HYUN HARWELL BUHALIS Chapter 19 Soo Hyun eta al 2012 more

Chapter 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction Soo Hyun Jun, Heather J. Hartwell, and Dimitrios Buhalis Uysal, M., R. Perdue and J. Sirgy. (Eds) (2012). Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research: Enhancing the Lives of Tourists and Residents of Host Communities. The Netherlands, Springer, Dordrecht, 702 pages, Hardcover, ISBN 978-94-007-2287-3 Introduction Travel experiences are composed of a variety of physical, social, and cognitive activities which potentially influence a traveler’s sense of well-being and/or perceived quality-of-life (QOL) (Wei and Milman 2002). Travel motivation studies have found various travel needs such as emotion/ sensory, novelty, fantasy, social interaction, and self-development (Goeldner and Ritchie 2006; Pearce 1992). These requirements correspond closely with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1970) which discuss human’s deficiency needs for life such as physiological, safety, relationship, self-esteem, and fulfillment needs. It is obvious that people take a pleasure trip to satisfy those needs. Even a business trip can contribute to QOL when a business traveler feels that the trip contributes to his/her self-esteem, health, or learning. Thus, travel experiences can contribute to overall life satisfaction. Despite the potential contribution, few studies have examined effects of travel experience on overall sense of well-being and/or QOL. This chapter, therefore, discusses the relationship between travel experience and overall sense of well-being and/or QOL and the impacts of technology – specifically the Internet – on the relationship. Tourism and technology are inextricably linked (Goeldner and Ritchie 2006): technology has been actively utilized by the tourism industry and the technological development has revolutionized the way in which people travel. For example, trains, automobiles, and airplanes have enhanced easy access to destinations, reduced travel time and cost, and eventually encouraged people to travel worldwide. While these technologies mostly contribute to travelers’ physical S.H. Jun (*) School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, Dorset House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK e-mail: sjun@bournemouth.ac.uk H.J. Hartwell Foodservice and Applied Nutrition Research Group & Centre for Wellbeing and Quality of Life, School of Health and Social Care, Bournemouth University, Dorset House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK e-mail: hhartwell@bournmemouth.ac.uk D. Buhalis International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, Dorset House, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK e-mail: dbuhalis@bournemouth.ac.uk M. Uysal et al. (eds.), Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research: Enhancing the Lives of Tourists and Residents of Host Communities, International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-2288-0_19, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 321 322 S.H. Jun et al. experiences, the Internet contributes to communication and commercial transactions between suppliers and travelers. At the beginning of the Internet era, the World Wide Web mainly played a role in enhancing the quality of a travelers’ planning experience. After the emergence of Web 2.0 applications and particularly user generated contents (UGCs), the role of the Internet including social media has expanded to a social platform in which travelers share their questions, motivations and planning processes, socialize with other travelers, create/gather/fortify/share travel information, and support/remonstrate with travel-related service providers. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the impacts of recent technological developments, specifically the Internet, on travel satisfaction and, ultimately, the overall sense of well-being and QOL. This chapter explores concepts of overall sense of well-being and QOL and suggests overall life satisfaction as an operationalized dependent variable to measure an individual’s sense of well-being and QOL. It also discusses measurement issues related to the quantity of affect which has been dominated as a major independent variable of well-being and QOL, and it suggests an alternative independent variable, satisfaction in need constructs. Two conceptual models are proposed based on the Internet roles: when the Internet is considered as a tool for information search and purchase in advance; and when the Internet is considered as a social platform where individuals share travel information after a trip, communicate, and socialize with others. The proposed models will help understand the relationships between travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction and the evolving roles of the Internet on these relationships. Overall Sense of Well-Being, QOL, and Overall Life Satisfaction It is certain that overall sense of well-being and QOL are the goal of human activity (Bradburn 1969). Aristotle interpreted eudaimonia as “well-being” which was more than pleasurable feelings and believed as a reason for human actions (Bradburn 1969; Ross 1949). Questions, such as what makes people happy (or satisfied with life) and what makes people behave to seek a sense of well-being or the increased QOL, have been studied throughout history; however, both sense of well-being and QOL are still perceived as controversial topics in research. One of the main concerns is that the terms, overall sense of well-being and QOL, are not clearly defined and often used interchangeably with little consistency in definition or reliability of understanding. This section first explores concepts of overall sense of well-being and QOL and suggests overall life satisfaction as a measurable variable of the constructs. Overall Sense of Well-Being and QOL Well-being is an abstract and nebulous term positioning itself within the QOL paradigm as subjective well-being (SWB), rather than as objective life circumstances. It is an individual feeling of contentment and happiness. Researchers, who view well-being as interchangeable with QOL, sometimes differentiate between well-being – which may incorporate objective conditions – and subjective well-being, which is well-being as defined, or assessed, by individuals themselves and which may include subjective response to objective conditions. Well-being as described by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its constitution (2006) denotes “health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 2006). Social indicators have been developed to assess the QOL of the general population of cities, regions, or nations, while social and psychological indicators have been developed to assess the 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction INPUT (Environment, Public Policy) Personality Public Education GDP/capital Health Services Freedom Income Inequality New Community Choices THROUGHPUT (Individual Choices) Marriage, Children Education Level Consumption Personal Health Job Choice Expectations Standards New Personal Choices OUTPUT (Happiness, Satisfaction, Contribution) Family and Friends Emotional Well-being Material Well-being Health and Personal safety Work and Production Local Community Subjective well-being Survival 323 Contribution to Humanity Fig. 19.1 Systems theory structure of quality-of-life (Source: Hagerty et al. 2001) QOL of individuals or groups of individuals with common characteristics. This approach would argue that QOL is firmly embedded within objective rationalization which would make it distinct to the subjective feeling of well-being. It is acknowledged that this term is even more ambiguous and hard to define, but for the sake of completeness and ease of understanding and for the purpose of this chapter, we will use the benchmark of individual happiness agreeing that as such this does not fit neatly into any one theoretical model. Considering a systems theory structure of quality-of-life concepts and causes, as presented in Fig. 19.1, SWB is placed firmly within the output domain of happiness, satisfaction, survival, and contribution to humanity. Overall Life Satisfaction as a Dependent Variable Within the field of happiness economics, where the concept of subjective well-being is defined as life satisfaction, it can be both uni- or multidimensional. From an economic standpoint, subjective well-being can be defined and measured as both satisfaction with life in general (unidimensional) and satisfaction with different aspects, or domains, of life (multidimensional) (Galloway 2006). Evidence from psychology studies suggests that ratings of life satisfaction/ dissatisfaction are a reasonably reliable indicator of how people feel about their lives, providing a good sense of individuals’ subjective well-being (Diener 1984). Examples of well-being definitions are given in Table 19.1. Life satisfaction and job satisfaction have been closely correlated with the notion of wellbeing (Wu 2007) and can be measured in terms of “happiness” (Australian Unity 2010); although challenging to assess, as people will derive differing amounts of pleasure from the same experience. This resonates with the “set point” theory of well-being where each individual is thought 324 Table 19.1 Well-being definitions Definition “Subjective well-being research is concerned with individuals’ subjective experience of their own lives” “Subjective well-being consists of three interrelated components: life satisfaction, pleasant affect, and unpleasant affect. Affect refers to pleasant and unpleasant moods and emotions, whereas life satisfaction refers to a cognitive sense of satisfaction with life” Distinguishes this from the “traditional clinical models of mental health, subjective well-being does not simply refer to an absence of negative experiences” “We find that surveys of well-being utilise one or more of three definitions: (1) satisfaction with life, (2) health and ability/disability, and (3) composite indexes of positive functioning” “Well-being has been defined by individual characteristics of an inherently positive state (happiness). It has also been defined on a continuum from positive to negative, such as how one might measure self-esteem. Well-being can also be defined in terms of one’s context (standard of living), absence of well-being (depression), or in a collective manner (shared understanding)” “Lay conceptions of well-being include dimensions of experience of pleasure, avoidance of negative experience, self development and contribution to others” Source: Adapted from Bell (2005) S.H. Jun et al. Reference Diener (1984) Diener and Suh (1997), p. 200 Kahn and Juster (2002), p. 630 Pollard and Lee (2003), p. 60 McMahan and Estes (2010) to have a set point of happiness given by genetics and personality (Easterlin 2003). Life events may deflect above and below, but in time, hedonic adaptation will return an individual to this initial point. The theoretical framework for the interpretation of this data is the theory of “Subjective Wellbeing Homeostasis” (Australian Unity 2010). This proposes that everyone has a genetically determined “set point” for well-being that is internally maintained and defended, similarly to how body temperature is managed. Therefore, someone’s satisfaction is in their mind and may or may not conform to the reality of the situation. It may be viewed as both a dependable variable representing the outcome of a customer’s interaction with the tourist experience and a predictor variable predictive of enjoyment, and therefore, a well-being marker (Schwartz 1988). Various elements can comprise satisfaction: technical and functional quality (Grönroos 1984); performance-delivery quality (Parasuraman et al. 1991); product, behavior, and environmental factors (Philip and Hazlett 1997); and direct (essential) and indirect (subsidiary) factors (Davis and Stone 1991). Satisfaction is experiential and linked to emotional feelings where, interestingly, negative emotions, particularly anger (Díaz and Ruíz 2002), appear to have a stronger effect than positive emotions (Liljander and Strandvik 1997; Dubé and Menon 2000). If well-being is considered unidimensionally in the paradigm of experience, a plausible inference is that satisfaction could affect the feeling of well-being based on emotional response. One definition of subjective wellbeing (SWB) is labeled life satisfaction and relies on the standards of the respondent to determine what the good life is. Another definition of the term denotes a preponderance of positive over negative affect, thus stressing a pleasant emotional experience. Domains that are closest and most immediate to people’s lives are those that most influence SWB, but it has been identified that satisfaction judgments correlate quite highly (Diener 1984). Debate in the literature centers on the distinction between bottom-up or top-down theory of happiness in that some philosophers maintain that happiness is the sum of many small pleasures (i.e., bottom-up theory), while others would suggest that there is a global propensity to experience things in a positive way (i.e., topdown theory) thus placing the locus of SWB in attitude (Diener 1984). 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction 325 Satisfaction in Need Constructs as Independent Variables The research framework of this chapter is based on the bottom-up spillover theory which suggests that overall life satisfaction is on top of a satisfaction hierarchy as the superordinate domain, and it is functionally related to satisfaction with subdomains (Andrews and Withey 1976; Campbell et al. 1976; Diener 1984; Sirgy 2002; Sirgy et al. 2010). Satisfaction in need constructs are suggested as the independent variables which influence subdomain satisfaction and eventually overall life satisfaction, instead of the quantity of affect (i.e., positive affect and negative affect) which has been dominated as the determinant factors of life satisfaction in study of well-being, QOL, happiness, and life satisfaction. Measurement Issues of the Quantity of Affect Difference in the quantity of positive and negative affects has been measured as a major independent variable of overall life satisfaction (e.g., overall life satisfaction is the sum of positive affects minus the sum of negative affects) (Bradburn 1969; Sirgy et al. 2010). Several researchers, however, have raised measurement issues of the quantity of affect especially within survey research. First, as life is an ongoing dynamic process, factors affecting positive or negative experiences are continually changing (Kahneman et al. 2004a); therefore, the results may differ by the timing of measurement. Second, life satisfaction is neither a direct, verifiable experience nor a known personal fact like one’s address or age; therefore, the life satisfaction measurement through a survey research method depends on each respondent’s global retrospective judgment, which in most cases is constructed when asked rather than when actually happened (Kahneman and Krueger 2006). Third, life satisfaction reported through a survey is influenced in part by the respondent’s current mood and memory, and by the immediate context, including earlier questions on the survey that cause particular domains of life to be temporarily salient (Kahneman et al. 2004a). Finally, reporting a lot of positive or negative feelings does not mean that those people are happier or unhappier than those who seldom report feelings. According to the Bradburn’s studies (1969), there are a number of people who report having experienced both many positive and many negative feelings during the recent past, while others report few feelings of either kind, and both of these groups have similar distributions of self-reports of happiness. Need Constructs Because of those concerns discussed above, it is necessary to find alternative factors which determine the subdomain satisfaction and ultimately influence overall life satisfaction. In this chapter, satisfaction in need constructs are suggested as an independent variable based on model of information needs developed by Vogt and Fesenmaier (1998). Needs are important in human behavior because individuals bring them to the experience (Bettman 1979; Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998). Vogt and Fesenmaier (1998) defined needs as “an inner state which requires some stimuli that are lacking” (p. 554). Pearce and Lee (2005) also defined travel needs as “the biological and sociocultural forces that drive travel behaviour” (p. 228). Fodness (1994) explains how needs lead to an action: “the needs generate an uncomfortable level of tension within individuals’ minds and bodies, and these inner needs and the resulting tension precipitate attitudes and, ultimately, actions to release tension, thereby satisfying the needs” (p. 558). According to the model of need constructs (Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998), individuals search for information to satisfy 326 S.H. Jun et al. Knowledge Emotional Uncertainty Utility Phenomenology Sensory Efficiency Experiential Symbolic Expression Information Needs He do Sign n Fu cti on al nic Inno Novelty vatio n Aesthetic Variety Social Interaction Creativity Image Fantasy Fig. 19.2 Model of information needs (Source: Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998) their needs in various constructs such as functional, hedonic, innovation, esthetic, and sign constructs (Fig. 19.2). Functional needs include knowledge, utility, efficiency, and uncertainty; hedonic needs include those related to emotion, senses, experience, and phenomenology; innovation needs include novelty, variety, and creativity; esthetic needs include image and fantasy; and sign needs include those related to society, symbols, and advice. Although the model of need constructs has been tested in a context of travel information search (Cho and Jang 2008; Chung and Buhalis 2008; Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998; Wang and Fesenmaier 2004), its motivational approach should be well applied in a context of travel as well as in a context of overall life. Table 19.2 demonstrates how travel motivations can be categorized into the five constructs, and it indicates that those five need constructs integrate well with the existing travel motivation studies (Crompton 1979; Fodness 1994; Klenosky 2002; Oh et al. 1995; Pearce and Lee 2005). Vogt and Fesenmaier (1998) also found that individuals search for travel information not only for their trip planning but also for other purposes such as hedonic, social, entertainment, visual, and creativity purposes. Their finding indicates that the model can predict individuals’ general motivational behaviors (Cho and Jang 2008). 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction 327 Table 19.2 Travel needs and motivations within five constructs Need constructs Functional Hedonic Innovation Aesthetic Sign Original factors Knowledge, Emotion, sensory, Novelty, variety, and Imagery and Social, symbolic, (Vogt and utility, experiential, and creativity fantasy and advisory Fesenmaier efficiency, and phenomenology 1998) uncertainty Relaxation Self-exploration and Escape Prestige, Crompton evaluation enhancement (1979) of kinship, relationship, and social interaction Knowledge and Punishment Value expression Social adjustive, Fodness reward avoidance value (1994) maximization expression, and ego enhancement Knowledge and Entertainment and Novelty, adventure Escape Kinship, social Oh et al. intellectual rest interaction, (1995) and prestige Accomplishment Excitement, fun, and Self-esteem Klenosky enjoyment (2002) Learn more, know Relax, rest, and New/novel experiEscape Socialize, meet more, and be thrill ence, challenge, people, look more get refreshed, and good, look productive renewed healthy, and date more Novelty, stimulation, Escape, Romance, Pearce and Lee Self-development Relax self-development, isolation, relationship, (2005) and self-actualize and and nostalgia recognition Satisfaction in Need Constructs and Study of Expectation and Satisfaction The need constructs are also closely related to the study of expectation and satisfaction. According to need theory, life satisfaction or happiness is an indicator of whether certain needs are gratified (Nawijn et al. 2010; Veenhoven 2006). In the study of expectations and satisfaction, Gnoth (1997) also suggests that experience is a response to felt needs within various parameters such as temporal, spatial, social, and economic. He proposed a model, the process of motivation and expectation formation (Fig. 19.3), and discussed the roles of needs in the motivation and expectation formation process. According to the model, when needs are recognized and activated in a certain situation, generated motivation constitutes a major parameter in expectation formation, and the expectation, in turn, determines performance perceptions of products and services as well as perceptions of experiences. Consequently, motivation generated by felt needs forms expectations and impacts on satisfaction formation (Gnoth 1997). There are two main theories from consumer behavior research which can be used to investigate satisfaction. The disconfirmation theory (Jones and Ioannou 1993) suggests that consumers develop feelings of satisfaction/dissatisfaction based on levels of expectation, attitude, and intention toward as yet untried products or services, and disconfirmation occurs when there is a discrepancy between expectation and performance. The second theory arising from Cadotte et al. (1987) is referred to as expectancy-value theory where emphasis is placed on the weighting difference between product attributes and consumer satisfaction i.e., the customer has different 328 S.H. Jun et al. Persistence (push) Urge Drive (need) Intensity (push) Motive Values Objective Situation Perception Motivation (pull) Subjective Situation (pull) Attitudes Expectations Event Attitude Effect Fig. 19.3 The process of motivation and expectation formation (Source: Gnoth 1997) perceptions, and their choice/satisfaction is dependent on which attribute is most valued. Positive disconfirmation (satisfaction) occurs when product/service performance is better than expected, while negative disconfirmation (dissatisfaction) occurs when product/service is less than expected (Chu 2002). Most studies of tourist experience favor an “assimilation” model, whereby consumer judgments tend to shift toward the direction of prior expectations, minimizing the apparent discrepancy between what was expected and what was experienced (Mela 1999). The assimilation model predicts that any low expectations will influence the actual acceptance of the situation down, regardless of its intrinsic quality. Alternatively, if expectations can be elevated, acceptance should increase, even so, expectations and perceptions can be volatile (Pizam and Ellis 1999). If performance is significantly below or above expected levels, the consumer may realign expectations. Moreover, expectation levels may rise with constant satisfaction or alternatively fall with consistent dissatisfaction. Although customer satisfaction has been defined in various ways, the underlying conceptualization is that satisfaction is a factor of both pre- and postexperience evaluative judgments, leading to an overall feeling about a specific encounter (Parker and Mathews 2001). 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction 329 A Proposed Model: The Internet as a Tool for QOL When the Internet first became available to the general population, researchers discussed the impacts of the Internet on work and leisure, such as whether the Internet increased individuals’ free time from work. The Internet enhances the possibility of work without temporal and geographical limits, and this phenomenon is often perceived as an advantage in terms of convenience and efficiency. For example, an individual does not have to give up a family vacation for work as the Internet enables him/her to be connected with his/her work place. However, it simultaneously means that he/she needs to work during the vacation. A few researchers have found that while blue-collar workers’ work hours is decreasing, white-collar and/or IT-job-related workers’ work hours is increasing in the US, and their unconventional work hours increases stress and negative health outcomes (Fenwick and Tausig 1994; Jacobs and Gerson 1998; Sharone 2004). It is presumed that the constant connectivity increases work load rather than decreasing it as people are instantly contactable and are less constrained by physical presence or working hours. The Internet in particular revolutionized the entire tourism industry, affecting both tourism demand and supply in unprecedented ways (Buhalis 2003). However, this phenomenon does not necessarily mean that the Internet itself creates or guarantees a high level of travel satisfaction (Wolters and Fridgen 1996). This section, therefore, focuses on the moderating role of the Internet with another independent variable (i.e., travel need satisfaction), rather than considering the Internet as a sole independent variable of overall travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction (Fig. 19.4). The model proposes that the moderating effects of the travel need satisfaction and the Internet significantly affect the overall travel satisfaction and ultimately overall life satisfaction. The Internet is perceived as a useful and/or convenient tool for communication and commercial transactions in travel and tourism contexts (Buhalis and O’Connor 2005). Due to a higher level of perceived risks caused by travel product characteristics (i.e., intangibility, perishability, inseparability, and heterogeneity) (Parasuraman et al. 1985), the travel decision-making process is information-intensive and travelers often purchase travel products in advance to reduce the potential risks (Jun et al. 2007). In this circumstance, the Internet plays a significant role in satisfying functional travel needs such as needs for knowledge enhancement, utility maximization, increased efficiency, and reduced uncertainty (Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998). The Internet also enables travelers to access a greater amount of information. Data gathered through the Internet is in many cases provided directly by suppliers or other customers who have previously experienced the same products; therefore, it is often transparent and reliable. This is particularly the case for accessible tourism, where specific information is of critical importance of whether facilities, routes and services are accessible to people with special needs (Buhalis and Michopoulou 2010). The Internet also makes easy to compare travel information including real-time prices and availability via search engines and metasearch engines (e.g., Kelkoo, Kayak) (Wöber 2006); thus, individuals are able to secure a good bargain. According to Internet Paradox (Porter 2001), the increased transparency in the marketplace empowers consumers to find the best prices and thus reduces the profitability of tourism organizations. From a consumer point of view, the Internet has provided a tool to individuals to find the best bargains in the marketplace, making tourism more accessible to all social classes. While the Internet contributes substantially to satisfy functional travel needs, it also aids in satisfying other needs: needs for having fun, enjoyment, amusement, and entertainment while searching for travel information (i.e., hedonic needs); needs for fantasizing about visiting new places through pictures/videos posted on websites (i.e., aesthetic needs); needs for sharing information with others through the Internet and consequently obtaining recognition from others (i.e., sign needs); and needs for simply satisfying curiosity via gaining a variety of new knowledge related to travel destinations worldwide (i.e., innovation needs) (Chung and Buhalis 2008; Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998; Wang and Fesenmaier 2004). 330 S.H. Jun et al. Satisfaction with Travel Needs • • • • • Functional construct Hedonic construct Innovation construct Aesthetic construct Sign construct Overall Travel Satisfaction Overall Life Satisfaction The Internet Fig. 19.4 The Internet as a tool for life satisfaction The Internet Facilitates Realistic Expectation Formation and Satisfaction The Internet enhances satisfaction of each travel need because of its convenience and usefulness, but it is still questioned to what extent this is true or if there is any other significant Internet role affecting overall travel satisfaction. Taking a comprehensive approach, we suggest that all Internet factors on the whole help individuals adjust expectations to be realistic, so the negative gap between expectation and performance (e.g., the performance is perceived worse than expected; the expectation is too high to fit in with the performance) is reduced. As travelers are able to have realistic expectations, the probability to be matched between expectation and performance perception is high; accordingly, they are more likely to feel satisfied with a trip in the end. Researchers have found that previous experiences increase consumer confidence in making more realistic decisions (Fenech and O’Cass 2001; Kim et al. 2009; Sönmez and Graefe 1998). Kim et al. (2009) interpret this phenomenon as that the increased amount of knowledge gained from previous experiences enables individuals to compare their perceptions and the reality, thus altering their expectation accordingly. Traditionally, knowledge gained from previous experiences and friends and relatives has been perceived as the most reliable information. After the emergence of the Internet, information shared by other customers through independent review websites (e.g., TripAdvisor) is also perceived as objective and reliable (Au et al. 2009). Thus, it is suggested that an increased amount of transparent and reliable information collected via the Internet contributes to satisfaction formation through enhancement of realistic expectation formation. The Internet role, adjusting expectation to be realistic, is also supported by mental simulation (MacInnis and Price 1987). Individuals utilize mental simulation processing to assess plausibility of their travel plan (Jun and Gibson 2007). For example, an individual visually imagines a scenario of product use (i.e., travel experiences), recognizes potential problems, and prepares solutions to the potential problems (MacInnis and Price 1987). Bone and Ellen (1992) also suggest that individuals put themselves in a future situation or scene through imagination to assess whether the information obtained is plausible, likely, and credible. Due to the Internet, it has become much easier to explore various types of information especially which stimulates multisensory responses (e.g., vivid images, videos) and this type of information evokes mental simulation (MacInnis and Price 1987; Schlosser 2003). Through this mental imagery process evoked by the Internet, individuals are able to familiarize with the potential destination, develop involvement with the destination, and subsequently, have more realistic expectation toward the destination at a pretrip stage. 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction 331 A Proposed Model: The Internet as a Social Platform The previously proposed model (Fig. 19.4) focuses on the Internet role as a tool for information search and purchase, specifically in context of travel planning at a pretrip stage. The Internet roles, however, have evolved from a travel planning tool to a virtual tourism place where people can share their concerns, interests, information at each of their before, during, and after stages of their travel experiences. Since the virtual place is having an increasingly stronger influence in an individuals’ life, another model is proposed to capture the evolving roles of the Internet as the virtual place, specifically as a social platform where people have satisfaction with various needs such as functional, hedonic, innovation, esthetic, and sign (Chung and Buhalis 2008; Wang and Fesenmaier 2004) (Fig. 19.5). This proposed model (Fig. 19.5) assumes that satisfaction with travel needs affects overall travel satisfaction; satisfaction with Internet needs affects overall Internet satisfaction; and the overall travel satisfaction and the overall Internet satisfaction, which are probably mutually reinforcing, affect overall life satisfaction. Although the Internet as a social platform has significant impact on consumers’ preconsumption, during-consumption, and postconsumption behaviors, in this model, individuals’ Internet use behaviors are delimited to the postconsumption (e.g., after trip) behaviors. According to the US Travel Industry Association (TIA) (2008), Internet roles have evolved into three stages. While the previous model (Fig. 19.4) is primarily concerned with the planning stage of trips and thus concentrates as a tool at the stages of “electronic brochures” (1995–2000) and “booking engines” (2001–2005), this model (Fig. 19.5) represents the Internet role as a social platform at the stage of “dawn of consumer engagement” (2006–present). The latter phenomenon stems from the emergence of Web 2.0 and UGCs which are developed and shared through social media (e.g., blogs, wikis, file sharing, social networks). The term Web 2.0 refers to “the second-generation of Internet-based services that let people collaborate and share information online in perceived new ways, such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies” (p. 13) (Turban et al. 2008). Through the Web 2.0-generated platforms, individuals are able to have more interactive and collaborative experiences with others (Turban et al. 2008). In addition, individuals are empowered in information control as they can create/fortify/share information and maintain information transparency accordingly. All these functions (e.g., interaction, collaboration, consumer empowerment in information control), enhanced by Web 2.0 and its applications, contribute to overall life satisfaction. Self-determination theory purports that overall life satisfaction and subjective well-being will be highest when individuals engage in behaviors that satisfy three universal psychological needs, autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Howell et al. 2009). Internet use at social platforms fulfills all these criteria in that autonomy is achieved by feeling in information control, competence is achieved through the increased capacity to bring about a desired outcome in information management and product consumption (Ryan and Decci 2000), and relatedness is achieved by feeling connected with others due to the enhanced interaction and collaboration (Reis et al. 2000). Especially, relatedness-promoting behaviors are strongly associated with increased enjoyment (Howell et al. 2009) and one would therefore surmise satisfaction. Memory Reconstruction and Satisfaction Modification A few researchers have argued that the impact of travel experience on posttrip life satisfaction is not very large, and it does not last long (De Bloom et al. 2009; Gilbert and Abdullah 2004; Nawijn et al. 2010). According to Gilbert and Abdullah (2004), the posttrip happiness period 332 S.H. Jun et al. Satisfaction with Travel Needs at a Travel Destination • • • • • Functional construct Hedonic construct Innovation construct Aesthetic construct Sign construct Overall Travel Satisfaction Overall Life Satisfaction Satisfaction with Internet Needs at a Social Platform • • • • • Functional construct Hedonic construct Innovation construct Aesthetic construct Sign construct Overall Internet Satisfaction Fig. 19.5 The Internet as a social platform toward life satisfaction in Web 2.0 Environments spans a period of 2–6 months. Nawijn et al. (2010) also found that individuals were more likely to feel happier at a pretrip stage rather than at a posttrip stage. There are three potential reasons for that: (1) holiday stress is associated with posttrip happiness, (2) anticipation plays an important role to have stronger pretrip happiness, and (3) most pleasure travelers have to return to work or other daily tasks and consequently fall back into their normal routine fairly quickly (Nawijn et al. 2010). These study results raise a question that if a trip effect on life satisfaction is not prolonged and significant, why people keep purchasing expensive travel products and spending a significant amount of time on pleasure trips. A potential answer could be related to travel memory which may be supported by the fact that nostalgia is one of the most significant travel motivations. Inconsistency between the actual experience and the postexperience memory has often been discovered, and researchers have debated about which measurement between the actual experience and the postexperience memory is more meaningful to understand, happiness or overall life satisfaction. According to Kahneman et al. (2004b), when women were specifically asked about enjoyment of day-to-day experiences, taking care of their children was ranked poorly even below cooking and only slightly above housework, but the results of a TIME poll on happiness conducted in 2005 (Wallis 2005) indicated that children were the main reason for the feeling of greatest joy and happiness. Similarly, if a person is randomly asked to respond to survey questions during a vacation, he/she may report unhappy at that moment because he/she is waiting furiously for a slow-moving waiter to take an order. However, if the person is asked about the vacation after the trip is over, he/she may remember the peak moments of the trip and reports a higher level of happiness (Wallis 2005). These two examples imply the importance of the postexperience memory in overall life satisfaction. Memory is often distorted. Reconstructive memory (Bartlett 1932) notes that the most recently presented information contaminates memory of a past experience (Braun 1999; Braun-LaTour et al. 2006; Jun et al. 2007; Smith 1993). According to Braun-LaTour et al. (2006), there are three factors known to influence memory reconstruction: (1) the more similar the suggested postexperience activity is to what people actually experience, the more likely source confusion may occur 19 Impacts of the Internet on Travel Satisfaction and Overall Life Satisfaction 333 and result in memory distortion (Johnson et al. 1988); the more credible the source, the more likely the post experience information will be accepted and integrated into one’s original memory (Lampinen and Smith 1995); and if the postexperience information is more plausible, it is more likely to influence the tourist’s memory than if the claim is implausible. Reconstructed memory is heightened due to the mental imagery processing enhanced by the Internet (Lakshmanan and Krishnan 2009; MacInnis and Price 1987; Schlosser 2003; Schlosser 2006). Although imagery is integrated with consumption at all stages (i.e., pre-, during-, and post-consumption), it is more likely to be utilized for postconsumption experience especially after the emergence of Web 2.0 and multimedia. In particular, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube have played and made significant inputs in enhancement of mental imagery after trips. This is because these technologies make it easier to communicate and socialize with others through the many different forms of information such as texts, photos, videos, and music. Writing about travel experience on blogs (e.g., TravelBlog.org), microblogging (e.g., Twitter) or social networking (e.g., Facebook), posting travel photos and videos on multimedia platforms (e.g., Flickr, YouTube), or writing travel reviews on independent review websites (e.g., TripAdvisor) involve mental imagery processing, and this posttrip imagery processing often boosts distorted memory (i.e., false recall) (Lakshmanan and Krishnan 2009). Hence, postconsumption experience through online social platforms reconstructs travel memory; the reconstructed memory possibly modifies satisfaction related to the past trip, and it affects overall life satisfaction in the end. The following examples show how the online social platform experience after a trip can modify satisfaction. A married couple with a little baby had a hard time to sleep during their vacation because the hotel did not provide a baby crib. When this couple came back home, they had unhappy memories about the trip and were dissatisfied. However, while they were posting photos of their smiling baby taken during the trip on their blog, they remembered positive moments at the destination and they concluded that the trip was pleasant (i.e., satisfaction with hedonic needs). The couple were also not happy with the small size of the hotel room. However, after the trip, they read other customers’ review on TripAdvisor and learned that their room size was normal in that country (i.e., satisfaction with innovation needs). The realization that they did not overpay for the hotel room changed their impression about the hotel from negative to neutral or even positive (i.e., satisfaction with functional needs). Later, the couple posted a hotel review related to the baby crib availability (i.e., satisfaction with sign/advisory needs) and the hotel manager immediately and sincerely left a message with apology and promised to improve for future customers (i.e., satisfaction with sign/social needs). The hotel’s prompt reaction gave the couple a great impression that the hotel was willing to communicate with customers and valued customers’ opinions. Finally, they also received positive comments from potential travelers at the review website because of the useful information that they had provided. The couple then felt appreciated (i.e., satisfaction with sign/symbolic needs). All these postconsumption experiences at the online social platform reconstruct memories from negative to positive about the hotel and the trip overall, and those reconstructed memories may even modify travel satisfaction and hence overall life satisfaction. Conclusions This chapter proposed two conceptual models which explored the impact of the Internet on travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. The first model (Fig. 19.4) focused on the Internet role when it was considered as a tool for travel planning at a pretrip stage, and the second model (Fig. 19.5) focused on the Internet role when it was considered as a social platform on a Web 2.0 environment where people shared travel information after a trip, communicated, and socialized 334 S.H. Jun et al. Pre-Trip Stage During-Trip Stage Internet and Web 2.0 Realistic expectation Post-Trip Stage Memory reconstruction Need Recognition and Activation Expectation Formation Performance Perceptions Memory Store, Retention, Retrieval, and Share Satisfaction Modification Satisfaction Formation (The discrepancy between expectation and performance) Overall Life Satisfaction Fig. 19.6 Information processing and the roles of the Internet in satisfaction formation and modification with others. This chapter found two significant roles of the Internet in satisfaction formation and satisfaction modification (Fig. 19.6). In terms of satisfaction formation, the greater amount of transparent and reliable information collected through the Internet at the pretrip stage helps individuals adjust expectations to be realistic, and the realistic expectation leads to reduce the negative satisfaction disconfirmation and maintain a higher level of satisfaction. In terms of satisfaction modification, postconsumption experiences at the social platform reconstruct previous memories and accordingly modify satisfaction. The modified satisfaction eventually influences overall life satisfaction. This chapter contributes to the QOL research because it suggests the alternative independent variables of travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction, which are in five need constructs and can be measured through survey research methods. Future studies should be conducted to test the two proposed models. The proposed models in this chapter focus on pretrip behavior and posttrip behavior. However, the Internet with mobile technology and location-based technology is increasingly playing a significant role in travel satisfaction at the during-trip stage. Future study should be conducted to explore the Internet role at this stage and its impacts on travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. References Andrews, F. M., & Withey, S. B. (1976). 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