The impact of eWOM source credibility on destination visit intention and online involvement: a case of Chinese tourists

Depósito de investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla https://idus.us.es/ “This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology on 30 November 2022, available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-11-2021-0321.” 1 The Impact of e-WOM Source Credibility on Destination Visit Intention and Online Involvement: A Case of Chinese Tourists Abstract Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationships between e-WOM source credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness, and how they influence consumers’ destination visit intention and online review involvement. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach was taken to this study. Data was collected via an online survey from 460 participants and analyzed using a partial least squares analysis. Findings The dimensions of e-WOM source credibility reduce travelers’ perceived risk of external information sources. Homophily has the greatest influence on overcoming perceptions of uncertainty and the potential risk inherent in online reviews. Tourists tend to believe people who are similar to themselves in socially significant ways. Lower levels of perceived risk are associated with higher levels of perceived information usefulness. This in turn boosts tourists’ intention to visit a destination and e-WOM involvement. Practical implications Results offer practical implications as to how the tourism industry can exploit e-WOM as the information source that consumers frequently consult. The results are also valuable for tourism stakeholders such as DMOs, allowing them to determine what type of information positively motivates potential tourist attitude and behavior toward destination visit. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies that examined the interaction between e-WOM credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness, and their effect on consumer behaviors in the tourism context. It also presents and discusses empirical findings from Chinese tourists. Keywords: e-WOM; Source Credibility; Perceived Risk; Information Usefulness; Destination visit intention; Involvement. 2 1. Introduction The emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) significantly influences managerial practices and strategies in the tourism industry (Law et al., 2019). ICTs generate collective wisdom and have become a go-to source of knowledge for tourists for their travel decision-making (Bilgihan et al., 2016; Gonzalez et al., 2019). Due to the intangibility, high cost, and high risk associated with tourism products and services (Lin et al., 2009), tourists search abundant information from a variety of sources such as blogs, social media, discussion forums, TripAdvisor, etc. (Becken et al., 2019). Online reviews offer tourists a better way of evaluating where to go and what to do and enable them to be more involved in planning their trips (González-Rodríguez et al., 2021; Li et al., 2019; Mariani & Predvoditeleva, 2019). In the tourism industry, online reviews are seen as electronic versions of traditional WOM as they incorporate comments posted by consumers (Leon, 2019). E-WOM refers to “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual or former customers about a product or company that is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the internet” (Hennig-Thurau et al. 2004, p. 39). E-WOM is a major informational source for customers to make travel decisions. Its fast expansion and wide acceptance among consumers are due to its perceived credibility (Dedeoglu, 2019), easy access (Goldsmith & Horowitz, 2006) and the abundance of information offered by experienced tourists (Litvin et al., 2018), which can help to reduce the perceived risk and make an informed choice. Tourists access e-WOM from multiple sources (e.g., social media posts, travel forums, etc.), and it can be challenging for them to examine the trustworthiness of the information they receive. Increasingly, consumers are faced with the challenge of figuring out which piece of online information is helpful and credible to better evaluate their options (Mariani 3 & Borghi, 2019). While more and more tourists utilize online reviews posted by other tourists in their decision making, previous studies suggest that these communication venues create opportunities for dishonest comments (Wu, 2014), such as sponsored reviews (Mayzlin et al., 2014). Such dubious information may be considered as unhelpful and confusing, which lead to less e-WOM engagement (Ali et al., 2019). Consequently, it is essential to inform practitioners on what makes e-WOM credible and useful for consumers. While tourists’ willingness to use e-WOM significantly influences their purchase behavior (Prendergast et al., 2010) and online involvement (Liang et al., 2013), it is important to examine the interaction between e-WOM credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness, and their effect on consumer behaviors. Against this backdrop, this study aims to investigate the relationships between e-WOM source credibility, perceived risk and information usefulness, and how they influence consumers’ destination visit intention and online review involvement by developing and testing a comprehensive theoretical model. More specifically, this research aims to investigate the impact of e-WOM source credibility on reducing perceived risk and increasing information usefulness which both in return are expected to influence the destination visit intention. In particular, the research questions are as follows: (1) Does e- WOM source credibility influence perceived risk? (2) Does perceived risk influence information usefulness? (3) Does information usefulness influence destination visit intention and online involvement? (4) Does destination visit intention influence e-WOM involvement? Though the role of eWOM in reducing consumers’ perceived risk has been recognized in various sectors (Muda & Hsamzah, 2021; Flanagin et al., 2014), the research gap persists, as no studies have examined how perceived risk affects travelers’ evaluation of eWOM, their intention to visit the destination. This study contributes to previous research by 4 extending the analysis of the influence of e-WOM’s credibility sources on the perceived risk by including information usefulness as another key driver of behaviour intention. Furthermore, the research model is an attempt to explain not only the antecedents of destination visit intention but also future online review involvement, which has practical implications for online travel forums and other eWOM platforms in meeting the needs of their users and encouraging consumer interactions. At the same time, it has been recognised that cultural backgrounds can affect consumers’ cognitive response and subsequent involvement of eWOM (Lee & Gretzel, 2014; Rui & Stefanone, 2013). While China, as the world’s biggest outbound tourism market (UNWTO, 2021) with the largest online population (Johnson, 2022), has received limited academic attention regarding potential tourists’ evaluation of online information and its effect on their destination visit intention and online engagement. This study is one of the first to examine the e-WOM credibility sources and the perceived risk derived from e-WOM on the tourist behaviour intention related to a tourism destination as well as future behaviour on e-WOM involvement to recommend a destination in a cultural context like China. This paper is structured as follows. Following this introduction, we offer a literature review and the hypotheses behind the proposed research model. Next, the methodology and data collection are presented, along with detailed data analysis and a discussion of the findings. Afterwards, the research provides theoretical and managerial implications and finally, recognizes some limitations and leads future research avenues. 2. Literature Review ICTs are key factors affecting e-business capabilities (Okoli et al., 2010). The current online environment is characterized by rapid digital development built on the rapidly expanding use of computers, smartphones, and the Internet, which has led to the development and adoption of new ways of accessing, measuring and ultimately 5 identifying consumer behavioural trends (Yohana et al., 2020). ICT and new types of online communication tools have had a major impact on the tourism sector (Ayeh et al., 2013), triggering measurable changes in tourist behaviour (Xie et al., 2014) and tourism marketing. In this context, many theorists and practitioners consider e-WOM to be a powerful communication tool (Jin & Phua, 2014) capable of attracting potential tourists. Therefore, destination marketing organizations pay special attention to e-WOM communication, as it allows potential tourists to share information with each other (Sen & Lehmann, 2007) and spread ideas and opinions faster than other methods (Chatterjee, 2001). Previous studies have shown that e-WOM has a measurable impact on consumers' decision-making process (Quang & Trang, 2016), purchase behaviour (Prendergast, Ko &Yuen, 2010) and online engagement (Liang et al., 2013). Based on the aforenamed discussion the theoretical framework and hypotheses have been developed. Specifically, the foundation of this study is the well-known Stimulus- Response Theory (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974). Stimulus-response theory refers to the belief that behaviour manifests itself as a result of the interaction between stimulus and response, thereby no behaviour can occur without a prior stimulus of some kind (Proctor & Vu, 2006). This theory is explained in detail by the stimulus-organism-response (S-O- R) framework more recently in the tourism context (Ali & Kim, 2015). According to the S-O-R framework, environmental attributes (stimulus) bring about individuals’ response through their impact on the individuals’ affective and cognitive conditions (organism), such as emotion, motivation, attitude, or reasoning (Chang & Chen, 2008). In this study, “stimulus” refers to social media-based e-WOM source credibility, including expertise, objectivity, homophily and trustworthiness (Hussain et al., 2017). The “organism” refers to all processes (affective-cognitive) occurring between the “stimulus” and the 6 “response.” The affective condition is the feeling or emotions manifested by travelers through the perceived risk when reading e-WOM. The cognitive state of travelers refers to the mindset of information acquisition, retention, and use. The “response component” refers to tourists’ willingness to visit a destination and engagement with e-WOM. 2.1. Source Credibility and Perceived Risk Online reviews have been found to play a key role in consumers’ decision-making process (Luca, 2016). Its importance is recognized by tourism practitioners, since the perceived quality of their intangible products is strongly affected by the comments of consumers based on their experience (Litvin et al., 2008). Such information can be accessed from multiple resources, e.g. social media or travel forums. It can be difficult for a potential tourist to determine whether the source is credible or not (Qiu et al., 2012). Source credibility refers to "the perceived trust of the recipients of information towards the source of information used" (Wu 2014, p. 13). In the context of this study, E-WOM credibility refers to the extent to which the online recommendation is perceived as reliable (Lo & Yao, 2019; Verma & Dewani, 2021). It is related to both the online platforms and the users who generated e-WOM. Current academic literature identifies the following dimensions as e-WOM source credibility: expertise, trustworthiness, objectivity and homophily (Hussain et al., 2017). Expertise includes the knowledge, belief, and experience that an individual has of what he/she writes about (Park & Lee, 2009). Trust is an important antecedent of personal behavior. This effect can be observed when consumers accept advice offered by e-WOM community members about a tourist product or destination. Trustworthiness can modify tourists’ perception through comments of any relevant tourist information, viewpoints and feelings conveyed by those comments (Fan et al., 2018). Objectivity is about the information’s impartiality, which can be affected by reviewers’ emotions and biases (Hussain et al., 2017). During the pre-visit decision- 7 making process, tourists look for objectivity in comments given by others. Homophily refers to individuals’ tendency to connect and bond with others based on similar characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and level of education (Rogers, 1983). Tourists tend to imitate, connect, and identify themselves with other individuals, specifically, who they perceive to be like them (Fang, 2014). It was found that homophily has a positive impact on consumers’ trust of eWOM sources (Chih et al., 2020). Source credibility may decrease consumers’ perceived risk (Chen, 2017), which refers to “the subjective belief that there is some probability of suffering a loss in pursuit of a desired outcome” (Pavlou & Gefen, 2004, p. 41). In the context of this study, perceived risk refers to potential tourists’ perception of possible undesirable outcomes of their trips (Tseng & Wang, 2016), ranging from disappointing visit experience to health and safety threats. High perceived risk leads to more information search from sources that are considered as reliable to reduce the uncertainty (Flanagin et al., 2014). While e-WOM is seen as independent (Yoo & Gretzel, 2008) and more trustworthy than the content provided by suppliers and marketers (Smith et al., 2005), it may not be 100% genuine, since companies can influence the reviews by offering incentives to creators of e-WOM to enhance their business (Filieri et al., 2015). As a result, consumers are increasingly suspicious of the review credibility (Filieri et al., 2018) and have to increase their effort to securitize the online comments (Yoo & Gretzel, 2008). To counter the risk involved in the pre-visit information acquisition process, tourists must judge whether the e-WOM is reliable and valid before adopting it (Moro & Rita, 2018). Quang and Trang (2016) found that the opinions provided by trusted friends or relatives, have a greater overall effect on tourists' intentions and behaviour than any advertising, as this trust reduces perceived risk. Hussain et al.’s (2017) research on food product consumers show that among the dimensions of source credibility, expertise, objectivity, 8 and trustworthiness affect perceived risk negatively, while homophily has a small negative influence on perceived risk. In the context of travel planning, Balouchi et al. (2018) found that users’ perceived risk is negatively influenced by trustworthiness, but not by expertise. The following hypothesis is proposed based on the above discussions. Hypothesis 1: There is a negative relationship between source credibility (expertise, objectivity, homophily and trustworthiness) and perceived risk. H1a: There is a negative relationship between expertise and perceived risk. H1b: There is a negative relationship between objectivity and perceived risk. H1c: There is a negative relationship between homophily and perceived risk. H1d: There is a negative relationship between trustworthiness and perceived risk. 2.2 Perceived Risk and Information Usefulness Perceived risk plays an essential role in the personal decision-making process since as it is associated with individuals’ unpleasant feelings and, thereby, with individuals’ nondesirable behaviors (Cunningham, 1967). Since risk aversion is a human instinct, perceived risk influences the entire decision-making process (Mitchell, 1992). With respect to the tourism sector, transactions between the supplier and customers are commonly influenced by perceptions of the latter. Tourists seek to mitigate risk by searching for the information required to make the best travel choice. E-WOM has been recognized as a significant information source for consumers to reduce perceived risk (Zinko et al., 2019). Information usefulness is a user perception concerning the value, informativeness and helpfulness of a piece of information (McKinney et al., 2002). It was revealed in the context of food products that customers consult eWOM to reduce potential hazards, and the perceived usefulness of the eWOM rose as the perceived risk decreases (Hussain et al., 2017). In a similar vein, in the context of tourism, when potential tourists’ 15 [Table 5 near here] Table 5 presents the cross-validated redundancy measure (Q2), which is suggested for examining a research model’s predictive relevance (Hair et al., 2012). This model has predictive validity for the three endogenous variables, as the Q2 coefficient is positive in all three cases. The R2 values refer to the predictor variables’ explanatory power for their respective constructs (Hair et al., 2017). “Source credibility” explains 67.2 percent of “perceived risk.” “Perceived risk” explains 43.9 percent of “information usefulness.” “Information usefulness” explains 33.1% of “Destination visit intention”, and both “Information usefulness” and “Destination visit intention” explain 46.7% of online review involvement. Table 5 also reports the f2-effect size to evaluate whether the omitted construct has a substantive impact on the endogenous construct (Hair et al., 2019). As can be observed, as a source of credibility, homophily has a major effect on the perceived risk, information usefulness is highly relevant for destination visit intention and destination visit intention is important for involvement. The other effects are considered to have medium effects (above 0.15 and below 0.35) on the respective endogenous variables. The Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) was also computed as an indication of the composite factor model’s fit (Henseler et al., 2016). An SRMR value of 0 would indicate a perfect fit and, generally speaking, an SRMR value of below 0.08 is recommended as adequate for PLS path models. A 0.062 SRMR was observed in this study, indicating adequate model fit. 5. Conclusions and Discussions 5.1. Conclusions This study aimed to analyze the influence of e-WOM source credibility (i.e., expertise, trustworthiness, objectivity and homophily) on travelers’ willingness to visit a destination and online involvement through perceived risk and information usefulness. According to study results, the dimensions of e-WOM source credibility - expertise, objectivity, 16 homophily and trustworthiness - reduce travelers’ perceived risk of external information sources. Homophily had the greatest influence on overcoming perceptions of uncertainty inherent in online reviews. Tourists tend to believe people who are like themselves in socially significant ways. They associate and bond with similar others and trust their opinions. In addition, the relevance of perceived risk for explaining information usefulness is observed. There exists an inverse relation between perceived risk and information usefulness. Tourists with lower perceived risk tend to feel higher information usefulness from e-WOM. This in turn boosts tourists’ intention to visit a destination and e-WOM involvement. The next sections provide several specific theoretical and practical implications. 5.2.Theoretical Implications This study examines e-WOM’s influence on tourists’ behavioral intention. Specifically, it analyzes the influence of sources of credibility (i.e., expertise, objectivity, homophily and trustworthiness) on e-WOM, perceived risk and, by extension, on information usefulness. The influence of information usefulness on destination visit intention and online review involvement has also been analyzed. Previous studies in this area identified e-WOM’s influence on consumer behavior and a firm’s sales performance (e.g., Duan et al., 2008). Despite the great significance of e-WOM, to date very few research studies have investigated the drivers of e-WOM involvement (Lim & Chung, 2011). Most of this research focuses on analyzing objective data such as sales levels and numbers of posted reviews or ratings (Zhang et al., 2013). This research sheds light on how both e-WOM and certain related variables might potentially be key drivers of consumer behavior and provides some understanding of how e-WOM influences consumer behavior in the tourism context. The findings support the theoretical notion individuals tend to believe in other people who are similar to themselves. Similar people tend to associate with and bond with one 17 another. This holds true in online environments. Homophily has the greatest influence on overcoming perceptions of uncertainty inherent in online reviews. Similar results were found by Leonhardt et al. (2020) that perceived homophily increases trust and consumers’ reliance on user-generated product information. In addition, the presented theoretical model provides empirical support for the view that perceived risk is positively associated with perceived information usefulness. Potential tourists with high perceived risk may search information extensively to identify useful information and rely on that source to reduce risk (Cho & Lee, 2006). This echoes the findings of Tseng and Wang (2016), which showed that perceived risk increases information adoption intention directly and indirectly via information usefulness. This study confirms that “source credibility” contributes to reducing perceived risk. This result is in line with the previous research (Chen, 2017). It is also supported in previous studies where the four dimensions of source credibility, expertness, trustworthiness, homophily and objectivity are considered to predict consumer’s perceived risk (Wu, 2014; Hussain et al. 2017) and purchase intention (Muda & Hsamzah, 2021). Wu (2014) and Hussain et al. (2017) found significant and negative effects of expertness, trustworthiness and objectivity on perceived risk. Balouchi et al. (2018) found that expertise has a significant negative effect on perceived risk, whereas trustworthiness had no significant effect on perceived risk. Unlike our study, Wu (2014) and Hussain et al. (2017) did not find a significant effect between homophily and perceived risk, although previous studies revealed that the homophily dimension is more influential in the consumer’s decision-making process (Steffes & Burgee, 2009). Additionally, we observed that e-WOM information usefulness influences tourists’ online reviews involvement both directly and indirectly via destination visitor intention. A number of e-WOM motivations have been identified, including enjoyment and self- 18 enhancement, social benefits, reciprocity and altruism, consumer empowerment, dissonance reduction, economic incentives, and need for status (Yoo & Grezel, 2011; Yang, 2017; Yang & Mattila, 2017). Considering the direct link between information usefulness and e-WOM involvement, it is likely that users who have benefited from the online reviews try to help others out of the reciprocity or altruism motives (Yang, 2017). In addition, when information usefulness leads to stronger destination visit intention, the individual tends to seek more information about the destination via e-WOM to make more informed decisions. Finally, the current research confirms the use of the S-O-R framework in an online environment. Consumers' choice of destinations and their decision-making is largely influenced by their sensory organs (Rajaguru, 2014). The online environment (i.e., e- WOM source credibility) influences tourists' response (i.e., online involvement and visit intention), which is mediated by the emotional state of the individual (i.e., perceived risk). Stimuli develop tourists’ cognitive and emotional states, which in turn determine the behavioral responses of the approach. Our research has validated the applicability of the framework for predicting consumer responses to credible online comments. 5.3.Practical Implications The study results offer clear practical implications as to how the tourism industry can exploit e-WOM as the information source that consumers frequently consult (Dey & Sarma, 2010). Online reviews are increasingly important for the tourism industry’s understanding of consumer behavior regarding its products and services and for improving the effectiveness of marketing campaigns (López & Sicilia, 2014). Though some countries have seen slow recovery of their tourism industry, it is expected that the COVID-19 pandemic will still be perceived as a health risk by potential tourists (UNWTO, 2022). E-WOM platforms can be employed by DMOs to inform potential 19 tourists of the health and safety protocols and procedures to rebuild confidence. Based on the findings of this research, it is suggested that the eWOM messages should be presented in an objective manner, e.g. supported by official statistics and first-hand photos, and produced by users with relevant expertise, to be considered trustworthy and useful by potential tourists. Consequently, they can be more confident about the destination and intend to visit in the near future. In addition, considering the effect of information usefulness on destination visit intention and online involvement, it is recommended that DMOs and tourism businesses offer incentives to encourage travelers to share their experience and knowledge about the tourism products and services. The platform should provide an easy feedback function for users to conveniently assess the usefulness of the e-WOM. On the one hand, this will enable users to identify the most helpful information. On the other hand, it gives positive reinforcement for those who generate quality content. Membership and associated reward point system can be used to encourage travellers to share useful information, with points linked to membership benefits such as tourism product vouchers. As source credibility significantly affects perceived risk, it is important for e-WOM platforms to have mechanisms to boost the key dimensions of e-WOM source credibility, such as expertise, objectivity and trustworthiness. Homophily is found to have the greatest influence on travelers’ perceived risk. Consequently, e-WOM platforms may offer incentives (e.g., extra points) for users to provide detailed profile information, such as age, gender, profession, interest, lifestyle, and profile photos so that it is easier for users to identify people who are socially similar to themselves. In addition, the user’s review statistics, such as the number of reviews generated, link to these reviews, membership history and usefulness of reviews as rated by other users should be available for other 20 members to check, as they are indicators of his/her expertise and trustworthiness, which impact on other users’ judgement of source credibility. Our findings offer insights to understand tourists’ decision-making process. The results are valuable for tourism stakeholders such as DMOs, allowing them to determine what type of information help to reduce tourists’ perceived risk and increase perceived usefulness of information, which are linked to destination visit intention and further online involvement. Additionally, our research contributes a predictive behaviour model that tests the potential influence of perception variables on consumer behaviour in a tourism context. 5.4.Limitations and Future Research The study has some limitations that might provide directions for future research. First, due to time and financial constraints, the paper adopted a cross-sectional research design, focusing on tourists’ e-WOM involvement at the pre-visit stage. Second, the sample were restricted to Chinese tourists, but people in other countries may have different attitudes towards e-WOM. Future research may adopt a longitudinal and multicultural approach to examine tourists’ e-WOM involvement throughout the trip process with consideration of cultural influences. Finally, we collected data before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Consumer behavior changed dramatically during this time. Future research might test the model in a post COVID-19 world. 21 References Ali, F &, Kim, W.G. (2015). A comparative study of CB-SEM and PLS-SEM for theory development in hospitality research. Proceedings of the 3rd world research summit for tourism and hospitality, Orlando, Florida Ali, Y.S., Hussin, A.R.C., & Dahlan, H.M. (2019). Electronic Word of Mouth engagement in social commerce platforms: An empirical study. Information Development, 36(3), 438-456. Ayeh, J. K., Au, N., & Law, R. (2013). Predicting the intention to use consumer-generated media for travel planning. Tourism management, 35, 132-143. Bailey, J. E., & Pearson, S. W. (1983). Development of a tool for measuring and analyzing computer user satisfaction. Management Science, 29(5), 530-545. Balouchi, M., Aziz, Y. A., Rahman, A. A., & Yusof, R. (2018). Impact of perceived risk and source credibility on intention to use of consumer generated contents for travel planning. International Journal of Economics and Management, 12(Special Issue 2), 661-672. Becken, S., Alaei, A. R., & Wang, Y. (2019). Benefits and pitfalls of using tweets to assess destination sentiment. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 11 (1), 19-34. Becker, J.-M., Rai, A., & Rigdon, E. (2013). Predictive validity and formative measurement in structural equation modelling: Embracing practical relevance. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). Bilgihan, A., Barreda, A., Okumus, F., & Nusair, K. (2016). Consumer perception of knowledge-sharing in travel-related online social networks. Tourism Management, 52, 287-296. 22 Chang, H.-H., & Chen, S. W. (2008). The impact of online store environment cues on purchase intention: Trust and perceived risk as a mediator. Online Information Review, 32(6), 818-841. Chatterjee, P. (2001). Online reviews: Do consumers use them? In M. C. Gilly J. Myers- Levy (Eds.), ACR 2001 Proceedings, Association for Consumer Research. pp. 129-134. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=900158. Chen, M. F. (2017). Modeling an extended theory of planned behavior model to predict intention to take precautions to avoid consuming food with additives. Food Quality and Preference, 58, 24–33. Cheung, C., & Lee, M. K. O. (2012). What drives consumers to spread electronic word of mouth in online consumer-opinion platforms? Decision Support Systems, 53(1), 218- 225. Chih, W.-H., Hsu, L.-C. & Ortiz, J. (2020). The antecedents and consequences of the perceived positive eWOM review credibility. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 120(6), 1217-1243. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-10-2019-0573 Cho, J. & Lee, J. (2006). An integrated model of risk and risk-reducing strategies. Journal of Business Research, 59 (1), 112-120. Chu, C.-W., Lu, & H.-P. (2007). Factors influencing online music purchase intention in Taiwan: An empirical study based on the value-intention framework. Internet Research, 17(2), 139-155. Cunningham, S. M. (1967). The major dimensions of perceived risk. In D. F. Cox (Ed.), Risk taking and information handling in consumer behavior (pp. 82-11). Boston: Harvard University. 23 Dey, B., & Sarma, M. K. (2010). Information source usage among motive-based segments of travelers to newly emerging tourist destinations. Tourism Management, 31(3), 341-344. Dedeoglu, B.B. (2019). Are information quality and source credibility important for shared content on social media? The moderating role of gender. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31 (1), 513-534. Dixit, S. & Badgaiyan, A.J. (2016). Towards improved understanding of reverse logistics–Examining mediating role of return intention Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 107, 115-128. Dodds, W. B., Monroe, K. B., & Grewal, D. (1991). Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyers’ product evaluations. Journal of Marketing Research, 28(3), 307-319. Duan, W., Gu, B., & Whinston, A. B. (2008). The dynamics of online word-of-mouth and product sales—An empirical investigation of the movie industry. Journal of Retailing, 84(2), 233-242. Fan, R., Xu, K., & Zhao, J. (2018). An agent-based model for emotion contagion and competition in online social media. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications. 495, 245–259. Fang, Y-H. (2014). Beyond the credibility of electronic word of mouth: Exploring eWOM adoption on social networking sites from affective and curiosity perspectives. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 18(3), 67-102. Filieri, R., Alguezaui, S., & McLeay, F. (2015). Why do travelers trust TripAdvisor? Antecedents of trust towards consumer-generated media and its influence on recommendation adoption and word of mouth. Tourism Management, 51, 174-185. 24 Filieri, R., Hofacker, C. F., & Alguezaui, S. (2018). What makes information in online consumer reviews diagnostic over time? The role of review relevancy, factuality, currency, source credibility and ranking score. Computers in Human Behavior, 80, 122-131. Flanagin, A.J. Metzger, M.J. Pure, R. Markov, A. & Hartsell, E. (2014). Mitigating risk in ecommerce transactions: Perceptions of information credibility and the role of usergenerated ratings in product quality and purchase intention, Electronic Commerce Research, 14 (1), 1-23. Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39-50. Goldsmith, R. E., & Horowitz, D. (2006). Measuring motivations for online opinion seeking. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 6(2), 2-14. Gonzalez, R., Gasco, J., & Llopis, J. (2019). ICTs in hotel management: a research review, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(9), 3583- 3609. González-Rodríguez, M. R., Díaz-Fernández, M. C., Bilgihan, A., Shi, F., & Okumus, F. (2021). UGC involvement, motivation and personality: Comparison between China and Spain. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 19, 100543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2020.100543. Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2019). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Sage Publications. Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Mena, J. A. (2012). An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modelling in marketing research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3), 414-433. 31 Wu, M.-H. (2014). Relationships among source credibility of electronic word of mouth perceived risk, and consumer behavior on consumer generated media. [Master's thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst]. University of Massachusetts Amherst eTheses Repository. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Xie, K. L., Zhang, Z., & Zhang, Z. (2014). The business value of online consumer reviews and management response to hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 43, 1-12. Yang, F.X.(2017). Effects of restaurant satisfaction and knowledge sharing motivation on eWOM intentions: the moderating role of technology acceptance factors. Journal of Hospitality &. Tourism Research, 41 (1), 93-127 Yang, W. & Mattila, A.S. (2017) The impact of status seeking on consumers’ word of mouth and product preference—a comparison between luxury hospitality services and luxury goods. Journal of Hospitality &. Tourism Research, 41 (1), pp. 3-22 Yohana, N. K. Y., Dewi, K. A. P., & Giantari, I. G. A. K. (2020). The Role of Brand Image Mediates the Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth (E-WOM) on Purchase Intention. American Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Research, 4(1), 215- 220. Yoo,K.H. & Gretzel, U. (2011). Influence of personality on travel-related consumergenerated media creation. Computers in Human Behavior, 27 (2), 609-621 Yoo, K. H., & Gretzel, U. (2008). What motivates consumers to write online travel reviews? Information Technology & Tourism, 10(4), 283-295. Zhang, L., Ma, B., & Cartwright, D. K. (2013). The impact of online user reviews on cameras sales. European Journal of Marketing, 47(7), 1115-1128. 32 Zinko, R., Stolk, P., Furner, Z., & Almond, B. (2019). A picture is worth a thousand words: how images influence information quality and information load in online reviews. Electronic Markets, 1-15