eWOM, destination preference and consumer involvement – a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) lens

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine the moderated-mediation impact of consumer involvement and destination preference on travel intentions. Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) and elaboration likelihood model (ELM) guided the conceptual framework of this study. Design/methodology/approach Churchill’s (1979) guidelines instrumentalize the scientific development and validation of measurement scales for data collection. The authors used higher-order multivariate analyzes such as structural equation modeling (SEM) and the Hayes process model for evaluating the hypotheses. The study uses Bauer et al. (2006) method to assess the conditional indirect effects of Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on travel intention through destination preference at varying levels of consumer involvement. Findings SOR and ELM model successfully explained the moderated-mediation effect of eWOM, consumer involvement and destination preference in influencing the travel intentions. Results broaden the applicability of SOR and ELM in tourism marketing. Results indicate that consumer involvement moderated the direct and indirect influence of eWOM on travel intention via destination preference, such that the eWOM influence in shaping travel intention is stronger for highly involved consumers. Research limitations/implications The present study broadens the applicability of integrated SOR and ELM models to explain the moderated-mediation network between eWOM and travel intentions. Study findings offer new avenues to tourism marketers for the magnified effect of eWOM for promoting tourism. Tourism marketers may use customer journeys to build destination preference through organic information exchange with prospective travelers. Future researchers and practitioners can build prescriptive and predictive models based on altered levels of consumer involvement. Originality/value Present study pioneers in examining the interactive effect of moderated mediation network of consumer involvement and destination preference in shaping the travel intention. Grounded in SOR and ELM model, the present study is a trailblazer to offer the integrated moderated-mediation model between eWOM, destination preference, consumer involvement and travel intention.

Tourists’ travel intention: revisiting the TPB model with age and perceived risk as moderator and attitude as mediator

“…This could explain why younger respondents showed higher level of subjective norm to travel intention link. Therefore, it is also vital for policymakers to be aware of the information or messages that are being disseminated through social media to the audiences and the impacts on individual’s travel behavior (Yadav et al , 2021).…”

Tourism destination brand equity, brand authenticity and revisit intention: the mediating role of tourist satisfaction and the moderating role of destination familiarity

“…The “organism” refers to the inward state of individuals’ affection and feelings and includes the entire process of intervening between the stimulus and response (Ruan et al , 2020). The “response” represents individuals’ subsequent responses, which can appear as approach/avoidance behaviors (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974; Yadav et al , 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, the “response” can appear as approach/avoidance behavior (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974), and behavioral intention is critical in predicting future behavior (Jang and Feng, 2007). Therefore, revisit intention has been defined as a response to specific stimuli in previous studies that predict revisit intention using the S-O-R theory (Yadav et al , 2021; Kumar et al , 2021).…”

“…For instance, Wang et al (2018) used the S-O-R theory to explore the relationship between green image (stimulus) and tourists' word-of-mouth (WOM) intention (response), and the mediating role of green satisfaction and green trust (organism) in the context of the Chinese green hotel industry. Yadav et al (2021) adopted the S-O-R theory to explain the relationship between electronic word of mouth (stimulus), destination preference (organism) and travel intention (response). Cheng et al (2020) investigated the relationship among the variables, namely, perception of marketing strategies and motivation (stimulus), positive emotions and satisfaction (organism) and revisit intention (response) based on the S-O-R theory.…”

How does celebrity involvement influence travel intention? The case of promoting Chengdu on TikTok

“…According to Hennig-Thurau et al‘s ( 2013 ) study, UGC-based social media marketing can engage consumers through entertainment, interaction, fashion, customization, and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) methods. Thus, many tourist destinations use UGC-based social media for tourism marketing due to the benefits of the medium (Fan et al 2019 ; Williams et al 2017 ; Yadav et al 2021 ). Inspired by previous successful applications of UGC-based social media on destination marketing, many destinations (e.g., Chengdu, China) attract tourists through the combination of TikTok and celebrity effect.…”