Title

Towards understanding members' general participation in and active contribution to an online travel community

Authors

Authors

Y. C. Wang;D. R. Fesenmaier

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Tourism Manage.

Keywords

online travel community; member needs; motivation; tourism marketing; STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELS; Environmental Studies; Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism; Management

Abstract

Online travel community has been considered central to models of Internet marketing and electronic commerce in the travel industry. The successful operation of an online travel community depends on the understanding of member participation in and active contribution to the online travel community. This study evaluates an integrated model of an online travel community using structural equation modeling. The results of the study indicate that participation in the travel community is driven mainly by social and hedonic benefits, while level of active contribution can be explained by three instrumental, efficacy, and expectancy related incentives. Implications for the development of a dynamic and sustainable online travel community are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Tourism Management

Volume

25

Issue/Number

6

Publication Date

1-1-2004

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

709

Last Page

722

WOS Identifier

WOS:000224631900006

ISSN

0261-5177

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