Involvement theory in constructing bloggers• intention to purchase ...

Tourism Management 31 (2010) 513–526

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Involvement theory in constructing bloggers’ intention to purchase travel products Ching-Yuan Huang a, *, Chia-Jung Chou b, Pei-Ching Lin c a

Department of Marketing Management, SHU-TE University, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan, ROC Department of Hospitality Management, Tajen University, Pingtong 908, Taiwan, ROC c Department of Business Administration, SHU-TE University, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan, ROC b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 14 July 2008 Accepted 7 June 2009

Blogs recently have demonstrated their enormous marketing potential, and more and more travel advertisements are being posted in blogs. In light of this observation, this study aims to provide insights into the structural relationship among travel bloggers’ involvement level, the advertising effect from blog messages, and travel bloggers’ intention to purchase travel products. A travel blogger’s purchase intention model was constructed and empirically tested. A total of 900 questionnaires were distributed to identified travel bloggers; 398 valid responses were returned. The data were examined with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results demonstrated the positive impact resulting from the ad effect as well as the ad effect on purchase intention, which could be verified in travel blog environments. It also indicated that high-involvement travel bloggers are more likely to form favourable impressions with regard to ads in travel blogs. Travel blogs play a positive role in the processing of ad messages; brand management is essential to business marketers since brand attitude is the most influential factor related to the ad effect on purchase intention. Meanwhile, while ad attitude is not significantly effective concerning purchase intention, it remains essential in forming brand attitudes. Several implications for posting advertisements in travel blogs will be discussed and suggested in this paper. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ad effect Blog Brand attitude Ad memory Purchase intention

1. Introduction As of February 2006, more than 37.3 million blogs could be tracked in the virtual world; and during the past three years, blog numbers doubled every six months (Technorati, 2006). On average, 50,000 new articles per hour and 120,000 new entries per day are posted on blogs. Taking advantage of the automated linking technology, different blogs can thereby be easily connected to one another. This convenient network helps to rapidly spread information, or form an issue discussion platform, when there is marketing activity. A survey conducted by comScore (2005), a global Internet usage and measurement provider, showed that the term ‘‘bloggers’’ covers a wide scope of interest, and that they are willing to devote more time and money than other Internet users. This phenomenon has created an emergent communication bridge; in the meantime, the blog is becoming a more influential medium and a new marketing power (Lee, Im, & Taylor, 2008; Lin & Huang, 2006; Litvin, Goldsmith, & Pan, 2008; Thevenot, 2007).

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ886 7 6158000x6302, mobile: þ886 928758520; fax: þ886 7 6158000x6399. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C.-Y. Huang), [email protected] (C.-J. Chou), [email protected] (P.-C. Lin). 0261-5177/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2009.06.003

A few years back, several business articles noted the marketing potential of blogs for the travel industry (Del Rosso, 2005; Hotels, 2005). However, at that time, most hotels in the report seemed little interested in blogs due to their poor understanding of how blogs could do more than websites (Hotels, 2005). Later, travel blogs revealed their effectiveness in searching information, sharing travel diaries, and making airline ticket deals, along with bloggers collectively commenting on travel issues or policies, which compelled the travel-related companies to assign ‘‘employees to monitor the blogosphere for what is being written about them’’ (Stapells, 2006). In recent times, BuzzLogic, a company focusing on online influence, sponsored a survey, ‘‘Harnessing the Power of Blogs’’ conducted by JupiterResearch (a Forrester Research Company), where it was found that blogs influenced purchases more than did social sites (Burns, 2008). Moreover, according to the findings, blogs were recognized as a conversational and trusted resource that could help in making purchase decisions. It was also found that 40% of people surveyed had made a purchase after reading an advertisement on a blog. Additionally, the influence of blogs plays a role from the start of the information search to the choices considered, and finalizing purchase decisions. The survey demonstrated that advertisements on blogs can be a powerful marketing medium to reach consumers. Blogs have become a new

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marketing means, where space and time have no limit and access is rapid and worldwide. Park, Shenoy, and Salvendy (2008) identified three features of online advertising: ease of targeting, personalized content, and interactivity. Blogs also convey these same characteristics, and excel in interpersonal influence and social networking (Thevenot, 2007). Marketers can take the bidirectional communication advantages of blogs in widely distributing messages, positioning the first group of bloggers, as well as interactively responding to potential customers. Furthermore, it was anticipated that bloggers would spread positive evaluations by word-of-mouth (WOM) (Kaikati & Kaikati, 2004) or document, in commenting on products and services (Huang, Shen, Lin, & Chang, 2007). For personal, company sponsored, or companyowned blogs to stimulate positive WOM or counter negative perceptions, WOM has become quite an important task in marketing strategies and consumer feedback management in the hospitality and tourism industry (Litvin et al., 2008). Surveying several blog service providers in Taiwan (YahooKimo, Wretch, Roodo!Blog, MSN Space, Xuite, Pchome blog, Sina blog, Yam Sky blog and Taiwan Site of Blog Country), Insightexplorer (2005) found that categorized ‘‘travel’’ blogs carry many Internet ads and attract a good variety of bloggers. This phenomenon seems similar in the global travel blogosphere. On the basis of our observations, ads on travel blogs can be classified into two types: one is ‘‘target advertisements,’’ which are built in by the blog service providers to lead bloggers to click through more information; and the other one can be called ‘‘placement advertisements’’ (some are WOM), which are posted inside the content of blogs by blog hosts or respondents. In addition, Pang (2006) pointed out that travel blogs show business potential in the billions of dollars. Along with this insight, major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc., have subsequently developed new travel websites combining functions, such as photos, video clips, restaurant reviews, and travel diaries, to cater to greater travel information demands. In particular, travel advertisements are being posted more and more often through the Internet, especially travel blogs. Regarding discussions of online travel marketing issues or purchase behaviours, most literature focused on the Internet (Frias, Rodriguez, & Castaneda, 2008; Wu, Wei, & Chen, 2008), Webs (Beldona, Morrison, & O’Leary, 2005; Brey, So, Kim, & Morrison, 2007; Choi, Lehto, & Morrison, 2007; Doolin, Burgess, & Cooper, 2002; Law, Qi, & Leung, 2008; Nysveen & Lexhagen, 2001), or e-commerce (Oorni, 2003; Wu, 2004). Travel blogs, a developing and essential marketing channel in the tourism industry, remain less studied. Among the relatively few studies, Lin and Huang (2006) took a Taiwanese engineer’s Aegean Sea travel blog as a case study to analyze tourism-marketing response. Pan, MacLaurin and Crotts (2007) qualitatively analyzed the opinions posted in leading travel blogs to determine the function of blogs in destination marketing. A systematic and empirical research on how advertisements in travel blogs influence bloggers’ purchase decisions is demanding yet crucial to better understand this new marketing tool; this underscores the originality and value of the present research. On the other hand, how a consumer processes advertising and blogs information requires knowledge of a person’s level of involvement in specific issues. Prevalent travel literature discussed the involvement factor in influencing consumers’ motivation or image formation regarding destinations (Dimanche, Havitz, & Howard, 1992; Joisam, Smeaton, & Clements, 1999; McGehee, Yoon, & Cardenas, 2003; Frias et al., 2008). McGehee et al. (2003) found that between the high and medium involvement groups, there existed a significant difference in travel behaviour. The results explored by Frias et al. (2008) demonstrated how the degree of message involvement could significantly moderate the effect of pre-visit image formation.

Therefore, this study aims to provide insights into the structural relationship among travel bloggers’ involvement level, advertising effect from blog messages, and travel bloggers’ intention to purchase travel products. A model of ‘‘travel bloggers’’ consumer intentions’ is constructed through literature reviews to determine the essential factors influencing bloggers’ purchase intention in regard to travel products. 2. Literature review 2.1. Definitions and characteristics of blogs The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists ‘‘blog’’ as one of 10 new words in 2004. Here, blog is defined as ‘‘a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.’’1 Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht, and Swartz (2004) defined blog as a typical website with information connections, a journal posted or written in chronological order, and web links recommended by blog authors. In addition, Eva (2005) defined blogs as a new tool for corporate operation and identified several characteristics in business blogs: a low-cost medium for information sharing in knowledge management and marketing; handy software for users needing no special techniques; a venue for promoting corporate public relationship and professional image; a means for rapid information sharing and sales tracking among corporate employees; inner knowledge sharing for employees in relation to work efficiency; and a way to help observe corporate policies or norms. Blogs possess similar features to those of the Internet, such as interactivity, no limitations in distance and time, low setup costs, global coverage, and ease of entry (Berthon, Pitt, & Watson, 1996). Nevertheless, according to a typology of e-WOM media as delineated by Litvin et al. (2008), blogs are ‘‘many-to-many’’ (consumers) regarding communication type as well as asynchronous in regard to the level of interactivity. These characteristics of blogs are quite different from those of websites (one-to-many) or e-mails (one-to-one). The interactivity of blogs is unlike that of synchronous Newsgroups, chat rooms, or instant messaging. Furthermore, blogs are different from the other online media in the extent of privacy engagement, that is, individual and interpersonal information disclosure (Lee et al., 2008), which could serve psychological and social relationship functions for bloggers (Lee et al., 2008; Thevenot, 2007). As for the success of blogs, Du and Wagner (2006) postulated a core value model, which identified that blog value lies in multiple elements and that its popularity is associated with content value, technology value, and social value (shown in Fig. 1). In this model, the building technology of blogs directly influences their content and social function. Blog technology (such as data storage, hyperlinks, link creation, and the like), helps bloggers to focus on their text and shortens publishing time via online writing and updating. Through automated link technology provided by blog software, a new social circle can be created. Therefore, content value, connection creation technology value, and social value are essential elements complementing one another to promote blog popularity. Thevenot (2007) emphasized the value of blogs based on their strength, content, and personal opinions. Correspondingly, Du and Wagner (2006) claimed that blog popularity is correlated to its social value, and particularly, the influence of its content and wordof-mouth activity (Litvin et al., 2008; Thevenot, 2007). Through coparticipation, bloggers with common interests would like to remain

1

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog.

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Type of information

Content value

Posting volume Presentation Organization Tool characteristics

Technology value

Weblog success (Popularity)

Usability & Sociability

Visitors/commentators Blogroll

Social value

Host affiliation Fig. 1. Weblog success model proposed Du and Wagner (2006).

online and passionately discuss specific topics or issues (Huang et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2008). The above characteristics of blogs demonstrate their advantages in tourism marketing. Pollock (1999) discussed difficulties in tourism marketing due to travel products’ being fragmented (beds, meals, tours, and seats sold in bits rather than as part of one complete holiday). Liu (2000) described travel products and services as information-intensive, difficult to evaluate, and lacking physicality in terms of distribution; travel products are intangible in nature, and cannot be physically seen or inspected prior to purchase (Holloway, 2004). Since many factors are uncontrollable (such as weather), travel products cannot be standardized in regard to quality and expectations. As a result, from the consumer’s perspective, the purchase of travel products is highly risky and needs more information processing before a sound decision can be made. Travel blogs serve as an appropriate communication tool for destination image, itinerary stories, comments, opinions, social community, and so on, to further information exchange. This study, based on the sociability value of blogs as well as the value of content influence, is interested in how bloggers involved with the blog’s social context impact their responses to blog content. Therefore, this study will explore the extent of the attention and degree of concern on the part of bloggers in terms of involvement theory. 2.2. Involvement theory Involvement theory has gained considerable attention and application in behavioural researches, such as social psychology, marketing, and advertising domains. Researches have proposed various consumer behaviour models as well as expanded involvement concepts. In consumer research, Belch and Belch (1997), Dholakia (1998), and Poiesz and Cees (1995) argued that involvement plays an important role in moderating and explaining variable relationships. The level of involvement has antecedents, and at the same time, the extent of involvement impacts a series of behavioural decisions (Zaichkowsky, 1986). Three involvement models, the ‘‘involvement conceptual and methodological perspectives model’’ postulated by Houston and Rothschild (1978), the ‘‘involvement conceptualizing model’’ proposed by Zaichkowsky (1986), and the ‘‘involvement conceptualizing & measuring model’’ postulated by Andrews, Durvasula, and Akhter (1990) are examined to understand how involvement concepts may be used to explain consumer behaviour. Houston and Rothschild (1978) classified involvement into situation involvement, enduring involvement, and response involvement. Situation involvement explains how consumers attend to objects or things under certain situations, focusing on consumers’ non-personal factors. Enduring involvement identifies consumers paying attention to objects or things for relatively

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longer periods of time, which emphasizes personal characteristics. Response involvement is a state of mind combining situation and enduring involvement, and reflects a consumer’s decision-making according to complex cognitive and behavioural processes. Zaichkowsky (1986) proposed three antecedents of involvement. Firstly, personal factors signify inner values, such as needs, importance, interest, and values that would change one’s particular experiences, and in return, impact one’s involvement with the object. The second factor impacting involvement is an object or stimulus associated with the physical characteristic of communication media (TV, radio, print). Therefore, different alternatives, communication content, or sources of communication would influence involvement. The third is situational factors that are related to use, purchase, and occasion. In addition to these factors, and based on consumers’ behavioural responses to different situations, Zaichkowsky classified involvement into three domains: product involvement, ad involvement, and purchase involvement. Andrews et al. (1990), following several research streams, proposed a framework for the conceptualisation and measurement of an involvement construct. In this framework, the involvement construct’s antecedents, properties, measures, potential problems, and consequences were examined. Andrews et al. (1990) argued that involvement possesses three major properties: intensity, direction, and persistence, which decide how individuals respond to external stimuli. Involvement intensity means ‘‘the degree of arousal or preparedness of the involved consumer with respect to the goal-related object’’ (p. 29). The level of intensity varies and is influenced by the difference of product types, situations, and individual conditions. Involvement direction refers to the target object or problem that causes the stimulus. Among them, the antecedents of involvement (purchase occasion, personal needs, and perceived risks of decision) would influence the direction of involvement or object selection on the part of the consumer. Involvement persistence indicates the duration of involvement intensity. Thus, consumers would have different levels of involvement due to product type, purchase occasion, sales activity (direction), and comparatively short or long time periods (persistence). As for the antecedents of the involvement construct, they can be attributed to personal needs, goals, and characteristics as well as situational and decision factors. These antecedents would lead to different levels of involvement; subsequently, search behaviour, information processing, and persuasion of consumers would also differ. The above three theories constitute the major original concepts of the involvement construct, and most following researches employ one of the above theories as a core concept of involvement. For example, Drichoutis, Kazarudus, and Nayga (2007), based on Andrews et al. (1990), used individual characteristics, situational and attitudinal factors, product knowledge, and information search to identify the factors influencing food product class involvement. Wang, Pallister, and Foxall (2006) combined Zaichkowsky’s involvement model (1986) with a cognitive adaptive–innovative style, and examined the purchase decision involvement in regard to specific Internet shopping behaviours. 2.3. Advertising effect measuring models With respect to the measurement of ad effect, Stewart and Furse (1986) claimed that recall, recognition, reasoning, attitude change, and purchase intention need to be taken into consideration. Engel, Blackwell, and Miniard (1990) and Bush, Smith, and Martin (1999) argued that the consumers’ attitude would ultimately influence their purchase intention. In several studies reviewed for this study, we found that ad attitude (Mitchell & Olson, 1981; MacKenzie, Lutz, & Belch, 1986; Homer, 1990), brand attitude (Lutz, 1985; MacKenzie

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ad

ad

b

b

I

ad

ad

b

b

ATH

DMH

ad

ad

b

b RMH

I

I

ad

ad

b

b

I

ITH

Keys Cad represents ad cognition Cb represents brand cognition Aad represents attitude toward ad Ab represents brand attitude I represents purchase intention Fig. 2. ‘‘Attitude mediation model’’ proposed by MacKenzie et al. (1986).

& Lutz, 1989; MacKenzie et al., 1986; Muehling, 1987; Shimp, 1981; Thorson, 1981), ad memory (Edell & Keller, 1989; Ha, 1996), and purchase intention (MacKenzie et al., 1986; Ko, 2002; Kavadas, 2003) are four major factors used for measuring ad effect. The following describes three advertising effect measuring models. MacKenzie et al. (1986) proposed ‘‘the moderating influence model of attitude’’ (shown in Fig. 2), which depicted the multiple relationships between ad cognition and ad attitude (Cad / Aad), brand cognition and brand attitude (Cb / Ab), brand attitude and purchase intention (Ab / I). Four hypotheses proposed are given as follows: 2.3.1. Affect transfer hypothesis (ATH) This hypothesis argues that ad attitude could directly influence brand attitude without swaying brand cognition. That is, a welldesigned ad could increase the desirability for an audience and transfer their affective response to brand loving, and furthermore, onto a reinforced purchase intention. 2.3.2. Dual mediation hypothesis (DMH) This model claims that brand attitude can be influenced indirectly through brand cognition, except for the direct effect proposed by ATH. The relationship between ad attitude and brand cognition (Aad / Cb) represents the concept of ad effect, namely, the source of ad messages can produce the persuasion effects on increasing or decreasing consumers’ brand cognition and fondness or distaste for a particular brand. 2.3.3. Reciprocal mediation hypothesis (RMH) This hypothesis is based on the Balance Theory postulated by Heider (1946). RMH assumes that consumers’ ad attitude and brand attitude form an inter-influenced causal relationship, tending toward maintaining a balance, either liking both the brand and ad or disliking them both. Furthermore, the intensity of the causal relationship depends on the situations or consumers’ personal needs. 2.3.4. Independent influences hypothesis (ITH) The ITH model claims there is no causal relationship between the ad attitude and brand attitude; instead, the ad attitude or brand attitude can independently help to determine purchase intention. Ko (2002) proposed an ‘‘equilibrium model of Internet interactive advertising.’’ In this study, the operational interactivity was

defined under two dimensions: human–message interaction and human–human interaction. Human–message interaction is related to people’s interaction with message usage behaviours, while human–human interaction involves two-way communication between message senders and receivers. The ad effect measurement in this study was examined through the structure of Internet interactivity, attitude toward the site, brand attitude, and purchase intention. Kavadas (2003) postulated ‘‘direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCad),’’ which used the fear appeal theory to explain consumers’ risk perception, and the applied involvement theory to illustrate consumers’ cognition concerning ad messages. Involvement, message memory, ad attitude, brand attitude, and behavioural intention were examined to explore the ad effect of pharmacy advertisements. This study found that the involvement theories proposed by Houston and Rothschild (1978), Zaichkowsky (1986), and Andrews et al. (1990) depict three major factors that determine the antecedents of an involvement construct and the involvement extent of bloggers; they include personal, product, and situation factors. For the measurement of ad effect, this study adopts the independent influences hypothesis (ITH), one of the four ad effect hypotheses proposed by MacKenzie et al. (1986), as the basic assumption on the relationship between consumers’ ad attitude and brand attitude in the Internet context. Additionally, the advertising effect models proclaimed and examined by Ko (2002) and Kavadas (2003) are applicable for establishing a ‘‘consumers’’ behavioural intention model incorporating the involvement construct and ad effect. 3. Research methods 3.1. Variables selection and research framework The present study employs an empirical approach to explore the effect of involvement level, ad effect, and bloggers’ purchase intention in regard to travel products on the Internet. Synthesizing the involvement theories proposed by Houston and Rothschild (1978), Zaichkowsky (1986), and Andrews et al. (1990), as well as the ad effect measuring models empirically examined by MacKenzie et al. (1986), Ko (2002), and Kavadas (2003), this research framework is conducted as shown in Fig. 3. Involvement constructs include personal, product, and situation factors. The interaction between involvement and ad effect has been extensively examined (Andrews et al., 1990; Celsi & Olson, 1988; Helweg-Larsen & Howell, 2000; Hirschman & Wallendorf, 1982; Houston & Rothschild, 1978; James & Kover, 1992; Krugman, 1965; Leong, Ang, & Tham, 1996; Raman & Leckenby, 1998; Norris & Colman, 1992; Petty, Cacioppo, & Schumann, 1983; Richines & Bloch, 1986; Tavassoli, Shultz, & Fitzsimons, 1995). The literature suggests that when consumers have high levels of involvement, they tend to receive the most Ad memory Personal factor Product factor

Involvement

Ad attitude

Situation factor Brand attitude

Fig. 3. The theoretical framework.

Purchase intention

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information related to that product, and thus pay more attention to ads for information. On the other hand, when consumers are not highly motivated to process ad content, they do not devote themselves to message-related thinking. In other words, motivation to process ad information is greatly influenced by the extent of involvement and thus influences the effectiveness of advertising. Within this research framework, it is supposed that the extent of involvement (subjective to three antecedents) does influence ad effect (i.e., ad memory, ad attitude, and brand attitude). Purchase intention is influenced either by ad effect or directly by involvement level. 3.2. Research hypotheses Several studies provide empirical evidence for the relationships among involvement, ad effect, and purchase intention. Ad memory or recall was influenced by the extent of personal involvement (Frankenberger & Albaum, 1997; Leigh & Menon, 1986) and product involvement (Lowrey, 2006). More interesting content and advertisements usually trigger greater involvement and deeper ad memory imprinting when viewers did not view the ads as a distraction (Lloyd & Clancy, 1991). Similarly, Celsi and Olson (1988) claimed that the features of strong involvement help to situate consumers in a prominent environment with more stimuli; increased reasoning and thinking on the part of consumers lead to enhanced ad information cognition and memory. With respect to the relationship between involvement level and ad effect, the literature shows that when readers are exposed to an ad that is full of persuasive information, a better ad attitude will result (James & Kover, 1992; Leong et al., 1996; Petty et al., 1983). Moreover, brand attitude and purchase intention are more closely correlated to a high level of involvement rather than to a low level of involvement (Ko, 2002; Petty et al., 1983). On the basis of the variable relationships constructed in the research framework and the previous literature that was reviewed, the following hypotheses are offered. H1: Bloggers’ involvement is positively related to ad effect. 1a: Bloggers’ personal involvement will be positively related to ad memory. 1b: Bloggers’ product involvement will be positively related to ad memory. 1c: Bloggers’ situation involvement will be positively related to ad memory. 1d: Bloggers’ personal involvement will be positively related to ad attitude. 1e: Bloggers’ product involvement will be positively related to ad attitude. 1f: Bloggers’ situation involvement will be positively related to ad attitude. 1g: Bloggers’ personal involvement will be positively related to brand attitude. 1h: Bloggers’ product involvement will be positively related to brand attitude. 1i: Bloggers’ situation involvement will be positively related to brand attitude. 1j: Bloggers’ personal involvement will be positively related to purchase intention. 1k: Bloggers’ product involvement will be positively related to purchase intention. 1l: Bloggers’ situation involvement will be positively related to purchase intention. H2: Bloggers’ involvement has positive influence on ad memory. H3: Bloggers’ involvement has positive influence on ad attitude. H4: Bloggers’ involvement has positive influence on brand attitude.

H5: Bloggers’ involvement has positive influence on intention. H6: Bloggers’ ad memory has positive influence on intention. H7: Bloggers’ ad attitude have positive influence on intention. H8: Bloggers’ brand attitude have positive influence on intention.

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purchase purchase purchase purchase

3.3. Survey subjects and sampling procedure As has been stated, travel blogs can be found in vast numbers among blog hosting services in Taiwan, such as Yahoo-Kimo, Wretch, Roodo!Blog, MSN Space, Xuite, PChome blog, Sina blog, Yam Sky blog, and Taiwan Site of Blog Country. The survey subjects consisted of the owners of travel blogs and active travel blog visitors (browsing, responding, and sharing experiences). It was believed that active blog visitors would devote more time and patience in reading information in travel blogs. To specifically locate target groups and subjects, purposive sampling was adopted. Therefore, whenever a blog classified as ‘‘travel’’ in the above-mentioned blog hosts was found, the electronic recruiting message for the survey was distributed and posted on that blog. Furthermore, active blog visitors were identified from the travel blogs and the questionnaires were sent to them. To confirm the validity and representation of the subjects, the requesting messages were posted on ‘‘comments/leave a reply’’ and questionnaires were mailed directly to the specified persons; these approaches were expected to enhance the validity of the survey subjects. To empirically examine the complex relationships between the variables proposed in the research framework, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was adopted. Accordingly, a ‘‘large’’ sample size was required to pursue precision in statistical estimation and representation of sampling. Boomsma (1982) demonstrated that 400 samples are sufficient for SEM estimation; moreover, several authors (e.g. Marsh, Hau, Balla, & Grayson, 1998; Marsh & Hau, 1999) agreed to that number; and that ‘‘more is better.’’ Schumacker and Lomax (1996) found that most of the SEM researches had sample sizes of around 200–500. Thus, this study, following Boomsma’s suggestion (1982), set up 400 subjects as the expected sampling number. 3.4. Questionnaire design On the basis of the theoretical reviews and research framework, the questionnaire comprises four parts: (1) travel bloggers’ level of involvement with respect to personal involvement, product involvement, and situation involvement; (2) ad effect on bloggers in terms of ad memory, ad attitude, and brand attitude; (3) the purchase intention of travel bloggers; (4) demographic characteristics of travel bloggers, such as gender, age, education, occupation, blog hosting service used, types of blogs in which participation occurred, the frequency of information sharing, and the frequency of receiving useful information. The detailed questionnaire design is as follows: 3.4.1. Operational definition of variables 3.4.1.1. Personal involvement. Travel bloggers’ response to ad messages in terms of the level of their inner needs, interests, and values, that is, personal values, needs, and interests, are the essential antecedents leading to various levels of involvement. 3.4.1.2. Product involvement. The features of the travel product, such as perception risks, price, symbolic meaning, endurance,

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pleasure, importance, brand, purchase duration, and the like, could influence bloggers’ level of involvement. When a travel product stimulates bloggers’ purchase desire, the level of bloggers’ product involvement is raised. 3.4.1.3. Situation involvement. Travel bloggers, when surfing, come upon blogs, and the situations they face include product communication, purchase, usage, risk perception, etc. Different situations can lead bloggers to various levels of involvement.

Table 1 The mean and Cronbach’s alpha reliability of each measure. Variables

Mean

Cronbach’s alpha

Personal involvement Product involvement Situational involvement Ad memory Ad attitude Brand attitude Purchase intention

1.12 1.39 1.25 0.67 1.26 0.71 1.24

0.81 0.59 0.78 0.89 0.83 0.91 0.81

3.4.1.4. Ad memory. The ability to recall or recognize an ad message, and the level of memory, indicates whether ad messages are appealing to travel bloggers.

yield an ad recognition score. Referring to Norris and Colman (1992), eight question items were adopted to assess ad memory levels of bloggers.

3.4.1.5. Ad attitude. Ad attitude refers to the preference travel bloggers show in response to ad messages on blogs.

3.4.2.5. Ad attitude. Six bipolar semantic items to measure this construct were devised, from questionnaire items designed by Mitchell and Olson (1981), MacKenzie et al. (1986), Muehling and Laczniak (1988), Homer (1990), and Bezjian and Calder (1998). The semantic scale consists of favourable or unfavourable, interesting or boring, impressed or unimpressed, fascinating or mundane, etc.

3.4.1.6. Brand attitude. Brand attitude refers to the desirability level travel bloggers experience in response to a specific brand. 3.4.1.7. Purchase intention. After accessing the ad messages, purchase intention refers to the bloggers’ intention to purchase that product. 3.4.2. Measuring instrument The measurement scales and items used in this study mainly refer to several previous studies. Following are the details regarding the measurement composition. All of the designed measurements were rated on a 7-point Likert scale from strongly disagree (3) to strongly agree (3). 3.4.2.1. Personal involvement. Zaichkowsky (1985) first composed a bipolar adjective scale to measure personal involvement, the Personal Involvement Inventory (PII). Along with that, Barki and Hartwick (1994) amended PII and proposed a positive semantic scale for personal involvement measurement: (1) essential, (2) fundamental, (3) significant, (4) important, (5) needed, (6) relevant to me, (7) of concern to me, (8) matters to me, (9) means a lot to me, (10) exciting, and (11) of interest to me. Six questions, adapted from the questionnaire items by Zaichkowsky (1985), as well as Barki and Hartwick (1994), were used to measure bloggers’ personal involvement. 3.4.2.2. Product involvement. McQuarrie and Munson (1992) amended Zaichkowsky’s (1985) product involvement inventory, and changed the measure into positive semantic scales: for example, relevant, interesting, important, interested, of concern to me, and so forth. Six questions, devised from Zaichkowsky (1985) and McQuarrie and Munson’s measurement inventory (1992), were used in scoring travel bloggers’ product involvement. 3.4.2.3. Situational involvement. Several situation factors influencing involvement were brought up by Hansen (1972), Belk (1975), Zaichkowsky (1985, 1986), as well as Andrews et al. (1990). These factors all relate to use occasion, purchase occasion, time pressure, external environment, perceived risk, object usage, etc. Six questions, referring to the studies by Hansen (1972), Belk (1975), and Zaichkowsky (1985), were designed to measure bloggers’ situational involvement. 3.4.2.4. Ad memory. As for the classification and measurement of ad effect, Norris and Colman (1992) classified ad memory into two types: ad recall and ad recognition. Recall of product types, brand names, and advertisements add up to an ad recall score; and recognition of product types, brand names, and advertisements

3.4.2.6. Brand attitude. MacKenzie et al. (1986) composed seven semantic scale items to measure brand attitude, such as favourable or unfavourable, good or bad, wise or foolish, valuable or worthless, etc. Five questionnaire items were conducted, adapted from Haley and Case (1979), MacKenzie et al. (1986), Batra and Ray (1986), Anand and Sternthal (1990), Shimp, Stuart, and Engle (1991), and Bezjian and Calder (1998) to rate travel bloggers’ brand attitude. 3.4.2.7. Purchase intention. Adapted from the questionnaire items proposed by Haley and Case (1979), MacKenzie et al. (1986), Anand and Sternthal (1990), and Shimp et al. (1991), four semantic differential scale items, including: likely or unlikely, probable or improbable, possible or impossible, and worthy or worthless, were developed to measure bloggers’ purchase intention. 4. Analysis and results 4.1. Questionnaire collection and sample characteristics The questionnaires were mailed or sent to, and collected, from the 900 above-identified survey subjects during the month of November 2006. Among them, 428 travel bloggers responded, and 30 questionnaires were incomplete, which amounted to 398 valid responses, for a valid response rate of 44%. The characteristics of valid travel blogger subjects are as follows: (1) Sex: 318 female (79.9%) and 80 male2; (2) Age: almost half of the subjects are between the ages of 26 and 30, 47.7% (189 subjects); (3) Education: up to 280 subjects hold a bachelor’s degree; (4) Occupation: students predominate (90 subjects, 22.6%); (5) Blog hosting services: Wretch are visited the most (269 subjects, 67.6%); (6) Types of blogs visited: journal blogs are visited the most (276 subjects, 69.3%); (7) Frequency of information sharing: ‘‘often’’ is the most observed (168 subjects, 42.2%); (8) Frequency of receiving useful information: ‘‘often’’ is the majority (238 subjects, 59.8%). 4.2. Reliability of measures Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were computed to assess the internal reliability of the measures used in this study. Except for the

2 The questionnaire was 1:1 proportionally distributed between female and male bloggers. The return result showed a higher percentage of female respondents.

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519

Table 2 Pearson correlations between individual variable.a

Product involvement Situation involvement Ad memory Ad attitude Brand attitude Purchase intention

Personal involvement

Product involvement

Situation involvement

Ad memory

Ad attitude

Brand attitude

0.492** 0.514** 0.331** 0.454** 0.407** 0.415**

0.341** 0.318** 0.331** 0.326** 0.440**

0.359** 0.703** 0.424** 0.468**

0.383** 0.535** 0.475**

0.565** 0.552**

0.575**

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. a The counted sample number in statistics is 398.

product involvement variable (a ¼ 0.59), all remaining variables had a Cronbach’s alpha level over 0.70 (reported in Table 1), which indicates high internal reliability. The lower reliability from the product involvement variable might be related to the specialty of the travel product. For travel bloggers, information and online word-of-mouth are their main search targets; thus, although there is no actual tangible contact with the ‘‘product,’’ the targeted information would be enough to induce bloggers’ purchase behaviour. In other words, bloggers, facing travel advertisement stimuli on the Internet, respond in a more superficial way compared with their usual involvement in regard to physical products. For this reason, the internal reliability of product involvement tends to be low. 4.3. Variable correlations Pearson correlations between individual variables in this study were administered. As shown in Table 2, individual variable correlations were all significant, and ranged from 0.318 to 0.703. As expected, the result supports Hypothesis 1. Among them, bloggers’ situation involvement was highly related to ad attitude (r ¼ 0.703). This result demonstrated that travel blogs with rich travel information and personalized consulting platforms provide an informative, convenient, entertaining, and interactive environment, which is helpful in enhancing bloggers’ user attitude and cognition regarding the ad. This study found that product involvement and ad memory were lowly correlated (r ¼ 0.318). This finding may occur because travel products for purchasing depend mainly on information and word-of-mouth concerning the targeted products, regardless of whether they are purchased at actual stores or via online travel agencies. As soon as travel bloggers obtain the desired information, they may not pay more attention to the items related to ad memory, such as price, symbolic meaning, pleasure, brand feasibility, etc. That is, ad messages in travel blogs are likely to be neglected within a short time frame.

4.4. Level of involvement and ad effect To examine whether travel bloggers with different levels of involvement leads to different ad effects, a t-test between highinvolvement and low-involvement subjects was carried out. First, based on respective scores from each involvement construct, scores 3w0.01 were classified as low involvement and scores 0–3 as high involvement. The results indicate that, in terms of the two levels of subjects in personal, product, or situation involvement, they are all correspondingly significantly different in correlation to ad memory, ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention. This result was similar to the findings in several studies (Celsi & Olson, 1988; Frankenberger & Albaum, 1997; James & Kover, 1992; Ko, 2002; Leigh & Menon, 1986; Leong et al., 1996; Lowrey, 2006). That is, travel bloggers with high involvement in travel issues would be more highly motivated to process the information on blogs and have favourable thoughts about ads, and furthermore, are far more likely to strengthen their purchase intention. 4.5. Confirmatory factor analysis 4.5.1. Involvement construct analysis Created by Maximum Likelihood Estimation (ML), a first-order and one-dimensional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was computed to test three involvement constructs: personal, product, and situation involvement, respectively. Squared Multiple Correlation (SMC) was used as a criterion for assessing the construct reliability of manifest variables or indicators. Several studies suggest the SMC should be higher than 0.5 (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker, 1981; Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998); but Taylor and Todd (1995) argued that the SMC should be over 0.4. According to Taylor and Todd, this study deleted the indicators with SMC lower than 0.4. Product involvement had three low levels of construct reliability (SMC ¼ 0.06, 0.14, 0.36). Since travel products are characterised by their nonphysical nature, several (but not all)

Table 3 CFA results: revised model for bloggers’ involvement construct. Latent variables

Manifest variables

Construct loadings

t values

Measurement error

SMC (R2)

Composite reliability

Variance extracted

Personal involvement

X3 X4 X5 X6

0.68 0.83 0.71 0.69

– 12.83** 11.79** 11.54**

0.54 0.31 0.50 0.53

0.46 0.69 0.50 0.47

0.82

0.53

Product involvement

X7 X9 X11 X12

0.25 0.37 0.60 0.89

–

0.94 0.86 0.64 0.20

0.06 0.14 0.36 0.80

0.63

0.34

3.86** 4.31** 3.92**

X13 X14 X15 X16

0.68 0.83 0.62 0.65

– 11.90** 10.34** 10.64**

0.54 0.32 0.61 0.58

0.46 0.68 0.39 0.42

0.79

0.50

Situation involvement

p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

520

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Table 4 Measurement of overall model fit for involvement construct: null and revised model. Fit measurements (general criteria)

Null model

Revised model

Chi-square (c2) (Smaller is better) Degree of freedom RMSEA (0.9) AGFI (>0.9)

773.7 135 0.10 0.82 0.77

350.9 54 0.09 0.87 0.81

indicators having low reliability scores were deleted. Although X7 had a low reliability level, it was preserved due to being critical to the statistical iteration, and essential to the construct. Thus, X1 and X2 were removed from personal involvement construct; X8 and X10 were removed from product involvement construct; and X17 and X18 were removed from situation involvement construct. The modified constructs and indicators are described in Table 3. Excepting the variance extracted for product involvement, all of the involvement constructs exceeded the recommended composite reliability level (0.60) and variance extracted measure (0.50) (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). Table 4 demonstrates the overall model fit measurement of the revised model. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.09, within 0.08 and 0.10, showed an ordinary fit (Browne & Cudeck, 1993; MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). In addition to the general criteria (0.08–0.10), MacCallum et al. (1996) also suggested 0.1 as an acceptable RMSEA value. The revised model had Absolute Fit Measures: goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of 0.87 and an adjust goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) of 0.81, which were a bit lower than the ideal threshold values. MacCallum and Hong (1997) suggested the criteria be loosened to 0.8. Accordingly, all the above measures of the overall model fit fell inside the acceptable ranges. 4.5.2. Advertising effect analysis Four constructs from ad effect, including ad memory, ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention, were examined through the above-mentioned ML method and CFA procedure. Here, Y1, Y2, and Y3 were deleted from ad memory. Additionally, Y14 was removed from ad attitude and Y20 was taken out of purchase intention (See Table 5). As a result, both the composite reliability and variance extracted in each advertising effect construct were eligible (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988).

Table 6 Measurement of overall model fit for advertising effect construct: null and revised model. Fit measurements (general criteria)

Null model

Revised model

Chi-square (c2) (Smaller is better) Degree of freedom RMSEA (0.9) AGFI (>0.9)

1781.39 230 0.13 0.72 0.66

1075.19 135 0.13 0.77 0.71

The measurement of overall model fit (shown in Table 6) for ad effect fell short of the recommended level. Since all of the composite reliability and variance extracted met the requirements for measurement model fit, the revised model was preserved. 4.6. Structural model analysis After the above confirmatory factor analysis process, the revised structural model was examined through model fit measurements; the results are reported in Table 7. The likelihood-ratio chi-square value of 989.09 was statistically significant at the 0.001 level, which demonstrated that the model was not an adequate representation of the entire set of causal relationships. Long and Long (1983) noted that the chi-square value in SEM is sensitive to, and affected by, the sample size, that is, the chi-square test becomes more sensitive as the number of sample size rises. Generally, when the sample size is over 200, the chi-square test easily reaches significance level and rejects the null hypothesis. Bagozzi and Yi (1988) also suggested that sample size be taken into consideration by the chi-square value against the degree of freedom. The smaller the value, the better the model fit. Several studies argued that the value (chisquare value against the degree of freedom) should be less than 3 if it reaches a rigorous level (Carmines & McIver, 1981; Chin & Todd, 1995; Hair et al., 1998). As the value of chi-square with the degree of freedom was 2.5, the model fit was at a perfectly acceptable level. Complementing the basic measures, absolute fit measures were also examined. The GFI value of 0.86 and the AGFI value of 0.83 both fell a bit lower than the general criteria (0.9). By employing metaanalysis from 184 papers using SEM in marketing and consumer fields, Baumgartner and Homburg (1996) found that the value of GFI or AGFI less than the criteria value (0.9) amounted to 24% and 48%, respectively. On the basis of this finding, the GFI and AGFI in

Table 5 CFA results: revised model for bloggers’ advertising effect construct. Latent variables

Manifest variables

Construct loadings

t values

Measurement error

SMC (R2)

Composite reliability

Variance extracted

Ad memory

Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8

0.64 0.86 0.87 0.87 0.87

– 14.21*** 14.31*** 14.33*** 14.33***

0.59 0.25 0.24 0.24 0.24

0.41 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.76

0.92

0.69

Ad attitude

Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13

0.70 0.68 0.84 0.86 0.70

– 12.37*** 14.90*** 15.25*** 12.79***

0.51 0.54 0.30 0.26 0.51

0.49 0.46 0.70 0.74 0.49

0.87

0.58

Brand attitude

Y15 Y16 Y17 Y18 Y19

0.81 0.84 0.86 0.86 0.85

– 19.58*** 20.15*** 20.03*** 19.80***

0.34 0.29 0.26 0.26 0.28

0.66 0.71 0.74 0.74 0.72

0.93

0.71

Purchase intention

Y21 Y22 Y23

0.82 0.85 0.82

– 17.55*** 17.15***

0.33 0.27 0.33

0.67 0.73 0.67

0.87

0.69

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

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Table 7 Goodness-of-fit measures for SEM: bloggers’ purchase intention model.

Table 8 Path analysis of bloggers purchase intention model.

Evaluative measurements

General criteria

Indices results

Exdogenous variables

Endogenous variables

Path correlation

t value

Chi-square (c2) With degree of freedom NCP RMSEA GFI AGFI NFI NNFI CFI IFI RFI PGFI PNFI

Smaller is better 0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.9 >0.5 >0.5

989.09 (p ¼ 0.000) 2.5 326.32 0.062** 0.86** 0.83** 0.95 0.96 0.97 0.97 0.94 0.73 0.86

Involvement

Ad memory Ad attitude Brand attitude Purchase intention

0.48** 0.90** 0.70** 0.19

7.58 11.64 12.31 0.79

Ad memory

Purchase intention

0.16**

2.93

Ad attitude

Purchase intention

0.06

0.29

Brand attitude

Purchase intention

0.44**

5.54

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

(g ¼ 0.06). Among the seven hypotheses in the theoretical model to be verified, five were supported at the significance level of 0.01. The results failed to support Hypotheses 4 and 6. In this model, the explained variance (R2) by endogenous variables to the full model was ad memory (0.23), ad attitude (0.80), brand attitude (0.48), and purchase intention (0.52), respectively. One further step was taken to estimate the explained variances of involvement and purchase intention caused by the three mediators: ad memory, ad attitude, and brand attitude. The explained variance of the purchase intention by involvement and ad memory variables accounted for 0.0768 (R2 ¼ 0.48*0.16). Ad attitude mediating both involvement and purchase intention was insignificant. Brand attitude mediated the involvement and purchase intention at the explained variance of 0.308 (R2 ¼ 0.70*0.44). With regard to the intention to purchase the travel products on the Internet, travel bloggers involved in ad messages appear not to be influenced by their ad attitude; however, they were easily affected by their brand attitude or ad memory. According to the above analysis, the extent of travel bloggers’ involvement in ad messages positively influences ad memory, which supports Hypothesis 2. This finding is consistent with the

this revised structural model were at a marginally acceptable level. The RMSEA value of 0.062, falling between 0.05 and 0.08, indicated that the revised structural model could be deemed as adequate (Browne & Cudeck, 1993; MacCallum et al., 1996). As for the incremental fit measures, the value of the normed fit index (NFI), non-normed fit index (NNFI), comparative fit index (CFI), incremental fit index (IFI), and the relative fit index (RFI), were all larger than the threshold of 0.9. Furthermore, the values of the parsimony goodness-of-fit index (PGFI) and parsimony normed fit index (PNFI) were over the threshold of 0.5, which illustrated that the model had reached a parsimonious level. The path diagram and structural equation were estimated and specified through SEM, and the causal relationships and correlations of each path are shown in Fig. 4. The path correlations (standardized coefficient weights) between exogenous and endogenous variables (see Table 8) were all statistically significant (at p ¼ 0.01) except for the correlation between involvement and purchase intention (g ¼ 0.19), or ad attitude and purchase intention

Y4

Y5 0.60

Y6

0.83

0.85

Y7

Y8

0.85

0.85

Ad memory R2=0.23 0.48**

0.16** Y10

Y9 Personal involvement Product involvement

0.61

Y11

0.65 0.77

Y12

Y13

0.81

0.71

Y2 R =0.52 0.79 2

0.61 0.43

Involvement

0.90**

Ad attitude

Purchase intention

0.06

R2=0.80

0.85 Situational involvement

0.70**

0.44** 2

R =0.48

0.19

Y15

0.83 Y16

0.83 Y17

Y2

0.79

Brand attitude 0.80

0.77

0.84 Y18

0.82 Y19

Fig. 4. Path diagram and causal relationships: travel bloggers’ purchases intention model.

Y2

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results found in the studies by Celsi and Olson (1988), Schumann, Petty, and Clemons (1990), Tavassoli et al. (1995), as well as Leong et al. (1996). We suppose that the content in travel blogs could lead to different levels of blogger involvement; as well, the content might be related to bloggers’ attention to ad messages or memory. Boring information produces low involvement, and vice versa. Therefore, when bloggers read interesting content in blogs, they become more involved in blog-like thinking and reasoning, and store ad memories deeper. With respect to involvement and ad attitude, we found that the extent of travel bloggers’ involvement in ad messages positively influences ad attitude; therefore, Hypothesis 3 stands. The result is similar to the finding by Petty et al. (1983), Schumann et al. (1990), James and Kover (1992), as well as Tavassoli et al. (1995). Since a large amount of interesting travel-related information can be browsed in travel blogs, such as spot features, diaries, photos, personal consultation, word-of-mouth, consumers’ reports, etc., travel blogs are believed to be creditable and reliable by bloggers. For this reason, stimulated by persuasive messages, bloggers have persistent and better preferences or attitudes regarding the travel blogs. Concerning involvement and brand attitude, we found that the level of travel blogger involvement in ad messages positively influences brand attitude. The finding supports Hypothesis 4 and agrees with the result found by Petty et al. (1983). This result might occur because travel bloggers themselves are highly interested in travel products; they will automatically analyze ad messages and evaluate ad brands. Specifically, facing a certain brand, bloggers may consider and evaluate each feature of the product of interest. Consequently, when a travel product brand matches the blogger’s feelings or ideals, the blogger may increase her/his preference for the brand and deem the brand as highly friendly and reliable. As for involvement and purchase intention, there is no influence from the extent of travel bloggers’ involvement in ad messages on their purchase intention, so that Hypothesis 5 is not supported. This result is different from that found by Zaichkowsky (1986), Okechuku (1992). Theories and past empirical studies indicate that involvement level does influence purchase intention. The result found by this study might be explained from two perspectives: (1) Travel blog fans, under the circumstances of the virtual Internet, have relatively high feelings about, and interests in, blog content, but they have a lower sense of security and a more hesitant attitude toward the intangible travel products on the Internet. As Torkzadeh and Dhillon (2002) found, factors influencing online purchases were mainly related to Internet vendor trust and the customers’ perceived value of the product browsed from the web. Owing to the number of travel disputes and deceptive advertisements related to travel products in Taiwan, bloggers demand more persuasive evidence, such as a notable agent brands or certified contracts, to ensure trustworthiness in purchasing online travel products. According to the Travel Quality Assurance Association (2007), 8052 travel disputes were reported in the period from 1990 to March 2007. These disputes, including itinerary and air flight problems, contract breaches, ill-intentioned bankruptcy, and so forth, all seriously violated consumer rights and raised the risk perception concerning purchasing travel products on the Internet. (2) Besides, the impact of involvement level on a purchase decision might be mixed (Lloyd & Clancy, 1991). Park and Lee (2008) found that lowinvolvement consumers paid more attention to product popularity for purchase intention, while high-involvement consumers preferred more information processing for making purchase decisions. This study found that while overall involvement motivates travel bloggers to process ad information, it has no significant or direct effect on purchase intention.

With regard to ad memory and purchase intention, the travel bloggers’ ad memory was positively influenced, and purchase intention was strengthened. Hypothesis 6 stands and agrees with Braun (1997). Since travel blogs appeal to travelers with relatively abundant information, we believe that bloggers would be more willing to read messages posted on the Internet and over again, thus producing deeper memory of the product. As a result, when bloggers were highly impressed by a blog and derived a positive cognition on the travel products or services, they would be more likely to purchase the travel product on the Internet. We found no positive influence of travel bloggers’ ad attitude on purchase intention, which fails Hypothesis 7. This outcome differs from the arguments by Mitchell and Olsen (1981), ITH hypothesis of MacKenzie et al. (1986), or Laczniak and Muehling (1993). The different result might be explained as thus: even if travel bloggers favour ad messages with features like friendly information, pertinent to consumers, explicit and persuasive expression in blogs, all of which contribute to a more favourable ad attitude, travel products on the Internet still retain their intangible nature or low sense of security. That is, the bloggers’ cautious mind-set, inspite of a good ad attitude, may decrease the possibility of purchasing a travel product on the Internet. Travel bloggers’ brand attitude has a positive influence on purchase intention, as was confirmed in this study, supporting Hypothesis 8. Mitchell and Olsen (1981), Shimp (1981), Petty et al. (1983), MacKenzie et al. (1986), as well as Ko (2002) also derived similar results. In this study, advertisements of certain brands were presented in the blogs. We assumed that bloggers would evaluate these brands according to the brands’ outstanding strengths and features; we also compared these features with the bloggers’ personal needs. Brands constitute an essential factor in terms of vendor trust and risk reduction in an online shopping environment (Lwoin & Williams, 2006). Therefore, when travel bloggers had a preference for a certain brand, they would be more likely to acquire the product. Under the influence of involvement level and ad effect, bloggers’ behavioural intention differs in certain aspects. More specifically, the purchase intention of travel bloggers is primarily influenced by brand attitude; secondly, by ad memory, and insignificantly, by ad attitude. On the basis of these findings, it can be said that travel bloggers, though interested in travel products and blog information, consider brand as the primary factor in making their purchase decision. Furthermore, due to the intangible nature of travel products and a low sense of security on the Internet, no matter whether bloggers prefer the ad messages or not, ad attitude has no significant effect on purchase intention. In brief, even if travel bloggers had a high involvement in, or a preference for, certain travel products, they would have to trust the brand’s reputation to purchase that product. Ad attitude is essential in influencing brand attitude. This result is consistent with the Affect Transfer Hypothesis (ATH) postulated by MacKenzie et al. (1986). Beldona et al. (2005) argued that travel webs provide both informational and transactional contexts. Apparently, based on this research, travel blogs seem to serve more as an informational function prior to purchase decision. This function is quite different from travel Webs, where ads are directly related to the Web hosts and companies and transaction links are already in place. In other words, travel bloggers’ fondness for ad messages would transfer their feelings to brand preference, and then increase their purchase intention. Travel bloggers, through understanding ad messages regarding travel products presented in blogs, enhance their brand attitude as well as their purchase intention. In the midst of the process, ad attitude plays a role in persuasion, which raises or lowers the level of ad message reception.

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5. Conclusion Four major findings emerge from this research. First, this study hypothesized a structural equation model of involvement level, advertising effect, and purchase intention in the context of travel blogs. In light of the increasing travel blog services and blog marketing trend, this research makes important contributions to the body of knowledge concerning travel blog marketing. Second, the results demonstrate the positive impact of involvement on ad effect that can be verified in travel blog environments. Synthesizing the results from this study and past researches, we find that when consumers are highly interested in the products, their personal association with the product grows closer. That is to say, travel bloggers’ level of involvement still has a positive influence on ad message processing in terms of ad memory, ad attitude, and brand attitude as with traditional media like TV commercials or print ads. Moreover, this study shows how different travel bloggers with low and high levels of involvement significantly differ in each dimension of ad effect. This implies that high-involvement travel bloggers more easily form favourable impressions of ads on travel blogs. Third, as to the relationship between ad effect and purchase intention, this study found that when taking ad memory, ad attitude, and brand attitude as mediating variables between involvement level and purchase intention, brand attitude most influences purchase intention on the Internet. Nevertheless, ad attitude plays a key role in persuasion, which could increase or reduce the acceptance of message content, and thereby influence brand attitude. The results imply that travel blogs play a good role in ad messages processing; this information forms ad attitude, which is essential in forming brand attitude. Due to a practical demand for transactional trust and risk reduction in an online shopping context, favourable brand attitude is mediated by ad attitude and has more efficacious features in helping to increase purchase intention. Finally, involvement level is not significantly nor directly influential with regard to purchase intention. This result may be explained by the mixed impact from the extent of involvement or from practical consumers’ greater mistrust when purchasing intangible travel products in an online context. Several implications and suggestions are made in the following: This study empirically found that travel blogs communicate in a highly transparent and socially interactive fashion. For the promotion of electronic and online travel products, marketing effectiveness via travel blogs can be expected. As for blog service providers, further analysis of user demands and the continuous improvement of functions and quality are highly recommended. The level of involvement is essential in regard to ad effect. Thus, on the practical side, due to some specific topics appealing to travel bloggers with common interest, it is suggested that travel blogs be differentiated with individual trips, package tours, eco-tours, and set up in accordance with individual preference to generate a massive cluster effect. The brand is the most influential factor of ad effect on purchase intention; as a result, brand management is essential to business marketers. Brand provides the evaluative factors of product reputation, business image, product quality, credibility, and so on. Once consumers form more favourable ad attitude and brand attitude, their purchase intention will be more pronounced. Travel product marketers would gain more from good business operation and quality as these are fundamental factors that attract consumers, rather than savvy advertising blogs or brochures. In terms of travel blog content, the travel bloggers interested in posted articles usually have high involvement; and at the same time, they are more enthusiastic about presenting personal and subjective opinions in the blog environment. With regard to

523

credibility, the opinions and comments of bloggers are an area of concern. Specifically, biased or over-commercialized statements would prevent bloggers from reading the content further, or create a hesitant attitude. Overall, blogs constitute a good promotion channel; however, over-advertising will damage or decrease the perceived truthfulness and credibility of the content. Similarly, over-commercializing, or sharing ad benefits with bloggers may result in untruthful blog content. For example, restaurants or brand introductions are intensively recommended on purpose to attract ad sponsorship. Whenever financial gain is involved, posted information in blogs may be deceitful, causing the information-sharing benefit among blogs to diminish or even disappear. When using travel blogs as a marketing tool, the psychological variation in bloggers’ involvement needs to be seriously considered to encourage a better ad attitude and avoid negative effects. 5.1. Limitations and suggestions for future studies Because of the tremendous number of blogs, the survey range of this study is restricted to travel-type blogs being created in the above-mentioned blog hosting services registered in Taiwan. Other types of blogs containing travel issues were excluded from this research. Taking the independent influence hypothesis by MacKenzie et al. (1986), this study assumed there is no relationship between ad attitude and brand attitude. However, the empirical finding undermined this assumption. The result was more consistent with the dual mediation models proposed by MacKenzie et al. (1986). The adequate situation may be tested in accordance with product types. Besides, the samples are not representative of general Internet users, since they were drawn form users who love, or actively respond to, travel blogs. This approach may narrow the generalisation potential of the research results. For future studies, a larger sampling scale is recommended. Owing to limitations in time, labour, and expenses for research, only travel blogs were surveyed in this study. The ad attitude toward intangible travel products is easily influenced in the process of brand attitude formation and purchase decision. To expand and improve the research results, surveys of other types of products should be carried out to help verify whether the ad effect path is the same.

Appendix (Questionnaire). Construct items, mean and standard deviation Involvement factors Item Personal involvement

X1

X2

X3

X4

X5

X6

I am interested in reading blogs about travel information, diaries, photos and consumers reports. When reading travel information in blogs, I feel the information is appealing. When reading travel information in blogs, I feel the travel products are wanted. When reading travel information in blogs, I feel the travel products are important. When reading travel information in blogs, I feel the travel products are relevant to my life. When reading travel information in blogs, I feel the travel products mean a lot to me.

Meana

SD

2.35

0.79

2.04

0.87

0.55

1.15

0.66

1.21

0.40

1.35

0.70

1.25

(continued on next page)

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Appendix (continued)

Appendix (continued)

Item Product involvement

X7 X8

X9 X10

X11 X12

Situation involvement

X13 X14 X15 X16

X17

X18

a

Mean

a

1.09 1.65

1.63

1.25

1.81

1.28

Y17

1.14

1.25

Y18

1.72

1.06

I think travel blogs provide good efficiency in information searching. I think travel blogs provide sufficient travel information. I think personal consultation platforms provided by travel blogs is convenient. I think the word-of-mouth and reputation shown in travel blogs are reliable. I think information receiving process on travel blogs is free from being interfered by sales persons or friends. I would like to spend more time in searching for the best price of the same quality products in travel blogs.

1.22

1.09

1.11

1.06

1.56

1.03

1.14

1.17

Y22

1.42

1.19

Y23

1.02

1.39

Y16

Y19

Y2

Y3

Y4

Y5

Y6

Y7

Y8

Ad attitude

Y9 Y10 Y11 Y12 Y13 Y14

Purchase intention

Y20 Y21

SD

For the travel products shown in the travel blogs that I have ever browsed, I like its brand. For the travel products shown in the travel blogs that I have ever browsed, I think the brand is reliable. For the travel product shown in the travel blogs that I have ever browsed, I think the brand is friendly. For the travel product shown in the travel blogs that I have ever browsed, I think the brand is of value. For the travel product shown in the travel blogs that I have ever browsed, I think the brand is of good quality.

0.61

1.11

0.79

1.12

0.79

1.11

0.80

1.09

0.58

1.10

I like spend time in browsing travel blogs. I’d like to purchase credible and worthwhile travel products posted in travel blogs. I’d like to recommend other people for the credible travel products posted in travel blogs. Next time to purchase similar travel products, I’d like to take the same credible travel blogs into account.

1.47

1.21

0.97

1.14

1.08

1.25

1.46

0.98

a

Scale was rated from 3 to 3.

References

Meana

SD

I could remember most of the ad contents in travel blogs that I have ever browsed. Reading ad information in travel blogs would reinforce my impression on the travel product. I am able to describe the ad contents in travel blogs that I have ever browsed. When having access to similar ad information, I would recall the travel blogs that I have ever browsed. I could remember the brand name of the travel product that I have ever browsed in travel blogs. (like Time travel) The brand name of the travel product in travel blogs would reinforce my impression on that product. I could tell the brand name of the travel product in travel blogs that I have ever browsed. When having access to similar ad information, I would recall the brand name of the travel product.

0.20

1.41

0.80

1.31

0.02

1.38

0.94

1.27

0.90

1.36

1.08

1.29

0.57

1.25

0.89

1.24

I think information in travel blogs could be easily understood. I think travel blogs provide abundant of travel product information. I think information in travel blogs is needed to consumers. I think information in travel blogs is specific and persuasive. I think information in travel blogs is reliable. I would be very likely to browse travel blogs over again.

1.51

0.95

1.37

1.01

0.91

1.10

1.03

1.09

0.85

1.14

1.86

0.87

Item Y1

Y15

1.68 0.35

Advertising effects and purchase intention Ad memory

Brand attitude

I am interested in travel products. Travel products are essential to me, thus it is difficult for me to choose among various ones. Purchasing travel products means to reward myself. When I bought an inappropriate travel product, I would feel upset and troubled. I could understand her/him by the travel product that she/he has chosen. The travel products I purchase symbolize part of my personality and character.

Scale was rated from 3 to 3.

Meana

Item

SD

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