Wie können Kund:innen mittels Pigtogrammen auf die Nachhaltigkeit eines Angebots aufmerksam gemacht werden, sodass sie diesen Aspekt in ihre Entscheidung mit einbeziehen?

Purpose. The purpose of this research was to investigate cues of online advertisements that inform about quality attributes of sustainable hotels. The study examined the influence of sustainability certifications on consumers’ interest to obtain further information in addition to customer ratings.

Theory. Due to increased online booking, the effectiveness of short information is highly important. Sellers provide an overall impression of all hotel guests’ online reviews by a summarized customer rating (Gavilan, Avello, & Martinez-Navarro, 2018). Beside the customer rating, which is the most persuasive information, sustainability is an increasingly important attribute for tourists (Hardy & Beeton, 2009). Often online advertisements show labels to certify the social, environmental and ecological responsibility of tourist offerings (Bickart & Ruth, 2012). However, the actual effectiveness of labels is questioned (e.g., Dendle, 2014), because consumers cannot distinguish between the different levels of sustainability represented by the various labels. It might be more persuasive and effective presenting different sustainability levels by rating pictograms.

Methods. This is the first study testing the impact of customer ratings and two different sustainability certifications on consumers’ interest to obtain further information. We conducted a 3 (customer rating: poor vs. mediocre vs. good) x 3 (sustainability level: low vs. middle vs. high) x 2 (certification type: label vs. rating pictogram) mixed experiment. Based on real hotel advertisements, which were manipulated and pretested in order to obtain internal validity, we created hotel ads that included customer ratings (within factor) and sustainability certifications (within factor). One experimental group viewed ads with the certification shown as labels, while the other group viewed rating pictograms (between factor). To achieve a high level of external validity, a selection task was integrated ensuring that the experimental stimulus was based on the beforehand preferences. The participants (N = 684) were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental groups. Afterwards, they completed the questionnaire, which included three items regarding their interest to obtain further information about the offer (Matthes’ (2005) scale was adjusted and used).

Results. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the more positive the customer rating was, the more the interest for further information increased. The interaction effect of sustainability level and certification type was also significant: Participants expressed different amounts of interest if the sustainability level was certified by rating pictograms, but not if labels did certify it. Moreover, we found an additive effect for customer ratings and sustainability rating pictograms, but not for customer ratings and labels.

Conclusion. This study clarifies that rating pictograms should be preferred over labels for certifying sustainability. Even though consumers’ interest in receiving more details about an offer is primarily based on a summarized numerical customer rating, sustainability attributes are increasingly important to consumers. Cues that mark the sustainability effort of hotels additionally affect the booking decision, if this information is comprehensible. Hence, it is indispensable to use rating pictograms as an efficient cue provided as first information to a potential consumer.

Institution

ECREA
European Communication Research and Education Association

Link zur Konferenz

Veranstaltungsdatum

31. Oktober - 3. November 2018

Funktion

Referentin
researcher, sprecker, participant