Influence of the user’s psychological factors on the online purchase intention in rural tourism: Integrating innovativeness to the UTAUT framework Héctor San Martín, Ángel Herrero * Department of Marketing, Cantabria University, Avda. De los Castros, s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain article info Article history: Received 25 August 2010 Accepted 13 April 2011 Keywords: Online purchase intention Innovativeness Performance expectancy Effort expectancy Social influence Facilitating conditions Rural tourism abstract This study explores the process of adoption of new information technologies by the users of rural tourism services and, more concretely, the underlying psychological factors of individuals that explain their intentions to make bookings or reservations directly through the websites of the rural accommodations (online purchase intentions). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study establishes a theoretical model that includes five explanatory variables of the online purchase intention: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and innovativeness. The empirical results obtained in a sample of 1083 tourists that had previously visited several websites of rural accommodations suggest that the online purchase intention is positively influenced by: 1) the levels of performance and effort expected with regard to the transaction; and 2) the level of innovativeness of users. In addition, the innovativeness construct has a moderating effect on the relationship between performance expectancy and online purchase intention. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Rural tourism, defined as a tourist activity developed in rural areas and where the main motivation of individuals is contact with a rural way of life and/or nature (Hernández, Muñoz, & Santos, 2007), is experiencing a strong expansion in most Western countries. According to Cánoves, Villarino, Priestley, and Blanco (2004), this expansion can be explained due to several benefits that this type of tourism generates for: 1) the host community (for example, the creation of new businesses in the services sector or the improvement of the infrastructure and public services); 2) the land itself (for example, the preservation of the landscape or the conservation of the natural environment); and 3) the tourist (for example, his or her physical and mental well-being or cultural exchange). Spain, one of the main international tourist destina- tions, is no exception, as this country has experienced fast growth in rural tourism during the last several decades. In particular, in 2009, Spain reported 13,887 facilities, 126,234 beds, and 2,708,583 rural tourists, in comparison with the 5497 facilities, 42,925 beds, and 1,210,891 rural tourists that existed in 2001 (Spanish Institute of Statistics, 2010). The expansion of rural tourism explains the growing interest of scholars from a variety of fields in this type of tourism (Sharpley & Roberts, 2004). Past research has attempted to define the content and scope of rural tourism (Cawley & Gillmor, 2008; Yagüe, 2002), to determine the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts of rural tourism on local communities (Cánoves et al., 2004; Wang & Pfister, 2008), and to explore the marketing and management of rural tourism services (Hurst, Niehm, & Littrell, 2009; Park & Yoon, 2009). The present study, which falls under the third category of research, aims to analyze the process of adoption of new information technologies (i.e., use of websites) by rural tourists. Taking into account that past research on the acceptance of new technology has extensively drawn on theoretical work in social and cognitive psychology (Davis, 1989; Dillon & Morris, 1996), this research focuses on the underlying psycholog- ical factors of individuals that explain their intentions to make bookings/reservations directly through the websites of rural accommodations. Henceforth, we will use the term “online purchase intentions” (a reliable indicator of the degree of accep- tance of new technologies by users) to refer to the previously mentioned intentions. With regard to the opportunity of this research, it is necessary to emphasize that new information technologies have radically changed the tourism industry (Ho & Lee, 2007). From the point of view of demand, Buhalis and Law (2008) establish that the internet has dramatically influenced travelers’ behavior because individuals * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 942 20 39 08. E-mail addresses: smartinh@unican.es (H. San Martín), herreroa@unican.es (Ángel Herrero). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tourism Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman 0261-5177/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2011.04.003 Tourism Management 33 (2012) 341e350