The impact of social network on tourist attitude towards ecotourism: a case of Vietnam
Main Article Content
Abstract
As a result of the increase in global climate change and the development of social networks, the study of ecotourism and the impact of social networks has been getting greater attention. Nonetheless, research examining the impact of social networks on ecotourism has been limited. This study investigates the relationship between ease of use, perceived usefulness, wordof-mouth (WOM), perceived trust, and tourist attitude towards ecotourism, and examines the moderating role of perceived risk on these relationships in the context of Vietnam. The regression analysis was conducted with data from answers of 231 respondents. The results show that perceived trust has the largest impact on tourist attitude towards ecotourism, which is followed by perceived usefulness. WOM communication has the least impact. The study also highlights the role of perceived risk in moderating the relationship between social networks and tourist attitudes.
Article Details
Keywords
Tourist attitude, Social network, Ecotourism, Vietnam
References
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Karamustafa, K. and Erbaş, E. (2011), “Satın alma karar sürecinde algılanan risk: paket turlara yönelik bir araştırma”, Tüketici ve Tüketim Araştırmaları Dergisi, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 103 - 144.
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Liao, C.H. and Tsou, C.W. (2009), “User acceptance of computer-mediated communication: the SkypeOut case”, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 4595 - 4603.
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Navío-Marco, J., Ruiz-Gómez, L.M. and Sevilla-Sevilla, C. (2018), “Progress in information technology and tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet-Revisiting Buhalis and Law’s landmark study about eTourism”, Tourism Management, Vol. 69 No. 1, pp. 460 - 470.
Nguyen, T.K.C. and Le, T.P. (2020), “Impact of environmental belief and nature-based destination image on ecotourism attitude”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 489 - 505.
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Weiler, B. and Smith, L. (2009), “Does more interpretation lead to greater outcomes? An assessment of the impacts of multiple layers of interpretation in a zoo context”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 91 - 105.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R. (2015), “Information technology and consumer behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 244 - 249.
Yaakop, A., Anuar, M.M. and Omar, K. (2013), “Like it or not: Issue of credibility in Facebook advertising”, Asian Social Science, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 154 - 167.
Yan, X. and Dai, S. (2009), “Consumer’s online shopping influence factors and decision-making model”, in SIGeBIZ track of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, pp. 89 - 102, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Al-Somali, S.A., Gholami, R. and Clegg, B. (2009), “An investigation into the acceptance of online banking in Saudi Arabia”, Technovation, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 130 - 141.
Arndt, J. (1967), “Role of product-related conversations in the diffusion of a new product”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 291 - 295.
Bamoriya, D. and Singh, P. (2012), “Mobile banking in India: Barriers in adoption and service preferences”, Journal of Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 1 - 7.
Bauer, R.A. (1960), “Consumer behavior as risk-taking”, in Proceedings of the 43rd National Conference of the American Marketing Association, June 15-17, Chicago, Illinois, 1960.
Bjork, P. (2000), “Ecotourism from a conceptual perspective, an extended definition of a unique tourism form”, International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 189 - 202.
Bourgonjon, J., Valcke, M., Soetaert, R. and Schellens, T. (2010), “Students’ perceptions about the use of video games in the classroom”, Computers & Education, Vol. 54, pp. 1145 - 1156.
Buhalis, D. and Law, R. (2008), “Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet - The state of eTourism research”, Tourism Management, Vol. 29 No. 4, pp. 609 - 623.
Chen, Y., Wang, Q. and Xie, J. (2011), “Online social interactions: a natural experiment on word of mouth versus observational learning”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 8 No. 2, pp. 238 - 254.
Cheng, T., Wu, H.C. and Huang, L. (2013), “The influence of place attachment on the relationship between destination attractiveness and environmentally responsible behavior for island tourism in Penghu, Taiwan”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 21 No. 8, pp. 1166 - 1187.
Cheung, C.M., Chiu, P.Y. and Lee, M.K. (2011), “Online social networks: why do students use Facebook?”, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 1337 - 1343.
Chevalier, J.A. and Mayzlin, D. (2006), “The effect of word of mouth on sales: online book reviews”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 345 - 354.
Cronbach, L.J. and Shavelson, R.J. (2004), “My current thoughts on coefficient alpha and successor procedures”, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Vol. 64 No. 3, pp. 391 - 418.
Chu, R. (2001), “What online Hong Kong travelers look for on airline/travel websites?”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 95 - 100.
Chung, J.E., Park, N., Wang, H., Fulk, J. and McLaughlin, M. (2010), “Age differences in perceptions of online community participation among non-users: an extension of the technology acceptance model”, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 26, pp. 1674 - 1684.
Cochran, W.G. (1977), Sampling techniques, (3rd ed.), New York, NY: Wiley.
Davis, F.D. (1989), “Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology”, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 319 - 340.
Dawson, R. (2007), “Future of Media Report 2007”, Report of the Future Exploration Network, Available at www.rossdawsonblog.com/Future_of _Media_Report2007.pdf (Accessed 13 March 2020).
De Bruyn, A. and Lilien, G.L. (2008), “A multi-stage model of word-of-mouth influence through viral marketing”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 151 - 163.
Dellarocas, C. (2003), “The digitization of word of mouth, promise and challenges of online feedback mechanisms”, Management Science, Vol. 49 No. 10, pp. 1407 - 1424.
Di Pietro, L., Di Virgilio, F. and Pantano, E. (2012), “Social network for the choice of tourist destination:
attitude and behavioral intention”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 60 - 75.
Doong, H.S., Wang, H.C. and Foxall, G.R. (2011), “An investigation of consumers’ web store shopping:
a view of click-and-mortar company”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 210 - 216.
Dunlap, R.E. and Van Liere, K. (1978), “The New Environmental Paradigm: a proposed measuring instrument and preliminary results”, Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 9, pp. 10 - 19.
Fan, Y.W. and Miao, Y.F. (2012), “Effect of electronic word-of-mouth on consumer purchase intention: the perspective of gender differences”, International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 175 - 190.
Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975), Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: an introduction to theory and research, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA.
Gangwar, R.K., Dhumale, V.A., Gosavi, S.W., Sharma, R.B. and Datar, S.S. (2013), “Catalytic activity of allamanda mediated photosynthesized anisotropic gold nanoparticles”, Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 45 - 55.
Gretzel, U. and Yoo, K.H. (2008), “Use and impact of online travel reviews”, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 35 - 46.
Jeong, E. and Jang, S.S. (2011), “Restaurant experiences triggering positive electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) motivations”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 356 - 366.
Karamustafa, K. and Erbaş, E. (2011), “Satın alma karar sürecinde algılanan risk: paket turlara yönelik bir araştırma”, Tüketici ve Tüketim Araştırmaları Dergisi, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 103 - 144.
Kasavana, M.L., Nusair, K. and Teodosic, K. (2010), “Online social networking: redefining the human web”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 68 - 82.
Kim, B. and Han, I. (2011), “The role of utilitarian and hedonic values and their antecedents in a mobile data service environment”, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 2311 - 2318.
Kim, W., Jeong, O.R. and Lee, S.W. (2010), “On social Web sites”, Information Systems, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 215 - 236.
Kwon, O. and Wen, Y. (2010), “An empirical study of the factors affecting social network service use”, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 254 - 263.
Lee, Y.N (2021), “This is Asia’s top-performing economy in the Covid pandemic — it’s not China”, Available at https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/28/vietnam-is-asias-top-performing-economyin-2020-amid-covid-pandemic.html (Accessed 10 May, 2021).
Lee, W.H. and Moscardo, G. (2005), “Understanding the impact of ecotourism resort experiences on tourists’ environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 13 No. 6, pp. 546 - 565.
Liao, C.H. and Tsou, C.W. (2009), “User acceptance of computer-mediated communication: the SkypeOut case”, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 4595 - 4603.
Lippa, R.A. (1990), Introduction to social psychology, Wadsworth, CA.
Mitchell, V.W. (1999), “Consumer perceived risk: conceptualizations and models”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 163 - 195.
Navío-Marco, J., Ruiz-Gómez, L.M. and Sevilla-Sevilla, C. (2018), “Progress in information technology and tourism management: 30 years on and 20 years after the internet-Revisiting Buhalis and Law’s landmark study about eTourism”, Tourism Management, Vol. 69 No. 1, pp. 460 - 470.
Nguyen, T.K.C. and Le, T.P. (2020), “Impact of environmental belief and nature-based destination image on ecotourism attitude”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 489 - 505.
Nunnally, J.C. and Bernstein, I.H. (1994), “Validity”, Psychometric Theory, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 99 - 132.
Pantano, E. (2011), “Cultural factors affecting consumer behavior: a new perception model”, EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 117 - 136.
Pavlou, P.A. (2003), “Consumer acceptance of electronic commerce: Integrating trust and risk with the technology acceptance model”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 101 - 134.
Pham, H.S.T. and Nguyen, T.K.C. (2020), “Ecotourism intention: the roles of environmental concern, time perspective, and destination image”, Tourism Review, Forthcoming, Available at: http:// shura.shu.ac.uk/26474/ (Accessed 14 May, 2021).
Plank, R.E. and Newell, S.J. (2007), “The effect of social conflict on relationship loyalty in business markets”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 59 - 67.
Schillewaert, N., Ahearne, M.J., Frambach, R.T. and Moenaert, R.K. (2005), “The adoption of information technology in the sales force”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 323 - 336.
Thuan, T.V., Chi, N.T.P. and Trung, N.T. (2018), “Factors affecting international tourists satisfaction of street food in Ho Chi Minh City”, External Economics Review, No. 111, pp. 87 - 100.
Tran, T.N, and Tieu, V.T (2020), “The impacts of consumer value and brand identification on brand loyalty and electronic word of mouth: the case of smartphone market in Ho Chi Minh City”, Journal of International Economics and Management, Vol 20 No. 2, pp. 60 - 74.
Wu, C.S., Cheng, F.F., Yen, D.C. and Huang, Y.W. (2011), “User acceptance of wireless technology in organizations: A comparison of alternative models”, Computer Standards & Interfaces, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 50 - 58.
Weiler, B. and Smith, L. (2009), “Does more interpretation lead to greater outcomes? An assessment of the impacts of multiple layers of interpretation in a zoo context”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 91 - 105.
Xiang, Z., Magnini, V.P. and Fesenmaier, D.R. (2015), “Information technology and consumer behavior in travel and tourism: Insights from travel planning using the internet”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 244 - 249.
Yaakop, A., Anuar, M.M. and Omar, K. (2013), “Like it or not: Issue of credibility in Facebook advertising”, Asian Social Science, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 154 - 167.
Yan, X. and Dai, S. (2009), “Consumer’s online shopping influence factors and decision-making model”, in SIGeBIZ track of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, pp. 89 - 102, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.