Influence of Digital Technology on Customer Decision Making

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1INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Influence of Digital Technology on Customer Decision Making Process in Travel and Tourism
Sector of UK: A Case of TUI Group
Student’s ID:
University Name:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5): Research Proposal...........................................................4
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
2. Literature Review....................................................................................................................5
3. Methodology............................................................................................................................7
4. Time plan.................................................................................................................................9
Task 2: (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3) Research Implementation............................................................10
Key resources to match the research question...........................................................................10
Tools required for data collection in case of surveys and interviews........................................11
Collate relative data from where collected responses from participants will be gathered........11
Survey Questions:......................................................................................................................11
Interview questions:...................................................................................................................20
Task 3: (LO3, AC3.1, 3.2, 3.3): Research Outcomes....................................................................21
Appropriate Research Evaluation technique taken with findings..............................................21
Results in terms of Findings with frequency tables...................................................................22
Recommendations to justify the areas to work on the further research.....................................22
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................23
Task 4: (LO4, AC4.1) Poster.........................................................................................................23

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Task 1 (LO1, AC1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5): Research Proposal
1. Introduction
Company Background with research topic
TUI Group was formed on 3rd September 2007 by the union of First Choice Holidays PLC and
the Tourism part Of TUI AG. It is a British leisure travel group operating in around 180
countries with an estimate of 30 million customers headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. It is
a company full of opportunities not only for the employees and stakeholders but for the
customers as well. It has both online and through travel agencies tourism facilities all over
Europe, cruise lines, airlines and hotel portfolio as well all. All these facilities are combined
together and brought under a single roof.
Reason for choosing the topic
The researcher has chosen the topic of influence of digital technology on customer decision-
making process in tourism sector of UK by the TUI Group. The main reason for choosing of
such topic is, the researcher has a personal interest towards the digital technology and how it
affects the decision making process of customers in the tourism industry. The researcher also
wants to analyse the tourism sector of UK in the eyes of TUI Group, and the way the difference
in opinion and preferences of customers due to digitization is creating a different impact on their
minds.
Problem Statement
Digital technology though has helped to benefit tourists, but, on the other hand, it creates a gap
between the tourists and the organisation. The customer decision-making process is highly
hampered as the demand and needs of the tourists is not properly satisfied by means of
technology. The details and information provided to the tourists by means of digital technology
and the actual services provided by the company during their tour sometimes do not match with
each other, which creates a sense of dissatisfaction in the minds of the tourists.
Research Aim

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The research aim of the project is to analyse the influence of digital technology on customer
decision-making process in travel and tourism sector in case of TUI Group and the way such
technology can be used to overcome the challenges and defects and ensure customer satisfaction.
Research Objectives
 To investigate the challenges of digital technology on the customer decision-making
process in case of TUI group
 To examine the possibilities where digital technology can be used to enrich the customer
decision-making process for the TUI group
 To analyse the factors in the travel in tourism industry of TUI Group, which makes
customer decision-making process work with the digital technology.
Research Questions
1. What kind of influence is put by digital technology on TUI Group?
2. How can digital technology be improved and developed to build effective customer
decision-making process?
3. How can TUI group improve their services through the enrichment and improvement of
technology?
2. Literature Review
Concept of consumer behaviour
As stated by Xiang et al., (2015), consumer behaviour is important to all marketing activity for
developing, promoting and selling tourism products. For analysing the effectiveness and
efficiency of marketing activities, understanding of consumers, and how they change their
decisions based on that, is important. On the contrary, as stated by Lantos (2015), only knowing
about the consumer behaviour and preferences will not analyse the market efficiency, but
analysing of whom to target, when to target, and what to offer is crucial. The right consumer
must get the product according to their choice and preferences otherwise dissatisfaction arises.
Factors of travel and tourism in consumer decision making in TUI Group

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According to Horner and Swarbrooke (2016), every person is having two lives, a vibrant online
one and a boring offline life, which is inter-connected in a platform by means of a network. 91%
of consumers are benefited by the use of technology while purchasing products or selecting a
service mode. The target market of TUI Group has spend more time on the social networking
sites and develops personal websites for the company itself, and it has become easier for people
to get information from them. In contrast, in the words of Agyeiwaah et al. (2017), the use of
information technology has forced people to be in a place of dilemma because the information
and details provided by the TUI Group on their personal websites does not exactly match with
the services provided. They are dissatisfied by the services of the company henceforth, in turn; it
is decreasing the goodwill of the entity in the market.
According to Šuleić et al., (2015), the people who are very much familiar with the procedures of
online booking are aware of the fact that the prices given in the company websites are not the
total prices. The total cost arrives after adding extra fees and surcharges. Companies like
Priceline and Expedia having their own value chain, follow this practice. On the contrary, from
the research works of Xiang et al., (2015), it can be stated that TUI Group is tourism
multinational that has its own block chain and smart system, which helps in effective reduction
of the booking costs. It cuts overheads and delivers low cost solution to the tourists. Therefore,
the tourists choose TUI Group as their tourism partner instead of other companies.
Challenges of digital technology on the customer decision-making process
In the words of Benckendorff et al., (2019), TUI Group uses ERP system to solve problems of
various departments like accounts, finance, sales and manufacturing but bottleneck exists which
causes a disruption in the flow of efficient management and hence time lag arises between the
services asked for and the actual services offered. On the contrary, as opined by Dedić (2018),
the various problems of ordering of services and delivery are never an issue after the use of
technology by the company. The company networks and websites provide efficient management
of processes and hence it delivers first class services. As a result, 77.54% of customers are
being served by the company with 3 million advertisers on Facebook to reach their customers
increasing the purchase made by online shoppers by 93%.

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Possibilities where digital technology can be used to enrich the customer decision-making
process
As opined by Dedić (2018), there is a tendency among the users to search for the websites of
travel and tourism before booking for a place of visit. The new users have tenacity towards
searching of the background and the policies of the company. The TUI Group should keep a
good review and image of themselves in their official websites and their personal social
networking pages so that the tourists can be attracted by the reviews and the ratings previously
given by the users of the company. On the contrary, as contradicted by Huang et al., (2017),
there are certain groups of consumers who are loyal towards their purchasers. Such consumers
even if they get bad facilities or differences in services promised to be provided to them and
received, in spite of that they tend to stick to that company. The TUI Group has a huge number
of loyal customers who fall in this group. Hence, the services of the company have to be
increased for such consumers as goodwill of the organisation transfers by word of mouth.
3. Methodology
Research Philosophy
The philosophy of the research constitutes the most important part, which derives the way by
which it would be conducted. To conduct the research, positivism philosophy is used for
performing the survey (Taylor et al. 2015). This means this study is based on only the natural
phenomenon and their relations. In other words, it can be stated that the existing theory related to
the study is only used for performing the survey. The hypothesis is derived from this theory and
it was tested during the study. On the other hand, the interpretivism is used conducting the
interview. In this case, the researcher is aimed to assess the reality with the help of the study.
Research Approach
Research approach is another important part of a research, which guides a researcher with a plan
that defines the steps and a broad look on the method (Flick, 2015). In this study, the inductive
method is used for performing the interview, whereas the deductive approach is used for
performing survey. Therefore, the interview method is based on developing a new hypothesis by
the study, while the survey is made for testing the existing hypothesis. In the survey method, the

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information collected from the respondents are taken for testing the theory but the responses
from the interview are used to develop a new theory.
Research Method
The research method defines the way, which is used for completing the study. In this case, two
different methods are used for performing the study (Silverman, 2016). As both interview and
survey methods are used for the study, different methods are used to analyse the result of these
process. To analyse the data of survey method, the researcher applied the quantitative method,
and for interview method, qualitative method is used.
Data Collection Process
Data collection process is another significant part of a research, which authenticate the study. It
can be done in two different ways, primary and secondary (Rose, 2016). However, the researcher
used both these process for collecting data for the process. In this case, the researcher used
primary method of data collection, where he collected the data by his own. This was done by
performing the survey and interview method. The researcher also has used secondary data
collection process in which the information from different sources like the papers, journals,
books, and websites would be collected.
Sampling and Sample size
Selecting the sample in a proper way is another significant part of a research. The way a
researcher select the sample and the size of the sample is another key factor that leads to the
success of the research (Denzin 2017). In this case, the sampling is done individually for two
methods. Besides, the size of sample is another important part of this study. For conducting the
survey, the customers of the TUI group is selected. It is done by random sampling method. On
the other hand, for performing the interview method, managers of the organisation are selected
by purposeful sampling.
Data Analysis
The analysis of the collected information is helping the researcher to evaluate the result. For the
survey method, the quantitative method is used to evaluate the result. In this case, graphs, tables
and charts are used for get the result (Fletcher 2017). For this case, MS excel and the evaluation

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is made by percentage calculation. However, for the interview method, the contents are analysed
for qualitative analysis. The answers of the respondents are taken for performing the qualitative
analysis.
Ethical issues
For conducting the research in a proper way, the research had to go for the ethical considerations
(Fletcher 2017). The approval from the respective university should be taken by him prior to the
task. Besides the declaration to the respective company should be presented, which will ensures
that the information collected for the research should not be disclosed in a purposeful manner.
4. Time plan
Activities 1st
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Approval
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Making
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Making
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Starting
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Started
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Table 1: Gantt chart
(Source: Learner)
Task 2: (LO2, AC2.1, 2.2, 2.3) Research Implementation
Key resources to match the research question
To match the effective resources for the research question, it is prioritised that the researcher
needs to outline better results so that the outcome can be good. Likewise, to match organisational
resources with the research questions, it can make an impact on influence of digital technology
on customer decision-making process in TUI group (Dedić, 2018). It ascertains that TUI group is
one reputed firm in UK, and this provides matched services to the customers, travelling in
various destination of the world. The major resource required for the human resource, as it will

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analyse the impact of effective customer decision process to execute the research from the
research question.
As the research question is how digital technology can be developed to build effective customer
decision-making process, it aligns that TUI group has to use varied resources, so that it can try to
focus on the direction of the research questions developed (Lantos, 2015). The notion has to be
built in a way, where customer decision has to be given first priority by the tour operator. In this
research, the cost for doing the project is around $1000, which mainly comprise of doing
surveys, phone and electric bills, purchasing journals and magazines, pen, paper, and use of
laptops.
Tools required for data collection in case of surveys and interviews
The research project is framed on influence of digital technology on customer decision-making
process in TUI Group. This identifies how the company will adopt a predictive strategy, so that
the budget of the company could be expanded to decrease the market share. The research
specification is being made, so that the defined steps and activities will be carried out to align the
research well (Denzin, 2017). The research shows that a generic plan needs to be made, so that it
provides good management strategies for analysing the decision process of customers with the
rise of digital technology in TUI group. However, the tools used in case of data collection
include survey done through direct questionnaire with the use of Survey Monkey, and the
interview is done by the help of telephonic calls, which are recorded and then analysed.
Collate relative data from where collected responses from participants will be gathered
As the use of both primary and secondary data would be collected, the response that will be
matched to the three research questions prioritised is done with the help of 10 Survey questions
where predictive response would be made.
Survey Questions:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your age group?

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Options No. of respondents Frequency (%)
18-20 years 5 17
21-25 years 10 33
26-30 years 7 23
Above 30 years 8 27
Table 2: Age group
(Source: Learner)
17%
33%
23%
27%
Age group
18-20 years
21-25 years
26-30 years
Above 30 years
Chart 1: Age group
(Source: Learner)
Below figure shows the response where most customers are belonging to 21-25 years age group
with 33%, while above 30 years comprise of 27% and 26-30 years comprise of 23%.
3. How many years are you using TUI for travelling.
Options No. of respondents Frequency (%)
Less than 5 years 3 10

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5-10 years 10 33
11-20 years 12 40
More than 20 years 5 17
Table 3: Years of using
(Source: Learner)
10%
33%
40%
17%
Years of using
Less than 5 years
5-10 years
11-20 years
More than 20 years
Chart 2: Years of using
(Source: Learner)
The customers that are being surveyed here intend that 40% are using TUI Group for 11-20 years
while 33% are using it for 5-10 years. Those are using it for less than 5 years comprise of 10%
and those for more than 20 years comprise with 17%.
4. In which purpose you are using this organisation
Options No. of respondents Frequency (%)
Official travelling 12 40