8 research outputs found
Trust Perceptions of Online Travel Information by Different Content Creators: Some Social and Legal Implications
Consumers are increasingly turning to the online
environment to provide information to assist them in
making purchase decisions related to travel products. They
often rely on travel recommendations from different
sources, such as sellers, independent experts and, increasingly,
other consumers. A new type of online content, usergenerated
content (UGC), provides a number of legal and
social challenges to providers and users of that content,
especially in relation to areas such as defamation, misrepresentation
and social embarrassment. This paper reports
research that examined the level of trustworthiness of
online travel information from these different sources. The
study used a survey of Australian travel consumers (n=
12,000) and results support the notion that there are
differences in the level of trust for online travel information
from different sources. Respondents ‘tended to agree’ that
they trusted information provided by travel agents, information
from commercial operators and comments made by
travellers on third party websites. However, the highest
level of trust was afforded to information provided on State
government tourism websites. These results suggest that
greater trust is placed in online travel comments when they
are on a specific travel website than when they are on a
more generic social networking website. However, respondents
were ‘not sure’ that they trusted comments made by
travellers on weblogs and on social networking sites. Some
88% of respondents that had not visited UGC websites (or
were unsure if they had) indicated that they thought that
UGC would be useful in the future – suggesting that they
feel that any concerns they may have in relation to legal and
social problems resulting from its use will be resolved
Prosocial consequences of third-party anger
Anger has traditionally been associated with aggression and antagonistic behavior. A series of studies revealed that experiences of third-party anger (anger experienced when observing that harm is done to someone) can also lead to prosocial behavior. More specifically, three studies, hypothetical scenarios as well as a behavioral study, revealed that third-party anger can promote compensation of the victim. The results also showed a preference for such prosocial behaviors over antagonistic behaviors. We conclude that behaviors stemming from anger, whether antagonistic or prosocial, are reactions to inequity, albeit determined by the constraints of the situation