Advice Sharing Between Paired Users in Online Travel Planning

There have been few studies investigating the effects of collaboration on online shopping. In this paper, we consider an online shopping scenario where the user and a partner, who are not collocated, plan the travel collaboratively. We develop a research model based on Website Trust to explain the user’s Website Intentions. To test the model, we conducted a field experiment with 605 individuals and a partner using LiveLook, an online cobrowsing platform. A PLS analysis of the influence of advice sharing showed the following variance explained: Website Trust 20.6 percent, Website Enjoyment 55.2 percent, Perceived Control 59.4 percent, and Website Intentions 55.3 percent. We also show separate models for two different user interfaces: one for packaged travel and one for customizable travel. The resulting models show the packaged travel interface to have greater website intentions while the customizable travel interface has greater variance explained. Overall, the results shed light on the network of influences that advice sharing has in online travel planning.