Measuring the Impacts of Online Word-of-Mouth on Tourists’ Attitude and Intentions to Visit Jordan: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Reduced consumer trust, both of organizations and advertising, has led to electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) becoming an increasingly popular way of obtaining competitive advantage. e-WOM is especially relevant with regard to tourism, specifically tourists’ attitudes toward such destinations. This study explores the empirical and theoretical evidence regarding the causal e-WOM relationships between tourists’ attitudes regarding specific destinations and actual intention to travel. In the context of visits to Jordan, we applied SEM technique to examine these relationships. A pre-validated questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample with response rate of 97.3%. The result revealed that e-WOM communications positively impact tourists’ travel intentions and their attitudes toward Jordan as a destination, while a positive effect is found for the attitudes toward Jordan visit on their intention to travel. Managers of travel agency can consider various aspects of e-WOM to encourage tourists to participate in online travel communities and to build such communities, as this will foster trust in terms of visiting Jordan.