Examining the Nature and Dynamics of At-Destination Recommendations: The Local Experts' Perspective

ABSTRACT At-destination referrals from local experts play a critical and complementary role in information sourcing and venue decision strategies by visitors of a destination. This context-specific form of word-of-mouth communication is widely practiced, yet remains an under-researched phenomenon when taking into consideration the broad range of locals utilized by visitors when making at-destination decisions on travel-related services. Most word-of-mouth studies have examined its influence on consumer's purchase behavior, but few attempts have been made to investigate the local experts' perspective. This exploratory study attempts to contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon from the local experts' perspective from two aspects: (1) examining the nature and significance of at-destination recommendations; and (2) developing and testing a motivational construct of locals making recommendations. The results provide further evidence of a broad range of residents within a community being involved in the provision of venue information and direct property referrals. A test of motivational scale items reveals that five themes emerge as the underlying constructs driving the local experts' referral behavior. Discussion and implications are also provided based on the study results.