E-WOM and Accommodation

TLDR

Online reviews continue to spread word‑of‑mouth in the travel industry, with travelers increasingly relying on them for accommodation decisions. The study aims to clarify the behavioral effects of e‑word‑of‑mouth on travelers. Using the elaboration likelihood model, the authors assess how six central and two peripheral information‑quality dimensions influence travelers’ adoption of online‑review content. Results show that product ranking, accuracy, value‑added, relevance, and timeliness strongly predict adoption, and high‑involvement travelers employ both central and peripheral routes.

Abstract

Online reviews (ORs) are continuing to foster a renewed spread of word-of-mouth in the travel industry. Travelers are increasingly using ORs to inform them about accommodations and other tourism-related products. As such, it is important to improve our understanding of the behavioral consequences of e-word-of-mouth. In this article, we adopt the elaboration likelihood model to identify what influences travelers to adopt information from ORs in their decision making. We measure the influence of six dimensions of information quality that are part of the central route and two dimensions that are associated with the peripheral route of persuasion. The results of this study reveal that product ranking, information accuracy, information value-added, information relevance, and information timeliness are strong predictors of travelers’ adoption of information from ORs on accommodations. These results imply that high-involvement travelers adopt both central (information quality) and peripheral (product ranking) routes when they process information from ORs.