Effects of cultural difference on users’ online experience with a destination website: A structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The study explores the moderating effect of individuals’ cultural values on the users’ online experiences with the tourism destination presented online. The moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance (UA), individualism (IND) and long-term orientation (LTO) on the interrelationships within the proposed model are explored. A bespoke experimental tourism destination website is designed for the study and an online survey is conducted to capture cultural variations between Spanish and British Internet users. The findings indicate that the relationships in the proposed model are significant and moderated by users’ cultural values, specifically uncertainty avoidance, individualism and time orientation.