Sustainable E-Service Quality in Tourism: Drivers Evaluation Using AHP-TOPSIS Technique

Abstract

The Internet’s meteoric rise in popularity has led to the growing importance of the quality of online services in numerous industries, including the rapidly expanding tourism industry. Accordingly, this study aims to ascertain the leading attributes of selected travel websites based on sustainable e-service quality. This study was conducted in four phases. In phase I, the key drivers of sustainable e-service quality (SESQ) were identified from a literature review and expert opinions and then categorized and validated using the EFA technique based on the responses of 100 respondents in phase II. Phase III was performed to determine the priority weightage of the identified and validated SESQ drivers using AHP, whereas in phase IV, the five most popular travel websites in India were ranked based on the SESQ drivers using the TOPSIS method. A case study is presented in this paper to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the robustness of the results. The findings of the study revealed that security, hedonic value, and efficiency were the most important drivers of SESQ that influenced customers’ selection of travel websites, and makemytrip.com was the most preferred travel website by customers.

1. Introduction

The tourist industry dominated the global economy at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The tourism business has far-reaching consequences on the global economy, both monetarily and otherwise. Both industrialized and developing nations have examined the relationship between tourism and economic growth, and policymakers in many nations are interested in tourism’s exponential advancement [1].

However, the hospitality literature has reached conflicting conclusions about the effects of shocks (such as market crises, man-made and natural calamities, and COVID-19) [2]. Still, tourism is one of the major economic sectors for many countries around the world ([2,3]).

Indian tourism is home to a plethora of historical sites, natural wonders, and cultural events that are open to the public [4]. Tourism in India accounts for 6.8% of the country’s total gross domestic product ($194.3 billion) and employs approximately 39.82 million people, representing 8% of its total employment [5,6]. Foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) and domestic tourism have both increased during the past decade ([7,8]). In 2019, India ranked 10th among 185 nations for digital travel and tourism planning and booking as well as quality of experience [9]), and the country’s hotel industry is projected to be valued at USD 22 billion with a projected 8.6% growth rate through to 2025 [10]. It is anticipated that India’s airline industry will double in size by 2027 due to the country’s superior airport infrastructure and enhanced passport access [4]. Since more people are taking airplane trips, there has been a rise in demand for hotels all around the world. By 2029, the tourism industry is expected to employ 53 million people [11]. E-services are some of the fastest-growing activities because consumers can compare prices, read product information, and pay through them [12]. Online buying and changing customer shopping patterns fuel e-commerce [13]. Because online bookings are critical to the travel industry, the internet is ideal for these activities because tourism is information driven. Travel companies now communicate with customers digitally [14]. Travel website services are one of the biggest e-commerce categories. Travel websites emerged in the 1990s to sell products from numerous vendors ([15,16]). Ma Sabiote et al. [17] studied E-service quality as an antecedent to e-satisfaction in the tourism industry.

Innovation and reorganization have occurred all over the tourism industry because of the rise of online travel. Websites devoted to tourism provide users with fresh content, a wide range of options, and an opportunity to be actively involved in planning their trips. A survey published by Stratos jets found that in 2018, 82 percent of the 148 million online reservations for travel were made without the intervention of a human being [18]. By 2023, it is projected that 700 million individuals will use the internet to make reservations [18]. Travel websites empower customers with travel-related information and a variety of itinerary-planning services. Additionally, consumers are increasingly buying flight tickets and other travel-related services via the internet [19]. Tourists can now arrange their whole trip, from flights to hotels, on a single tourism website, making it ideal for both guided tours and self-planned vacations [20].

E-service quality is becoming increasingly important for businesses to attract and retain customers in the current technological environment [21]. As a corollary, e-retailers aim to deliver the highest quality products and services available to their clients. Still, the travel business has a difficult time converting leads. Conversely, when compared to other industries, the travel business has the greatest rate of customers who abandon their shopping carts. As firms become more customer-centric, passengers’ booking service expectations have increased. The dissatisfaction of customers with the abundance of travel sales websites may contribute to these low conversion and high cart abandonment rates [18]. These observations indicate an untapped market for online bookings. The marketing activities of online travel providers must be evaluated to determine why they are dropping consumers. E-SQ is a new, burgeoning field of strategic significance for organizations attempting to reach consumers in the electronic marketspace. It is hypothesized that online consumer behavior may differ from offline consumer behavior. Hence, it is essential for practitioners to comprehend the consumer requirements that can be met in an online environment and to endeavor to satisfy them.

Additionally, due to increasing competition, a travel website must prioritize improving electronic service quality (e-SQ) to remain competitive. E-SQ is crucial to electronic commerce [6]. Therefore, maintaining high-quality service delivery is crucial for the continuing performance of service organizations [22] and corporations that identify themselves by sustaining service delivery [23]. Furthermore, the tourism industry, as service a provider, must try to comprehend and exceed guest expectations. There is a positive correlation between the quality of the e-service and both customer loyalty and satisfaction [24]. Another study has highlighted that businesses can anticipate long-term success by investing in the development of high-quality e-SQ [25]; therefore, E-SQ has the potential to make a significant contribution to the growth of businesses that provide online services [26]. Furthermore, it has been argued that customers will be more inclined to make repeat purchases if the quality of online services is enhanced, and it is advocated to study the variables that aid customers in forming relationships with firms ([27,28]).

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to ascertain the leading attributes grounded on a survey of 100 consumers to ascertain their discernments regarding the selection of travel websites based on sustainable e-service quality (SESQ), using an integrated analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and the technique for ordering preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The findings of this research can help website managers to gain a better understanding of the important factors that go into evaluating the service quality provided to customers, and they can suggest strategies for online retailers to use in order to establish and maintain long-term relationships with their customers in order to develop sustainable advantages in the marketplace.

The following sections comprise the article: Section 2 recapitulates the literature review. Section 3 deliberates the research methodology adopted. Section 4 discusses the illustrated model’s applicability through a case study. Section 5 contains the findings and discussion. Section 6 contains the sensitivity analysis, whereas Section 7 and Section 8 contain implications and concluding notes, respectively.

2. Literature Review

2.1. E-Service Quality

Electronic services differ from conventional services since they are based on the exchange of information between clients and service providers. Many advantages and potential gains are associated with high-quality internet services ([29,30]). Therefore, the quality of e-services is a significant topic in marketing. E-service quality indicates how well a website enables the efficient and effective purchase and delivery of goods and services [31]. An increasing body of scholarly research has begun to examine the quality of e-services and consumer relationships, with a particular emphasis on online purchasing. E-service quality concepts are drawn from service quality constructs. However, various measures have been developed to assess the quality of various e-services according to user feedback (e-SQ). Some of the most influential e-SQ assessment scales of the new millennium include SiteQual [32], Website Service Quality (WebQual) [33], eTailQ [34], and E-S-QUAL [35]. Still, there are currently no approved models or criteria for the quality of electronic services or its measurement [36].

The provision of quality internet services is currently more important than it has ever been in order to keep existing clients [37]. In addition, many businesses face a significant impediment in the form of competition to enhance the quality of their customer service in order to both draw in and sustain clients [38]. However, previous attempts to assess e-service quality have taken varied approaches and yielded varying findings, reflecting the wide range of conceptualizations of electronic services. For quality planning and analysis, Juran and Gryna [39] consider four aspects: capability (can the product operate as expected), availability (is the product functional), reliability (is the product defect-free), and maintainability (is it easy to repair when broken). Several of the following quality scales reflect, at least in part, these generic product and service quality standards. This makes them an excellent idea to begin with when envisioning high-quality electronic services. Zeithaml et al. [40] established eleven criteria for e-service quality that include price knowledge, access, reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, ease of navigation, efficiency, assurance (trust), security (privacy), site aesthetics, and customization (personalization). Similarly, Kaynama and Black [41] highlighted seven dimensions to assess the service quality of online travel agencies that include background, design, content, access, navigation, response, and personalization (customization), whereas Jun and Cai [42] highlighted seventeen criteria classified into three categories: customer service quality, banking service product quality, and online systems quality for assessing the service quality for online banking.

According to Parasuraman et al. [35], who provided the most extensive work on the quality of e-services, they experimented to evaluate the quality of online shopping services using a multi-item scale (E-S-QUAL). Two scales, they concluded, are required to evaluate the quality of electronic services. The E-S-QUAL scale has four dimensions of quality (efficiency, fulfilment, system availability, and privacy). Furthermore, this scale may be beneficial when consumers encounter “irregular interactions” with service recoveries, such as product returns or technical difficulties [35]. This scale has three tiers of quality (responsiveness, compensation, and contact). Furthermore, in 2006 Kim et al. identified nine criteria that include security, ease of use, finding low fares, valuable and relevant content, the speed of the website, the ability to book all travel services in a single transaction, booking flexibility, and sorting options, as well as the design of the website.

2.2. Sustainable E-Service Quality (SESQ)

Sustainable service quality is defined as the capacity to deliver a reliable service of exceptional sustained quality for an incredibly long time with no disruptions [43]. SESQ, as defined in part by Kandampully and Menguc [44], is the capacity to consistently deliver e-services of incredible quality over time that internal and external customers require and value in addition to the capacity to manage, maintain, and expand their pleasure and loyalty in order to maintain them as clients or delighted internal stakeholders. Furthermore, it has been stated that New Zealand enterprises use quality control, quality measurement, and service maintenance to assure service quality. In subsequent research, it should be determined which elements contribute to the sustaining of a higher level of service quality [44].

A previous study in the context of banking highlighted three types of “imperatives” (the quality of operational, resource, and marketing services) that are meant to ensure sustainable service provision for automated teller machine networks [45]. The research by Stamenkov and Dika [43] established a sustainable model for the quality of e-services that illustrates the interrelationships between elements and provides a research basis for further development in various contexts. In addition, it has been emphasized by Utomo et al. [46] that marketers should study crucial data on consumer behavior in online services before developing marketing strategies to support the company’s sustainable performance.

Due to the absence of a conceptual model of e-service quality in the reviewed studies, an empirical study is required to elucidate the specific drivers of e-service quality and their influence on consumers’ evaluations of travel websites, such as price and availability information ([25,47]). In this study, the relative importance of various parameters for evaluating the e-service quality of travel websites is determined through a hierarchical structure, which is the skeleton created by embedding the measurement tool established by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra [35] along with supplementary factors to measure service quality.

2.3. Sustainable E-Service Quality (SESQ) for Travel Websites

Electronic services (e-services) or services offered via electronic channels [48] are usually investigated with a focus on assuring service quality. E-services must improve in terms of meeting promises, delivering goods on time, responding to customer complaints, securing personal identities and banking information, and providing accurate product information [49]. In the past decade, the SERVQUAL model has been utilized to assess service quality in e-commerce settings ([50,51]). Prior e-service research quality has focused on rewriting SERVQUAL measurement scales to comply with the conceptual framework. In addition, service researchers have revealed that e-service consumer assessments should be given a larger emphasis. This is significant because the mechanism for analyzing the quality of services differs between e-commerce and services delivered in physical markets [52]. Furthermore, van Riel et al. [53] argued for modifications to the SERVQUAL scale items to make them more relevant in the framework of online shopping.

Effective online platforms can delight and retain customers, resulting in desired behaviors such as word-of-mouth advocacy, readiness to pay a premium, and repurchase intent. Gronroos et al. [54] note that only a small percentage of websites are appealing to their target audiences, and an even smaller percentage provide significant value to both the client and the seller. Even though it has been determined that in order to enhance the quality of the online booking services that online travel service providers offer to their customers, online travel service providers should prioritize reliability, system availability, and responsiveness whilst still focusing on ease of use and trust, online travel service providers should prioritize trust and ease of use [55].

The SESQ evaluations are subjective assessments of the service quality and facilities offered on travel websites. The continuous enhancement of SESQ drivers illustrates how much travel businesses care about their passengers/customers, regardless of the economic environment. While service endurance is vital, there is little research on the subject in the literature to date. Researchers in the academic world have investigated the concept of service quality from a variety of standpoints, such as services marketing, information systems, and electronic commerce. In the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century, there has been a shift in the focus of study away from service quality and toward alternative concepts, the most prominent of which are service value and value co-creation [18]. Every e-service context is unique, and a specific scale is required to measure e-SQ in said context. A measure which is important in a particular context, may not be an adequate measure in another context for measuring e-SQ. So, important measures of service quality in different e-service contexts must be identified [56]. Therefore, the present research attempts to provide significant information pertaining to consumer behavior in online travel services, which means that marketers can take this into consideration before deciding on marketing strategies to support the sustainable success of the organization. This study aims to ascertain the leading attributes of selected travel websites based on sustainable e-service quality (SESQ).

Indeed, the drivers of SESQ can elucidate the most critical service challenges. To ensure a pleasant trip, one must ensure that the SESQ tools utilized can meet all consumer requirements. Recent emphasis has been placed on decision-making regarding the evaluation and maintenance of SESQ drivers. While each factor is critical for the growth, sustainability, and maintenance of the high-quality customer service of travel websites, the proliferation of criteria makes evaluating and ranking travel websites more challenging. This intrinsic complexity prompted us to investigate the elements that influence travel website rankings, and more specifically, the SESQ drivers particular to the Indian travel and tourism industries.

Even though there have been a lot of studies on online travel agencies in the past decade, not much has been written about how e-service quality applies to online travel agencies. Previous research on online travel agencies has mostly focused on acceptance [57] and choosing preferences [58]. However, a few tourism researchers have looked into how users feel about the quality of e-services for online travel agencies (e.g., [59,60]), measuring e-service quality ([55,61]) and analyzing the dimensions of e-service quality [62], customer satisfaction and behavior for these agencies [19], and e-service quality and e-satisfaction ([63,64]). Other studies have identified cultural variables, particularly uncertainty avoidance and individualism/collectivism, that affect the impact of service quality aspects on visitors’ experiences with their online purchases [17]. However, not much real-world research has been conducted to find out what drives sustainable e service quality for travel websites.

A previous study discussed and proposed a conceptual sustainable e-service quality model towards a ‘sustainability paradigm’ ([18,43]) and related consumer behavior with e-service quality and sustainable performance within online shopping in general ([37,45,46]). Hence, this study on sustainable e-service quality, specifically with online travel agencies, aims to fill the research and methodological gaps and attempts to contribute to the existing body of research, and it helps us gain a deeper understanding of the underlying factors that have the greatest influence on the factors driving the continuous improvement of sustainable e-service quality for travel websites.

3. Construction of the Hierarchical Network

The hierarchical structure for this study was created by analyzing related studies and soliciting expert input. According to the findings of the above-mentioned linked research, which all consider the seven dimensions provided by Parasuraman et al. [35], a preliminary hierarchy for appraising the electronic service quality (e-SQ) of travel websites was developed. However, it is important to note that fulfilment is tied to the perceived service quality that travel websites provide, which may be tangible (for example, tickets) or scheduled (for example, schedules). As a result, the initial hierarchy was discussed with a group of experts, which included ten experts (see

Table 1. Experts’ details.

Expert Number	Functional Area	Experience
Expert 1	Travel agent	15 years
Expert 2	Travel agent	18 years
Expert 3	Travel agent	12 years
Expert 4	Travel agent	20 years
Expert 5	Service provider	15 years
Expert 6	Service provider	8 years
Expert 7	Hotel manager	11 years
Expert 8	Hotel manager	14 years
Expert 9	Hotel manager	10 years
Expert 10	Government professional	17 years

) with competence in electronic commerce. Therefore, 14 drivers and their corresponding attributes were implemented alongside the constructive feedback of these experts. For instance, it was recommended that the concepts of “hedonic value” and “empathy” be added. The identified drivers along with their meaning and sources are given in Appendix A,

Table A1. Drivers of SESQ.

S. No.	Drivers	Meaning	Attributes	Source
1.	Efficiency (E)	Efficiency refers to the ease and speed with which a site can be accessed and used.	Easy to find what’s needed (E1)	[31,40,87,88,89,90]
			Simple to use (E2)
			Easy to obtain pages (E3)
			Fast access to the site (E4)
			Completing a transaction quickly (E5)
			Quick system response (E6)
			Well-organized information (E7)
			A simple procedure of application for the site member (E8)
2.	Fulfillment (F)	Fulfilment refers to the website’s commitments to customers regarding order delivery and product availability.	Accurate delivery of products (F1)	[31,40,90,91,92]
			Delivery within a suitable time (F2)
			Delivering orders quickly (F3)
			Truthful offerings (F4)
3.	System availability (SA)	The availability of the system refers to the site’s proper technical operation.	The site is always available (SA1)	[31,40,93,94,95]
			Pages do not freeze during a transaction (SA2)
			Relevant content can be displayed for each item (SA3)
4.	Security/privacy (S)	Security/privacy refers to the site being secure and safeguarding consumer information.	Protecting personal information (S1)	[31,40,96,97,98,99]
			Safe transactions (S2)
5.	Responsiveness (R)	Responsiveness refers to the effectiveness of handling problems and returns to consumers.	Providing convenient options for returning products (R1)	[35,40,92,100,101,102]
			Handling product returns well (R2)
			Providing notification quickly when finishing a transaction (R3)
			Courtesy of personnel (R4)
			Specialized personnel (R5)
			Taking care of problems promptly (R6)
6.	Compensation (C)	Compensation refers to compensating consumers for problems.	Any problem created by the site (C1)	[35,99,101,103]
			Products do not arrive on time (C2)
7.	Contact (CT)	The availability of assistance via telephone numbers or online agents is referred to as contact.	The site provides a telephone number to reach the company	[35,101,104,105]
			The site has customer service representatives available online
			The site offers the ability to speak to a live person if there is a problem
8.	Benefit (B)	Benefit refers to the benefit provided to consumers.	Product promotion	[103]
			Providing special giveback to members
9.	Customization/ personalization (P)	Customization/personalization refers to the process through which a website is adjusted to the preferences of individual consumers.	Allowing a consumer to design the layout of pages	[40,41,103]
			Providing preferred information
			Providing unique services for different groups of consumers (e.g., managers, students)
			Providing a choice of ways to pay
			Providing a choice of ways to ship
10.	Tangibility (T)	Tangibility refers to the appearance of the site and the degree to which the site provides complete information and products.	Providing diverse products	[103,106]
			Providing complete agency services (e.g., visa, assurance)
			Providing complete information of products
			Providing complete and useful travel information
			Updating content timely
			Visually appealing
11.	Assurance/trust (A)	Assurance/trust refers to the site’s reputation for trustworthiness, as well as the site’s presentation of accurate and genuine content.	Assuring scheduled departures	[103]
			Providing accurate information
			Public praise
			Providing accurate transaction data
12.	Continuous improvement (CI)	Continuous improvement refers to constant improvement.	Attitude and capability of solving problems	[102,103]
			Content of travel products
			System functions and operations
13.	Hedonic value (HV)	Hedonic value refers to the consumer’s senses, emotions, and values when making a purchase.	Travel websites are enjoyable	[107]
			Using the travel website makes me happy
			Using travel websites, I feel relaxed
			Using travel websites make me feel good
14.	Empathy (Ep)	Empathy refers to responses being cognisant of the needs of the user and showing concern andunderstanding of their needs.	Address complaints friendly	[35,108]
			Consistently courteous
			Understand specific needs

.

4. Methods and Materials

This study was conducted in four phases to evaluate the SESQ drivers and rank the travel websites from October 2022 to December 2022. The SESQ drivers were identified by a thorough assessment of the literature and expert opinions, and they were then confirmed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The preference weights of the validated SESQ drivers were computed using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) technique, and then, based on the main drivers, the top 5 Indian tourism websites were ranked using the technique for order performance by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. To check the robustness of the results, a sensitivity analysis was conducted by changing the preference weights of the criteria. The current study’s entire research design is depicted in Figure 1, which also functions as a flow chart.

• Phase I: Identification of SESQ drivers

This phase entailed the gathering of research papers from reputable databases such as Science Direct, Elsevier, Springer, Emerald, Sage, Taylor and Francis, and Wiley. Through an exhaustive examination of the literature, a list of drivers affecting the adoption of sustainable e-service quality (SESQ) practices in the tourism industry was revealed. Then, the identified SESQ drivers obtained through the comprehensive literature review were finalized by the opinion of experts proficient in the tourism area. Using purposive sampling, ten experts were approached for the collection of the data. The details of the experts are given in Table 1 below:

• Phase II: Reliability and validity assessment of SESQ drivers

Each driver had individual characteristics for understanding the perception of customers towards the selection of travel websites. Hence, essentially, as well as statistically, the drivers were characterized as per their appropriate traits. For essential categorization, the experts were selected because they had travel backgrounds. The drivers were categorized statistically through a data reduction technique called EFA. For conducting the EFA test, 100 consumers who had purchased travel products online at least once in the previous year (e.g., an airline ticket, hotel accommodation, a car rental, transportation reservations, or a travel package) were targeted for a response. The travel consumers who took part in this study had recently used online travel websites for tourism-related products and services (e.g., an airline ticket, a hotel room, a car rental, a cruise reservation, transportation reservations, or a travel package), which was assessed by an email sent to potential respondents that clearly stated that only people with recent experiences with online travel websites were able to participate and requested that the respondents provide details on a questionnaire (see Appendix B). The outcome of the EFA revealed that 49 drivers were suitable for measuring the perception of customers towards SESQ. Further, the extracted drivers were loaded into ten factors (see Appendix B,

Table A3. Random consistency index value (RI).

N	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
RI	0	0	0.525	0.882	1.115	1.252	1.341	1.404	1.452	1.484

), which authenticated the experts’ inputs as well as the reasons for the categorization of the drivers into ten factors.

Table 2. Grouping of SESQ drivers.

Items	Description	Standard Factor Loading	Cronbach’s α	Composite Reliability	Average Variance Extracted (AVE)	Maximum Shared Variance (MSV)
Efficiency (E)			0.845	0.907	0.711	0.3136
E1	Easy to find	0.71
E2	Simple to use	0.73
E3	Ease of retrieving pages	0.84
E4	Quick access to the site	removed
E5	Fast in completing the transaction	0.77
E6	Quick response	0.81
E7	Systematized information	removed
E8	A simple process of application for the site member	0.75
E9	Accurate delivery	0.77
E10	Timely delivery	removed
E11	Delivering orders quickly	removed
E12	Correct offerings	removed
System availability (SA)			0.851	0.912	0.776	0.2704
SA1	Site is continually available	0.83
SA2	Pages do not freeze	0.73
SA3	Relevant content	0.87
Responsiveness (R)			0.892	0.938	0.752	0.4624
R1	Convenient options for returning products	0.73
R2	Handling product returns well	0.82
R3	Providing notification	0.72
R4	Personnel—courtesy	0.84
R5	Personnel—specialization	0.87
R6	Promptness	0.77
R7	Phone number to reach the company	0.81
R8	Availability of customer service representatives online	0.83
R9	Facility to speak to a live person during a problem	removed
Benefit (B)			0.902	0.944	0.809	0.3025
B1	Problem from the site	0.76
B2	Timely arrival of products	0.83
B3	Product promotion	0.9
B4	Special offer to members	0.85
Customization/Personalization (P)			0.909	0.943	0.768	0.6241
P1	Design of the layout of pages by customers	0.74
P2	Providing chosen information	0.8
P3	Providing exclusive services for different groups of consumers	0.83
P4	Providing a choice of ways to pay	0.85
P5	Providing a choice of ways to ship	0.8
Tangibility (T)			0.911	0.95	0.826	0.3364
T1	Providing diverse products	0.76
T2	Provision of complete agency services (such as visas)	0.88
T3	Comprehensive information on products	0.91
T4	Valuable travel information	0.84
T5	Bringing up-to-date content	0.74
T6	Appealing to the eye	0.85
Security/privacy (S)			0.891	0.944	0.772	0.3554
S1	Protecting personal information	0.86
S2	Safe transactions	0.78
S3	Assuring scheduled departures	0.81
S4	Providing accurate information	0.94
S5	Public praise	0.84
S6	Accurately recording transactions	0.75
Continuous improvement (CI)			0.874	0.921	0.705	0.5231
CI1	Solving problems	0.83
CI2	Content of travel products	0.9
CI3	Functions and operations of system	0.85
Hedonic Value (HV)			0.883	0.925	0.755	0.6241
HV1	Travel websites are enjoyable	0.78
HV2	Using the travel website makes me happy	0.75
HV3	Using travel websites, I feel relaxed	0.84
HV4	Using travel websites makes me feel good	0.81
Empathy (Ep)			0.774	0.859	0.722	0.3231
Ep1	Address complaints in a friendly manner	0.73
Ep2	Consistently courteous	0.83
Ep3	Understand specific needs	0.79

presents the categorization of the drivers into the 10 categories with their factor loadings and reliability values.

Before using sorted data further, it is necessary to validate it; otherwise, the results may be wrong [65]. To check the authenticity of the overall finalized drivers, a reliability test was conducted in the SPSS software, in which Cronbach’s α is an important parameter that is used for the calculation of the nature of significance in statistical and other sciences [66]. The value of Cronbach’s α lies between 0 and 1 [67], and it is recommended to have a value between 0.70 to 0.90 for better internal consistency and homogeneity [68]. In the present case, the value of Cronbach’s α was computed as 0.832, which demonstrated the good internal consistency among the finalized drivers (refer to

Table 3. Results of reliability test.

Cronbach’s α	Cronbach’s α Based on Standardized Items	Number of Items
0.832	0.910	51

).

• Phase III: Stepwise procedure of AHP

In problems where multiple objectives are involved, efficient and effective decision-making can be carried out using a technique named AHP, which was developed by [69]. AHP is a decision-making approach that calculates weights created by subjective pairwise relative comparisons through multilevel hierarchy structures and supports researchers in identifying key factors, determining resource allocations, and considering different preferences. AHP avoids inconsistencies in the decision-making process. The stepwise algorithm for performing AHP is provided in Appendix B.

• Phase IV: Stepwise procedure of TOPSIS

TOPSIS is a multi-criteria decision-making analysis method that was developed initially by Hwang and Yoon [70]. The problem identified in this study was to evaluate Indian travel websites based on multiple criteria. Therefore, this decision-making problem was solved by using the MCDM technique, TOPSIS. There are several phases to performing the TOPSIS method, and these are provided in Appendix C.

5. Application of Model in Travel Websites in India

An e-retailer cannot deliver a face-to-face contact service to clients in an online buying environment, which means that the user interface is essentially crucial for e-businesses. According to researchers, website performance is the most important metric for determining service quality in online shopping, and marketers must use advanced information and communication technology (ICT) tools to create a successful website. Businesses recognize that a pleasant website can affect impulse purchases, compulsive buying, browsing, and attitude in a favorable manner. The Internet has evolved into a strategic instrument for brand differentiation. Due to the absence of a formal listing of e-commerce companies operating in India, we recognized the leading e-commerce travel companies based on website traffic analytics. The website traffic of five popular travel and tourism websites in India was analyzed using similarweb.com, with sub-themes, including total visits, average visit time (in minutes), page visit, bounce rate, and traffic sources on desktops, also being identified. Makemytrip.com (W1) was the most visited travel and tourism website in India in November 2021, which was followed by irctc.co.in (W2) in second place and booking.com (W3) in third place; tripadvisor.in (W4) ranked fourth, and goibibo.com (W5) ranked fifth, and these were the top five Travel and Tourism websites ranking list in India for November 2021.

The integrated MCDM model discussed in this study was applied to evaluate these five most-popular travel websites in India based on the identified SESQ drivers.

5.1. Application of AHP for Driver Weight Calculation

After verifying the criteria of the SESQ drivers (efficiency “D1”, system availability “D2”, security/privacy “D3”, responsiveness “D4”, benefit “D5”, customization/personalization “D6”, tangibility “D7”, con0tinuous improvement “D8”, hedonic value “D9”, and empathy “D10”), the expert team allocated the values given in Appendix B,

Table A2. Preference scale used in AHP.

Importance Intensity	Definition	Explanation
1	Equally	Equal contribution of the factors to the objective.
3	Moderately	Between the two factors, one factor is slightly favored over the other factor.
5	Strongly	Between the two factors, one factor is strongly favored over the other factor.
7	Very strongly	Between the two factors, one factor is very strongly favored over the other factor.
9	Extremely	One factor is favored over another at the highest possible order of affirmation.
2, 4, 6, 8	Intermediately	Shows an intermediate favoritism of preference among the weights 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9

, and a pairwise comparison matrix for every driver was prepared, as shown in

Table 4. Pairwise comparison decision matrix.

Drivers	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D1	1.00	7.00	0.20	2.00	2.00	6.00	4.00	4.00	0.20	2.00
D2	0.14	1.00	0.25	2.00	0.20	3.00	6.00	0.25	0.33	0.33
D3	5.00	4.00	1.00	3.00	5.00	8.00	7.00	3.00	3.00	2.00
D4	0.50	0.50	0.33	1.00	0.50	2.00	3.00	0.25	0.20	0.50
D5	0.50	5.00	0.20	2.00	1.00	2.00	4.00	1.00	0.50	0.50
D6	0.17	0.33	0.13	0.50	0.50	1.00	2.00	0.33	0.33	0.25
D7	0.25	0.17	0.14	0.33	0.25	0.50	1.00	0.33	0.20	0.33
D8	0.25	4.00	0.33	4.00	1.00	3.00	3.00	1.00	0.33	1.00
D9	5.00	3.00	0.33	5.00	2.00	3.00	5.00	3.00	1.00	1.00
D10	0.50	3.00	0.50	2.00	2.00	4.00	3.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

. Then, the weights were calculated using Equation (A1) (see

Table 5. Priority weights and ranks of SESQ drivers.

Drivers	Weights	Rank
D1	0.1438	3
D2	0.0577	7
D3	0.2583	1
D4	0.0476	8
D5	0.0799	6
D6	0.0300	9
D7	0.0230	10
D8	0.0913	5
D9	0.1636	2
D10	0.1047	4

). The consistency ratio was calculated using Equation (A2), and its result was less than 0.10, indicating that the matrix weights were consistent and could be used as the basis for further calculations (see

Table 6. Obtained values from AHP.

Highest Eigenvalue	11.394
Consistency Index	0.155
Random Index	1.484
Consistency Ratio	0.104

). The complete procedure of AHP is given in Appendix B. MS Excel was used for computational purposes.

5.2. Application of TOPSIS for Ranking of Drivers

Based on the experts’ responses on a scale of “1-Extremely Dissatisfied” to “5-Extremely Satisfied”, a decision matrix was constructed as shown in

Table 7. Decision matrix.

	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.	Benf.
Weightage	0.144	0.058	0.258	0.048	0.080	0.030	0.023	0.091	0.164	0.105
Websites	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
W1	5	4	5	3	5	4	5	3	4	4
W2	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	5	4	5
W3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2
W4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	3
W5	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2

. The matrix was normalized by using Equation (A4), as shown in

Table 8. Normalized decision matrix.

Websites	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
W1	0.081	0.095	0.737	0.493	0.635	0.603	0.687	0.474	0.625	0.525
W2	0.065	0.095	0.442	0.658	0.635	0.603	0.549	0.791	0.625	0.657
W3	0.048	0.048	0.295	0.329	0.254	0.302	0.275	0.158	0.312	0.263
W4	0.048	0.048	0.295	0.329	0.254	0.302	0.275	0.158	0.156	0.394
W5	0.048	0.048	0.295	0.329	0.254	0.302	0.275	0.316	0.312	0.263

. Using Equation (A5), we obtained a weighted normalized decision matrix (see

Table 9. Weighted normalized decision matrix.

Websites	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
W1	0.01	0.01	0.19	0.02	0.05	0.02	0.02	0.04	0.10	0.06
W2	0.01	0.01	0.11	0.03	0.05	0.02	0.01	0.07	0.10	0.07
W3	0.01	0.00	0.08	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.05	0.03
W4	0.01	0.00	0.08	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.03	0.04
W5	0.01	0.00	0.08	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.03	0.05	0.03

). This study considered all the drivers as beneficial criteria, and then positive and negative ideal solutions were calculated by using Equations (A6) and (A7) (see

Table 10. Positive and negative ideal solutions.

V+	0.0116	0.0055	0.1905	0.031	0.05076	0.018	0.016	0.072	0.102	0.069
V−	0.00696	0.00275	0.0762	0.016	0.0203	0.009	0.006	0.014	0.026	0.027

). In addition, the closeness coefficient was obtained by using Equation (A10), and, according to $P_i$values, the ranking of the travel websites was obtained, as shown in

Table 11. Closeness coefficient values and final ranking.

	Si+	Si−	Pi	Rank
W1	0.033	0.147	0.817	1
W2	0.076	0.117	0.605	2
W3	0.149	0.026	0.147	4
W4	0.156	0.014	0.081	5
W5	0.144	0.029	0.17	3

. This entire procedure was conducted according to the methodology presented in Appendix C.

6. Results and Discussion

Increased competition in the tourist business has prompted travel agency service providers to accentuate the quality of their online services. Sustainable e-service quality (SESQ) can be improved by focusing on SESQ drivers. This study was an attempt to recognize and evaluate various SESQ drivers for the ranking of Indian travel websites. An extensive literature review was carried out with expert opinions to identify and evaluate these drivers. Ten drivers were finalized by the decision-making group after discussions, reviewing the relevant literature support, and conducting statistical validation.

While determining which SESQ drivers are more significant than others for ranking travel websites is difficult, prioritizing them using this approach makes sense and is beneficial for decision-makers. AHP was used to evaluate the SESQ drivers, and TOPSIS was used to rate the five most popular travel websites in India. The SESQ drivers were ranked according to their highest weightage values. As shown in Table 4, the security/privacy (D3) driver had the highest weighting value (0.2583) and was thus allocated to the first rank; this analytical result was in line with past research, indicating that a sizable proportion of internet users are concerned about potential privacy intrusions [71]. This was followed by hedonic values (D9) in the second rank with a weightage value of 0.1636 and efficiency (D1) in third with a 0.1438 weightage value. The ranking of the other drivers in descending order in terms of weightage values was as follows: empathy (0.1047) > continuous improvement (0.0913) > benefits (0.0799) > system availability (0.0577) > responsiveness (0.0476) > customization (0.0300) > tangibility (0.0230). These results confirmed that the security/privacy driver was the most significant criteria, and tangibility was the least important driver when ranking the Indian travel websites.

Given that the security/privacy criterion was ranked top, managers of online businesses must place a premium on the safety and security of consumers’ personal and sensitive information that is used on their websites. Features that keep the details of site visitors secure should be focused on while designing websites. At every step of using the website, customers should feel safe using their details. This finding was in line with previous studies that found how product risk, financial risk, security risk, and privacy risk affected how customers thought about websites ([72,73,74]).

Hedonic value driver stood at the second rank, indicating that ease of use, layout, language preference, and the overall satisfaction of the customer is very important for the success of any tourism service provider. Furthermore, this result backs up a study that emphasizes and demands the need to incorporate both functional and hedonic e-service quality factors into a single measurement scale [75]. The results showed that hedonic considerations play a major role in the choices made by travelers ([76,77,78]). This was supported by the studies of Puranda et al. [79], Phromlert et al. [80], Wibowo et al. [81], and Wilis and Nurwulandari [82] that have established the fact that e-service quality variables have a constructive and substantial effect on consumers’ re-purchase behavior. Hence, planners involved in travel websites should work on making the website more user-friendly and secure.

Service providers must engage in and promote the creation of new, creative, and personalized facilities and services that will subsequently enhance service quality. As a result, a travel website that adheres to these principles is likely to receive a high ranking. Efficiency was also a significant factor in SESQ’s third-place ranking. It encompasses the efficiency, efficacy, and productivity of service employees and facilities. Additionally, it assesses the website’s functionality and accuracy. This dimension is also a significant determinant of service quality, which contributes to the overall ranking of a website. This finding was also supported by a recent study [83] that established efficiency as the most critical metric of e-service quality, which was measured by the ease with which consumers could access and use a website. The average consumer was content with the electronic services offered by the online retailer, which resulted in a positive online shopping experience for the users [83].

Additionally, TOPSIS was used in this study using the weights assigned to the drivers gathered by AHP to rank Indian travel websites. Five websites were recognized in this study, and an evaluation matrix of travel website alternatives was built with the assistance of a decision-making group. The websites were ranked according to their highest closeness coefficient value, which indicated that Makemytrip.com (W1) was the most-preferred website based on the identified SESQ drivers followed by irctc.co.in (W2), goibibo.com (W5), booking.com (W3), and tripadvisor.in (W4). This framework can be used by decision-makers to evaluate other SESQ drivers for the ranking of travel websites.

7. Sensitivity Analysis

Decision-makers can assess SESQ drivers and rank websites by using the methods discussed in Section 5.1 and Section 5.2. A sensitivity analysis was performed in this section to determine the impact on the assessment procedure and ranking of the websites by deviations in the priority weights. This was conducted by switching the weights for two criteria while keeping the weights of the other criteria as constants [84]. For example, in sensitivity analysis experiment 1, the weight of driver 1 (i.e., D1) was changed with driver 2 (i.e., D2), whereas the weights of the other drivers from D3 to D10 remained constant. Then, the $P_i$scores were calculated by using the TOPSIS method, as discussed in phase IV. Using this method, W1 was found to be the most-preferred website, with a high $P_i$value, whereas W3 was found to be the least-preferred website, with a low $P_i$value. The ranking of the remaining websites was as follows: W2 > W5 > W4. Again, in sensitivity analysis experiment 2, the weight of driver 3 (i.e., D3) was changed with driver 1 (i.e., D1), while the weights of the other drivers (i.e., D2, D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9, and D10) remained constants. Subsequently, the $P_i$values were determined to obtain the final ranking, which again showed that W1 was the most-preferred website, with a high $P_i$value, and W3 was the least-preferred website, with a low $P_i$value. The results of the sensitivity analysis are shown in

Table 12. Sensitivity analysis.

Sensitivity Analysis Experiment No.	Weight of Drivers	${\mathit{P}}_{\mathit{i}}$	Ranking
1	D1 = 0.058	W1 = 0.818 W2 = 0.606 W3 = 0.147 W4 = 0.081 W5 = 0.17	W1 > W2 > W5 > W4 > W3
	D2 = 0.144
	D3 = 0.258
	D4 = 0.048
	D5 = 0.080
	D6 = 0.030
	D7 = 0.023
	D8 = 0.091
	D9 = 0.164
	D10 = 0.105
2	D1 = 0.258	W1 = 0.774 W2 = 0.725 W3 = 0.182 W4 = 0.1 W5 = 0.214	W1 > W2 > W5 > W4 > W3
	D2 = 0.058
	D3 = 0.144
	D4 = 0.048
	D5 = 0.080
	D6 = 0.030
	D7 = 0.023
	D8 = 0.091
	D9 = 0.164
	D10 = 0.105
3	D1 = 0.144	W1 = 0.728 W2 = 0.824 W3 = 0.154 W4 = 0.205 W5 = 0.178	W2 > W1 > W4 > W5 > W3
	D2 = 0.058
	D3 = 0.105
	D4 = 0.048
	D5 = 0.080
	D6 = 0.030
	D7 = 0.023
	D8 = 0.091
	D9 = 0.164
	D10 = 0.258
4	D1 = 0.144	W1 = 0.822 W2 = 0.604 W3 = 0.146 W4 = 0.081 W5 = 0.169	W1 > W2 > W5 > W3 > W4
	D2 = 0.058
	D3 = 0.258
	D4 = 0.023
	D5 = 0.080
	D6 = 0.030
	D7 = 0.048
	D8 = 0.091
	D9 = 0.164
	D10 = 0.105
5	D1 = 0.091	W1 = 0.759 W2 = 0.641 W3 = 0.135 W4 = 0.074 W5 = 0.183	W1 > W2 > W5 > W3 > W4
	D2 = 0.058
	D3 = 0.258
	D4 = 0.048
	D5 = 0.080
	D6 = 0.030
	D7 = 0.023
	D8 = 0.144
	D9 = 0.164
	D10 = 0.105

, which implies that website W1 had the highest value in most experiments, whereas website W3 was at the lowest rank in the majority of the experiments. These results imply that the suggested methodology was robust and was less sensitive to the drivers’ weights.

8. Implications

8.1. Theoretical Implications

This study is among the first initial studies to propose SESQ. We developed a benchmarking approach for evaluating SESQ drivers and carried out a ranking of Indian travel websites in this study. An approach was devised for identifying SESQ drivers and ranking Indian travel websites. To identify and analyze these determinants, a thorough literature analysis was conducted with expert perspectives. The decision-making panel selected ten drivers based on consultations, research, and statistical validation.

Secondly, this is the only study that prioritizes the SESQ drivers based on their weightage ratings. Table 4 reveals that the security/privacy (D3) driver had the highest weightage (0.2583); this analytical result was consistent with previous studies that indicated that a significant number of internet clients are concerned about potential privacy violations [71]. This was followed by hedonic value (D9) (0.1636) and efficiency (D1) (0.1438). Since security/privacy was the top-ranking criterion, it is recommended that managers of online businesses should prioritize the safety and security of consumers’ personal information. Keeping visitors’ information secure should be a priority while developing a website. Using the website should be safe at every step. This recommendation was also supported by a recent study that encouraged online retailers to investigate the means of constructing and enhancing client trust, as well as developing a site design that is appealing to customers in order to increase customer satisfaction and brand image ([24,85]).

Additionally, this implication supported a study that highlights and requires the need to integrate both utilitarian and hedonic e-service quality elements into one measurement scale [75].

Finally, the results of this investigation add to the existing body of expertise in the context of service quality management besides putting an emphasis on the characteristics that allow service businesses to “sustain service quality.” As a result, this study contributes to the advancement of the field of research into e-service quality. Hence, companies must emphasize sustaining e-service quality rather than providing it by managing affecting elements. This article attempts to assist Indian travel websites in identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing SESQ drivers in order to maintain market competitiveness. Thus, the tourism industry may utilize the proposed model to analyze service quality dimensions most effectively and efficiently.

8.2. Managerial Implications

As the tourism industry has become increasingly competitive, online travel agencies have had no choice but to place a greater emphasis on the quality of their offerings. Firstly, this study aimed to ascertain the leading attributes of selected travel websites based on sustainable e-service quality. The suggested paradigm can enable managers/practitioners to rate travel websites based on their organization’s SESQ drivers. The collected results were evaluated by industry representatives, who determined that they were meaningful and important considering the given criteria rated privacy at the top, which suggests that managers must determine perceived risks when setting up electronic advertising strategies. E-commerce websites should also improve the security of their transactions by using a variety of easily accessible resources and new information technologies. This suggestion supported the findings of a study that determined the existence of a significant influence of e-trust on online purchase intentions [85].

Secondly, this study focused on customer perspectives of online sustainable service quality in order to broaden the existing knowledge of sustainable management. As a result, we created a customer-centric conception of sustainable service quality and empirically investigated its essential components as well as its rankings. Hedonic value was significant, supporting the recommendations of a previous study that determined that the managers of e-services, if they want to draw and keep visitors to their sites, need to keep hedonic quality in mind [86].

Practically, our measurement model and its criteria can be used as a framework by managers to analyze the sustainable quality of the services for which they are responsible, as well as to build new long-term services based on consumer-specified quality.

9. Conclusions

In today’s competitive industry, customers expect greater consistency in terms of quality and value from travel companies. Tourism websites must place a premium on the quality of their e-services to remain competitive and exceed client expectations in an era of greater competition and rapid technological change. Companies are now focusing on sustainable e-service drivers to improve and sustain e-service quality and encourage tourists to use their websites for future travel planning. This aim requires top management commitment, since it involves financial and operational resources that can help to establish and sustain excellent service quality. To address the present difficulty in determining how service providers should prioritize, deploy, and construct SESQ drivers to meet customer needs, an evaluation and grading system for SESQ drivers and travel websites was presented in this paper. An experienced decision-making team identified and assessed SESQ drivers based on research and industry professionals’ perspectives. In this study, the criteria for the SESQ drivers were considered using a hierarchical analytical approach, and it was revealed that security/privacy, hedonic value, and efficiency were the three most important drivers of SESQ influencing customers’ selection of travel websites, and it was found that makemytrip.com was the most-preferred travel website based on these SESQ drivers.

This study may have some limitations, such as the number of experts, geographical location, and the selection of industry. This opens the door for the future scope of study in this area. Different tools/techniques and decision-making frameworks could be used to assess the strength of linkages between or among criteria for sustainable drivers (such as ELECTRE, ANP, DEMATEL, VIKOR, MAUT, and others), and these tools could be used under vague environment (such as Fuzzy ANP, Fuzzy AHP, Fuzzy TOPSIS, etc.) to deal with uncertainty in human judgement. A more in-depth study could be extended to consider the construal level, and other products as moderators of SESQ drivers and their impact on customer decision-making could be examined. Sustainable e-service quality must be studied in the future from both technological and non-technological perspectives.