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Impacts of online word-of-mouth and personalities on intention to choose a

destination

Tommi Tapanainen, Hai Nguyen Thi Thanh, Kien Dao Trung

PII: S0747-5632(20)30403-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106656
Reference: CHB 106656

To appear in: Computers in Human Behavior

Received Date: 14 January 2020

Revised Date: 28 October 2020
Accepted Date: 6 December 2020

Please cite this article as: Tapanainen T., Thi Thanh H.N. & Trung K.D., Impacts of online word-of-
mouth and personalities on intention to choose a destination, Computers in Human Behavior, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106656.

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Credit author statement

Tommi Tapanainen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Reviewing and Editing

Hai Nguyen Thi Thanh: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Original draft preparation

Kien Dao Trung: Conceptualization, Investigation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Original

draft preparation

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 IMPACTS OF ONLINE WORD-OF-MOUTH AND PERSONALITIES ON INTENTION TO
CHOOSE A DESTINATION

Tommi Tapanainen
College of Economics and International Trade, Pusan National University,
Busan, Republic of Korea
tojuta@gmail.com

Hai Nguyen Thi Thanh

Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Abo Akademi University,
Vänrikinkatu 3 B Turku, Finland
tngu2407@yahoo.com

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Kien Dao Trung
Faculty of Economics and Business, Phenikaa University,

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Yen Nghia Ward, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, Vietnam.
kiendtcoco@gmail.com

Corresponding author
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Hai Nguyen Thi Thanh
Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Abo Akademi University,
Vänrikinkatu 3 B Turku, Finland
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tngu2407@yahoo.com
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Tommi Tapanainen
Tommi Tapanainen is assistant professor at the Department of Global Studies of Pusan National
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University, Republic of Korea. He has published in the International Journal of Healthcare

Information Systems and Informatics, the International Journal of Healthcare Technology and
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Management, and the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. His
research interests are in the fields of IS agility, incident response, adoption and e-Health. He is a
member of the Association of Information Systems and the ISACA.

Hai Nguyen Thi Thanh

Dr. Hai Nguyen holds Bachelor from National Economics University of Hanoi, M.Sc. from
Sydney University, and Ph.D. from Waseda University, Japan. Her research focuses on
information system adoption, dynamic capabilities and strategies and e-Health. Together with
her colleague, her work has appeared in the Information Processing and Management,
International Journal of Medical Informatics, Journal of Information Systems for Developing
Countries.

Kien Dao Trung

Trung Kien Dao is a researcher at School of Economics and Management (SEM), Hanoi
University of Science and Technology, Vietnam. He holds a Master’s degree in business from
Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam. He worked as a statistician on different
projects in SEM and international projects with colleagues from Finland and Korea. He is also a
senior consultant in market research and marketing planning for small and medium
sized businesses in Vietnam. His research interests include consumer behavior, e –services
acceptance, innovation and dynamic capability.

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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Among the first investigations into Big Five personality types together with information
use
• Proved that influence of eWOM depends on eWOM-based information but also user
personalities
• Supported the relevance of information adoption model in studying eWOM
• Extraverted, agreeable, and imaginative users were more likely to use eWOM
• Implications for social media marketing for travel and hospitality sector companies

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 IMPACTS OF ONLINE WORD-OF-MOUTH AND PERSONALITIES ON INTENTION TO
CHOOSE A DESTINATION
Abstract
Electronic word of mouth (eWOM), enabled by social media, has been widely recognized as an
influential marketing tool. It has been suggested that personality influences how people accept
information originating in eWOM, but most research has not connected personalities with behavioral
intention or information use. This study aimed to assess the link between eWOM and personalities on
intention to choose a tourism destination. The research model was developed from the Big Five
personality model and the information adoption model (IAM). An analysis of 647 participants in Vietnam
confirmed that IAM can predict behavioral intention for tourism destinations, thereby adding to the
literature, which so far has mainly utilized the technology adoption model. The result also shows that
personality (specifically the traits of agreeableness, extraversion, and imagination) affects information

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adoption regarding tourism destinations. However, the impact of personality on behavioral intention could
only be partly explained by IAM, suggesting that other variables play a role. The findings suggest
avenues for future research linking personality and eWOM, as well as ways for companies to improve

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their customer targeting and advertising content that can be involved in eWOM.

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Keywords: electronic/online word-of-mouth, social media, personalities, Big Five Model, Information
Adoption Model, travel destination.
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1. Introduction
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Word-of-mouth communication (WOM) was defined as direct, non-commercial face-to-face

conversations between people who have experienced and those who are considering a product or a service
(Arndt, 1967). However, in the digital age, WOM communications were not just direct conversations, but
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also became online or electronic word of mouth (eWOM) through information channels such as social
networks (Erkan and Evans, 2016). Through social networks, people could form virtual communities to
share, exchange, and forward their posts or comments about products and services to a wider audience
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(Chu and Kim, 2011; Jeong and Jang, 2011). With the increasing of using social networks, the role of
eWOM should not be ignored and the review by King et al. (2014) supported this argument by
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concluding that eWOM had stronger influence on consumers than other forms of marketing
communication.
Information technology (IT) in general and social media in particular have significantly changed the
tourism industry and created new possibilities for tourism services provision (Cao and Yang, 2016; Kim
et al. 2011; Xiang et al., 2008). The literature review by Leung et al. (2013) stated that social media
played an important role in creating strategic competitiveness for tourism firms. Xiang and Gretzel (2010)
and Xiang et al. (2015) also argued that social media was increasingly prevalent as a tool in travel
consumers’ planning, particularly so among young people such as those of Generation Y, who have used
digital technologies and social networks all their lives and do not hesitate to engage with their peers on
electronic media (Bennett et al., 2008; Bolton et al., 2013; Prensky, 2001; Wesner and Miller, 2008).
Similarly, studies by Di Pietro et al. (2012), Murphy et al. (2007) and Tan and Tang (2013) demonstrated
the importance of eWOM in people’s destination selection decision-making process. For example, Di
Pietro et al. (2012) found that eWOM affected users by influencing their attitudes toward social networks
in travel planning. Hence, eWOM is interesting for both individuals and companies and a more detailed
understanding of its effects can facilitate a match between consumers’ and businesses’ needs in promoting
eWOM.
Previous studies have shown that eWOM influenced the selection of products or services (Bickart &
Schindler, 2001; Chan & Ngai, 2011; Erkan & Evan, 2016; Park et al., 2007; See-To & Ho, 2014) and
had an impact on customer purchasing decisions (Erkan & Evan, 2016; Sin et al., 2012). The influence of
eWOM on intention to travel has also been reported in prior research (Di Pietro et al., 2012; Jalilvand and
Samiei, 2012; Murphy et al., 2007). Jalilvand and co-workers published studies on eWOM and tourism
for Islamic destinations and in their studies, eWOM was found to have a powerful effect on destination
image and travel intention (Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012; Jalilvand and Heidari, 2016). However, beyond
the content transferred by eWOM, as eWOM conversations involve the subjective judgement of
communicating individuals, the influence of eWOM on the recipient may vary from person to person; the
same content can evoke differing notions among receivers (Cheung et al., 2008). Different subjective
factors can affect an individual’s judgement; personality has recently been found as one of the most
important factors influencing behavior (Wehrli et al., 2008). Personality traits such as introversion and
extraversion were found to play a significant role in certain online communication experiences (Butt &

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Phillips, 2008; Kraut et al., 2002). Most prior studies on eWOM have focused on the properties of
information and communication functions (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Erkan and Evans, 2016; King et

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al., 2014) without regard to the personality of the receivers.
To address these research needs and gaps, a framework was built to explain how eWOM and personality
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can influence travel destination selection. The research question that guided this study was: how can
eWOM (information from social media) and personality influence the destination selection intention of
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social network users? This research had three objectives: 1) to investigate the antecedents of users’ travel
destination selection intention; 2) to verify the influence of eWOM and personality on intention to select
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travel destination; and 3) to develop a model that can provide insights into why some consumers adopt
eWOM in selecting travel destination. The research model was created by integrating two recognized
models in information management and psychology: the information adoption model (IAM) and the big
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five model (BFM) of personality theory. The results of this study can be used for better targeting of
customers and therefore marketing costs saving from the company perspective, as well as the relevance of
advertising from the consumer perspective.
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We selected Vietnam as the target country for this research due to two reasons: (1) there are many tourism
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destinations within Vietnam creating awareness of tourism and making it accessible for citizens, and (2)
the tourism industry is developing rapidly, creating more choice for consumers and interest in choosing
tourism destinations.

This paper was organized as follows. In the next sections, we present the theoretical background, research
variables, and the hypotheses that linked them. In section 4, we operationalize the constructs and explain
our research method and sample. Then, based on the analysis presented in section 5, we discuss the results
in section 6. Finally, we describe theoretical and practical implications learned from this research and
outline some directions for future research in the last section.

2. Literature review
2.1. Electronic Word of Mouth (WOM) in Social Media
eWOM information is defined as positive or negative comments in present or past time about the product
or service, available to many people and organizations referencing the internet (Hennig-Thurau et al.,
2004). Among the different important platforms where eWOM may be shared, social media is considered
highly appropriate for eWOM (Erkan & Evans, 2016). eWOM in social media can arise in several
different ways which makes social media very versatile as a platform for eWOM. For example, users can
post and share their comments not only via written texts, but also pictures, videos or applications (Sohn,
2014). Visually enriched contents of social media can also make eWOM more enjoyable and appealing.
For these reasons, consumers increasingly resort to social media to obtain information about products and
services and businesses have long considered eWOM an influential marketing instrument (Erkan and
Evans, 2016).

The research so far has found that the key factors that drive consumers to seek eWOM include: to reduce
search and evaluation efforts in both pre- and post-purchase evaluations (Brynjolfsson and Smith, 2000;
Bronner and de Hoog, 2010; Dabholkar, 2006; Goldsmith and Horovitz 2006, Hennig-Thurau and Walsh,
2004) and to reduce risk (Kim et al., 2011; Sweeney et al., 2008). These effort and risk reductions
occurred because ready access to information helped consumers better determine which products from
which vendors best met their needs and preferences (Dellarocas, 2003). Previous studies have also shown
that eWOM had an impact on customer purchasing decisions (Bickart & Schindler, 2001; Chan & Ngai,
2011; Erkan & Evan, 2016; Park et al., 2007; See-To & Ho, 2014; Sin et al., 2012). Positive reviews on
the social networks influenced customer perceptions and attitudes toward the products and services of

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suppliers, promoting their adoption of information and purchase intentions (Lee & Shin, 2014; Park et al.,
2007). In terms of social media and tourism, the studies by Di Pietro et al., 2012; Jalilvand and Samiei,

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2012; Jalilvand and Heidari, 2016 showed that eWOM had influence on travel destination image.

2.2. Information Adoption Model (IAM) -p

The Information Adoption Model (IAM) attempts to explain users’ knowledge transfer intention by
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measuring the likelihood that a person will adopt transferred information (Figure 1). IAM was the
integration of TAM (Davis, 1989) with dual process theories (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). With this
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integration, IAM aims to explain how people are affected by the information on computer mediated
communication platforms (Sussman and Siegal, 2003). As shown in Figure 1, the primary message of
IAM is that perceived usefulness is a mediating variable between influence processes and information
adoption. Hence, IAM addresses the reason-based adoption motivation for information. As this model
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explains the information on computer-mediated communication platforms, it is readilyapplicable to

eWOM studies (Cheung et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2009; Shu & Scott, 2014). IAM has been used in
studies related to eWOM such as Erkan and Evans, 2016; Shu & Scott, 2014.
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Figure 1: Information Adoption Model

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Source: Adopted from Sussman and Siegal, 2003

Although IAM has been applied in previous studies (Cheung et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2009; Erkan and
Evans, 2016; Shu and Scott, 2014) related to eWOM adoption, determining destination attractiveness and
behavior intention, they only focused on the characteristics of information, mainly quality, credibility, and
usefulness. According to Knoll's latest research (2015), which reviews the recent eWOM studies
undertaken in the social media context, the influence of eWOM depended on both the information and the
consumer. Consumer characteristics such as personal attributes (Casalo et al., 2011) or consumers’
regulatory mode orientation (Lee and Koo, 2015) or users’ personality (Big Five Model) could influence
whether people seek eWOM-related information in the first place, and how effective eWOM is. In
addition, as some individuals are more goal-oriented and risk averse than others, it was expected that such
individuals would utilize eWOM more since they could find social assurance/reassurance via eWOM
(Bailey, 2005). Another reason for seeking eWOM may be underlined for individuals who are heavily
dependent on others’ opinions and judgement since researchers of eWOM have found that factors related
to seeking eWOM include relevance and empathy generation (Bickart and Schindler 2001; Cheung et al.,
2008), helpfulness (Mudambi and Schuff, 2010) and information value (Weiss et al., 2008). All these
factors, which reflect the personality of online information users, should be included in the study of the
influence of eWOM on users’ behaviors.

2.3. Big Five Model and Social media use

One of the most popular and useful personality models is the Big Five Model (Digman, 1990; Devaraj et
al., 2008; Ewen, 1998) with five factors: neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and
openness to experience (Barrick et al., 2001; Costa & McCrea, 1992; Mouakket, 2018; Wehrli, 2008).

• “Neuroticism” describes the degree to which people are reactive to stimuli in their environment.

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Neurotic people more easily become unstable, worried, temperamental and sad. Sometimes, in
place of neuroticism, its polar opposite of emotional stability is used as the term for this variable.

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• “Extraversion” contrasts an outgoing character to a withdrawn nature. Those high in extraversion
are adventurous, assertive, active, sociable and talkative.
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“Openness” is a measure of depth, breadth and variability in a person's imagination and urge for
experiences. People with a high openness to experience have broad interests, divergent thinking,
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are liberal, have intellectual curiosity and like novelty.
• The “agreeableness” scale is associated with altruism, nurture, caring and emotional support
versus competitiveness, hostility, indifference, self-centeredness, spitefulness and jealousy.
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• A “conscientious” individual is purposeful, strong willed, determined, and goal oriented. The
more conscientious a person is the more competent, dutiful, orderly and responsible they become.
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We conducted a literature review using the keywords: Big Five Model, Social Media, and Technology
Adoption, together with the snowball method to find the relevant previous studies. The results of the
literature review are presented in Tables 1 and 2. As shown in Table 1, previous studies attempted to
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integrate the Big Five Model with Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate the impact of
personality on main technology acceptance variables, particularly perceived usefulness. However, very
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few studies (only Koban et al., 2018 and Svendsen et al., 2013) have studied the relationship between
personalities and behavioral intention and none of them used the Information Adoption Model.

Table 1: Literature Review between Big Five Model and Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Behavior
Intention (BI).
Context Theories Sources
Social media The Big Five Model and the confirmation- Mouakket, 2018
expectation model
Social media The Big Five, The Dark Triad, Impulsivity Koban et al., 2018
and sensation seeking
Social media The Big Five Model and Technology Rosen and Kluemper,
Acceptance Model (TAM) 2008
Social media Information seeking and Personality Sin and Kim, 2013
Collaborative Technologies The Big Five and TAM Devaraj et al., 2008
The university’s bulletin The Big Five and IS continuance Lin and Ong, 2010
board system
Word Processing The Big Five and Computer Based Terzis et al., 2011
and Internet Assessment Acceptance Model (CBAAM)
 Tourism Information Search The Big Five Model Tan and Tang, 2013
Smart Phone The Big Five and TAM Ozbek et al., 2014
A software tool The Big Five and TAM Svendsen et al., 2013

Many recent papers have focused on the relationship between personalities and social media use (Table
2). However, social media use in these studies was defined as the amount of time spent on Facebook,
Facebook use frequency, the number of Facebook friends, and information posting. The link between
personality and the structural facets of Facebook (such as preferences for specific features of Facebook)
has also been investigated. However, this review showed that the mechanism by which personalities
impact on social media information usage has been largely ignored in prior research. To fill this gap, we
focus on the use of information in social media and do so by applying the information adoption model,
which is particularly suited to problems of this type, but has received less attention in the literature so far.
In addition, we integrate this with the Big Five model to understand whether there is a link between the
personality traits of social media users and their information adoption behavior.

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Table 2: Literature Review: Big Five Model and Social Media Usage.

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Context Theories Source
Facebook usage: key usage factors including the time The Big Five and Competency Ross et al.,
spent online, the use of Facebook-specific (Computer -p
communication functions (i.e., the Wall, personal Mediated
messages) and Facebook group membership (CMC)
Communication
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Social media The Big Five, Life Correa et al.,
Satisfaction, and Socio- 2010
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demographics
Facebook usage or non-usage including Facebook The Big Five and Shyness, Ryan and
features and usage frequency narcissism Xenos, 2011
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Facebook usage including number of friends, photos, The Big Five Moore and
wall postings and level of regret for inappropriate McElroy,
Facebook content. 2012
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3. Research Model and Hypotheses Development

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3.1 Intention to choose a destination (DI)

Travel destinations are places that offer visitors the experience of exploring landscapes, people, or
cultural elements that meet their needs, provide value, and can create valuable experiences (Agapito et al.,
2013; Räikkönen & Honkanen, 2013). The intention to choose a destination is often defined as desire to
visit a particular travel place (Chen et al., 2014). The intention to visit a tourist site also implies a
reasonable calculation of the benefits and costs, or images created across different sites through external
sources of information including online information (Abubakar, 2016; Chen et al, 2014; Jallivand and
Heidari, 2017; Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012), but is also influenced by individuals’ subjective personalities,
preferences, and feelings (Casalo, 2011; Jani et al., 2014; Jani, 2014; Leung and Law, 2010; Olga, 2015;
Passafaro et al., 2015; Tan and Tang, 2013 )
3.2 Relationship between eWOM and intention to choose a destination
3.2.1. Information quality (IQ) and information credibility (IC)
In social media websites, people can use their nickname or account to freely exchange their opinions and
experiences about products or services with friends or acquaintances. This reduced anonymity has the
potential to make eWOM information more trustworthy and reliable (Chu and Choi, 2011; Wallace et al.,
2009). The study by Abubakar, 2016 and Jalilvand and Heidara, 2017 found that recommendations by
previous visitors could be taken as the most reliable information sources for potential tourists. On the
other hand, when most social network users could easily create eWOM in the process of connecting or
interacting with others, the quality and credibility of eWOM information is becoming increasingly
important (Erkan and Evans, 2016). The quality and credibility of information are the signals that help
customers evaluate the usefulness of information in selecting the product or service (Erkan & Evan, 2016;
Prendergast et al, 2010; Nabi & Hendriks, 2003; Wathen & Burkell, 2002). Thus, we argue that the
quality and credibility of the information has a positive effect on the perception of its usefulness and
indirectly on both the adoption of the information and the motivation for choosing a travel destination.
Therefore, we hypothesize:
H1: Information quality is positively associated with information usefulness.
H2: Information credibility is positively associated with information usefulness.

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3.2.2. Information usefulness (IU)

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Information usefulness refers to users’ perception of the degree to which information help improve work
efficiency (Bailey & Pearson, 1983; Cheung et al., 2008). Users tend to engage with information when it
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is deemed useful, so the usefulness of information is viewed as a predictor of information retrieval (Davis,
1989; Sussman & Siegal, 2003). In the internet era, users often receive large amounts of online word-of-
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mouth information about products or services (Chu & Kim, 2011). This information may be useful and be
used as references for their activities or behaviors. Previous studies have found that information
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usefulness was one of the factors which promoted people to use eWOM (Cheung et al., 2008; Erkan and
Evans, 2016; Shu and Scott, 2014). The usefulness of eWOM-based information could also come from
reducing risk and efforts of search and evaluation (Bronner and de Hoog 2010; Dabholkar, 2006;
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Goldsmith and Horovitz, 2006; Kim et al., 2011; Sweeney et al., 2008). Therefore, we argue that people
have more intentions of adopting information when they find it more useful and we propose the following
hypothesis: H3: Information usefulness is positively associated with information adoption.
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3.2.3. Information adoption (IA)

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Previous research evidence suggests that positive information reception has a significant effect on
consumer purchase intentions (Erkan & Evans, 2016; See-To & Ho, 2014; Wang et al., 2012). The
purchasing behaviors of social media users are under the influence of the significant amounts of eWOM
to which they are both intentionally and unintentionally exposed daily (See-To & Ho, 2014; Wang et al,
2012). Indeed, since the conversations in social media frequently refer to brands (Wolny and Mueller,
2013), they could naturally be influential in consumers’ purchase intentions (Wang et al., 2012).
According to Erkan & Evans (2016), who based their argumentation on IAM, the impact of eWOM on
behavioral intentions was a process of perceiving information attributes regarding usefulness, adoption of
information, and ultimately intention. The results of previous studies in the tourism industry (Abubakar,
2016; Chen et al., 2014; Jalilvand and Samiei, 2012) also indicate that eWOM has a significant impact on
intention to select the travel destination. Therefore, we hypothesize:

H4: Information adoption is positively associated with intention to choose a destination

3.3 Relationship between personalities and intention to choose a destination

3.3.1. Extraversion (EX)
Extravert people were found to be actively using, sharing and exchanging information (Al-Samarraie et
al., 2017; Heinstrom, 2005; Tidwell and Sias, 2005) while sharing is one of the main functions of social
networks. Chen (2013) argued that extravert individuals found social networks suitable for meeting their
social needs because they offer various communication features such as texting and video sharing.
Similarly, Rosen and Kluemper (2008) and Mouakket, 2018 argued that extravert individuals found social
networking sites to be useful. In addition, extravert people, as frequent information seekers, used most of
the available resources (both formal and informal) to search for information (Heinstrom, 2005). Thus,
they could easily adopt and use eWOM for their information need. Previous studies (Correa et al., 2010;
Panda and Jain, 2018; Ross et al., 2009) have also found that outgoing personality tends to have positive
perceptions of social networking usage and compulsive smartphone usage. In the study by Ross et al.
(2009), participants who had higher levels of extraversion were members of more groups on Facebook
than those with lower extraversion levels. The finding of Correa et al. (2010) and Ryan and Xenos (2011)
confirmed that extraversion is a common characteristic of Facebook users. Therefore, we speculate that
extroverted personality can affect information usefulness perception, information adoption, and intention
to choose a destination of visitors when obtaining information shared on the network. The following

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hypotheses are proposed:

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H5: Extraversion is positively associated with perceived Facebook information usefulness.
H6: Extraversion is positively associated with information adoption.
H7: Extraversion is positively associated with intention to choose the destination.
3.3.2. Agreeableness (AG)
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People who have accepting and agreeable qualities and who are less egocentric were found to be high on
zeal for information search (Al-Samarraie et al., 2017; Heinstrom, 2005) and tend to be more positive
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towards new technologies (Devaraj et al., 2008; Tan and Tang, 2013). Previous studies (Lin and Ong,
2010; Mouakket, 2018) have indicated that agreeableness has a positive effect on perceived usefulness on
a university bulletin board system and intention to continue use of Facebook. Similarly, Rosen and
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Kluemper, 2008 argued that since Facebook could facilitate people to enhance their personal relationships
with others, agreeable individuals would be more likely to consider Facebook useful. In addition,
agreeable people were found to be much more diverse in their information search patterns and were more
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frequent users of the information acquired (Tan and Tang, 2013). Due to their positive, accepting nature
they felt satisfied with their information seeking patterns, which could encourage them to adopt and use
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information for their decision-making. Koban et al. (2018), who studied the link between personalities
and uncivil commenting intentions in public Facebook discussions, found that agreeable people had
intentions to act based on the information from social media. Consequently, we expect that individuals
who are agreeable would consider Facebook a useful communication tool. This leads to the following
hypotheses:

H8: Agreeableness is positively associated with the perceived usefulness of eWOM.

H9: Agreeableness is positively associated with information adoption.
H10: Agreeableness is positively associated with intention to choose a destination.

3.3.3. Conscientiousness (CO)

Given the strong motivation of conscientious individuals to improve their level of performance, we
believed that they were likely to consider the usefulness of information from social networks. The study
by Mouakket (2018) found that conscientious individuals had a positive influence on the perceived
usefulness of Facebook users. Hence, we postulate that conscientious individuals would find eWOM to be
useful as it allowed them to be connected with people in their network faster and perform their duties
more effectively. However, dedicated people who are highly disciplined may be less likely to be
influenced by outside factors such as social networks (Chittaranjan et al., 2013; Landers & Lounsbury,
2006). Thus, they may be quite conservative about adopting information on social networks. This kind of
personality can be more deliberate about receiving information and more hesitant when making decisions
based on information from social networks. In addition, people with high scores on conscientiousness
traits may try to focus on their duties and then view media usage as a distraction. This may contribute to
reducing their social media usage. The finding of Ryan and Xenos, 2011 supported this argument by
showing the significant negative link between conscientiousness Facebook users and their time spent on
Facebook per day. Thus, the following are hypothesized within the context of eWOM on social media:

H11: Conscientiousness is positively associated with the perceived usefulness of eWOM.

H12: Consciousness is negatively associated with impact on information adoption.
H13: Consciousness is negatively associated with intention to choose a destination.

3.3.4. Neuroticism (NE)

“Neuroticism ” as a of personality trait was found to be negatively correlated with all the dimensions of
information seeking behaviors including motivation for search, information use, and resources utilized

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(Heinstrom, 2005). Previous studies (Devaraj et al., 2008; Mouakket, 2018; Ozbek et al., 2014; Sin and
Kim, 2013; Terzis et al., 2011) have also argued that neurotic users likely view working with information

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systems as threatening and stressful tasks; thus, they tend to have negative feelings towards its perceived
usefulness. In addition, these people preferred accessing only a few familiar sources because of their
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insecurity about new sources and information (Heinstrom, 2005). Due to their doubts about their own
abilities, anxiety, self-consciousness, and impulse, they also tended to keep aloof from sharing or
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transferring the information acquired (Heinstrom, 2005). Students with high neuroticism in the study by
Panda and Jain (2018) were found to limit their smart phone usage because of their anxiety. Therefore, we
postulate that a neurotic individual would not find eWOM to be useful, and moreover, that they would not
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adopt information and use it for selecting travel destinations as in the following hypotheses:
H14: Neuroticism is negatively associated with the perceived usefulness of eWOM.
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H15: Neuroticism is negatively associated with information adoption from eWOM.

H16: Neuroticism is negatively associated with intention to choose a destination.
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3.3.5. Imagination (IM)

Imaginative people are often willing to try new things and look for different experiences. Therefore, they
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tend to be innovative pioneers or among the early adopters of new technologies and services (Constantiou
et al, 2006; Tuten and Bosnjak, 2001). The study by Svendsen et al., 2013 showed that innovation interest
of imaginative users promoted their intentions to use new technologies. Imagination or openness was an
important factor in predicting internet usage (McElroy et al., 2007) and social media use (Correa et al.,
2010). Ross et al. (2009) state that imaginative traits may help to utilize new media tools such as social
networks more eaily than other group traits. Tan and Tang (2013) also found that the higher individuals
were in openness to experience, the more willing they were to provide trip feedback to their friends via
social networks. Furthermore, in the study by Maican et al. (2019) openness was the only Big Five trait
which had a direct effect on the use of online technologies for work. People exhibiting openness were
also found to be positively correlated with diversity in information seeking judgment and acquisition
(Heinstrom, 2005). Therefore, we anticipate that openness or imagination might have a positive impact on
the perceived usefulness of eWOM information, information adoption, and intention to choose a
destination through online information as in following hypotheses:

H17: Imagination is positively associated with the perceived usefulness of eWOM.

H18: Imagination is positively associated with information adoption.
H19: Imagination is positively associated with intention to choose a destination.
3.4. Research model
Based on the literature review and hypotheses, the research model is presented in Figure 2 below:

Figure 2: Research Model

Information H1
quality (IQ) Information H3 Information Intention to
H4
usefulness adoption choose

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(IU) (IA) destination (DI)
Information

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credibility H2
H6,9,12,15,18 H7,10,13,16,19
H5,8,11,14,17
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re
Neuroticism Extraversion Agreeableness Conscientiousn Imagination
(NE) (EX) (AG) ess (CO) (IM)
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4. Research methodology
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4.1 Development of measurement tools

We used structured questions to investigate the intention to choose a destination of the customer through
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surveys by handing out questionnaires directly to each potential individual. Items of each construct in the
research model were adapted from previous studies (Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Coyle and Thorson, 2001;
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Erkan and Evans, 2016; Park et al., 2007; Prendergast et al., 2010). Particularly, the information quality
construct (IQ) was measured by three items from the study by Park et al. (2007) and Erkan and Evans
(2016). The information credibility construct (IC) consisted of four items adapted from Prendergast et al.
(2010) and Erkan and Evans (2016). Three scales were adapted from Bailey & Pearson (1983) and Erkan
and Evans (2016) to measure information usefulness (IU). Intention to choose a destination construct (DI)
(four items) was based on Coyle and Thorson (2001) and Erkan and Evans (2016). The Big Five model
short questionnaire version created by Donnellan et al., 2006 was used to evaluate the personality traits of
participants in the survey. The questionnaire was translated from English to Vietnamese and the back
translation method was used to ensure the equivalence of meaning in all items. Before conducting the
official survey, we conducted a pilot interview with 30 people, who were under 30 years old and were
employees in enterprises (15 people), students in a Foreign Trade University (10 students) and
freelancers (5 people) to check the meaning and understandability of the questionnaire. After receiving
comments from the pilot test, we reviewed these and made adjustments to achieve a final questionnaire
with 37 items (Appendix A). The scales used in the study are 5-point Likert scales with 1 - totally
disagree and 5 - totally agree. The survey was conducted during the three months from March to June
2017.
4.2 Sample collection
Potential participants were identified as individuals wishing to travel or planning to travel in the coming
year and using social networking sites (i.e. Facebook and Instagram) which were the most popular social
networks in Vietnam. According to the report by the Ministry of Information and Communications in
2018, Vietnam had more than 60 million internet users (accounted for 70% of population) and of whom
more than 80% used social networks. Xiang and Gretzel (2010) and Xiang et al. (2015) argued that social
media is increasingly prevalent as a tool in travel planning for consumers, particularly so among young
people such as those of Generation Y, who were also termed “digital navies” (Prensky, 2001). While
older generations also use social networks, members of Generation Y very often participate in interactions
on social media networks that result in electronic word-of-mouth (Bennett et al., 2008; Wesner and
Miller, 2008). Therefore, as in previous studies (Correa et al., 2010), the target group of this study was
young social media users (from 18 to 30 years old). The survey was conducted in five different areas
including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; the largest universities in Vietnam are located in these two cities.
The other three sites were tourist destinations: Lao Cai and Nam Dinh are tourist areas in the northern part
of the country and locations for the famous Tran Temple and Sa Pa natural resort; Dak Lak is in the

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southern mountainous area of the country, where the locally popular coffee festival was ongoing during
data collection. We delivered the questionnaires to eligible potential participants. First, people were asked

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about their background information including internet and social network usage, and their travel
experience and plans for the coming year. If they had traveled or had a travel plan for the coming year,
they were invited to participate in the survey. With a 5% error rate (Saunders et al., 2007), the sample size
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for the study should be at least 500. Therefore, we distributed 800 and received 647 valid questionnaires,
which surpassed the abovementioned criteria. In terms of the observations per indicator, which is
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typically required to be at least 10 (Bartlett et al., 2010; Schreiber et al., 2006), our respondent number is
sufficient, resulting in a ratio of 17.49 observations per indicator (Nguyen, 2020). The sample
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characteristics was listed in Table 3.

Table 3: Sample classification

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Classification criteria Number of participants Percentage (%)

Male 205 31.7
Gender
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Female 442 68.3

<18 10 1.5
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18 – 24 469 72.5
Age
24 – 30 90 13.9
> 30 78 12.1
No schooling 4 .6
Primary school 1 .2
Lower Secondary school 7 1.1
Education Senior High school 45 7.0
Junior College 73 11.3
University 491 75.9
Postgraduate 26 4.0
Student 223 34.5
Office staff 280 43.3
Freelancer 128 19.8
Occupation
Business 8 1.2
Retired 6 .9
Homemaker 2 .3
 Classification criteria Number of participants Percentage (%)
< 2 hours 130 20.1
Internet usage per 2 – 4 hours 253 39.1
day 4 - 8 hours 181 28.0
> 8 hours 83 12.8

In this study, female participants outnumbered males (68.3% compared to 317%). This reflects the fact
that females are more likely to participate in social networks (Ahn, 2011) and have been found to spend
more time on these sites (Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Regarding age, young users (from 18 to 30
years old) accounted for more than 85% of the sample. Social networking site users were regular Internet
users; more than one third spent more than two hours per day on Internet. Around 80% of participants had
a bachelor’s or higher degree. As a result, more than 75% of participants were students or office staff.

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4.3 Data Analysis Methods

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In this study, we used the multivariate data analysis method to analyze and test the proposed hypotheses.
Survey data was cleaned before conducting the data analysis. The missing data values were checked and
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processed by the multiple imputations method (Curley et al., 2019) using the “mice” package in R
software. There were 314 missing values out of 23939 targeted values (i.e. 647 observations multiple 37
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items). Thus, the missing value rate is 1.3% and the missing value rate per each item ranged from 0% to
5%. If the means of the observed values were three times greater than the standard deviation, these were
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considered as outliers, and such observations were excluded from the dataset. In this study, we adopted
scales from previous studies; thus we used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood
(ML) to assess the overall fit indexes, the reliability and validity of the factors in the model.
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The popular criteria that are used to assess the overall fit indexes include Chi-square/df, CFI, TLI, IFI,
and RMSEA (Hair et al., 2010; Hooper et al., 2008; Hu and Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2011; Schreiber et al.,
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2006; Schumacker & Lomax, 2015). The cutoff of model fit indexes differs between authors. Some
scholars suggest that the Chi-square/df should be less than 2 or less than 3 (Hair et al., 2010; Kline 2011),
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and even less than 5 in a large sample (West et al., 2012). Cutoff criteria of CFI, TLI, and IFI are
traditionally required to be above 0.9 (Hair et al. 2010; Hooper et al., 2008; Kline, 2011; Schumacker &
Lomax, 2015), though other scholars suggest a more stringent requirement of 0.95 (Hu and Bentler, 1999;
Schreiber et al., 2006; West et al., 2012). Similarly, with regard to the RMSEA value, some scholars
propose a criterion of less than 0.05 (Browne and Cudeck, 1993; Steiger, 1990), whereas others
suggesting 0.08 (Hair et al., 2010; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Schumacker & Lomax, 2015).
In this study, because the survey sample size was quite large (N > 500) and had the high observation-
indicator ratio of 17.49 (mentioned above), we chose the criteria for overall fit indexes between the
rigorous criteria and more relaxed criteria. Specifically, we judged Chi-square/df to be sufficient with a
value of less than 3 (Hair et al., 2010; Kline 2011), required CFI, TLI, IFI to be greater than 0.9 (Hair et
al., 2010; Hooper et al., 2008; Kline, 2011), and RMSEA to be less than 0.08 (Hair et al., 2010; Hu and
Bentler, 1999; Schumacker and Lomax, 2015).
If the factor loadings on items in the constructs are larger than 0.5, the constructs in the model achieve
convergence validity (Hair et al., 2010). Regarding discriminant validity, we used the 95% confidence
intervals of the correlation coefficients between constructs in the model. If the 95% confidence intervals
of the correlation coefficients do not contain one value, the constructs in the model reach discriminant
validity (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988; Torkzadeh et al., 2003). We used Cronbach’s Alpha, composite
reliability coefficients to evaluate the reliability of each construct. If these are greater than 0.6, the
constructs are reliable (Hair et al., 2010). Finally, structural equation modeling was used to test proposed
hypotheses with statistically significant at the 5% level.
5. Data analysis and results
5.1 Measurement model
Before testing the hypothesized relationships, we accessed the reliability and validity of the measurement
scales. After eliminating variables with load factors less than 0.5 (i.e. IQ3, NE2 in the Appendix A), the
analysis of data from 647 individuals indicated that the model was compatible with the actual data (when
Chi-square / df = 2.217 <3; CFI = 0.916; TLI = 0.902; IFI = 0.917 were all greater than 0.9; RMSEA =
0.043 <0.08), and all the factor loading factors were greater than 0.5, which indicated that the factors in
the model were convergent. The Cronbach’s Alpha and composite reliability coefficients were greater

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than 0.7, which shows that the constructs in the model are reliable (Table 4).
Table 4: Reliability Analysis Results

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Composite Cronbach’s
Construct/Items Factor loadings (CFA) Error loadings

Information credibility (Mean = 3.122, SD = 0.716)

-p Reliability Alpha
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IC1 0.710 0.46
IC2 0.768 0.31
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0.828 0.813
IC3 0.795 0.32
IC4 0.682 0.42
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Information quality (Mean = 3.522, SD = 0.857)

IQ2 0.779 0.28
0.647 0.613
IQ1 0.600 0.48
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Information usefulness (Mean = 3.822, SD = 0.721)

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IU1 0.734 0.32

IU2 0.792 0.27 0.805 0.803
IU3 0.757 0.33
Information adoption (Mean = 3.746, SD = 0.665)
IA1 0.737 0.34
IA2 0.799 0.24
0.816 0.811
IA3 0.740 0.30
IA4 0.617 0.44
Destination intention (Mean = 3.466, SD = 0.684)
DI4 0.545 0.38
DI2 0.609 0.37 0.617 0.674
DI1 0.619 0.30
Extraversion (Mean = 0.532, SD = 0.857)
EX4 0.611 0.44
0.817 0.813
EX3 0.747 0.36
 Composite Cronbach’s
Construct/Items Factor loadings (CFA) Error loadings Reliability Alpha
EX2 0.788 0.45
EX1 0.754 0.37
Consciousness (Mean = 3.459, SD = 0.792)
CO3 0.632 0.40
CO2 0.641 0.41 0.662 0.661
CO1 0.613 0.37
Imagination (Mean = 3.427, SD = 0.832)
IM4 0.633 0.41
IM3 0.844 0.42 0.825 0.823

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IM2 0.856 0.43
Neuroticism (Mean = 3.270, SD = 0.892)

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NE4 0.712 0.51
NE3 0.648 0.42 0.725 0.77
NE1 0.692
-p 0.48
Agreeableness (Mean = 3.615, SD = 0.702)
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AG3 0.641 0.62
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AG2 0.650 0.33 0.685 0.716

AG1 0.656 0.31
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Analysis of the 95% confidence intervals with the correlation coefficients showed that the maximum
correlation coefficient with the two IU - IA concepts was 0.883 (95% confidence intervals was 0.828 -
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0.933), which indicated that discriminant validity had been achieved (Table 5).
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 Table 5: The result of discriminant validity test

IC IQ IU IA PI NE EX AG CO IM
IC 1
.660
1
IQ (.564-.757)
.517 .515
1
IU (.446-.591) (.395-643)
.527 .504 .883

f
1

oo
IA (.446-.597) (.382- .613) (.828-.933)
.563 .556 .694 .736

pr
1
PI (.452-.665) (.430-.672) (.601-.777) (.654-.814)

e-
.264 .198 .166 .241 .343
1
(.155-.372) (.059-.319) (.053-.277) (.132-.349) (.206-.467)

Pr
NE
.344 .324 .340 .400 .636 .375
1
(.253-.440) (.205-.429) (.246-.431) (.303-.488) (.548-.719) (.251-.493)

al
EX
.275 .378 .383 .364 .643 .264 .513

rn
1
AG (.160-.347) (.260-.487) (.274-.481) (.251-.469) (.552-.736) (.130-.395) (.397-.642)
.321 .207 .293 u .337 .433 .567 .464 .429
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1
CO (.208-.421) (.077-.325) (.175-.398) (.217-.440) (.302-.551) (.421-.703) (.341-.571) (.304-.548)
.257 .207 .205 .217 .475 .346 .275 .444 .350
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IM (.160-.347) (.092-.322) (.097-.306) (.115-.317) (.369-.573) (.211-.464) (.166-.388) (.312-.551) (.207-.457)
Note: The values in parentheses are 95% confidence intervals
5.2 Structural model
The result of the structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that that the model was compatible with the
actual data (Chi-square / df = 2.794, CFI = 0.920, TLI = 0.908, IFI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.053). Table 6
presents the SEM analysis result.

Table 6: Results of structural model and hypotheses tests

Accepted
Hypotheses Relationships Std. Beta Critical ratio p-value
or not
H1 IQ IU 0.230 3.057 0.002 Yes
H2 IC IU 0.331 4.890 <0.001 Yes
H3 IU IA 0.858 15.262 <0.001 Yes
H4 IA DI 0.522 9.380 <0.001 Yes

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H5 EX IU 0.089 1.471 0.141 No
EX IA 0.119 3.372 <0.001

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H6 Yes
H7 EX DI 0.248 4.379 <0.001 Yes
H8
H9
AG
AG
IU
IA
-p
0.201
-0.054
3.949
-0.958
<0.001
0.338
Yes
No
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H10 AG DI 0.239 3.514 <0.001 Yes
H12 CO IA 0.026 0.431 0.667 No
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H11 CO IU 0.105 1.370 0.171 No

H13 CO DI -0.058 -0.750 0.453 No
H14 NE IU -0.081 -1.200 0.230 No
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H15 NE IA 0.067 1.229 0.219 No

H16 NE DI 0.016 0.235 0.814 No
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H17 IM IU 0.000 -0.003 0.998 No

H18 IM IA -0.003 -0.065 0.948 No
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H19 IM DI 0.183 3.646 <0.001 Yes

In the information adoption model part, the estimation indicated that Information Quality (IQ), and
Information Credibility (IC) had a positive impact on Information Usefulness (IU) (p-value < 0.05). In
addition, there was a clear impact of perceived usefulness on information adoption (β= 0.858, p < 0.05),
and the adoption of information on intention to choose a destination (β= 0.522, p < 0.05). In short, the
analysis result supports all the hypotheses related to information adoption, namely H1, 2, 3, and 4.
Regarding the five constructs in the Big Five model, only three constructs had an impact on Information
Usefulness (IU), Information Adoption (IA), and Intention to choose destination (DI). Specifically,
Agreeableness (AG) had a positive impact on Information Usefulness (IU), and Intention to choose
destination (DI) (p-value < 0.05). Extraversion (EX) had a positive on Information Adoption (IA) and
Intention to choose destination (DI) (p-value < 0.05), and Imagination (IM) had a positive impact on
Intention to choose destination (DI) (p-value < 0.05). The other relationships in the model did not support
the analysis result (p-value > 0.05) (Table 5). In short, the analysis results support Hypotheses H6, 7, 8,
10, and 19 but not H5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. The relationships in the research model are
described in Figure 3 below.
 Figure 3. Results of the structure model

Information
credibility Information
(IC) quality (IQ)

0.331* 0.230*
Neuroticism
(NE)
Information

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usefulness (IU)
0.858*

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Extraversion 0.201*
(EX)
0.248*
-p 0.119*
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Information
adoption
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(IA)
Agreeableness
(AG)
na

0.522*
0.239*
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Intention to choose
Conscientiousness
destination (DI)
(CO)
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0.183*

Imagination
(IM)

5.3. Direct, indirect, and total effects

The intention to choose a destination in addition to the direct impact of information adoption and
personality is indirectly influenced by other factors. Table 7 below shows the direct, indirect, and
composite impacts of the seven factors in the model on the intention to choose a destination. The most
influential factor is information adoption, following by information usefulness and agreeableness, which
is also the most important factor in the Big Five group, while the lowest impact comes from the imagine
factor.
Table 7: Direct, indirect, and total effects of the construct on intention to choose a destination
Dependent
Effect IM AG EX IC IQ IU IA
variable
Direct 0.000 0.201 0.000 0.331 0.230 0.000 0.000
IU Indirect 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Total 0.000 0.201 0.000 0.331 0.230 0.000 0.000
Direct 0.000 0.000 0.119 0.000 0.000 0.858 0.000
IA Indirect 0.000 0.173 0.000 0.284 0.197 0.000 0.000
Total 0.000 0.173 0.119 0.284 0.197 0.858 0.000
Direct 0.183 0.239 0.248 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.522
DI Indirect 0.000 0.090 0.062 0.148 0.103 0.447 0.000
Total 0.183 0.329 0.31 0.148 0.103 0.447 0.522

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6. Discussion

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Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is not expected to lose its attraction to consumers in a growing
information economy (King et al., 2014). Recognizing that tourism is one area where consumers seek to
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benefit from eWOM, this study investigated the relationship between user personality, eWOM
information content, and eWOM-informed selection of tourism destination. To this end, we applied the
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information adoption and Big Five models.
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6.1. Information Adoption Model (IAM)

The results of our research supported the relevance of information adoption model in studying the role of
eWOM in choice of travel destination. This result was consistent with the conclusions of previous studies
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on the Information Adoption Model (IAM) that the intention behaviors of social media users depended on
the process of receiving information and information attributes including information quality and
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credibility (Cheung et al., 2008; 2009; Erkan and Evans, 2016; Lee and Koo, 2015; See-To and Ho, 2014;
Shu and Scott, 2014; Wang et al., 2012). Specifically,, the study found that perception of information
usefulness could affect both adoption directly and motivation of the customer's destination selection
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indirectly.
We also noted that information attributes of eWOM including information quality and information
credibility directly affected the information’s perceived usefulness, indirectly information adoption and
the intention to choose a tourist destination. This was consistent with previous studies demonstrating that
quality and credibility of information influenced perceived usefulness, information adoption and purchase
intention (Erkan and Evans, 2016; Park et al., 2007; Sussman and Siegal, 2003). Quality and reliability
were required for any shared information to be perceived as useful, then accepted and conveyed in use.
This study affirmed that the characteristics of eWOM played an important role in the information
adoption process and the user behaviors.
6.2. The Big Five Model
This study aimed to identify the personality characteristics associated with adopting and using
information from social media for decision making, particularly in considering travel destinations. We
also investigated the mechanism or process by which these characteristics could impact the way people
adopt and use eWOM. The results showed that five personal traits had different levels of influence on
individuals’ behavior when exposed to eWOM. Particularly, Facebook users evincing extraversion,
agreeableness and imagination, were more likely to use eWOM in their decision making while
conscientious and neurotic individuals were not influenced by eWOM. In addition, extraversion,
agreeableness and imagination were significantly associated with differential stages of information
adoption process.

In terms of specific hypotheses, the predictions that extraverts would adopt and apply eWOM in their
decisions were supported. These results were consistent with previous studies such as Correa et al., 2010;
Panda and Jain, 2018; Ryan and Xenos, 2011. Correa et al. (2010) found that extraversion was the most
important predictor of social media use while Ross et al. (2009) concluded that individuals high on the
trait of extraversion were found to belong to significantly more Facebook groups and related positively to
the use of the communicative features of Facebook, such as the Wall and Chat. In the study by Sin and
Kim (2013), extroverts were found to use SNS more frequently than did introverts for everyday life
information seeking. However, in this study, we did not find a positive relationship between extraversion
and perceived information usefulness. This interesting finding could be explained by the fact that
extraverts were diverse and wider in their information searches (Heinstrom, 2005). For extraverts, social

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media was convenient and effective communication tools but they could also use other information
sources, apart from eWOM, as references to support their decisions. In addition, Terzis et al., 2011 found

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that extroversion was positively related to perceived importance and then indirectly to behavioral
intention toward computer based assessment (CBA). Therefore, other reasons rather than information
usefulness may lead extraverted social media users to adopt eWOM for their decision making.
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Second, the agreeableness factor was found not only to have a strong and effective influence on perceived
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usefulness but also to be positively related to behavioral intention. These results were consistent with the
previous findings of Devaraj et al. (2008); Landers and Lounsbury (2006); Lin and Ong (2010);
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Mouakket (2018); Soltani et al. (2013). For example, in the study by Devaraj et al. (2008) and Soltani et
al. (2013) agreeableness was related to accepting new technologies since agreeable users thought that the
new technologies were important and useful in accomplishing their daily work. Landers and Lounsbury
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(2006) also concluded that people with high tolerance found social networks more useful than people with
low tolerance. In the study by Moore and McElroy (2012) and Koban et al. (2018) agreeable individuals
were actively making postings about themselves or responses to provocative statements on Facebook. In
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this study, agreeable trait was found to be a positive predictor for using eWOM in selecting travel
destination selection. More agreeable people were usually more easy-going and accommodating so they
were more likely to be persuaded that an information source has the desired information than were less
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agreeable people (Tan and Tang, 2013). The agreeable people could also make new friends more easily
to create larger social networks which could create more useful information for them. However, we found
no association between agreeableness and information adoption. Xu et al. (2016) and Ross, et al. (2009)
also found that agreeableness did not influence the adoption of mobile social applications or Facebook
use. In other words, for agreeable people, eWOM adoption was not the mediating variable in their eWOM
adoption process. Their information usefulness perception could be strong enough to direct their behavior
without adopting information. In addition, the growing popularity of technologies and social apps such as
‘Facebook’ and ‘Instagram’ could diminish the impact of agreeable trait on adoption (Xu et al., 2016).

Regarding imagination, given the novel nature of information on social media networks and as an
alternative method of communication, it was not surprising to find that imaginative people were willing to
build up the intention to adopt and use eWOM. There have been quite a few studies linking the
characteristics of imagination and technology adoption in the literature. For example, the relationship
between openness and intention to use or actual use was positive in the studies by Jani et al. (2014);
Maican et al. (2019); Koban et al. (2018). Similarly, Jani et al. (2014) generalized that the higher the
openness to experience, the more and diverse travel information was sought through the Internet.
However, despite intentions to select a destination based on eWOM, people with imagination did not
adopt and perceive eWOM as a useful information source. Previous studies likewise found no evidence to
support the link between openness and perceived usefulness. For example, Sin and Kim (2013) found that
even though international students valued social media, students with imagination did not think that
information from these sources was useful. Similarly, Devaraj et al. (2008); Rosen and Kluemper (2008);
Terzis et al. (2011) found that imagination trait had no influence on perceived usefulness among
university students using Facebook or computer-based assessment (CBA) system or collaborative
technology. This result could be explained by the interest that people high in imagination have in
information perceived as new. However, even in spite of this interest, they will not necessarily be moved
to adopt information for their decision-making, as prescribed by IAM, necessitating the addition of other
theories to better explain their behavior.

Finally, none of hypotheses regarding conscientiousness and neuroticism being connected with
information usefulness, information adoption and destination intention was supported. Most previous
studies have likewise found no relationship between conscientiousness and perceived usefulness and
behavior intention (Koban et al., 2018; Moore and McElroy, 2012; Ozbek et al., 2014; Ross et al., 2009;
Terzis et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2016 ). On the other hand, the relationship between neuroticism and

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perceived usefulness was inconsistent in previous studies. Some of them (e.g. Koban, 2018; Sin and Kim,
2013; Xu et al., 2016) did not find the evidence supported while others (e.g. Devaraj et al., 2008; Correa

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et al., 2010; Jani et al., 2014; Mouakket, 2018; Ozbek et al., 2014; Terzis et al, 2011) found that
neuroticism had an impact (either negative or positive) on perceived usefulness and social media use.
Some other studies have reported influence of neuroticism on intention to use and actual use via
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mediating variables such as work engagement in communication and collaboration applications (Maican
et al., 2019) and self-presentation in Facebook use (Nadkarni and Hofmann, 2012).
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7. Implications and Conclusion
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From a theoretical point of view, our research confirmed the applicability of the Information Adoption
Model (IAM) in eWOM with regard to tourist destinations. Prior research has relied mainly on the
technology acceptance model, and while IAM is partly a derivation of TAM, our study represents an
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added level of sophistication to the literature. Our results proved that the Information Adoption Model
(IAM) proposed by Sussman and Siegal (2003) was applicable to eWOM studies. This result was also
confirmed in previous eWOM studies such as Cheung et al. (2008), (2009); Shu and Scott (2014);
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however, in this study, we integrated IAM with personality theories (i.e. Big Five Model) and added
social media users' intentions to choose destinations as a dependent variable. The result showed the
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importance of information attributes when people adopted information from social networks. Information
quality and credibility had a positive impact on information usefulness, adoption, and intention to use.
Information usefulness and adoption were the main factors influencing intention to select travel
destinations. These results confirmed that eWOM enabled social media users to obtain useful information.

We also exposed the association of individual personality traits to the process of adopting information and
influencing the individual's intentions with regard to choosing a tourism destination. In other words, our
study revealed that the personality of social media users affects whether they view eWOM as being able
to provide the useful information and whether they should adopt eWOM and use it in their decision
making. Previous studies, while considering personality in eWOM adoption, do not account for the
linkage of personality and behavioral intention (including adoption behavior). The model developed in
this study therefore extended IAM through considering the personalities of eWOM users regarding
information adoption and behavioral intention. The results of this study proved that the influence of
eWOM on behavioral intention not only depends on the characteristics of eWOM information but is also
affected by eWOM users' personalities.

To be specific, three personality traits, agreeableness, extraversion, and imagination, affect the destination
intention by differentiating the information adoption process. In particular, extraverts adopted tourism
information from social media sources and used this in their destination selection. Agreeableness had a
positive influence on the perception that eWOM-related sources contained useful tourism information,
while openness to experience had a positive influence on destination intention without information
usefulness perception and information adoption. Two personality traits, neuroticism and
conscientiousness, stand out from other personality traits and have no effect on any main variables in the
information adoption process. In the context of tourism, the results added to the research of Tan and Tang
(2013) and Jani et al. (2014), and showed that it is worthwhile to explore the influence of personality
traits on tourism information sources and feedback channels.

On the practical side, the results can help prevent wastage of time and resources for both firms and
customers, and timely interventions by the firms for streaming the motivation for using eWOM among
the social media users. As this study found that consumers’ selection of tourism destinations is influenced
by eWOM, it underlines the need for tourist firms to build tourism brands through social networks. Even
in a fast-changing tourism market such as Vietnam, consumers seek information for their travel planning;
hence, firms need to (i) create word-of-mouth channels such as fan pages, forums, social network groups

of
introducing and sharing information about tourist destinations; (ii) focus on providing useful, accurate,
complete and timely information through social network channels to visitors; and (iii) personalize

ro
visitors, thereby suggesting a list of appropriate travel locations and services to reduce the search time for
travelers.
-p
Furthermore, the results show the importance of information attributes when shared through social
networks since the information quality and credibility had a positive impact on information usefulness,
re
adoption, and intention to use. Therefore, tourism firms should ensure the quality, credibility, and
timeliness of information on their social media. It is critical to provide basic information that is high in
lP

quality and credible. In addition, customers usually search for reputable fan pages or groups on a social
network that are objective and not directly endorsed by companies. Therefore, companies should ensure
that their services are also visible on social media that are built “by customers for customers”, and not
na

only their own web sites, where information may be viewed as “promotion”, and hence less credible.

Third, this study found that individuals’ personality traits play a role in the use of information from
ur

interactive social media in decision-making. Therefore, tourism firms, organizations, and designers
should pay more attention to the individual characteristics of customers when designing their information
channels. In addition, our study found that some dimensions of personality tare better predictors of
Jo

eWOM usage than others. Particularly, this study found that individuals’ personality traits – extraversion,
agreeableness, and openness to experiences – play a role in the adoption and use of information on
interactive social media, which implies that marketing departments could use eWOM to approach these
customers. The other two personality traits, namely neuroticism and conscientiousness, were not linked to
eWOM, suggesting that social media campaigns related to travel may be of less use in influencing the
behavior of customers with these traits. Hence, marketing departments of tourism companies should
consider other ways to reach such customers. For example, the official information channels, information
websites of tourist organizations or information centers could be more useful than eWOM in these cases.

While our research probed the personality link to eWOM-related information adoption, it appears that the
IAM model is insufficient to fully explain what role personalities play in this relationship. Personality is a
very fundamental human feature which influences our behavior in complicated ways. Thus, we would
suggest future research to involve more variables that can complement the IAM model in explaining
information adoption from eWOM. In the case of extraversion and agreeableness, which are connected to
social relationships, the investigation of subjective norms and brand image might help in explaining the
adoption behavior of consumers with such personalities. For the trait of imagination, understanding the
subjective perceptions of information novelty could help future study designs. Personality could also play
a moderating role in the relationship between technology usefulness and intention to use and between
subjective norms and intention to use. Therefore, future studies should focus on developing more
comprehensive information on personality-linked variables linked to information use on social media.

While our data sample is Vietnamese, and there is some skewness in the data toward female and highly
educated respondents, this should not affect the results as Big Five personality traits are seen to be
universal, irrespective of culture, gender, and education. An individual’s personality is not assumed to
change on reaching adulthood. However, because personality is a basic building block of our behavior,
and it may be expressed differently in different contexts, future research should try to verify our results
using different populations.

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Appendix A

Factor Question References

1. Information Adoption Model
Information Quality (IQ)
Information about travel destinations which are shared by my friends in
social media, I think they are
IQ1: generally understandable to everyone Park et al., (2007); Erkan &
IQ2: clear Evans (2016)
IQ3: updated regularly*.
Information Credibility (IC)
Information about travel destinations which are shared by my friends in

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social media, I think they are
IC1: persuasive Prendergast et al. (2010);
IC2: reliable

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Erkan & Evans (2016)
IC3: accurate
IC4: complete and detailed
Information Usefulness (IU)
-p
re
IU1: I think information on social networks makes it easier for visitors to
select the destinations.
IU2: I think information on social networks increases the effectiveness of Bailey & Pearson, (1983);
lP

destination choices. Erkan & Evans (2016)

IU3: I think information on social networks brings benefits such as
updated information and different options for visitors.
na

Information Adoption (IA)

IA1: Information on social networks makes me more confident in my
ur

travel destination choice

IA2: Information on social networks enhances my effectiveness in
selecting the travel destination. Cheung et al. (2009); Erkan
Jo

IA3: Information on social networks makes the destination choice easier & Evans (2016)
IA4: Information on social networks promotes me to select the travel
destination.
Intention to choose a destination (DI)
After considering information about travel destinations which are shared
by my friends in social media …
DI1: I often have the intention to travel.
DI2: I quickly decide on a travel destination. Coyle & Thorson, (2001);
Erkan & Evans (2016)
DI3: I will select the recommended destination next time I want to travel.
DI4: I will recommend the travel destination shared on social media to
my other friends.
2. Five Big Factor Model
Extraversion
EX1: Like participating in parties
EX2: Like communicating with others in parties Donnellan et al. (2006)
EX3: Be enthusiastic
Factor Question References
1. Information Adoption Model
EX4: Not a closed person
Agreeableness
AG1: Easily empathize with the feelings of others
AG2: Pay attention to the problems of people around
Donnellan et al. (2006)
AG3: Easily understand the emotions of others
AG4: Have a tendency to be interested in the people around
Consciousness
CO1: Immediately do work after receiving it
CO2: Always remember and leave the widgets in their old location after
Donnellan et al. (2006)

of
use
CO3: Live in principle, discipline

ro
Neuroticism (psychological stabilization)
NE1: Constant and stable mood
NE2: Always feel comfortable with yourself*
NE3: Not easily angered
-p Donnellan et al. (2006)
re
NE4: Not easily bored
Imagination
lP

IM1: Have a vivid imagination

IM2: Always interested in abstract things
na

IM3: Feel comfortable and easy to understand complicated, abstract Donnellan et al. (2006)
issues
IM4: Good at imagining
ur
Jo