Online Travel Communities Research Articles

A model of behavioral intentions to follow online travel advice based on social and emotional loneliness scales in the context of online travel communities: The moderating role of emotional expressivity

This study proposes a comprehensive hybrid model of the use of online travel communities for social and emotional loneliness (OTS-SEL), identification with the peer group (IPG), peer communication (PCO), user satisfaction (USAT), and behavioral intentions to follow travel advice (INFTA). The study determines whether OTS-SEL is composed of three subdimensions of social loneliness, friend loneliness, and romantic loneliness based on a second-order stricture; tests a structural equation model to examine the relationships between OTS-SEL, IPG, PCO, USAT, and INFTA; and provides a multi-group analysis to investigate the moderating effect of emotional expressivity (EME) on the relationship between USAT and INFTA. The results provide support for all hypotheses except for the one about the relationship between IPG and USAT; have important implications; and offer interesting avenues for future research.

Developing a conceptual framework to understand local residents' contribution in online travel communities

Online travel communities have reshaped travel behaviours and decision-makings of people around the world. Noticeably, local residents, who are perceived as reliable and authentic information providers, largely contribute to these online travel communities by offering help. This study developed and tested a conceptual framework, which was built upon the attribute-empathy theory and the social identity theory. Hierarchical regressions analyses were employed and results indicated that local resident's online helping behaviour was affected by age, length of residency, sympathy, personal distress, and the evaluative identity of local resident. Based on the findings, both theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Examining the relationship between reasons of membership and active contribution to the online travel communities by canonical correlation analysis

Online Seyahat Topluluklari (OST), tuketicilerin seyahat deneyimlerini paylasabildikleri ve baskalarinin seyahat deneyimlerinden faydalanarak kendi seyahatlerini programlayabildikleri sosyal paylasim siteleridir. Tuketicilerin OST’lerden edindikleri bilgilerin seyahat kararlari uzerindeki etkilerini ortaya koyan pek cok calisma bulunmaktadir. Bu nedenle tuketicilerin OST’lere uye olma ve soz konusu sitelerde aktif katilimda bulunma nedenlerinin tespit edilmesi turizm pazarlamasi acisindan onem tasimaktadir. Bu calismanin temel amaci tuketicilerin OST’lere uye olma ve aktif katilimda bulunma nedenlerinin tespit edilmesi ve bu nedenler arasindaki iliskinin ortaya konmasidir. Nicel arastirma yonteminin uygulandigi calismada, 482 OST uyesine uygulanan anket sonucu katilimcilarin OST’lere uye olma nedenleri; Sosyal, fonksiyonel, deneyimsel ve psikolojik ihtiyaclar olarak belirlenirken aktif katilimda bulunma nedenleri; sosyal istekler, kalite kontrol istegi, etkileme istegi ve beklenti olarak tespit edilmistir. Iki faktor grubu arasindaki iliski ise kanonik korelasyon analizi ile incelenmistir.

The Importance of Attribution

Using attribution theory, this study examines 207 travel consumers’ views of five online travel communities (namely, Lonelyplanet, Travellerspoint, Tripadvisor, VirtualTourist, and Wayn) and their intentions to patronize one of the websites’ affiliates, Expedia. As a starting point, customers form an opinion of the community website itself based on communication quality and service quality. A high-quality experience, which includes interaction with other community members, engenders loyalty to the community website. With that base, the study tested three aspects of attributional responsiveness (evaluative satisfaction, cognitive loyalty, and affective belonging) and found that they could act as mediating factors to convey favorable attribution to the online communities’ affiliates, as represented by Expedia. Thus, a high standard of information and service will receive a favorable response from the online travel community, and that response can then be transferred to the community’s affiliates, in the form of purchases and return visits.

Tourists' Behavioral Changes According to the Type of Communication in Online Travel Communities

Tourists' Behavioral Changes According to the Type of Communication in Online Travel Communities

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

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.

From Virtual Travelers to Real Friends: Relationship Building Insights from an Online Travel Community

The growing trend of online travel communities connects travelers world-wide; this study addresses whether or not these relationships lead to offline interactions. The theoretical framework reflects cue utilization theory, social balance theory, and uncertainty reduction theory. A field experiment examines responses from 293 travel community members. Results show individual reputation, online communication, and perceived similarity among travelers play significant roles in offline relationships. Trust and sympathy among community members mediate this decision process. Study results offer several managerial implications and highlight the importance of vivid and complete participation profile in social media. Moreover, finding the right tone for effective communication in online communities is critical.

The impact of electronic word of mouth on a tourism destination choice

PurposeIn an environment in which there has been a reduction in consumer trust of both organizations and advertising, as well as a decrease in television advertising, word of mouth (WOM) offers a way to obtain a significant competitive advantage. WOM is especially important in the hospitality and tourism industry, whose intangible products are difficult to evaluate prior to their consumption. When WOM becomes digital, the large‐scale, anonymous, ephemeral nature of the Internet induces new ways of capturing, analyzing, interpreting, and managing the influence that one consumer may have on another. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of electronic WOM (eWOM) on a tourism destination choice, using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Further, an effort was employed to determine the effect of past travel experience on using eWOM and TPB constructs.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation modeling procedure was applied to the examination of the influences of eWOM on attitudes towards visiting Isfahan, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and travel intention. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilised in order to analysing the relations between these constructs and past travel experience. The research model was tested empirically using a sample of 296 inbound tourists who had experience within the online communities and travelled to Isfahan during the period of research.FindingsFindings indicate that online WOM communications have a significant impact on attitudes toward visiting Isfahan, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to travel. In addition, travel experience has a significant impact on using eWOM and TPB constructs.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that eWOM activity is more complex than previous research has argued. Managers should consider various eWOM facets and try to motivate tourists for participating in online travel communities and to build online travel communities with characteristics such usefulness and ease of use.Originality/valueThere has been a lot of marketing research on eWOM but none has focused on covering eWOM in tourism industry and its impact on tourism destination choice by adding new dimension of eWOM to the theory of planned behavior. This paper seeks to fill this gap.

Understanding Knowledge Sharing in Online Travel Communities

This study explores the nature of knowledge sharing in online travel communities by proposing three types of antecedents: individual, community, and affiliation. These antecedents generate the formation of community identification and its influence on ongoing knowledge contribution. In addition, this study examines the moderating role of a traveler’s interaction mode on the proposed sharing paradigm. The findings reveal the following: (a) community identification is positively influenced by a member’s travel involvement and community benefits, (b) strong identification strengthens a member’s sharing intentions, and (c) the postulated relationships differ based on a member’s interaction mode. In short, community identification for travelers’ intent on seeking information is almost solely influenced by community benefits, whereas travelers inclined to relationship building are primarily influenced by travel involvement. In terms of knowledge sharing, relationship builders shared more frequently and to a greater extent than information seekers.

The Environmentally Friendly Programs in Hotels and Customers' Intention to Stay: An Online Survey Approach

This study surveyed customer perceptions about the environmentally friendly programs (i.e., green programs) in hotels and analyzed the degree to which such programs influenced customers' hotel selection. Data were collected from online travel communities by conducting Web-based online surveys. A total of members from 63 travel-related online communities participated in the survey. Multiple regression analysis results showed that the significant factors that affected client hotel selection were: Solid waste and water programs in guestrooms, energy programs, solid waste and water programs in housekeeping, and biodiversity programs. However, water program by customers' option did not influence customer decisions to stay at environmentally friendly hotels. Results also showed differences in customer awareness and demand for environmentally friendly hotels based on gender, income, and age.

Distributed Fascinating Knowledge Over an Online Travel Community

ABSTRACTThe research goal of this study was to investigate how website design quality and website service quality affect participation behavior in the online travel community by moderating tacit knowledge and commitment.The design of the questionnaire linked it to the invitation message on the three travel communities, of which 235 were returned completed. The finding of the study shows that an online travel community that allows quick manipulation capabilities is likely to attract its members. To succeed, online travel communities have to rethink the way in which they embrace a new art of dialog and collaboration with their members. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

New members' integration: Key factor of success in online travel communities

Helping new members acculturate into online communities is crucial to developing successful and sustainable communities, but the process remains unexplored. To address this topic, this paper analyses antecedents and consequences of member's integration into online travel communities. Results show perceived similarity and reciprocity affect integration. Both integration and satisfaction with the community influence community participation. Finally, perceived reciprocity positively affects both satisfaction and intention to participate in the community. These findings suggest interesting implications for online travel community management.

Helpful Reviewers in TripAdvisor, an Online Travel Community

ABSTRACT Online communities need a critical mass for communication, information, and entertainment and should provide useful information for their members in order to obtain this critical mass. The abundance of online travel reviews increases cognitive costs of travelers, and travelers use extrinsic cues to judge the quality of online reviews to eliminate costs associated with the information process. Of various cues used in online environments, this study examined an online reputation system in TripAdvisor.com and profiled the reviewers who post helpful reviews in the online travel community. The key findings include that helpful reviewers are those who travel more, actively post reviews, belong to any age and gender groups, and give lower hotel ratings. This study adds to research of online travel reviewers by characterizing helpful information creators among online content creators.

Travelers’ social identification and membership behaviors in online travel community

Given the growing use of the Internet, not only for the purchasing of holidays but also for exchange of information and sharing experiences, the issue of how social identification is created in an online community assumes potential importance. This study investigates travel members’ social identification through their online community experience and its positive behavioral outcomes (i.e., membership behaviors). Data are derived from 352 respondents belonging to MSN groups and are analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results of this study show that members’ active participation fortifies their sense of belonging to the online travel community, which makes members support the community by showing several positive member behaviors such as knowledge sharing, community promotion, and behavioral changes. Travel member’s interaction levels are further revealed to strengthen the magnitudes of the proposed relationships.

Determinants of the intention to participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer behavioral intentions

The increasing presence of firm-hosted online travel communities is motivating significant changes in the travel industry. This study attempts to explain consumers’ intentions to participate in such communities, and other consumer behavioral intentions, on the basis of a model that integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Technology Acceptance Model, and Social Identity Theory. In addition, this research investigates the link between the intention to participate in a community and two behavioral intentions that may benefit the host firm: the intention to use the firm’s products/services and the intention to recommend the host firm. The results reveal that the chosen theories provide an appropriate framework for explaining the intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive effect on the two other behavioral intentions. On the basis of the results, the authors propose some key conclusions and managerial implications.

Understanding the intention to follow the advice obtained in an online travel community

Online travel communities are an increasing phenomenon that is motivating great changes in consumer behavior in the travel sector. Travelers prefer to rely on peers’ recommendations and thus visit these communities to look for unbiased information. This work analyzes some of the precursors of the consumer intention to follow the advice obtained in an online travel community. Data show the relevant role of attitude toward the advice, trust in the online community that provides the advice and perceived usefulness of this information in order to determine the consumer intention to follow the advice obtained in the community. As well, trust and usefulness have been found to influence consumer attitude, and usefulness is also directly affected by trust in the community that provides the advice. Finally, a specific personal attribute – namely, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence –, moderates the effects of the antecedents of the intention to follow the advice obtained in a travel community. Based on these results, some implications for practice are widely discussed.

Residents as Travel Destination Information Providers: An Online Community Perspective

Prior research regarding residents and tourists has focused on their commonalities and interactions occurring on-site. What is missing from the literature is an examination of residents as information sources to potential tourists. Online travel communities offer such a viable venue. This study has two main purposes. The first is to examine the influence residents may have on travel decisions and identify the types of travel decisions they influence. The second is to compare the influence residents have on travel decisions with other online community members (i.e., experienced travelers). Treemapper is used to identify the country forums, and thematic networks are used for the analysis of influence of eWOM. The results reveal that nearly one-third of the communication threads (including 1,699 postings from 713 contributing members) have been influential for members. Residents are more influential in accommodations and food and beverage recommendations, whereas experienced travelers are more influential in the destination information category.

Member Reputation and its Influence on Travel Decisions: A Case Study of an Online Travel Community

Member Reputation and its Influence on Travel Decisions: A Case Study of an Online Travel Community

Collective Production of Public Goods in Online Travel Communities

Collective Production of Public Goods in Online Travel Communities

What Motivates Consumers to Write Online Travel Reviews?

The Web provides a fertile ground for word-of-mouth communication and more and more consumers write about and share product-related experiences online. Given the experiential nature of tourism, such first-hand knowledge communicated by other travelers is especially useful for travel decision making. However, very little is known about what motivates consumers to write online travel reviews. A Web-based survey using an online consumer panel was conducted to investigate consumers' motivations to write online travel reviews. Measurement scales to gauge the motivations to contribute online travel reviews were developed and tested. The results indicate that online travel review writers are mostly motivated by helping a travel service provider, concerns for other consumers, and needs for enjoyment/positive self-enhancement. Venting negative feelings through postings is clearly not seen as an important motive. Motivational differences were found for gender and income level. Implications of the findings for online travel communities and tourism marketers are discussed.