The predictive role of tourist-generated content on travel intentions: emotional mechanisms as mediators

ABSTRACT

On the basic of Stimulus-Organism-Response model, this study aims to uncover emotional mechanisms behind the travel intention of social networking service users when they engage with tourist-generated content on the platform “WeChat Moments.” Data were collected from 465 respondents in mainland China via online questionnaire. All analysis was conducted by using PLS-SEM. The study results indicated that joviality positively mediates the relationship between perceived enjoyment and travel intention, and relative deprivation fully mediated the relationship between perceived conspicuousness and travel envy. This study clarifies the importance of emotional mechanisms on tourist-generated content regarding travel intention and distinguishing emotions in tourism marketing and social networking services.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourist-generated content
• travel intention
• WeChat Moments
• emotional mechanisms
• social media wellness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution

Dr. Xiong undertook the research design, conducted the literature review, data analyses, and wrote the manuscript. Ms. Huang conducted the literature review, the data analyses, and wrote the manuscript. Dr. Okumus worked on the introduction, discussion, and conclusion sections, edited and revised the manuscript. Ms. Chen collects the data and undertook the data analyses. Finally, Dr. Fan supervised the entire study. All authors contributed to and have given approval to the final manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42071189, 31871129, 42071191); Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2020A1515010390).