Title: Investigating the impact of atmospherics and online flow cues on visiting intentions: the case of Jordan' virtual tourist centre

Authors: Tamather Shatnawi; Laila Ashour; Dana Kakeesh

Addresses: Faculty of Administrative and Financial Sciences, Marketing Department, Petra University, Amman 961343, 11196, Jordan ' Faculty of Administrative and Financial Sciences, Marketing Department, Petra University, Amman 961343, 11196, Jordan ' The School of Business, Marketing Department, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

Abstract: Using the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, this study aims to investigate the impact of atmospherics and online flow cues of Jordan virtual tourist centre on visitors' affective and cognitive states, which are assumed to affect their visiting intentions. This is based on the fact that more tourists are getting information directly via the internet to direct their choices of tourism destinations. In order to test our proposed model, an online survey was launched via different social networking means directed towards a convenience sample of non-Jordanians using a snowball technique. Non- Jordanians respondents who agreed to participate in the survey were asked to browse Jordan virtual tourist centre and to live a virtual experience before answering related questions measuring targeted constructs. Analysis of the results supports the research model and shows that both atmospherics and online flow cues experienced by visitors, impact positively their affective and cognitive states, which in turn impact their visit intentions. Affective and cognitive states were impacted upon by atmospherics more than online flow; however, affective state tends to explain more variations in visiting intentions vis-à-vis virtual centres. Implications and recommendations are discussed to develop robust tourist centres capable of attracting tourists' visiting intentions.

Keywords: atmospherics; online flow; S-O-R model; cognitive state; affective state; visiting intentions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2020.106430

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2020 Vol.11 No.1, pp.1 - 23

Received: 18 Dec 2017
Accepted: 27 Mar 2018
Published online: 07 Apr 2020 *

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