Help me tripadvisor! examining the relationship between tripadvisor e-WOM attributes, trusts towards online reviews and travellers behavioural intentions

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the impact of TripAdvisor reviews on behavioural intentions, basing on travellers' trust towards the e-WOM reviews. Four factors are proposed for building travellers’ trust and behavioural intentions: information quality, credibility, adoption and usefulness. Trust is expected to mediate the relationship between eWOM attributes and travellers’ behavioural intention. Data from 410 travellers were analysed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), and the findings show that TripAdvisor e-WOM attributes (information credibility, adoption and usefulness) significantly influence the traveller's trust. Besides, traveller behavioural intention was influenced considerably by TripAdvisor e-WOM information credibility and usefulness. Lastly, trust in e-WOM significantly mediates travellers' behavioural intention. This paper confirms the importance of e-WOM in the context of the tourism industry and travellers' trust and behaviour towards online review, which altered how consumers behave before deciding to travel.