Consumer Information Services in Intercultural Tourism : An Ethnographic Study of Chinese Outbound Backpackers

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an ethnographic study of Chinese outbound backpackers’ use and adoption of consumer information services (CIS) in an intercultural tourism setting. We apply McKenna et al.’s research model of consumers’ adoption of information services as the analytical lens for the interpretive qualitative study. The data gathering was conducted in four different countries. The findings of the study confirm linkages between four information service types and the use and adoption of CIS. The study also found that service types are more diversely linked than the earlier studies have predicted and therefore we propose a revised research model, which can be used for studying different CIS usage behaviour/patterns, but also to design of CIS for specific contexts.