The effect of older adults’ age identity on attitude toward online travel websites and e-loyalty

Purpose This study aims to identify the effect of age identity on attitude to online sites, examine the impact of this attitude on e-loyalty and investigate the moderating effect of motivational orientation. Design/methodology/approach A survey was distributed to an online panel consisting of US-based adults older than 50 and usable data were collected from 284 participants, followed by an analysis using structural equation modeling. Findings Psychological and social age negatively influenced older adults’ attitude toward travel websites. Recreation-oriented motivation influenced the effect of online attitude on e-loyalty more strongly than did task-oriented motivation. Originality/value Unlike previous studies, the current study provided several managerial implications for e-marketers intending to attract older adults by adopting the multidimensional scale of age identity to predict older adults’ online attitude.