Intention to apply e-commerce in marketing communication activities in the supply chain of community-based tourism in Vietnam

Abstract

This study represents a survey data of 466 community-based tourism establishments in the northern provinces of Vietnam such as, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang etc., with strongly developed community-based tourism activities based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). The results show that perceived ease of use of e-commerce has a positive and strong impact compared to perceived effectiveness of e-commerce on the intention to apply e-commerce to marketing communication activities in the supply chain of community-based tourism in Vietnam. In addition, if community-based tourism businesses perceive themselves as being modern, it will positively affect the perception of the ease of use and effectiveness of e-commerce, thereby indirectly bringing about a positive impact on the intention to apply e-commerce. Conversely, if they perceive themselves being traditional, it will negatively affect this relationship. Accordingly, this study helps provide practical evidence for promoting the application of e-commerce in tourism in remote, economically difficult areas in Vietnam and elsewhere. Nonetheless, the study remains limited when it has not been done a multi-group analysis to consider different influences of the factors of region, destination characteristics, type of tourism on intention to apply e-commerce for marketing communication activities in community-based tourism establishments.