Investigating the impact of social media images’ value, consumer engagement, and involvement on eWOM of a tourism destination: A transmittal mediation approach

Abstract

Tourism organizations use social media to promote their destinations and attract new customers. However, there is a challenge in how tourism organizations can choose or create social media images to successfully attract consumers' attention, induce their engagement with the destination, and motivate their eWOM behavior. This study aims to identify and test the direct and indirect factors related to social media images of tourism destinations that could predict eWOM. Using the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) as an umbrella framework, we integrated Ducoffe's model and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), to study the role of social media destination images' features (entertainment, informativeness, irritation, credibility, personalization, and incentives) on consumer's perceived value and eWOM through consumer engagement and involvement. Using a survey research method, we collected data from 307 individuals and tested the proposed structural model using the PLS-SEM-based transmittal mediation approach. The findings supported the proposed relationships providing valuable theoretical and practical implications.