Narratives on Facebook: the impact of user-generated content on visiting attitudes, visiting intention and perceptions of destination risk

© 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Through an experiment, this paper investigates the impact of online page popularity and message valences of user-generated content in social media on pro-Iran visiting attitudes and behavioural intention as well as perceptions of destination risk. Moreover, the mediating role of perceived risk and visiting attitudes in the effect of page popularity and message valences on visiting intention is examined. Six different versions of pro-Iran visiting community Facebook pages with three different message valences and two levels of popularity were created. One hundred twenty participants were randomly exposed to one of the six Facebook pages and then asked to complete a questionnaire that assessed demographic data; visiting attitude; visiting intention; travel risk type; and perceived risk index. The perceived risk index was developed by this study through conducting online open-ended interviews. The findings show that success stories and high popularity lead to more positive attitude, higher level of intention to visit, and lower perceptions of destination risk than failure stories and low popularity. Popularity dampens the negative effect of failure stories on users’ visiting attitudes. Moreover, perceived risk underlies the pathway of page popularity and message valences to individuals’ visiting attitude and intention

Qualitative online research in tourism – a systematic review of the literature

© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: This paper aims to present a systematic review of tourism articles using qualitative online methods. By focussing on tourism journals, this work explores the paradigmatic beliefs, methodological approaches and methods underpinning tourism qualitative online research. Design/methodology/approach: This review was conducted systematically by following the reporting checklist of the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Findings: Overall, this systematic review indicates that the ontological and epistemological beliefs guiding online research are not clearly expressed by tourism scholars. It also shows that the possibility of using the internet for more interactive and participatory forms of research has not been fully explored by tourism scholars. Research limitations/implications: This paper expands tourism scholars’ awareness of the range of qualitative approaches/methods available by suggesting additional research instruments that could replace or complement the traditional ones. However, by selecting only indexed journal papers, other sources of publications, such as papers published in non-Scopus and non-Web-of-Science journals, books, book chapters and conference papers, were not included in the current review. Originality/value: This work emphasizes the important role of cyberspace in facilitating virtual interactions between researchers and participants in the co-construction of qualitative empirical material

A systematic review of systematic reviews in tourism

© 2019 CAUTHE - COUNCIL FOR AUSTRALASIAN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY EDUCATION Traditional literature reviews and more advanced systematic reviews have been a focal point in assessing the epistemological progress of any field. However, studies assessing the nature and quality of the systematic review papers published in tourism and hospitality literature are scarce. Considering the items of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, this study reviews how tourism and hospitality scholars have operationalised systematic reviews. All systematic reviews published across 34 tourism journals until 2017 were considered for this review and the results of the study portray multiple limitations in the design, organization and execution of current systematic reviews

Beyond the third moment? Mapping the state of qualitative tourism research

© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper poses a central question: what is the present moment in qualitative tourism research? To answer this, the authors review the state of contemporary qualitative tourism research over the past decade (2007–2017), against current progress in the social sciences. Specifically, a systematic bibliometric analysis of tourism journals was undertaken to determine how tourism scholarship maps against Denzin and Lincoln’s social science ‘moments’. These moments prove useful in heuristically framing the development of qualitative social research and thinking; from early moments characterized by positivist ways of knowing, through to later moments where scholars struggle through and beyond the crisis of representation. Using an adapted moments-based framework, our analysis of 1541 qualitative papers across 51 tourism journals indicates that the majority of papers are emblematic of ‘early moment’ thinking. Despite clear evidence of a crisis of representation in some areas, and an increase in the number of qualitative papers published, there is a lack of ‘later moment’ thinking, methodology and/or approach. The political, social and philosophical constraints and opportunities presented by these findings are discussed

Beyond the third moment? Mapping the state of qualitative tourism research

This paper poses a central question: what is the present moment in qualitative tourism research? To answer this, the authors review the state of contemporary qualitative tourism research over the past decade (2007–2017), against current progress in the social sciences. Specifically, a systematic bibliometric analysis of tourism journals was undertaken to determine how tourism scholarship maps against Denzin and Lincoln’s social science ‘moments’. These moments prove useful in heuristically framing the development of qualitative social research and thinking; from early moments characterized by positivist ways of knowing, through to later moments where scholars struggle through and beyond the crisis of representation. Using an adapted moments-based framework, our analysis of 1541 qualitative papers across 51 tourism journals indicates that the majority of papers are emblematic of ‘early moment’ thinking. Despite clear evidence of a crisis of representation in some areas, and an increase in the number of qualitative papers published, there is a lack of ‘later moment’ thinking, methodology and/or approach. The political, social and philosophical constraints and opportunities presented by these findings are discussed

Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling in Asian Tourism and Hospitality Research: A Systematic Review

During the recent years, a growing number of tourism and hospitality researchers have used partial least squares structural equation modeling in their studies. However, little is known about the application of PLS-SEM in Asian tourism and hospitality research. This chapter was conducted to fill this research gap by assessing to what extent Asian research in tourism and hospitality has followed the guidelines recommended by the most prominent literature on PLS-SEM. Sixty-four partial least squares structural equation modeling studies conducted by Asian researchers and/or on Asian contexts that were published in 66 tourism and hospitality journals from 2000 to the end of February 2017 were systematically reviewed. The results identified some weaknesses in conducting the analysis which should be addressed in future empirical studies. The results of this systematic review provide tourism and hospitality researchers with best practice guidelines for conducting partial least squares structural equation modeling in their studies