An Examination of the Determinants of Customer Loyalty Creation in Online Travel Intermediaries: A Comparative Analysis among Customers with Different Technology Readiness

This study investigates antecedents of customer loyalty for online travel intermediaries with a focus on e-service quality, value from the customer’s perspective, and customer satisfaction. It also examines the relationship from the perspective of technical readiness. The results showed that there were hierarchical correlations among e-service quality, customer value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. With online travel intermediaries, customer loyalty was found to be created through a chained-process: e-service quality - customer value - customer satisfaction - customer loyalty. Further, the comparison analysis in this study among customers with different technology readiness(TR) revealed that e-service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction contribute differently to the creation of customer loyalty for online travel intermediaries, namely according to the degree of individual TR. This study is meaningful as it is the first trial to theoretically approach comprehensive relationships among e-service quality, customer value, satisfaction and loyalty. Implications for managerial practice and directions for further research on online travel intermediaries were suggested.