Vacationers and eWOM: Who Posts, and Why, Where, and What?

TLDR

Vacationers use and post information online during their travel planning, generating electronic word‑of‑mouth content. The study seeks to identify which vacationers post eWOM, their motivations, preferred sites, and message characteristics. The authors adopt a topic‑centered, site‑independent approach that examines motivations across all vacation sites. Results show that a vacationer’s motivation shapes both the choice of site and the content posted, with self‑directed motives distinguishing them from those motivated by helping others.

Abstract

Vacationers not only read and use information from the Internet during their choice process, but also post information on the Internet. This posted information is described as eWOM (electronic word of mouth). The central questions are, which type of vacationers do post, with which motivations do they post reviews, on which type of site, and what are the message characteristics? These questions are approached in a way that differs from the usual site-centered approach. It is topic-centered and independent of a specific review site, and it focuses on motivations for all vacation sites. The conclusion is that why a vacationer makes a contribution influences the choice of a site to which he or she contributes and what he or she contributes. The main discriminating motivational factor is the one that sets vacationers with a primarily self-directed motivation apart from those with a more other-directed help motivation. Implications for tourism research and vacation marketing are discussed.