How to Establish Credibility? The Influence of Expression Manner on Tourist Information Adoption

Abstract

This study utilizes source credibility theory to examine how two manners of expression act as cues for source trustworthiness and expertise, impacting potential tourists’ adoption intentions. Importantly, we explore the interplay between source identity and the manner of expression. Throughout this investigation, four empirical studies were undertaken, integrating social media analytics and three experiments. Findings show that high effort and certainty expressions increase potential tourists’ willingness to adopt information, mediated by benevolence-based and competence-based trust, respectively. Particularly, high effort expression is more effective when the source is a tourist, while high certainty expression is more effective with local residents. The research findings suggest that platforms and destination managers should encourage local residents to focus on enhancing certainty expression when generating user-generated content, while encouraging tourists to focus on enhancing effort expression. Additionally, these findings provide insights for crafting guides tailored to different identity information sources.