Understanding Malaysia’s perceived destination image formation through online user-generated content information qualities

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of perceived destination image attributes on the inter-relationship between online user-generated content’s information qualities (UGC) and tourists behavior by extending the Mehrabian and Russel’s stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model. Design/methodology/approach Based on the Malaysian tourism setting, a total of 255 valid responses from foreign inbound tourists were collected. Partial-least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test study hypotheses. Findings The PLS-SEM indirect path analysis confirms that cognitive image mediates the relationship between intrinsic information quality and behavioral intentions. Meanwhile, affective image significantly mediates the contextual information quality influence on behavioral intentions. Interestingly, however, this study found affective image mediated oppositely on the relationship between social information quality and behavioral intentions. Originality/value The study provides a better understanding of how destination image impacts the way tourists perceive different information qualities on behavioral intentions, which suggests the ongoing complex nature of these human-technology relationships within the tourism realm.