INVESTIGATING THE PROCESS THROUGH WHICH E-SERVICESCAPE CREATES E-LOYALTY IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM WEBSITES

In order to address the lack of systematic research on the process through which e-servicescape creates e-loyalty in an online travel and tourism context, a conceptual model is proposed which examines the potential influence of the e-servicescape of travel and tourism websites. The underlying premise is that, given the demonstrated impact of servicescape on loyalty and outcomes in traditional physical travel and tourism settings, such atmospheric cues are likely to play a role in the online travel and tourism context. An affective-cognitive model is used as the basis of the model which posits that e-servicescape of the online travel and tourism websites, through the intervening effects of experiential-affective and functional-cognitive routes, influence the outcomes of online travel and tourism behaviors in terms of e-loyalty. Visitors' previous experience with the website is hypothesized to moderate the relationship between e-servicescape and shoppers' experiential-affective and functional-cognitive reactions. Propositions are derived and the research implications of the model are presented in a travel and tourism context.