The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings

Qiang Ye; Rob Law; Bin Gu; Wei Chen

doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014

The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings

Qiang Ye, Rob Law, Bin Gu, Wei Chen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

821 Scopus citations

Abstract

The increasing use of web 2.0 applications has generated numerous online user reviews. Prior studies have revealed the influence of user-generated reviews on the sales of products such as CDs, books, and movies. However, the influence of online user-generated reviews in the tourism industry is still largely unknown both to tourism researchers and practitioners. To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management, we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	634-639
Number of pages	6
Journal	Computers in Human Behavior
Volume	27
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014
State	Published - Mar 2011
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Hotel
Online bookings
Traveler behavior
User-generated content

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Human-Computer Interaction
General Psychology

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10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014

Cite this

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title = "The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings",

abstract = "The increasing use of web 2.0 applications has generated numerous online user reviews. Prior studies have revealed the influence of user-generated reviews on the sales of products such as CDs, books, and movies. However, the influence of online user-generated reviews in the tourism industry is still largely unknown both to tourism researchers and practitioners. To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management, we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.",

keywords = "Hotel, Online bookings, Traveler behavior, User-generated content",

author = "Qiang Ye and Rob Law and Bin Gu and Wei Chen",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the earlier versions of this paper. This study was partially funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, NSFC ( 70971033 , 70890080-70890082 ) and NCET-08-0172 . The authors would like to thank Ms. Wen Shi and Mr. Lei Xiao for their help with the survey and data collection. We are grateful to the Bureau of Tourism and the participated hotels in Harbin City for providing valuable assistance in this study.",

year = "2011",

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doi = "10.1016/j.chb.2010.04.014",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "27",

pages = "634--639",

journal = "Computers in Human Behavior",

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AU - Ye, Qiang

AU - Law, Rob

AU - Gu, Bin

AU - Chen, Wei

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the earlier versions of this paper. This study was partially funded by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, NSFC ( 70971033 , 70890080-70890082 ) and NCET-08-0172 . The authors would like to thank Ms. Wen Shi and Mr. Lei Xiao for their help with the survey and data collection. We are grateful to the Bureau of Tourism and the participated hotels in Harbin City for providing valuable assistance in this study.

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N2 - The increasing use of web 2.0 applications has generated numerous online user reviews. Prior studies have revealed the influence of user-generated reviews on the sales of products such as CDs, books, and movies. However, the influence of online user-generated reviews in the tourism industry is still largely unknown both to tourism researchers and practitioners. To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management, we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.

AB - The increasing use of web 2.0 applications has generated numerous online user reviews. Prior studies have revealed the influence of user-generated reviews on the sales of products such as CDs, books, and movies. However, the influence of online user-generated reviews in the tourism industry is still largely unknown both to tourism researchers and practitioners. To bridge this knowledge gap in tourism management, we conducted an empirical study to identify the impact of online user-generated reviews on business performance using data extracted from a major online travel agency in China. The empirical findings show that traveler reviews have a significant impact on online sales, with a 10 percent increase in traveler review ratings boosting online bookings by more than five percent. Our results highlight the importance of online user-generated reviews to business performance in tourism.

KW - Hotel

KW - Online bookings

KW - Traveler behavior

KW - User-generated content

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The influence of user-generated content on traveler behavior: An empirical investigation on the effects of e-word-of-mouth to hotel online bookings

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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