Elsevier

Annals of Tourism Research

Volume 64, May 2017, Pages 87-101
Annals of Tourism Research

Destination eWOM: A macro and meso network approach?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.02.007Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • Destination eWOM network structure remains unchanged despite scale significant growth.

  • Meso (community) level hubs act as global information senders and receivers.

  • Hub roles evolve over time.

  • Discourse within destination eWOM networks can fluctuate from year to year.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that describes the characteristics and the underlying drivers of publically shared electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) for destinations. Tweets about a destination were collected while the destination hosted a hallmark event over a 5-year period (2011–2015). In each year, interactions on Twitter were analysed using macro and meso-level social network analysis to identify the network structure and hubs of eWOM activity. A K means clustering algorithm was then applied to create clusters of nodes with similar characteristics and eWOM content within each cluster was analysed using automated content analysis. The resulting model indicates that destination and event eWOM maintains a macro network structure in which a small number of accounts or hubs influence information sharing. Hub characteristics evolve over time, whereas eWOM content can fluctuate in response to emergent destination activities.

Keywords

Destination eWOM
eWOM
Social media
Twitter
Social network analysis
Text analysis
Digital marketing

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Dr Nigel L. Williams is a Senior Academic in Project Management at Bournemouth University. His research examines online stakeholder communications and implications for organisations in a variety of contexts including NGOs, Festivals locations and Mega Projects.