Perceived Affordances and Regret in Online Travel Agencies

Despite the revolutionary system of online booking, the decision-making process for booking hotels is still very stressful for customers, who face much uncertainty. The wide range of products and great volume of information result in significant cognitive overload. Therefore, online travel agencies (OTAs) try to reduce customers' cognitive effort requirements and to induce effective decision making by triggering potential actions through perceived affordance. This study aims to explore the influence of perceived affordance on purchase decisions and postpurchase emotion in the context of OTAs. The findings show that explicit affordance and hidden affordance significantly affect impulsive buying, thus resulting in postpurchase discomfort and regret. Additionally, the outcomes of a multiple group analysis revealed a significant moderating effect of regulatory focus orientation on impulsive buying and postpurchase regret during an overall purchase process involving OTAs.

Automated summary

Despite the convenience of online hotel booking, customers still face stress in the decision-making process. Perceived affordance influences purchase decisions and post-purchase emotions, with explicit and hidden affordance impacting impulsive buying and leading to post-purchase discomfort and regret. Regulatory focus orientation has a significant moderating effect on impulsive buying and post-purchase regret throughout the overall purchase process involving online travel agencies.