Presentation done by Chaang-Iuan Ho, Yu-Lan Yuan, Yu-Chun Lin and Ming-Chih Chen, during "Mobile systems" workshop, of the ENTER2015 eTourism conference.

1. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 1
Re-visiting Tourism Information Search Process:
From Smartphone Users’ Perspective
Sally, Chaang-Iuan Ho
Chaoyang University of
Technology, Taiwan
ciho@cyut.edu.tw
Yu-Chun Lin
Hongwha International Co.
Ltd., Taiwan
Yu-Lan Yuan
JinWen University of
Science and Technology,
Taiwan
Ming-Chih Chen
Fu Jen Catholic University,
Taiwan

2. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 2
Content
• Introduction
• Theoretical background
• Methodology
• Research findings
• Future studies

3. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 3
Smartphones enter our daily lives
14 ：
02
Smart
phone

4. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 4
ICT shapes TIS behavior

5. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 5
How smartphones impact on
tourism domain?
• Tourism information search
• Travel planning
• Travel decision-making (buying & reservations)
• Post-consumption behavior

6. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 6
So………
• While smartphone users gain more
experiences with mobile search
• It is interested in knowing:
– How smartphones shape users’ TIS
behavior?

7. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 7
What is tourism information
search (TIS) process?
• TIS activities involve planning, decision-
making, and anticipation of the trip with
other people.
• TIS process contains a set of complex
interactions with people and technology.
• TIS process model is to describe the
phenomena.

8. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 8
What can we do if knowing the
TIS process?
• To gain a better understanding of the search
characteristics and related patterns.
• To contribute to the propositions/hypotheses
and model development.
• To improve the interface and functionality of
the search device and associated software.

9. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 9
Before era of mobile technology,
is there any TIS process model?
• Yes!
• A few models related to online information
search, e.g., Pan & Fesenmaier (2006).
• But, a model from a user-centered
perspective has been proposed........

10. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 10
Online
searching
Prior
knowledge
Barriers
to search
Process
information
Reasons
for ending
Summarize
information
Exchange
Information
Search for more
information
A B C D E
A start of online
searching
Online
searching
An end of online
searching
Offline searching
Web users’ TIS process model
(Ho, Lin & Chen, 2012)

11. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 11
Highlights of Ho’s model
• It presents the temporal order in a search
process with:
– 4 stages from online to offline
– 8 common elements
• TIS behavior captures the other
information activities (process, utilize &
disseminate information).

12. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 12
Why do we need another model
for smartphone users?
• A different information environment:
– Search device
– Mobile technology
– Web 2.0

13. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 13
Other questions
• Do smartphone users need other tourism
information sources?
• How do they use these information sources
with mobile search?

14. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 14
Methodology:
qualitative approach
On-site
observations
Design
an
interview
outline
based
on
Ho,
Lin
&
Chen
(2012)
Analyze
Data
(coding-them
atic
analysis)
Recruit participants (21
respondents reached
theoretical saturation)
Sem
i-structured
interview
s

15. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 15
Profile of the respondents21-30yrs.old
1311
ServiceIndustries
Bachelordegree
12
Single
17
12 Females
9 Males

16. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 16
Conceptual model of
smartphone users’ TIS behavior
Barriers to searches
Travel decision- making
Searches via editorial
communications
Internal searches Mobile search
Preliminary CTIS
Searches ended
Saving information
Advanced CTIS
Searches by
PC Internet
Summarizing information
P1 P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8 P9
P10
P11
P12
P13
P14
P15P16
P17
P18 P19
P20
TIS by using
smartphones
Using multiple
information
channels

17. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 17
The properties of the search
characteristics (1/5)
• Mobile Search: 7 mobile search strategies have been
identified to be most commonly used, namely,
– using search engines,
– using keywords,
– using bookmarks,
– browsing web pages,
– comparing search results,
– using e-WOMs,
– other approaches (e.g., App).

18. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 18
The properties of the search
characteristics (2/5)
• Preliminary Collaborative TIS:
– The collaborative activities in the tourism context
could be done at the same time or not
(synchronously or asynchronously).
– The most common activities were to gather,
obtain, share, update and verify information.
– The collaborators might be the travel
companions, acquaintances or strangers.
– They were co-presence or remote.

19. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 19
The properties of the search
characteristics (3/5)
• Barriers to mobile search: The disturbances
could be classified as
– Website content (failed to connect and
link to the websites),
– Mobile Internet connection,
– Mobile appliance (the small screen size
and limited battery usage).

20. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 20
The properties of the search
characteristics (4/5)
• PC Internet search:
• Smartphone users may further utilize the PC
Internet for advanced searches.
• They revisited the pages/search history for
double-checking or making relevant
judgments.
• The PCs were used for compiling, editing,
classifying or printing out the information.

21. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 21
The properties of the search
characteristics (5/5)
• Advanced Collaborative TIS: This refers to
further communications and discussions with
travel companions by evaluating and filtering
the information.
• The activities also include seeking personal
recommendations from acquaintances.
• The information sources have been expanded
to travel agencies or other service providers.

22. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 22
Highlights of the comprehensive
model
• Some elements were identical to those by the PC
Internet; but for the others, their nature changed.
• The smartphone provided the mechanism to support
the collaborative TIS.
• Most smartphone users utilized multiple information
channels.
• Overall, the model was more complicated than used
to be, with a variety of patterns.

23. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 23
7 search patterns
(6 sub-models)
Patterns
Characteristics
A B C D E F G
Internal search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Mobile search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Saving information ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Search barriers ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Preliminary collaborative TIS ○ ○ ○ ○
End an mobile search ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Summarizing information ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
Advanced collaborative TIS ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
PC Internet search ○ ○
Searches involving editorial
communications
○ ○ ○
No. of respondents 3 6 3 4 3 1 1

24. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 24
Highlights of the sub-models
• The discrepancies of the sub-models lie in
whether information seekers have certain of
features or not (e.g., collaborative search).
• The search patterns imply:
– A dependency on mobile search toward Internet
sources
– A reduction of the usage of editorial information &
PC Internet

25. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 25
Conclusions
A conceptualA conceptual
modelmodel
2121
respondentsrespondents
10 search10 search
characteristicscharacteristics
20 research20 research
propositionspropositions
7 search7 search
patternspatterns

26. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 26
Limitations & future studies
• A small scale of the study
• To generalize the theory and to test the
model with a wider population
• The search process model may be modified
by different searchers, travel products &
situational factors.
• To conduct a panel study using the
longitudinal approach

27. ENTER 2015 Research Track Slide Number 27
THANK YOU
ciho@cyut.edu.tw
yoyo@just.edu.tw