Family versus couples: How travel goal influences evaluations of bundled travel packages

Abstract

This research investigates how travel goal activates judgmental heuristics when choosing a travel package. Family travelers must consider the complex needs of all family members, whereas couples face simpler demands. Since motivations vary according to traveling companions, the decision-making processes are different by the travel goal. Pricing is a determinant of decisions for travel packages bundled with add-on items. When the decision process requires less mental effort, the availability heuristic operates when filtering products by travel goal, and the representativeness heuristic works when seeking consistency between add-on items and the travel goal. Dual processing theories suggest that goal influences the motivation to process information systematically or automatically when making choices. An experiment was conducted to examine how the decision-making process differs as a function of travel goal, price bundling, and the consistency between the travel goal and add-on item. The findings suggest that judgmental heuristics influence travel purchase decision when motivation to process information is low. Specifically, the current research supports the proposition that automatic processing influences couples’ travel decisions while systematic processing works for family travel decisions. The research suggests the use of an effective segmentation for vacation packages in the online purchase environment and highlights the importance of a travel goal in decision-making.