Youhee Joun’s research while affiliated with Kyung Hee University and other places

Online travel reviews have become increasingly important as a result of the intangible and heterogeneous characteristics of the tourism industry as well as the recent diffusion of social media. This exploratory case study intends to examine the comparative importance of the six heuristic attributes (reviewer location, reviewer level, reviewer helpful vote, review rating, review length, and review photo) with respect to review helpfulness in the online hotel review context. Moreover, the salience of the individual levels within each review attribute and the importance of the attributes in positive and negative review-rating groups are compared. In total, 1,158 reviews of a hotel on TripAdvisor were collected and analyzed through conjoint analyses. This study found that the review rating and reviewer helpful vote attributes are the two most important factors. Finally, three major propositions are suggested based on findings of the study, and several theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of a prospective traveler’s perception of media exposure on their intention to visit a destination (i.e. South Korea). Cultural exposure to a particular country through media affects people’s preference for that foreign country, and may ultimately be a function of the behavior for consuming that country’s cultural products – e.g. traveling to that country. Media exposure has been recognized as a major underlying reason for the desire to visit a destination. Design/methodology/approach This study examines the impacts of potential travelers’ media exposure in three different language-use groups (i.e. English, Japanese and Chinese) and their perception of the media exposure on their intention to visit the actual site (i.e. South Korea). To enhance the understanding of the intention to visit the destination, this study proposes a research model based on use and gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model. Findings Mass and social media exposure had an effect on the intention to visit a destination as a result of the gratification and desire experienced through the content. Research limitations/implications This study suggests the synthesis of the use and gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model and an examination of theoretical and practical implications. Originality/value This study involved a sample of users of destination marketing sites. In addition, this study investigated the users’ intentions to visit a real tourism destination taking into consideration mass media (traditional media) and social media (new media) based on the use of gratification theory and the belief–desire–intention model. Practically, the findings highlight the crucial role of social media in the intention to visit the tourism destination.

Inspired by the generative characteristics of information on online travel review systems, this study revisits the relationship between the hotel industry’s green practices and customer satisfaction in a more realistic setting. The results show that although a higher intensity of green practices enhances customer satisfaction, it does so only indirectly, through perceived relative quality. From these findings, we provide useful implications for the hotel industry. We also suggest further research to conceptualize the generativity of the information system’s content both in general and in the context of the smart tourism system.

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become important and popular tools for not only presenting self-image, but also sharing travel information. This study adopted self-image expressions to understand tourists’ intentions to share travel information and behavioural changes in SNSs. To enhance understanding tourists’ intention and behaviour, the current study suggests a research model based on motivations for self-image expression (i.e., creativity, altruism and social relationship). This current study empirically resulted in the importance of users’ creativity, altruism and social relationship in SNSs, which leads to the intention and behavioural changes to share travel information. In addition, altruism moderated the negative effect of creativity on self-image expression as well as the positive effect of social relationship on self-image expression. Based on the result of this study, the current study bears some implications in theoretical and practical context.

Augmented reality (AR) is being developed as a part of smart tourism to provide information about destinations and attractions. Its usage will maximize tourist satisfaction, based on tourists’ active usage. Three aspects have been found to be factors encouraging tourists to actively utilize AR. The first aspect is technology readiness (TR) meaning that a tourist has an overall state of mind such that they are ready to use a technology. The second aspect is the visual factor of AR. The third aspect is the situational factor. Thus, this study conceptualizes these crucial factors of AR usage as well as how these influence visitors’ AR usage intention and destination visit intention through their beliefs and AR attitude. We collected sample from 145 people using an AR application in Deoksugung Palace, South Korea. This study analyzed hypotheses with structural equation model. The result shows that TR was a predictor of perceived usefulness. In addition, visual appeal and facilitating conditions affected perceived ease of use. Perceived ease of use affected perceived usefulness. Finally, perceived usefulness and ease of use affected intention to use AR and to visit a destination via AR attitude. This study presented theoretical and practical implications.

Cultural exposure to a particular country through media affects people’s preference of that foreign country and may ultimately be a function of behaviour of that country’s cultural products, e.g., travelling that country. Media culture has been recognized as a major reason why people would like to visit a destination. However, media culture in tourism context has been rare, drawing upon media cultural exposure, we propose a research model and attempt to answer how do socio-cultural factors affect individual’s how intention to visit a travel destination site? In particular, this study examines the impacts of potential travellers’ media cultural exposure in three different language use groups (i.e., English, Japanese, and Chinese) and their perception of the media cultural experience on their intention to visit the actual offline travel site (i.e., South Korea). Theoretical and practical implications of the results will be discussed.