“Don’t Let Me Think!” Chinese Adoption of Travel Information on Social Media: Moderating Effects of Self-disclosure

Abstract

Taking travel information adoption on social media from a dual-route persuasive communication viewpoint, a modified elaboration likelihood model (ELM) predicted by technical adequacy was constructed. An online survey (N = 357) was conducted in China to examine which route (argument quality vs. source credibility) is more effective and how self-disclosure biases their influences on the usefulness of travel information. Derived from Structural Equation Model (SEM) and multi-group analysis, results revealed the significant impact of technical adequacy on both argument quality and source credibility. Source credibility is more effective and positively affects perceived information usefulness, which in turn has a significantly crucial impact on travel information adoption. Contrary to the hypothesis, Chinese users with higher self-disclosure on social media are inclined to weaken the impact of source credibility on travel information usefulness.