Travel content creation: The influence of travelers’ innovativeness, involvement and use of social media

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine factors that affect the likelihood to create travel content online. Research has shown that there are far more people consuming social media than generating it. However, online travel marketers need to pay attention to travelers that share their experiencesonline,astheyhavethepotentialtodrivesales. Design/methodology/approach – Anonlinesurveywasconductedtocollectdataforthisstudy,by sendinge-mailinvitationstocolleagues,students,personalcontactsandotheremailcontactscomposed of Portuguese Internet users. A total of 244 complete responses were considered valid to test the hypothesesthroughpartialleastsquaresstructuralequationmodeling. Findings – The results reveal that travelers’ level of involvement with tourism products, innovativeness and use of social media directly influences writing reviews about travel experiences online. Research limitations/implications – First,thedatausedinthisstudywerebasedonaconvenience sample containing only the Portuguese population. Therefore, generalization of the results should be madewithcaution.Thereplicationofthisstudyinothercountrieswouldbedesirable.Second,thestudy usedaquantitativeapproachtoexaminetheeffectofpersonalcharacteristicsontravelcontentcreation. Aresearchusingalsoaqualitativeapproachcouldshednewlightontheunderstandingoftheresearch hypotheses. Practical implications – This study provides useful insights for travel social media websites and travel-relatedorganizations,astheycanadapttheirmarketingstrategiestothetypeoftravelersthatare morelikelytowriteaboutthetravelservicesthattheyofferonline. Originality/value – From a theoretical perspective, there are few studies that focus on the personal characteristicsoftravelersthatcreatecontentonline.Theintentionofthisstudyistohelpclosethisgap, providingusefulinsightswithrespecttothismatter.