Purpose

This study aims to examine the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on behavioural intentions of Indian urban millennials to use it when they book travel. The eWOM has been measured on the basis of four dimensions, namely, perceived credibility, quality, quantity and completeness. eWOM attitude is studied as a mediator.

Design/methodology/approach

The study first applies a confirmatory factor analysis to gauge validity and reliability. Then structural equation modelling was applied to test the research hypotheses after collecting responses from 288 Indian millennials from six North Indian cities. Mediation has also been examined using the bootstrapping method. The quality of the data was assured by Harman’s single-factor test.

Findings

The study reveals that millennials’ eWOM attitude fully mediates its perceived quality and its usage intentions at the time of booking travel. However, this mediation effect is partial with respect to other components of eWOM, namely, perceived credibility, perceived quantity and perceived completeness.

Practical implications

India has the largest millennial population (440 million) in the world out of which 33% live in urban cities. Hence, it becomes imperative for travel marketers to understand the attitude of millennials’ towards eWOM, shared on social media. They should understand that millennials prefer eWOM in social media over traditional advertising for fulfilling their informational needs. Therefore, by apprehending the impact of recipients’ perception towards various components of eWOM on their behavioural intentions to use it, market practitioners can design superior marketing campaigns that will help them to gain maximum in the changing business landscape.

Originality/value

The study is unique in the sense that to date no study to the limited knowledge of the researchers has investigated the attitude of Indian millennials towards eWOM on social media as a mediator to comprehend their behavioural intentions to use travel reviews when they book travel.

中文翻译：

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使用旅游电子口碑的意图：印度城市千禧一代态度的中介作用

目的

本研究旨在检验电子口碑 (eWOM) 对印度城市千禧一代在预订旅行时使用电子口碑的行为意图的影响。eWOM 的衡量标准是四个维度，即感知可信度、质量、数量和完整性。eWOM 态度被研究为中介。

设计/方法/方法

该研究首先应用验证性因素分析来衡量有效性和可靠性。然后，在收集了来自北印度六个城市的 288 名印度千禧一代的回答后，应用结构方程模型来测试研究假设。还使用引导法检查了调解。Harman 的单因素检验保证了数据的质量。

发现

研究表明，千禧一代的电子口碑态度在预订旅行时充分调节了其感知质量和使用意图。然而，这种中介效应对于 eWOM 的其他组成部分是部分的，即感知可信度、感知数量和感知完整性。

实际影响

印度拥有世界上最多的千禧一代人口（4.4 亿），其中 33% 居住在城市。因此，旅游营销人员必须了解千禧一代对社交媒体上分享的 eWOM 的态度。他们应该明白，与传统广告相比，千禧一代更喜欢社交媒体中的电子口碑来满足他们的信息需求。因此，通过了解接收者对 eWOM 的各个组成部分的看法对其使用它的行为意图的影响，市场从业者可以设计卓越的营销活动，帮助他们在不断变化的商业环境中获得最大收益。

原创性/价值

这项研究的独特之处在于，迄今为止，由于研究人员知识有限，还没有研究调查印度千禧一代对社交媒体上的电子口碑的态度，将其作为中介来理解他们在预订旅行时使用旅行评论的行为意图。