Considering Cultural Consonance in Trustworthiness of Online Hotel Reviews among Generation Y for Sustainable Tourism: An Extended TAM Model

So Young Bae and Ju Hyoung Han
Additional contact information
So Young Bae: Department of Culture, Tourism & Content, College of Hotel & Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Korea
Ju Hyoung Han: Department of Tourism Administration, College of Business Administration, Kangwon National University, 1 Kangwondaehak-gil, Chuncheon 24341, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: This study aims to predict Generation Y customers’ acceptance of user-generated content (UGC) websites by integrating an extended technology acceptance model (TAM), trustworthiness of online reviews, and cultural consensus and cultural consonance theory. To collect data, a free listing method was first used to recognize our ad hoc domain, i.e., the factors that determine the trustworthiness of online hotel reviews among Generation Y in South Korea, from an emic perspective. Based on the free listing results from 39 individuals, an online survey was conducted with 273 samples using a self-administered questionnaire. Cultural consensus analysis was conducted to determine whether there is a shared cultural model in trustworthiness factors among participants, and cultural consonance values were calculated. Then, a structural equation modeling technique was used to estimate how the proposed model explains the collected data. Results indicate that an agreed-upon cultural model of trustworthiness of online hotel reviews exists among sample members. Cultural consonance of trustworthiness was found to constitute a significant antecedent of perceived ease of use and attitude towards websites in the extended TAM model. This study can contribute to predict Generation Y customers’ acceptance of UGC websites and offer meaningful implications for sustainable tourism management, particularly when cultural variables are considered.

Keywords: cultural consensus; cultural consonance; online hotel reviews; trustworthiness; technology acceptance model; Generation Y (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2942/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2942/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2942-:d:342424

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().