• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2007

This study seeks to understand the effects of information search activities and brand image on the hotel patronage intention based on the theory of reasoned action. First, it investigates the influence of attitude formed about hotel on the patronage intention. Second, it seeks to develope an alternative to TRA by looking into the effects of hotel image variable on hotel-specific attitude and patronage intention and attempts to substantiate the role of brand image as a substitute to subjective norm to increase the TRA's explanatory power. The main finding of this study are as follow; First, out of the three components of cognitive evaluation of hotel (human service, physical service and information service), human and physicial services were found to have significant influence on patronage intention. Brand image was found to exert notable influence on attitude toward hotel as well as patronage intention. Remarkably, the finding that brand image positively enhanced the TRA model sheds new strategic insight as to the usefulness of brand image as an alternative to overcome the TRA's limitation stemming from subjective norm. Third, it was learned that study subjects gave more weight to external information sources such as TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and internet than to internal sources such as individual knowledge, experience or self image.