Motivations for sharing negative experiences through online review sites among different generations

Abstract

This research paper focuses primarily on the psychological aspects of dissatisfied tourists and their inner motivations to share negative online reviews (NORs). More precisely, the purpose of this research is to reveal how motivation to share NORs driven by dissatisfaction with the handling of complaints influences the perceived importance and usefulness of online review sites and the willingness to share information with others (altruism). The study also aims to understand differences among generations on both the model level and the path level. To meet study objectives, this paper includes descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses on a sample of 419 respondents. Results show that motivation to share online reviews driven by dissatisfaction with complaint handling is an important predictor of altruism and utility. Moreover, utility has a positive influence on the perception of importance and altruism.