How online reviews of destination responsibility influence tourists' evaluations: an exploratory study of mountain tourism

摘要

This study examines how online reviews of the economic, sociocultural and environmental dimensions of tourism destination responsibility (TDR) influence tourists' evaluations. The effects of these dimensions are measured using three conceptual constructs: perceived helpfulness of online reviews, perceived influence of online reviews and destination brand equity (DBE). This study also explores the moderating effect of a preference for environmental values (PEV) on the relationship between online reviews of the dimensions of TDR and the outcome variables of helpfulness, influence and DBE. A 3 x 2 factorial design is used with samples of tourists from Argentina and Spain. The findings suggest that online reviews of the environmental dimension of tourism responsibility have higher levels of perceived helpfulness, perceived influence and DBE than online reviews of other dimensions. The interaction between a PEVs and online reviews of destination tourism responsibility influences perceived helpfulness and perceived influence but not DBE.