Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism?
Appealing to tourists’ intrinsic interest for high-quality tourism environments, and thus encouraging them to act with a greater sense of personal responsibility toward the environment, could be critical to promoting sustainable tourism. Proliferating media channels makes the choice, style and deliv...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47298/ |
| _version_ | 1848797510232965120 |
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| author | Han, Wei McCabe, Scott Wang, Yi Chong, Alain Yee Loong |
| author_facet | Han, Wei McCabe, Scott Wang, Yi Chong, Alain Yee Loong |
| author_sort | Han, Wei |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Appealing to tourists’ intrinsic interest for high-quality tourism environments, and thus encouraging them to act with a greater sense of personal responsibility toward the environment, could be critical to promoting sustainable tourism. Proliferating media channels makes the choice, style and delivery of pro-environmental messages a key issue for tourism marketers and management. Social media has become a recognized important channel for tourism information, with user-generated content (UGC) being more trusted than official channels, yet there is little knowledge about its potential role in activating pro-environmental norms. This study investigates that issue. Focusing on the conjoining aspects of personal and social norms for the first time, we propose a hypothetical model to explain the direct and indirect effects of pro-environmental UGC in activating tourists’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Working in a Chinese context, where social media plays an increasing role, the research, using a web-based sample (N = 1043), UGC-linked pro-environmental knowledge and awareness, was found to have a strong role in activating pro-environmental norms, creating a pro-environment online community, and increasing tourists’ level of engagement in pro-environmental social media activity. The study highlights the effectiveness of social media channels with UGC providing persuasive communications able to impact sustainable behaviors. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-47298 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:01Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-472982020-05-04T19:10:29Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47298/ Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? Han, Wei McCabe, Scott Wang, Yi Chong, Alain Yee Loong Appealing to tourists’ intrinsic interest for high-quality tourism environments, and thus encouraging them to act with a greater sense of personal responsibility toward the environment, could be critical to promoting sustainable tourism. Proliferating media channels makes the choice, style and delivery of pro-environmental messages a key issue for tourism marketers and management. Social media has become a recognized important channel for tourism information, with user-generated content (UGC) being more trusted than official channels, yet there is little knowledge about its potential role in activating pro-environmental norms. This study investigates that issue. Focusing on the conjoining aspects of personal and social norms for the first time, we propose a hypothetical model to explain the direct and indirect effects of pro-environmental UGC in activating tourists’ pro-environmental behavioral intentions. Working in a Chinese context, where social media plays an increasing role, the research, using a web-based sample (N = 1043), UGC-linked pro-environmental knowledge and awareness, was found to have a strong role in activating pro-environmental norms, creating a pro-environment online community, and increasing tourists’ level of engagement in pro-environmental social media activity. The study highlights the effectiveness of social media channels with UGC providing persuasive communications able to impact sustainable behaviors. Taylor & Francis 2017-10-02 Article PeerReviewed Han, Wei, McCabe, Scott, Wang, Yi and Chong, Alain Yee Loong (2017) Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? Journal of Sustainable Tourism . pp. 1-15. ISSN 1747-7646 Pro-environmental behavior user-generated content social media tourism marketing norms http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442 doi:10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442 doi:10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442 |
| spellingShingle | Pro-environmental behavior user-generated content social media tourism marketing norms Han, Wei McCabe, Scott Wang, Yi Chong, Alain Yee Loong Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title_full | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title_short | Evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| title_sort | evaluating user-generated content in social media: an effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental behavior in tourism? |
| topic | Pro-environmental behavior user-generated content social media tourism marketing norms |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47298/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47298/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47298/ |