The growth of the technology and its range of possible uses have made it a necessity for independenht otelierst o examinet heir use of the internet,s pecifically its effectivenessfo r marketinga nd distribution purposes.I t is widely recognisedt hat the independenht otel sector makesu p the bulk of the hotel industry in the UK and often do not have the resourceso r desiret o keepu p with new technologies.T his study scrutinizes,e valuatesa nd establishesth e factorst hat influence the decision to adopt a range of internet technologies for marketing and distribution within the UK independenht otel sector. The conceptualf ramework of this study is underpinnedb y Davis's TechnologyA cceptanceM odel (1989) and Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations model (1995). The study's findings have confirmed, challengeda nd extendedt heset wo theories.C ritically, it hase stablishedth at the ease-of-useo f a technology and its affordability do not affect hoteliers' deployment decisions, when numerous studiesh aves uggestedo therwise.T he study also revealedt hat the hotel sectora sa whole bad not only expanded the range of internet technologies adopted, but the proportion of adopters had also increased. A series of qualitative exploratory interviews were carried out and analysed to inform a larger quantitatives urvey. Survey dataw as collected from 408 independenht oteliers and analysedt o contributet o the conceptuald evelopmento f a taxonomy.I n the process,h ypotheseste sting, regressiond, iscriminant and cluster analysisw ere carriedo ut, linking various hotel characteristics, hotelier perceptions and their propensity to deploy internet technology for marketing and distribution. The core of the developed taxonomy illustrated three groups of hoteliers: the internet application (IA) reticent; the IA realist; and the IA rationalist. TI-ds taxonomy, supported by a more precisep rofile and definition of independenht oteliers,f acilitated the identification of managerial implications for various stakeholdersA. significant implication of the study inferred.t hat travel intermediaries'w ill continuet o have a sustained stronghold on independent hoteliers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:444052 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Lim, Wai Mun |
| Publisher | University of Plymouth |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2825 |
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