The relationship between source credibility, narrative transportation and eWOM in the travel package market

Purpose: This study examines opinion leaders eWOM recommendations about tourist packages by introducing a new theoretical model to analyze the effect of source credibility, narrative transportation, information perceived quality, perceived value and perceived risk on attitude towards eWOM and its relationship with purchase intention. Methodology/Approach: The model was tested through an online survey, with a sample comprising 536 consumers. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was conducted. Results/ Findings: The findings demonstrated the mediation of perceived value between attitude to eWOM and purchase intention. In addition, it was found that source credibility has a high effect on information perceived quality and narrative transportation, which attests not only the quality of the information itself but also how much they can get involved by this information. Contributions Theoretical/Methodological: This study supports managers and researchers by promoting an important reflection on the mechanisms and tools that indicate a positive evaluation of eWOM, increasing purchase intention. Relevance/ Originality: By testing a new model with the constructs, this study is intended to advance academic discoveries on tourism consumer behavior. The contributions of our study are the following: we propose a model that considers not only the information provided by eWOM, but also the source credibility and how much this information and narratives impacts the tourist.