Title: Effects of online-generated content on consumer engagement across post-pandemic pre-travel stage among young domestic tourists in Vietnam

Authors: Thi Huong-Thanh Nguyen; Vuong-Bach Vo; My Tien Ta

Addresses: Department of Marketing, School of Business, International University, VNU-HCM, Vietnam; Becamex Business School, Eastern International University, Binh Duong, Vietnam ' Department of International Business, Faculty of Business Administration, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, HCMC, Vietnam ' Becamex Business School, Eastern International University, Binh Duong, Vietnam

Abstract: This study aims to identify the role of online-generated content on consumer engagement towards domestic tourism and hospitality in recovery from the pandemic. The critical antecedences include usefulness, valence, timeliness, homophily, and argument quality, which influence consumer engagement with the mediating role of perceived trust. This cross-sectional study gathered data from 250 legitimate respondents from various regions of Vietnam by convenience sampling via an online questionnaire. The results were analysed by SEM, revealing that usefulness, timeliness and homophily significantly impact perceived trust. Moreover, perceived trust also has a positive impact on consumer engagement. Interestingly, the valence and argument quality constructs have insignificant impacts on perceived trust. Lastly, the findings are expected to contribute valuable knowledge about pandemic concerns during recovery and its impacts on travellers' perceived trust and their further online engagement towards visiting/revisiting a destination. Findings demonstrate strong evidence for future studies to enlarge the category of respondents and consumer engagement literature, especially online behaviour regarding the crisis and pandemic concerns globally.

Keywords: user-generated content; UGC; consumer engagement; CE; timeliness; TL; homophily; HM; argument quality; AQ; perceived trust; PT; post-pandemic tourism; Vietnam.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2024.139135

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2024 Vol.16 No.1, pp.63 - 85

Received: 25 Dec 2023
Accepted: 14 Mar 2024
Published online: 14 Jun 2024 *

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