Impact on Travelers Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping Behavior by Adoption of Mobile Application: Results from a Quasi-experiment

The continuing development of mobile technology has led to an explosion of mobile applications, which have exposed a broader consumer base to mobile consumption. It is currently unclear how mobile apps using will affect travelers’ shopping behavior, particularly from the perspective of the hedonic and utilitarian shopping behavior of travelers. Using a special quasi-experiment launching by an airline, we collected the datasets of more than 10000 travelers and to investigate the impact of mobile app on the travelers’ shopping behavior. The results suggested that mobile apps adoption improved travelers’ hedonic shopping behavior (e.g., ancillary services purchasing), while the utilitarian shopping conduct (e.g. booking tickets in advance) decreased. It was also found that the mobile app adoption increased hedonic shopping in males but decreased hedonic and utilitarian shopping in frequent flyers and members. This investigation can help with the management of travelers’ purchasing habits and provide guidance for industrial decision makers.