned that the LCC e-commerce websites will use my personal information
for other purposes without my authorization.
PP3. I am concerned the LCC e-commerce websites will share my personal information
with other entities without my authorization.
PP4. I am concerned that unauthorized persons (i.e. hackers) have access to my personal
information.
PP5. I am concerned about the privacy of my personal information during a transaction.
PP6. I am concerned that the LCC e-commerce websites will sell my personal information
to others without my permission.
BI1. I intend to continue using LCC e-commerce websites to purchase tickets in the future. San Martín and
BI2. I will always try to use LCC e-commerce websites to purchase tickets. Herrero (2012)
BI3. I plan to continue to use LCC e-commerce websites frequently to purchase tickets. Venkatesh et al. (2012)
AU1. How often do you use LCC e-commerce websites to purchase tickets? Venkatesh et al. (2012)
Wu and Wang (2005)

and age proportions of the target population. The total number of
questionnaires completed by the individuals surveyed was 1296
(72% of the total surveyed); of these the total number of ques-
tionnaires usable for the data analysis was 1096 (61% of the total
surveyed), after eliminating those questionnaires that had not been
completed correctly. The characteristics of the sample are very
similar to those of the population (Table 4).
Table 5 provides the data on the gender and age of the
responding individuals. There were more males (54.56%) than fe-
males (45.44%). The largest proportion of the respondents (30.57%)
was aged between 25 and 34, followed by those aged 45 or more
(26.37%), those aged between 35 and 44 (22.72%) and those aged
between 18 and 24 years (20.34%).
4. Data analysis and results
A regression analysis of latent variables is used in this study that
is based on the optimization technique of the partial least squares
(PLS) to elaborate a model that represents the relationships be-
tween the fourteen proposed constructs measured by many items.
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88 79

Table 4 Table 6
Quota sampling method in terms of gender and age. Items loading.

Sampling (n ¼ 1096) Scale items Loadings t-Valuesa

Populationa (%) Sample (%) PE1. I find LCC e-commerce websites very useful in the 0.884 42.09
purchasing process.
Gender Male 54.8 54.6
PE2. Using LCC e-commerce websites increases my 0.915 47.74
Female 45.2 45.4
chances of achieving things that are important to me
Total 100 100
in the purchasing process.
Age in years 18e4 20.9 20.3 PE3. Using LCC e-commerce websites helps me 0.917 47.28
25e34 25.6 30.6 accomplish things more quickly in the purchasing
35e44 24 22.7 process.
45 29.6 26.4 PE4. I can save time when I use LCC e-commerce 0.871 46.28
Total 100 100 websites in the purchasing process.
a
AIMC (2012). EE1. Learning how to use LCC e-commerce websites is 0.911 51.67
easy for me.
EE2. My interaction with LCC e-commerce websites is 0.915 45.37
clear and understandable.
The PLS is a multivariate technique to test structural models (Wold,
EE3. I find LCC e-commerce websites easy to use. 0.921 49.51
1985) which estimates the model parameters that minimize the EE4. It is easy for me to become skillful at using LCC e- 0.843 35.43
residual variance of the whole model dependent variables (Hsu, commerce websites.
Chen, & Hsieh, 2006), does not require any parametric conditions
SI1. People who are important to me think that I should 0.938 43.82
(Chin, 1998) and is recommended for small samples (Hulland, use LCC e-commerce websites.
1999). SI2. People who influence my behavior think that I 0.957 58.73
The data analysis took place through a two-stage methodology, should use LCC e-commerce websites.
in which the first stage is to develop and evaluate the measurement SI3. People whose opinions that I value prefer that I use 0.939 47.86
LCC e-commerce websites.
model and the stage second is to develop the full structural equa-
tion model (Gerbing & Anderson, 1988). FC1. I have the resources necessary to use LCC e- 0.787 19.94
commerce websites.
FC2. I have the knowledge necessary to use LCC e- 0.883 39.29
4.1. Measurement model evaluation commerce websites.
FC3. I feel comfortable using LCC e-commerce websites. 0.813 31.66

The first step involves establishing the convergent and HM1. Using LCC e-commerce websites is fun. 0.946 52.89
HM2. Using LCC e-commerce websites is enjoyable. 0.930 38.04
discriminate validity of the constructs and the individual reliability
HM3. Using LCC e-commerce websites is very 0.930 42.18
for each item. entertaining.
The convergent validity of each construct is acceptable for a
PO1. I can save money by examining the prices of 0.824 7.70
loading higher than 0.505 (Falk & Miller, 1992). The individual
different LCC e-commerce websites.
reliability for each item is given by loadings or correlations between PO2. I like to search for cheap travel deals in different 0.854 12.62
the item and the construct. Table 6 indicates the loadings for each LCC e-commerce websites.
item and the t-values that were significant. They all comply with PO3. LCC e-commerce websites offer better value for my 0.776 11.78
money.
the established conditions.
To measure the internal coherence of all the indicators in rela- HT1. The use of LCC e-commerce websites has become a 0.857 37.73
tion to the constructs, the reliability was calculated, and to verify habit for me.
HT2. I am addicted to using LCC e-commerce websites. 0.834 30.56
the reliability of the indicators, the Dillon-eGoldstein’s rho also
HT3. I must use LCC e-commerce websites. 0.914 56.41
referred to as composite reliability coefficient (Werts, Linn, & HT4. Using LCC e-commerce websites has become 0.916 52.80
Jöreskog, 1974) and the Cronbach coefficient alpha (Cronbach, natural to me.
1970) were utilized, which range from 0 (no similarities) to 1 INT1. If I heard about a new information technology, I 0.912 20.42
(maximum similarities). Both parameters are taken into account, as would look for ways to experiment with it.
the first takes the respective indicators into account while the INT2. Among my peers, I am usually the first to explore 0.897 21.00
second considers the contribution made by each indicator to be new information technologies.
INT3. I like to experiment with new information 0.907 20.92
similar. Table 7 represents the values of each coefficient. The
technologies.
composite reliabilities are over the minimum acceptable limit of
0.70 (Gefen, Straub, & Boudreau, 2000; Nunnally, 1978). The PT1. LCC e-commerce websites have integrity. 0.876 54.41
PT2. LCC e-commerce websites are reliable. 0.920 66.45
Cronbach coefficient alpha levels are also shown in Table 7. They are
PT3. LCC e-commerce websites are trustworthy. 0.916 86.82
all above 0.70, which is recommended for confirmatory research
(Churchill, 1979). IQ1. LCC e-commerce websites provide accurate 0.816 31.11
information I need in the purchase process.
IQ2. LCC e-commerce websites provide sufficient 0.891 51.37
information I need in the purchase process.
Table 5
IQ3. LCC e-commerce websites provide enough depth of 0.875 55.68
Gender and age characteristics of the respondents.
information.
Characteristics Frequency % IQ4. The information provided by LCC e-commerce 0.875 41.02
websites is helpful to me in in the purchase process.
Gender Male 598 54.56 IQ5. The information in LCC e-commerce websites is 0.876 48.75
Female 498 45.44 clear to me.
Total 1096 100 IQ6. LCC e-commerce websites provide up-to-date 0.764 32.46
Age 18e24 223 20.34 information.
25e34 335 30.57 PS1. The LCC e-commerce websites implement security 0.764 34.19
35e44 249 22.72 measures to protect users.
45 289 26.37 PS2. The LCC e-commerce websites usually ensure that 0.790 35.94
Total 1096 100 transactional information is protected from
(continued on next page)
80 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88

Table 6 (continued ) loadings on a single construct than on other constructs (bold

Scale items Loadings t-Valuesa values). This is also an indication of the convergent and discrimi-
nate validity of the measurement.
accidentally being altered or destroyed during a
transmission on the Internet.
Following the establishment of the individual reliability for each
PS3. I feel secure about the electronic payment system 0.882 50.61 item and the convergent and discriminant validity of the con-
of the LCC e-commerce websites. structs, the structural model is examined.
PS4. I am willing to use my credit card on these websites 0.842 39.13
to make a purchase.
4.2. Structural model
PS5. I feel safe in making transactions on these websites. 0.881 45.42

PP1. I am concerned that LCC e-commerce websites 0.620
collect too much personal information from me.
PP2. I am concerned that the LCC e-commerce websites 0.896
will use my personal information for other purposes
without my authorization.
PP3. I am concerned that the LCC e-commerce websites 0.923
will share my personal information with other
entities without my authorization.
PP4. I am concerned that unauthorized persons (i.e. 0.886
hackers) have access to my personal information.
PP5. I am concerned about the privacy of my personal 0.905
information during a transaction.
PP6. I am concerned that the LCC e-commerce websites 0.896
will sell my personal information to others without
my permission.
BI1. I intend to continue using LCC e-commerce 0.932
websites to purchase tickets in the future.
BI2. I will always try to use LCC e-commerce websites to 0.944
purchase tickets.
BI3. I plan to continue to use LCC e-commerce websites 0.946
frequently to purchase tickets.
a
All tests were significant at p-value <0.001.
Convergent validity indicates the common variance between
the indicators and their construct. This validity is measured by the
average variance extracted (AVE), and the acceptable threshold
should be higher than 0.50 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Table 7 rep-
resents the AVE scores achieved for each of the fourteen constructs
employed, which in all cases surpasses the minimum desirable
value.
In order to confirm the discriminant validity among the con-
structs, the AVE square root must be superior to the correlation
between the constructs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Table 8 presents
the square roots of the AVE (in the diagonal) and the correlation
among the constructs. Their values indicate adequate discriminant
validity of the measurements.
The factor structure matrix of loadings and cross-loadings was
examined to complete the study of the convergent and discrimi-
nant validity of the measurements (Table 9). Items measuring the
same construct represent prominently and distinctly higher factor
20.53 A PLS analysis was performed to test H1 through H16. The
33.92
regression parameters are based on a bootstrapping of 100 samples
and not on a sample estimator. This facilitates the computation of
the t-student for each hypothesis and the generalization of the
39.20 results (Lévy, Valenciano, & Michal, 2009). The results represented
in Fig. 2 and Table 10 indicate the relationship between the
47.30 different constructs. All the r-squares are higher than 0.10, which
indicates that the predictive capability of the model is satisfactory
37.71 (Falk & Miller, 1992).
Regarding the results we can deduce that the main predictors of
36.68
online purchase intention, in order of importance are: trust; habit;
price saving; facilitating conditions; performance expectancy;
effort expectancy; innovativeness, hedonic motivation; and social
86.83
influence. Thus, the online purchase intention depends on the
119.83 consumers’ trust in the online transaction; their habit of utilizing
the website; the price saving that can be obtained by using LCC
101.14 websites to purchase air tickets; the facilitating conditions avail-
able; the levels of performance and effort expected by the con-
sumer in completing the online transaction; the innovativeness of
the consumer in the domain of information and communication
technology (i.e. the Internet); the hedonic experiences that the
consumers enjoy when using the website; and the social influence
that the consumers’ referents exert. Secondly, the results highlight
that the main predictors of actual usage behavior, in order of
importance, are: online purchase intention; habit; and facilitating
conditions. Therefore, based on these results, it can be stated that
the actual use of LCC websites for purchasing air tickets depends on
three factors: the online purchase intention; consumers’ habit in
using the website; and the facilitating conditions available to con-
sumers. However, the hypothesized causal relationship that we
include in the proposed model, that of the influence of price saving
on usage behavior, was not supported. Lastly, from the results ob-
tained, we confirm that the three main antecedents of consumers’
perceived trust, in order of importance, are: information quality;
perceived security; and perceived privacy. Thus, perceived trust
depends on the quality of the information provided by the website;
the security measures that consumers perceive in the LCC websites;
and the protection of consumers provided by the LCCs on their
websites.

Table 7
5. Conclusions and implications for future research
Composite reliability, AVE and Cronbach alpha coefficient.

Construct Composite AVE Cronbach 5.1. Conclusions

reliability alpha

Performance expectancy (PE) 0.943 0.805 0.919 LCCs are able to offer prices 40e60% lower than those of FSCs
Effort expectancy (EE) 0.943 0.807 0.920 (Kim & Lee, 2012; Oliveira, 2008) because, among other factors,
Social influence (SI) 0.961 0.892 0.940
Facilitating conditions (FC) 0.868 0.687 0.771
they operate with much lower ticket distribution costs by selling
Hedonic motivation (HM) 0.955 0.875 0.929 directly to consumers through their websites, thus avoiding the
Price-saving orientation (PO) 0.859 0.670 0.753 significant commissions payable to travel agents (Francis et al.,
Habit (HT) 0.933 0.776 0.903 2004; Kim & Lee, 2012). Although the low fares of LCCs are one of
Innovativeness (INT) 0.932 0.820 0.890
the main reasons why consumers choose to fly with them, there are
Trust (PT) 0.931 0.818 0.888
Information quality (IQ) 0.940 0.724 0.923 other factors that determine the demand for LCC air tickets; these
Perceived security (PS) 0.919 0.694 0.889 include perceived cost saving and ease of booking (Jou et al., 2008;
Perceived privacy (PP) 0.944 0.741 0.927 Ryan & Birks, 2005).
Behavioral intention (BI) 0.959 0.885 0.935 It must be taken into account that, in the tourism industry,
Use behavior (AU) 1.000 1.000 1.000
consumers are making ever-increasing use of the Internet because
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88 81

Table 8
Discriminant validity of constructs.

PE EE SI FC HM PO HT INT PT IQ PS PP BI Au

PE 0.897
EE 0.645 0.898
SI 0.489 0.422 0.945
FC 0.612 0.758 0.385 0.829
HM 0.462 0.565 0.455 0.473 0.935
PO 0.649 0.593 0.398 0.629 0.518 0.819
HT 0.442 0.562 0.459 0.449 0.600 0.474 0.881
INT 0.351 0.501 0.280 0.455 0.373 0.358 0.410 0.905
PT 0.517 0.502 0.416 0.476 0.459 0.482 0.492 0.311 0.904
IQ 0.533 0.561 0.416 0.551 0.464 0.512 0.433 0.352 0.745 0.851
PS 0.495 0.534 0.429 0.521 0.476 0.475 0.536 0.382 0.710 0.643 0.833
PP 0.003 0.122 0.061 0.021 0.130 0.009 0.197 0.012 0.129 0.017 0.191 0.861
BI 0.606 0.624 0.457 0.605 0.490 0.633 0.603 0.329 0.635 0.617 0.606 0.074 0.941
AU 0.494 0.587 0.447 0.522 0.482 0.494 0.669 0.355 0.489 0.496 0.520 0.107 0.703 1.000

The bold values represent the square roots of the AVE.

Table 9
Factor structure matrix of loadings and cross-loadings.

PE EE SI FC HM PO HT INT PT IQ PS PP BI Au

PE1 0.884 0.572 0.412 0.531 0.384 0.559 0.391 0.301 0.431 0.450 0.412 0.015 0.532 0.466
PE2 0.915 0.560 0.452 0.539 0.400 0.569 0.389 0.319 0.493 0.492 0.449 0.022 0.528 0.423
PE3 0.917 0.582 0.457 0.561 0.453 0.583 0.414 0.309 0.464 0.471 0.462 0.017 0.559 0.467
PE4 0.871 0.602 0.435 0.566 0.422 0.620 0.393 0.330 0.469 0.498 0.455 0.015 0.556 0.418
EE1 0.601 0.911 0.364 0.687 0.475 0.533 0.466 0.450 0.431 0.513 0.446 0.099 0.547 0.526
EE2 0.645 0.915 0.417 0.692 0.541 0.561 0.552 0.447 0.485 0.542 0.518 0.125 0.613 0.566
EE3 0.595 0.921 0.370 0.693 0.515 0.547 0.488 0.451 0.449 0.513 0.479 0.107 0.569 0.525
EE4 0.469 0.843 0.366 0.651 0.500 0.489 0.517 0.455 0.439 0.444 0.477 0.105 0.511 0.490
SI1 0.464 0.391 0.938 0.351 0.422 0.378 0.416 0.263 0.392 0.390 0.408 0.058 0.415 0.408
SI2 0.464 0.393 0.957 0.364 0.422 0.380 0.451 0.267 0.392 0.389 0.397 0.050 0.437 0.419
SI3 0.459 0.412 0.939 0.375 0.445 0.370 0.435 0.262 0.396 0.400 0.410 0.064 0.444 0.441
FC1 0.403 0.420 0.288 0.787 0.196 0.420 0.174 0.229 0.299 0.357 0.327 0.088 0.384 0.276
FC2 0.461 0.698 0.226 0.883 0.377 0.488 0.376 0.435 0.368 0.444 0.409 0.064 0.473 0.438
FC3 0.661 0.756 0.450 0.813 0.600 0.658 0.561 0.458 0.516 0.568 0.560 0.069 0.647 0.581
HM1 0.413 0.525 0.420 0.422 0.946 0.472 0.566 0.339 0.410 0.426 0.436 0.141 0.436 0.444
HM2 0.481 0.565 0.457 0.494 0.930 0.516 0.575 0.378 0.468 0.459 0.470 0.098 0.493 0.472
HM3 0.404 0.496 0.401 0.413 0.930 0.466 0.543 0.329 0.411 0.416 0.430 0.126 0.447 0.436
PO1 0.573 0.482 0.290 0.568 0.352 0.824 0.282 0.256 0.375 0.433 0.344 0.087 0.511 0.382
PO2 0.535 0.552 0.340 0.548 0.499 0.854 0.490 0.356 0.402 0.420 0.415 0.016 0.594 0.492
PO3 0.485 0.418 0.349 0.425 0.420 0.776 0.390 0.265 0.409 0.406 0.410 0.051 0.444 0.334
HT1 0.429 0.536 0.408 0.474 0.550 0.488 0.857 0.396 0.423 0.386 0.466 0.137 0.527 0.577
HT2 0.251 0.352 0.337 0.212 0.497 0.267 0.834 0.316 0.381 0.281 0.399 0.187 0.411 0.450
HT3 0.440 0.542 0.430 0.439 0.550 0.471 0.914 0.375 0.466 0.444 0.514 0.158 0.595 0.664
HT4 0.429 0.544 0.439 0.447 0.517 0.437 0.916 0.359 0.460 0.407 0.506 0.213 0.583 0.654
INT1 0.325 0.437 0.225 0.411 0.322 0.336 0.345 0.912 0.265 0.322 0.326 0.032 0.286 0.295
INT2 0.286 0.447 0.308 0.382 0.337 0.290 0.415 0.897 0.286 0.314 0.349 0.073 0.298 0.353
INT3 0.342 0.478 0.228 0.442 0.354 0.347 0.356 0.907 0.295 0.320 0.363 0.008 0.311 0.317
PT1 0.429 0.418 0.359 0.374 0.397 0.384 0.406 0.263 0.876 0.681 0.570 0.076 0.496 0.411
PT2 0.495 0.454 0.369 0.467 0.408 0.460 0.434 0.292 0.920 0.677 0.670 0.114 0.591 0.432
PT3 0.479 0.490 0.401 0.447 0.440 0.461 0.493 0.289 0.916 0.663 0.682 0.157 0.632 0.483
IQ1 0.430 0.447 0.328 0.435 0.382 0.410 0.343 0.315 0.534 0.816 0.466 0.099 0.465 0.396
IQ2 0.448 0.484 0.381 0.471 0.403 0.426 0.374 0.306 0.627 0.891 0.542 0.030 0.518 0.441
IQ3 0.392 0.426 0.363 0.401 0.430 0.383 0.383 0.292 0.657 0.875 0.556 0.047 0.499 0.408
IQ4 0.513 0.535 0.387 0.554 0.405 0.519 0.394 0.328 0.662 0.875 0.593 0.021 0.585 0.454
IQ5 0.456 0.500 0.347 0.468 0.411 0.432 0.379 0.308 0.682 0.876 0.582 0.035 0.552 0.422
IQ6 0.487 0.471 0.314 0.488 0.330 0.450 0.334 0.244 0.640 0.764 0.541 0.023 0.529 0.408
PS1 0.407 0.392 0.336 0.408 0.389 0.406 0.390 0.286 0.595 0.570 0.764 0.076 0.466 0.341
PS2 0.373 0.398 0.345 0.405 0.407 0.385 0.411 0.302 0.617 0.584 0.790 0.135 0.462 0.371
PS3 0.445 0.495 0.375 0.500 0.437 0.430 0.494 0.338 0.615 0.551 0.882 0.175 0.570 0.490
PS4 0.412 0.451 0.358 0.415 0.351 0.377 0.437 0.327 0.546 0.475 0.842 0.179 0.499 0.469
PS5 0.426 0.480 0.370 0.437 0.401 0.385 0.494 0.335 0.588 0.510 0.881 0.220 0.522 0.482
PP1 0.029 0.053 0.036 0.021 0.031 0.025 0.065 0.029 0.021 0.052 0.072 0.620 0.025 0.032
PP2 0.009 0.096 0.058 0.019 0.107 0.033 0.162 0.009 0.094 0.021 0.161 0.896 0.050 0.086
PP3 0.006 0.125 0.063 0.040 0.131 0.003 0.169 0.020 0.137 0.009 0.175 0.923 0.070 0.086
PP4 0.001 0.117 0.079 0.003 0.148 0.002 0.195 0.024 0.115 0.021 0.172 0.886 0.081 0.105
PP5 0.035 0.120 0.070 0.024 0.133 0.012 0.221 0.021 0.140 0.005 0.206 0.905 0.088 0.109
PP6 0.000 0.105 0.054 0.008 0.103 0.007 0.183 0.006 0.134 0.020 0.180 0.896 0.061 0.121
BI1 0.580 0.597 0.413 0.582 0.461 0.606 0.551 0.302 0.606 0.588 0.578 0.071 0.932 0.663
BI2 0.565 0.566 0.446 0.554 0.446 0.582 0.552 0.320 0.604 0.583 0.577 0.074 0.944 0.628
BI3 0.565 0.599 0.432 0.571 0.476 0.599 0.601 0.307 0.582 0.570 0.556 0.065 0.946 0.693
AU1 0.494 0.587 0.447 0.522 0.482 0.494 0.669 0.355 0.489 0.496 0.520 0.107 0.703 1.000
82 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88

Fig. 2. Results of testing the model.

it facilitates both the search for information (especially price
comparisons and availability) and the subsequent online trans-
actions (Kim et al., 2011). The main European LCCs now sell 90% of
their tickets directly through their websites (Koo et al., 2011).
Furthermore, the number of households that use the Internet for
booking and information searching is growing continuously at a
notable rate (Morrison, Jing, O’Leary, & Lipping, 2001; Xiang &
Gretzel, 2010; Weber & Roehl, 1999).
Therefore, based on the results of this study, practical recom-
mendations can be made to the managers of LCCs regarding
appropriate management and marketing strategies for improving
what is a key part of their business model, the selling of air ticket
via their websites. This study explains how tourists behave
regarding the use of LCC websites to purchase air tickets. In
particular, this research aims to analyze the factors that influence
both individuals’ intention to use and individuals’ actual use of LCC
websites to purchase tickets; for this, we utilize a new adapted and
extended version of the already extended unified theory of accep-
tance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model of Venkatesh et al.
(2012).
This study incorporates, firstly, all the explanatory variables
from the UTAUT2 model (effort expectancy, performance expec-
tancy, facilitating conditions, social influence, hedonic motivation,
habit and price value) as predictors of the consumer intention to

Table 10
Summary of test results for the structural model.

Hypothesis Path Standardized path P-value Supported? Construct R-squared

coefficient

H1 PE / BI 0.099 0.001 Yes (p < 0.01) Behavioral 0.603

H2 EE / BI 0.085 0.009 Yes (p < 0.01) intention
H3 SI / BI 0.043 0.044 Yes (p < 0.05)
H4 FC / BI 0.146 <0.001 Yes
H5 HM / BI 0.047 0.031 Yes (p < 0.05)
H10 PO / BI 0.206 <0.001 Yes
H6 HT / BI 0.249 <0.001 Yes
H16 INT / BI 0.061 0.008 Yes (p < 0.01)
H12 PT / BI 0.273 <0.001 Yes

H9 BI / AU 0.421 <0.001 Yes Use behavior 0.6

H7 FC / AU 0.105 <0.001 Yes
H11 PO / AU 0.005 0.411 No
H8 HT / AU 0.372 <0.001 Yes

H13 IQ / PT 0.502 <0.001 Yes Trust 0.649

H14 PS / PT 0.374 <0.001 Yes
H15 PP / PT 0.057 0.003 Yes (p < 0.01)
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
purchase air tickets directly through LCC websites; secondly, it in-
cludes the explanatory factors from the UTAUT2 model (habit,
facilitating conditions and behavioral intention) as predictors of the
actual consumer use of LCC websites for direct purchasing of air
tickets. Further, this research adapts the price value construct to the
particular technology under study, and we include in the proposed
model the construct designated “price saving” as a predictor of two
behavioral outcomes (i.e. consumer intention to use and actual use
made of LCC websites for direct purchasing of air tickets).
The use of the technology under study in this paper does not
represent any cost to the consumer; to the contrary, it may offer
several monetary and non-monetary benefits. We have also
extended the UTAUT2 with the incorporation of two factors that are
very relevant to the intention to use LCC e-commerce websites to
purchase directly; these two factors have been proposed in the
literature on consumer behavior as important for the adoption of
new technologies. The additional factors included in this model are
the direct influence of consumer trust and consumer innovative-
ness on the intention to use LCC e-commerce websites. We also
analyze the influence on perceived trust exerted by three other
factors: information quality, perceived security and perceived pri-
vacy. Further, with this study we are able to confirm the specific
application of the UTAUT2 model to the consumer context, for the
particular technology studied here, thus following the suggestion of
Venkatesh et al. (2012) regarding the need to test the UTAUT2
theory by applying it to other different technologies.
Consumer trust is the strongest predictor of online purchase
intention in the context of online purchasing of LCC air tickets. This
is consistent with the results of previous studies in other contexts
(Pavlou, 2003; D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Kim et al., 2009; Riffai et al.,
2012). On the basis of the results obtained, the greater the trust
of individuals in the LCC website, the more likely they are to have
the intention to purchase via an LCC website. It is suggested that the
LCCs in Spain should direct their marketing strategies toward
creating and maintaining consumer trust in the online transactions
they complete. This is the single largest action that the LCCs can
take to ensure that more consumers will have a stronger intention
to purchase online. In order to formulate these marketing strategies
it is necessary to know which factors are likely to influence and
build trust. Our findings indicate that the main antecedents of trust,
in order of relevance, are: information quality, perceived security
and privacy protection. Thus, trust in general depends on the
particular trust in the information quality offered on the Web, the
perceived security on the LCC website, and the procedures imple-
mented by the LCCs to protect the privacy of consumers on the
website. Then, the greater the information quality, the security
perceived by the consumer, and the protection of the consumers’
privacy, the greater the likelihood of trust perceived by the con-
sumer. The quality of information is a strong antecedent of con-
sumer trust in e-commerce in the context of online purchasing of
LCC air tickets, which is consistent with the findings of previous
studies (D.J. Kim et al., 2008; Liao et al., 2006; McKnight et al.,
1998). For this reason, LCC websites should offer accurate and up-
to-date information (e.g. on fares, availability, timetables, condi-
tions, etc.). In order to increase trust in the information quality, LCC
managers should provide accurate and complete information on
the website concerning the LCC services offered and the online
transaction process. With regard to e-commerce, and LCC websites
for direct purchasing of air tickets, the consumers’ decision making
process requires the scanning, collection, filtering, integration and
comparison of information about LCC services but this process is
relevant and time consuming (Liao et al., 2006). If LCC e-commerce
websites cannot offer accurate and complete advice and informa-
tion, consumers may distrust these websites and may perceive that
an LCC website is not suitable for completing an LCC ticket online
83
purchase correctly. Thus, the information given on the website
should be clear, sufficient in terms of depth of content, accurate,
timely, void of technical terms and should reflects the character-
istics of the air ticket. For example, providing the time stamp of the
information on the website can increase consumer perception
about the accuracy and timeliness of the information (Kuan et al.,
2008). Perceived security is another important antecedent of con-
sumer trust in e-commerce in the context of LCC tickets, which is
also consistent with the findings of previous studies (D.J. Kim et al.,
2008; Kim et al., 2011; Yousafzai et al., 2003). This finding explains
why the managers of LCCs need to use applications on their website
that are as secure as possible. LCC managers should ensure the
security of their websites by adopting advanced security technol-
ogies and elaborate strict security policies. The LCC e-commerce
websites should have security attributes such as a safe shopping
guarantee, a security policy, and protection mechanisms such as
encryption, protection, and authentication, so that the consumers
will deduce that the LCCs intention is to guarantee security during
online purchasing (Chellappa & Pavlou, 2002). For example, to
improve the safety in payment by credit card and fraud, they should
make every effort to verify the identities of buyers online (Tsang,
Lai, & Law, 2010). Lastly, the protection of privacy also influences
consumer trust, which is again consistent with the findings of
previous studies (Yousafzai et al., 2003; Fam et al., 2004; D.J. Kim
et al., 2008). Thus, the LCC e-commerce website must protect
consumers’ confidential personal information that is necessarily
revealed to the LCC as part of the online transaction process. During
the online transaction process, consumers provide confidential
personal information, such as their names, home addresses, bank
account and credit card details, etc. Consumers need to be sure that
the LCC e-commerce website will protect this information and thus
on the website the LCC managers need to ensure that the privacy
policies are clearly explained and that the LCC guarantee the pro-
tection of the consumers’ information and will not use it for other
purposes or give it to other entities without their authorization. It
may be that providing third-party certifications that assure privacy
and the security can increase the trust of consumers in the LCC
websites.
The results indicate that habit is the second strongest predictor
of online purchase intention and of actual online purchase usage in
the context of LCC tickets. This is also consistent with the results of
previous papers (Venkatesh et al., 2012). This result coincides
partially with that of Limayem et al. (2007), who confirmed the
direct effect of habit on technology use, but a more moderate effect
on usage intention behavior than that found in our paper. One
possible explanation for their finding is that the intention to use a
specific form of technology could become less important as the
habit becomes stronger. Taking into account of the results we ob-
tained, the greater the habit of individuals the more likely they are
to have a greater intention to purchase, and a greater probability of
actual usage of LCC websites to purchase air tickets. Therefore, habit
not only influences those who utilize LCC websites for air tickets
purchases but also influences the online purchase intention. For
this reason, and as stated by Benbasat and Barki (2007), it is rec-
ommended that habit should be incorporated into the IS literature.
It is suggested that, in Spain, LCCs should implement marketing
communication strategies that create the habit of using this tech-
nology. This would influence more individuals to form a stronger
intention to purchase more online, thus in turn influencing more
online purchase behavior. This implies that the LCCs, in order to
increase online sales via direct purchase from their website, should
advertise on the Internet and/or in other more traditional media
about the different usage contexts and occasions (e.g., summer
holiday or vacation, weekend trip, present for friends and family,
etc.). Also, LCC websites should offer incentives for encouraging
84 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
consumers to revisit its websites, as well as other promotions, a
discount on the next online ticket purchase, value added services,
and personalized services.
Price saving is a factor that plays an important role as a direct
driver of LCC air ticket online purchase intention. This means that
the greater the money savings (or the possibility of obtaining a
better product/service for a given price) and the greater the benefits
that consumers perceive that they may obtain by purchasing
directly via the LCC websites, the stronger their intention will be to
use LCC websites for future purchases of air tickets. However,
contrary to the relationship hypothesized, the price-saving variable
is found not to influence the actual usage of LCC websites for pur-
chasing because although the relationship is positive, it is not sig-
nificant. Thus, individuals may have the intention to purchase LCC
air tickets online, due to the price saving they can obtain, but this
perceived price saving will not affect their actual online purchasing,
which depends on other factors, i.e. on online purchase intentions,
habit and facilitating conditions. An explanation for the lack of an
effect of price saving in actual purchase of tickets of LCC is because
Internet users have already adopted the Internet as a tool for
obtaining price saving in shopping. Jou et al. (2008) suggests that
one of the factors that determines the demand for LCCs is perceived
cost saving. Hence, consumers may have already anticipated that
they will get a higher price savings when shopping online on the
LCC. Managers should communicate with the LCC website and by
other means that the purchase of air tickets directly from the LCC
website implies a price saving. For example, LCC managers can
inform the LCC website that the purchase of air tickets implies the
smallest possible price by including terms such as low fares or
cheap flights. Finally, LCC should communicate in various ways that
consumers can get a price saving if they purchase tickets directly
from LCC websites.
The facilitating conditions factor influences the online purchase
intention and the online purchase use. This result coincides with the
results of previous authors (Venkatesh et al., 2012) and contrasts
with the findings obtained by others (San Martín & Herrero, 2012).
This means that individuals’ perceptions of the support available
and the resources for online purchasing of LCC air tickets influence
both online purchase intention and usage. Consequently it can be
stated that the LCCs should facilitate the possibility of purchasing via
their websites by making support and resources available so that
consumers have ready access to the necessary means to resolve any
problems that they may encounter during the transaction process.
Thus, the LCC websites should include the tools and resources
required to facilitate online purchase intentions and purchasing and
resolve the possible problems and doubts that occur during the
purchasing process (e.g., free or low-cost telephone numbers,
responsive service through email, boards of usual questions with its
answers or F.A.Q., presence in social networks and demonstration
and videos on how to purchase or reserve a seat).
With respect to the variable of the consumers’ innovativeness in
the domain of information technology, this factor plays an impor-
tant role as a direct driver of the online purchase intention. This is
consistent with the results of previous papers (Herrero & Rodríguez
Del Bosque, 2008; Lu et al., 2011; San Martín & Herrero, 2012). Thus,
those individuals who are more innovative with information
technologies will have a stronger intention to purchase LCC air
tickets online. Therefore, it is recommended that, when LCC man-
agers design and promote their website as the best way to purchase
air tickets, they should take into account that the more innovative
individuals are when using the Internet, the more likely they are to
use e-commerce websites, and in turn, the more likely they are to
have the intention to use particular LCC websites for purchasing air
tickets. This is the reason why it is necessary that the individuals
participate in a technological culture. Individuals with the
willingness of to try out new information technology (Agarwal &
Prasad, 1998) are more likely to have the intention of purchasing
air tickets directly from LCC websites. In addition, the Innovation
Diffusion Theory highlight that more innovative individual (early
adopter) are facilitated through a communication process
regarding an extension of the technology to other consumers (San
Martín & Herrero, 2012). Thus, in our context, which is the purchase
of air tickets directly from LCC websites, it is fundamental to
encourage such purchases among the most innovative consumers
for less innovative individual (late adopter), and to adopt LCC air
ticket online purchasing. The LCCs should communicate the
importance of the adoption of LCC air ticket online purchase by the
more innovative consumers through the website or other tools
such as social media platforms. Furthermore, actions by govern-
mental or other organizations to increase the availability of infor-
mation technology and its usage will be relevant in encourage more
individuals to be innovative (San Martín & Herrero, 2012).
Another of the psychological factors considered in the extended
UTAUT2 is hedonic motivation; this variable reflecting pleasure-
seeking behavior exerts a positive influence on the intention to pur-
chase LCC air tickets online; however, this influence is weaker than
Venkatesh et al. (2012) found for this same variable in the UTAUT2. On
the other hand, the strength of the factor performance expectancy
(i.e. perceived usefulness) indicates that utilitarian attributes affect
the online purchase intention. This means that both the utilitarian
and the hedonistic benefits that individuals perceive that they will
enjoy exert a positive influence on online purchase intention.
Regarding the influence of the effort expectancy factor (or
perceived ease of use), this is a driver of the LCC air ticket online
purchase intention. This implies that consumers tend to focus on
ease of use of air ticket purchasing directly from LCC websites. This
result coincides with the findings of other studies (Venkatesh et al.,
2012; San Martín & Herrero, 2012).
The managerial implications of the last three factors of hedonic
motivation, performance expectancy and effort expectancy for the
management and marketing strategies for LCCs are that they should
communicate on the main website to the consumers about the util-
itarian, hedonistic benefits and the convenience and ease of pur-
chasing air tickets from their websites which require the minimum
effort. In this sense, more consumers can purchase LCC air tickets
online. For this reason, the LCCs have to elaborate a friendly, easy,
effective and entertaining online purchasing process so that the
consumers perceive that the purchasing air tickets directly from LCC
websites is convenient, enjoyable, pleasant, quick and easy.
Communication strategies should appeal to consumers to purchase
directly from LCC websites, so transmitting the ease of use, efficiency
and entertaining, fun and enjoyable of the purchasing of LCC websites.
Such elaborate easy, clear, effective, useful and funny processes for
LCC air ticket online purchasing are very effective. If the consumers
appreciate the utility of the website and the degree of pleasure
experienced by the process of transacting their purchases online, this
will influence them to make repeated visits to the more enjoyable
websites (Ahn, Ryu, & Han, 2007). In order to get funny and enjoyable
purchasing process, as noted by Chiu, Hsu, Lai, and Chang (2012) the
marketing managers can offer pop-up discounts and other, surprising
marketing strategies, in order to focus on the experience that can
provide the website, positioning the purchase experience as an
adventure or a mean to reduce stress or change a negative mood.
Social influences affect the online purchase intention, a finding
that coincides with the results from some studies (Kim et al., 2009;
Venkatesh et al., 2012) and contrasts with the findings obtained
from others (Casaló et al., 2010; San Martín & Herrero, 2012). This
means that individuals form intentions to purchase their tickets
directly from LCC websites because they imagine that their refer-
ents, such as friends, family and colleagues, think that they should.
 T. Escobar-Rodríguez, E. Carvajal-Trujillo / Tourism Management 43 (2014) 70e88
Therefore, one objective for an LCC in its marketing strategy should
be reputation-building, in order to gain a favorable opinion from
referents, whether they are existing users or not, so that these
persons can actively recommend online direct purchasing via the
LCC’s website to others. Thus, LCCs should address their attention to
referents because they influence the LCC air ticket online purchase
intention of consumers and LCCs should strive for a referent word
of mouth to be favorable to LCC and offer incentives to encourage it.
Also, LCCs should promote and should adequately manage the
company in the social networks and recommendation websites so
that individuals engage because they can be referents and can in-
fluence the LCC air ticket online purchase intention of consumers.
Finally, our results indicate the effect of perceived online
behavioral intention on perceived online usage behavior. In other
words, the greater the perceived intention to purchase online, the
higher the probability of actually making an online purchase of LCC
air tickets. Clearly LCC managers should aim to strengthen con-
sumers’ intentions to purchase online because this will lead to
more actual usage of their website to make purchases. This means,
in accordance with our findings, that they need to take action on
particular variables like trust, habit, price saving, facilitating con-
ditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, innovative-
ness, hedonic motivation and social influence to increase the LCC
online purchase intention.
In this paper, UTAUT2 has been extended to explain the online
purchase intention and the actual online purchase usage (or web-
site actual use) in the context of the direct purchase of air tickets via
LCC e-commerce websites. In this paper, the extended UTAUT2 with
two new factors, perceived trust and consumers’ innovativeness in
the domain of information technology, has been found to predict
the online purchase intention (R2 ¼ 0.603) and online purchase use
(R2 ¼ 0.6) successfully. These variance values are substantial,
compared to the UTAUT2 in the work of Venkatesh et al. (2012),
which explained 74% and 52% of the variance in intention and us-
age, respectively. Our findings report that consumers’ intention to
use a new technology (LCC e-commerce websites) is influenced by
trust, habit, price saving, facilitating conditions, performance ex-
pectancy, effort expectancy, consumers’ innovativeness in the
domain of information technology, hedonic motivation and social
influence. Moreover, the actual usage behavior in respect of a new
technology (LCC websites) is affected by habit, online purchase
intention, and facilitating conditions. However, contrary to our
hypothesis, price saving does not affect LCC online purchase usage.
This study contributes to the literature new knowledge about
the variables that influence consumers in their intention to use and
their use of LCC e-commerce websites to make direct purchases.
This paper also examines the factors that affect individual online
purchasing of air tickets from LCC websites once the online pur-
chase intention is known. With the findings obtained in this paper,
the UTAUT2 model of Venkatesh et al. (2012) is confirmed as an
appropriate model to measure the acceptance and use of a website
by consumers for direct online purchasing of LCC air tickets.
Therefore, we have found that the UTAUT2 can be generalized to
other consumer contexts: in this case, to consumers such as tourists
and other travelers, for a particular technology e in this case, LCC
ticket e-commerce websites e and for a particular country e in the
case of this paper, Spain. In view of the results obtained, this paper
contributes knowledge that should be valuable to LCCs regarding
the particular variables that influence the direct purchasing of air
tickets by tourists via LCC websites.
5.2. Future research
It is recommended that future papers should focus on analyzing
the influence of other constructs on LCC air ticket online purchase
85
intention and online purchase use. These other constructs could
include user experience with the Internet and with online pur-
chasing of other products and services (Corbitt et al., 2003), user
experience as a passenger on LCC flights, user personality traits, and
computer self-efficacy. The inclusion of some of these variables
may improve the prediction of both the intention to purchase air
tickets from LCC websites and the actual purchase of air tickets
from those websites. Future studies could also examine the suit-
ability of the model proposed for other kinds of tourism products
and services such as train tickets, travel packages and accommo-
dation. It would also be of interest to analyze other types of e-
commerce websites in the tourism field, as well as intermediary
websites or third-party tourism websites. Another interesting route
to extend this research might analyze the possible cross-cultural
differences in the determinant factors that influence consumers
in their intention to use and their use of LCC e-commerce websites
to make direct purchases. In addition, the influence of social-
demographic variables as moderator variables might be exam-
ined. Finally, this paper examined consumers’ future online pur-
chase intention and past online purchase from a website at a single
point in time; it would be helpful to conduct a longitudinal analysis
to determine how these variables change over time.
Acknowledgment
We are grateful to Chris Ryan (Editor) and the anonymous ref-
erees. They have provided us with a wealth of useful guidelines in
order to improve this manuscript.
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