Received: 18 August 2022 Revised: 29 December 2022 Accepted: 20 March 2023

DOI: 10.1002/jtr.2579

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Is travel bragging in the eye of the beholder? Bragger

and audience perspectives

Hongbo Liu 1 | Xiang (Robert) Li 2 | Scott Cohen 1

1
School of Hospitality & Tourism
Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, Abstract
Surrey, UK
Travel bragging refers to showing off or boasting about travel experiences. Despite
2
Department of Tourism and Hospitality
Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, its ubiquity on social media, travel bragging has been relatively under-researched.
Pennsylvania, USA This study examines travel bragging from a dual perspective of both braggers and

Correspondence
audiences. Based on 30 semi-structured interviews with participants who frequently
Hongbo Liu, School of Hospitality & Tourism posted or bragged about travel experiences and who had been frequently exposed to
Management, University of Surrey, Guildford,
Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK.
others' travel bragging on social media, we provide the first systematic conceptualiza-
Email: hongbo.liu@surrey.ac.uk tion of travel bragging. We highlight the perception gaps between travel braggers

Funding information
and the audience regarding travel bragging, while uncovering the positive and nega-
Fox School of Business, Temple University tive effects of travel bragging and associated theoretical underpinnings.

KEYWORDS
dual perspective, experience sharing, perception gap, social media, travel bragging

1 | I N T RO DU CT I O N social media could increase other tourists' awareness and inspire

Bragging about one's travel experiences is not new. This phenomenon
dates back at least to the days of Marco Polo, who boasted about his
exotic travel experiences in his famous travelog. Thanks to the growth
of advanced information and communication technologies, sharing
travel experiences via social media has become common practice. For
impression management, people tend to share desirable aspects and
occasionally embellish their travel experiences. The phenomenon of
showcasing travel experiences boastfully is referred to as travel brag-
ging (Cha et al., 1995; Liu & Li, 2021). Despite the prevalence of travel
bragging on social media, relatively little academic research has
tapped into this phenomenon. Conceptualizations of travel bragging
also remain vague, especially in terms of being differentiated from
experience sharing.
Extensive research has addressed the role of electronic word of
mouth (eWOM) in tourism; however, scarce attention has been given
to “curated and altered eWOM” (Rosario et al., 2020), such as travel
bragging and its effects on the psychology and behavior of travel
braggers and their audience. As a type of eWOM, travel bragging on
travel intentions, especially among younger generations (Liu
et al., 2019). Moreover, luxury travel experiences shared on social
media could trigger benign envy among audience members and stimu-
late their intentions to visit the same destination (Liu et al., 2019).
Although travel bragging presents opportunities to destination mar-
keters vis-à-vis consumer engagement and travel inspiration, it may
also pose challenges. Research in psychology has shown that bragging
(more generally) exerts a negative psychological impact on audience
members (Scopelliti et al., 2015). According to a survey among Ameri-
cans, over a fifth of surveyed participants would unfollow or block a
person who bragged about something on social media, including vaca-
tions (Samuel, 2019). Yet there is a lack of systematic investigations
on the effects of travel bragging on travel braggers and their
audience.
To address the aforementioned research gaps, this study adopts a
qualitative approach to explore travel bragging on social media. Using
semi-structured interviews, we analyze travel braggers' and audience
members' perceptions and definitions of travel bragging, their percep-
tions of how travel bragging differs from experience sharing, and the

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provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Tourism Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Int J Tourism Res. 2023;25:475–490. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jtr 475


476
influences of travel bragging. Drawing on attribution theory and social
influence–related theories, this study provides a novel conceptualiza-
tion of travel bragging, using a dual perspective to explore the percep-
tion gaps between travel braggers and the audience. More
specifically, this research is guided by the following research
questions:
1. What is travel bragging?
2. What are the influences of travel bragging on tourists?
3. What, if any, are the perception gaps regarding travel bragging
between travel braggers and their audience?
2 | T H E O R E T I C A L BA C K G R O U N D
2.1 | Bragging and self-disclosure
Various definitions of bragging exist in a more general sense, with
Berman et al. (2015) defining it as “informing others of a positive, self-
relevant behavior or trait”. Bragging communicates one's superiority
and achievements by showing off and comparing oneself with others
(Ruvio & Shoham, 2016). Researchers generally agree that bragging is
a form of self-promotion that signals superiority and competence,
such as by publicizing one's personal achievements, noteworthy traits
and skills, wealth, status, social relationships, and/or good luck
(Scopelliti et al., 2015; Tal-Or, 2010).
The vague distinction between positive self-disclosure and brag-
ging renders the conceptualization of bragging intriguing. Some
researchers consider bragging to involve disclosing positive self-
aspects to others, such as personal achievements and positive charac-
teristics (Berman et al., 2015; Tal-Or, 2010). Others emphasize the
aggressive and comparative nature of bragging (e.g., Dayter, 2014;
Ruvio & Shoham, 2016). Scholars distinguish bragging and positive
disclosure: positive disclosure refers to sharing positive self-relevant
information with others (Dayter, 2014), whereas bragging involves
dispositional and comparative statements emphasizing power, status,
or wealth, or claiming to be better than others (Miller et al., 1992).
Although bragging can be conceptually distinct from positive dis-
closure, it remains difficult to distinguish the two practically. Accord-
ing to Scopelliti et al. (2015), a perception gap persists between
braggers and their audience: a bragger may overestimate their audi-
ence's positive feelings while underestimating their negative feelings
towards positive self-disclosure. In other words, a statement that a
bragger considers positive self-disclosure could be perceived as brag-
ging by their audience. Therefore, whether positive disclosure is con-
sidered bragging depends largely on the perceiver's point of view.
2.2 | Unraveling travel bragging
Travel experiences constitute one of many objects about which indi-
viduals brag about. Due to travel's intangibility, tourists seek to make
tourism consumption more visible through experience sharing or
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LIU ET AL.
bragging, which helps tourists enhance their social status among peers
(Sajtos & Chong, 2018). Social media have greatly boosted the visibil-
ity of experiential consumption, with a growing trend of sharing expe-
riences over material possessions (Bronner & deHoog, 2019). By
publicizing tourism consumption, travelers highlight the symbolic
meanings behind their travel experiences, including wealth, social sta-
tus, achievements, social ties, and happiness in their personal life (Liu
et al., 2019). In contrast to the past when tourists were inclined to sig-
nal wealth and social status extravagantly in travel bragging, modern
tourists are more likely to display cultural capital and taste through
subtle cues (Boley et al., 2018; Liu & Li, 2021). Travel consumption is
playing a more prominent role than ever in defining individuals. This
evolution has further blurred the distinction between experience shar-
ing and bragging in the context of tourism consumption.
Bragging has been framed as a travel motivation in extant litera-
ture. Cha et al. (1995) identified three items representing visitors'
travel bragging motivations: “talking about a trip after returning
home,” “going places friends have not been,” and “indulging in lux-
ury.” Following Cha et al. (1995), several studies (e.g., Kim, Oh, &
Jogaratnam, 2007; Sirakaya et al., 2003) tested travel bragging as a
travel motivation and used it as a basis for market segmentation.
However, there is a lack of understanding about travel bragging as a
behavior. Travel bragging has been defined as showcasing travel expe-
riences boastfully (Cha et al., 1995; Liu & Li, 2021). Gannon et al.
(2019) termed travel bragging “braggart WoM,” described as spread-
ing travel experience–related WOM for self-enhancement purposes.
Despite these initial definitional attempts, a more holistic conceptuali-
zation of travel bragging is needed considering the term's multifaceted
nature, the muddied boundary between experience sharing and travel
bragging, and possible perception gaps between braggers and their
audience.
Travel bragging might generate positive and negative conse-
quences for braggers themselves. As a means of sharing experiences,
travel bragging may lead to greater positive affect (e.g., happiness and
excitement) and thus higher trip satisfaction and life happiness (Kim &
Fesenmaier, 2017; Lee & Oh, 2017). However, travel bragging can
also negatively influence braggers' interpersonal relationships: Kerr
et al. (2012) noted that family and friends may find excessive travel
bragging obnoxious, a pattern consistent with wider psychological
studies on bragging. For example, Scopelliti et al. (2015) found brag-
ging could evoke negative audience emotions including annoyance,
sense of inferiority, or jealousy. These reactions may ultimately reduce
braggers' likability among the audience. Similarly, Cooney et al. (2014)
observed that sharing extraordinary experiences with peers can spoil
interactions and result in braggers' social exclusion. Within tourism,
braggart online reviews have been found to negatively influence the
audience's hotel brand evaluations and booking intentions due to
decreased reviewer likability (Chen et al., 2020).
The differences in travel braggers' and audience members'
responses towards travel bragging represent perception gaps. These
gaps and audience remembers' responses towards travel bragging can
be explained, at least in part, by attribution theory, as the effects of
travel bragging may vary depending on the focal individual's

LIU ET AL.
interpretations. Attribution theory encompasses how people make
causal inferences about why others adopt a certain viewpoint or
behave in a particular way (Folkes, 1988). People's causal attributions
towards the same event can differ depending on whether their role is
an actor or observer. Such a perceptual difference is termed ‘actor-
observer bias’ (Jones & Nisbett, 1987). As actors, people are inclined
to attribute their own actions to environmental factors, whereas as
observers, they are more likely to ascribe others' actions to personal
factors (Jones & Nisbett, 1987). In travel bragging, travel braggers are
the actors, and audience members are the observers. These two ana-
lytical sides tend to make different causal inferences about travel
bragging, resulting in different attitudes and perceptions, which may
comprise perception gaps between travel braggers and the audience.
As travel bragging is a social behavior rooted in interpersonal rela-
tionships, the influences of travel bragging can presumably also be
unraveled by social influence-related theories. Social influence takes a
variety of forms, among which conformity and social comparison are
the most important ones. Conformity refers to changing one's opin-
ions or behaviors to match group norms or others' responses
(Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). There are two different types of confor-
mity according to Deutsch and Gerard (1955), informational social
influence, which occurs when people seek accurate information, and
normative social influence, which occurs when seeking social approval
and acceptance. As a type of WOM, travel bragging could produce
both informational and normative social influences on audience mem-
bers, who may gain information and inspiration from the bragging
posts, and/or feel normative pressure to follow the travel braggers.
Social comparison refers to the process of comparing oneself against
others, and people have a natural tendency to compare themselves
with others for purposes of self-evaluation and self-enhancement
(Festinger, 1954). Upward social comparison occurs when people com-
pare themselves with others who are superior to them in some way, and
downward social comparison occurs when people compare with those
who are inferior to them in some aspects (Festinger, 1954). Upward
social comparison can lead to negative consequences, including negative
affect, diminished self-evaluation, and reduced subjective well-being
(Buunk et al., 1990). In contrast, downward social comparison may boost
self-esteem, leading to positive emotions and wellbeing (Buunk
et al., 1990). Travel bragging can explicitly or implicitly convey a sense of
superiority over others, which may elicit upward social comparison
among audience members. As a result, travel bragging may lead to ego
deflation, negative emotions, as well as decreased likeability of travel
braggers among audience members. From the travel braggers' perspec-
tive, travel bragging provides a form of downward social comparison,
which could enhance self-evaluation and provoke positive affect.
Travel bragging may thus generate distinct impacts on travel brag-
gers and their audience depending on one's perceptions. Although the
existing literature has shed some light on the role of travel bragging
on social media, a dual perspective that assesses travel bragging from
the perspectives of travel braggers and the audience is lacking. Under-
standing the perception gaps between these parties will allow for a
more comprehensive conceptualization of travel bragging that
uncovers its complex impacts and theoretical underpinnings.
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477
3 | METHODOLOGY
3.1 | Research philosophy and approach
This study adopted an interpretivist paradigm, which endeavors to
understand social phenomena in context through the subjects' view-
points, and it seeks understanding of individuals' interpretations of
the world around them or the meanings they make of the context
(Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). This paradigm ontologically (i.e., the nature
of reality) assumes that there are multiple, socially constructed reali-
ties (Tavakoli & Mura, 2015). Epistemologically (i.e., the nature of
knowledge), this paradigm is grounded on subjectivism, which
acknowledges the subjectivity in construction of meanings, and main-
tains that knowledge is value-laden and bounded by social contexts
(Levers, 2013; Tavakoli & Mura, 2015). The interpretivist paradigm
aligns well with this research as it sought to understand travel brag-
ging through participants' viewpoints, including their interpretations
and perceptions of, and subjective experiences with travel bragging. A
qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was hence
adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data
as they can enable researchers to probe for clarification and to com-
pare and integrate interview findings (Barriball & While, 1994). An
inductive approach was taken in this study, which allows theory build-
ing based on meanings, patterns and relationships emerged from data
(Saunders et al., 2016). An inductive approach is appropriate as this
study attempted to build a conceptual framework of travel bragging
based on the data collected.
3.2 | Sampling
Purposive sampling, which selects cases based on relevance to the
study objectives and the researchers' judgment (Teddlie & Yu, 2007),
was employed. Individuals who frequently posted or bragged about
travel experiences on social media and those who had been frequently
exposed to others' travel bragging on social media were recruited. It
was important to recruit travel braggers and the audience due to
potential perception gaps between these two groups (Scopelliti
et al., 2015). Specifically, to elicit input from travel braggers, partici-
pants who reported posting travel experiences “often” or “very often”
on social media in a screening survey were approached, constituting a
group of potential travel braggers. To gather an audience perspective,
participants who acknowledged having one or more social media
friends who were travel braggers in the screening survey were
approached. Snowball sampling was also used by asking initial partici-
pants to spread the message and recommend acquaintances who
might wish to participate.
3.3 | Data collection
A recruitment message with a link to a screening survey that asked
about informants' travel experience sharing and exposure to others'

478
travel bragging posts on social media were posted on several social
media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Craigslist (a platform that
provides classified-advertising services). Qualified potential infor-
mants were contacted and scheduled for interviews. 30 interviews
were held in late 2018 and early 2019 with an average length of
1 hour, including 15 audience members (A01–A15) and 15 travel
braggers/experience sharers (B01–B15). If a participant reported in
the screening survey experiences as both a bragger and audience
member, they were asked to choose participation as one or the
other, resulting in 30 unique interview participants. The interviews
stopped after theoretical saturation reached. Among the 15 partici-
pants who frequently posted their travel experiences on social
media, 12 reported having bragged about their experiences to vary-
ing degrees; the remaining three instead identified themselves as
‘experience sharers’. The interviews were conducted either via
Skype or face-to-face in an eastern U.S. city where the first author
was based. All interviews were audio recorded with participants'
consent.
All participants were U.S. residents, between 18 and 64 years old,
with more than half between ages 18 and 34. The prevalence of youn-
ger participants reflected the demographics of social media users (Liu
et al., 2019). The sample was roughly balanced in terms of gender and
marital status (i.e., single or married/partnered). Most participants
earned an annual household income between 50,000 and
100,000 USD (see Table 1 for the participants' profiles). All partici-
pants were anonymized and labeled numerically.
Semi-structured interviews were guided by the following over-
arching questions: (1) “What is travel bragging in your opinion?”;
(2) “How do you differentiate travel bragging from experience shar-
ing?”; (3) “Why do you brag about your travel experiences?” (asked if
participants admitted travel bragging); (4) “Are there any positive or
negative outcomes of travel bragging/experience sharing?” (asked of
travel bragger/experience sharers); and (5) “What are your attitudes
and reactions towards others' travel bragging?”
3.4 | Data analysis
Data from the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed
using content analysis following an inductive logic. Following Sal-
daña (2015), the coding process involved three steps: (1) open cod-
ing, which labels and defines concepts based on raw data;
(2) sorting, which categorizes codes and identifies themes based on
the codes; and (3) synthesizing and theorizing, which generates pat-
terns and theories. The first author first read the interview tran-
scriptions line by line multiple times to identify important
conceptual codes (open coding). These conceptual codes were then
reviewed and sorted (sorting). During this process, synonyms were
unified, and codes were grouped into categories and sub-categories
based on thematic proximity. Higher-order themes and meta-themes
were also generated during the categorizing process. The first and
second steps in coding helped extract the key information regarding
participants' opinions, perceptions, motivations, feelings, and experiences
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LIU ET AL.
about travel bragging. Lastly, the relationships and patterns among
the conceptual codes, themes, and meta-themes were identified,
and compared with theories in literature (synthesizing and theoriz-
ing). The last step helped identify the theoretical relationships and
underpinnings behind the travel bragging phenomenon. This coding
procedure was repeated for each major interview question and was
done separately for travel bragger participants and the audience
participants.
3.5 | Trustworthiness
Although this study adheres to a value-laden axiology, and we
acknowledge the research process and its findings can be colored
by participants and researchers' values, interpretations and position-
ality, we aimed to report balanced viewpoints and therefore used
analyst triangulation (Campbell et al., 2013), member checks
(Lincoln & Guba, 1985), and peer debriefing (Creswell & Miller,
2000) in the production and interpretation of the findings. In addi-
tion to the first author, a second coder, who was familiar with con-
tent analysis but unfamiliar with either tourism- or bragging-related
research, was involved to ensure trustworthiness of the coding
results. The coding process was thus completed by two coders inde-
pendently, and findings were compared and discussed in the event
of discrepancies. To further ensure the findings' trustworthiness,
member checks were performed by probing for clarifications during
the interviews and verification with a sample of five participants on
the coding results and interpretations. The coding results were also
cross-checked via a peer debriefing process by the second author
and an external researcher, leading to minor changes in the coding
results.
4 | FI ND I NG S
Findings from the interviews are presented in four sections, with the
first two sections (defining travel bragging and differentiating travel
bragging from travel experience sharing) dedicated to answering the
first research question (what is travel bragging?). Section 3 answered
the second research question (what are the influences of travel brag-
ging?). The third research question (what, if any, are the perception
gaps between travel braggers and audience members regarding travel
bragging?) was answered by comparing responses to the first two
research questions and identifying the differences between the two
groups. The perception gaps are discussed throughout the findings in
Section 1–3 and summarized in Section 4, which also contains a con-
ceptual framework of travel bragging.
4.1 | Defining travel bragging
All participants were asked to describe what travel bragging meant to
them. Four themes emerged, namely behavior, content, nature, and
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LIU ET AL. 479

TABLE 1 Participant profiles.

No. Age range Gender Annual household income (USD) Marital status State of residence Travel bragger identification
A01 18–24 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Single PA No
A02 55–64 Female $50,000 to $74,999 Married/partnered MS Yes
A03 25–34 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Single DE No
A04 25–34 Female $50,000 to $74,999 Single CA Might be
A05 35–44 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Single PA No
A06 55–64 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Married/partnered FL Yes, reserved
A07 55–64 Male $100,000 to $149,999 single NY No
A08 45–54 Male $200,000 or above Married/partnered PA Yes
A09 18–24 Male $50,000 to $74,999 Single OH No
A10 25–34 Male $50,000 to $74,999 Married/partnered TX No
A11 45–54 Female $200,000 or above Married/partnered NY No
A12 35–44 Male $50,000 to $74,999 Married/partnered TX No
A13 18–24 Female $50,000 to $74,999 Single PA No
A14 25–34 Male $75,000 to $99,999 Married/partnered PA No
A15 35–44 Male $100,000 to $149,999 Single CA No
B01 18–24 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Single PA Might be
B02 18–24 Female $75,000 to $99,999 Single PA Might be
B03 35–44 Female $100,000 to $149,999 Single FL Yes
B04 35–44 Female $25,000 to $34,999 Married/partnered PA Yes
B05 25–34 Female $150,000 to $199,999 Single IL No
B06 45–54 Male $75,000 to $99,999 Single CA No
B07 25–34 Female $100,000 to $149,999 Married/partnered PA Yes, small scale
B08 35–44 Male $100,000 to $149,999 Married/partnered AZ Might be
B09 18–24 Male $75,000 to $99,999 Single MD No
B10 25–34 Male $35,000 to $49,999 Single NY Yes, sometimes
B11 25–34 Male $200,000 or above Married/partnered D.C. Yes
B12 35–44 Female $150,000 to $199,999 Married/partnered NY Might be
B13 25–34 Female $100,000 to $149,999 Married/partnered PA Might be
B14 18–24 Female $35,000 to $49,999 Single PA Might be
B15 18–24 Male $50,000 to $74,999 Single TX Yes, sometimes

Note: This table was adapted from Liu & Li (2021).

motivation (see Table A1 in Appendix). With only a few exceptions,
travel bragger/experience sharer participants' and audience partici-
pants' opinions regarding the definition of travel bragging were largely
the same. No notable distinction between travel bragger and experi-
ence sharer participants were found. As such, the findings are merged
into one section, and differences are discussed wherever relevant.
In terms of behavioral characteristics, most participants agreed
that travel braggers posted often and heavily about their travel experi-
ences during a single trip. As one participant mentioned: “I think fre-
quency is probably the big part that would make me think that they're
bragging” (B05).
As for content, travel braggers often posted experiences that
others did not or would never have, such as visits to remote locations
or luxurious experiences. Simply just indicating being “on vacation” on
social media could be perceived as bragging by others unable to travel
themselves. By publicizing such content, braggers signaled a sense of
superiority over others, resulting in a “condescending” tone in the
posts. This reflects wider conceptualizations of bragging as “self-
superiority claims” (Ruvio & Shoham, 2016; VanDamme et al., 2017).
For instance, one audience member stated: “[b]ragging is just when
you're doing something that you know someone else probably can't
do or can't afford to do” (A12).
Another important feature of travel bragging content is the pre-
dominance of photos of braggers, especially selfies. Most participants
believed that travel bragging showcases braggers more than their
travel destinations; as such, travel bragging was considered “self-cen-
tered.” By persistently presenting themselves in travel photos, brag-
gers aimed to provide proof of traveling or a sense of “been there,
done that.” This reflects Cohen et al. (2021)'s concept of ‘mobility sig-
naling’, which refers to the social capital derived from mobility.

480
Furthermore, travel braggers normally only posted positive travel
experiences and seemingly perfect photos, often filtered or staged.
Such content made posters' travel experiences appear superior to
reality, an effect deemed “pretentious” in audience members' opin-
ions. For example, one participant explained:
I think it's again trying to get that perfect shot and that
you're not so much presenting what it is that you're
looking at. You're trying to change the view of the lens
to make it look maybe 10 times better than what it
is. (A04)
Participants also discussed their opinions on the nature of travel
bragging, with most holding a negative connotation. All were asked if
they had bragged about their travel experiences before, with most
reluctant to admit having done so: participants were more likely to
use “they” or “you” when asked to define travel bragging. Inter-
viewees also preferred to depict themselves as sharing travel experi-
ences, and those who admitted to bragging often used modifiers to
reduce the scale of their bragging, such as “a little,” “reserved,” “small
scale,” or “maybe.” Participants' reluctance and ambiguity in self-
identifying as travel braggers can be partly explained by social desir-
ability bias, as social norms position bragging as undesirable.
However, the simple act of posting travel photos frequently was
perceived as bragging by some audience members, who indicated that
the poster is classified as “a bragging type of person.” This is exem-
plary of a key perception gap between travel braggers and their audi-
ence (Scopelliti et al., 2015). Many audience participants reported that
they judged travel bragging on the person, with braggers being those
with a relatively stable behavioral pattern of travel bragging, implying
as association with one's personality. As A12 said:
You just can tell when somebody is – when they do it
over and over, you can just tell, for me
personally – sometimes it might not be words but you
can just tell with the person's personality.
Travel bragging was furthermore considered competitive by travel
bragger/experience sharer participants, reflecting the social compari-
son purpose of bragging behavior. Participant B13 noted that “[i]t's
competitive in a way that all social media feels like a little competitive.
It feels like it's part of this way that we all indicate ‘I can do this…I did
this thing.’”
Finally, motivation was a core element of participants' definitions
of travel bragging. Travel braggers (i.e., the 12 participants who admit-
ted to travel bragging) were thus asked about their motivations, with
four categories of motivations emerging: altruistic, intrinsic, utilitarian,
and extrinsic.
Many participants emphasized bragging about travel experiences
on social media to benefit others (altruistic motivations), such as to
provide recommendations and information. Several participants
wanted their friends, who had not visited a destination before or
might never be able to, to see a place and “vicariously travel with
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LIU ET AL.
them.” For example, participant B04 claimed: “[i]f you can't get there,
you may have some physical or monetary disabilities, I can share it
with you so you can see it.”
Participants also frequently mentioned intrinsic motivations, which
capture behaviors driven by inherent interest or enjoyment (Ryan &
Deci, 2000). Some posted travel experiences on social media because
they loved to travel or a trip was related to their personal interests,
such as music, art, or outdoor activities. Some posted travel experi-
ences to express positive emotions due to pure enjoyment of great
views or an overall enjoyable vacation. Additionally, participants cited
utilitarian motivations behind travel bragging, such as communicating
with family or friends, seeking travel tips or destination-relevant infor-
mation, keeping a record, or organizing their memories. As one partici-
pant said:
I also like to have the memories for myself on my social
media. I think on Instagram specifically, I'm more inter-
ested in sharing it so that I can look at it later in an
organized way. (B14)
This echoes Anlamlier and Ulu (2022), who found that consumers
prefer to share experiential consumption permanently on social media
due to proactive nostalgia.
Lastly, extrinsic motivations constituted another major motivator of
travel bragging. Extrinsic motivations are driven by separable outcomes
such as external rewards or punishments (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Partici-
pants reported travel bragging allowed them to portray a desirable
self-image, such as being “popular” and “adventurous”, and signal social
status by displaying luxurious experiences or cultural knowledge, repre-
senting travel braggers' desires for impression management. As one
participant revealed: “[i]t's also about creating your online personality.
Create an online profile, and it makes you look more interesting as a
person when you are sharing these really cool experiences” (B07).
Some participants wished to gain validation and approval from audi-
ence members via travel bragging, such as envy, attention, “likes,” and
comments, and they wanted to prove “I can do it too”. Others posted
travel experiences due to a desire to showcase success and accomplish-
ment of life goals, denoting a sense of self-actualization. For example,
B12 explained she bragged about travel “to show people that I'm suc-
cessful, that I have a good life, that I have a nice family, that I can afford
to enjoy nice things”. Still other participants justified bragging about
their travel experiences due to fear of missing out, the desire to follow
a social media trend, or find common ground with their audience. These
motivations captured travel braggers' need to belong, which represents
an internalized form of extrinsic motivation driven by sense of value
rather than by interest or enjoyment (Ryan & Deci, 2020). For example,
participant B13 disclosed:
I don't think I'm conscious of it, you know, of it being
bragging, but I think it feels like the standard. You
know, like a lot of people who I follow, travel a lot, and
they post about it. So it's like I have to do that to
keep up.

LIU ET AL.
When asked to define travel bragging, audience participants
emphasized extrinsic motivations, such as impression management
and gaining external validation. By contrast, besides extrinsic motiva-
tions, travel bragger participants also emphasized intrinsic, altruistic,
and utilitarian motivations for their travel bragging behavior. This find-
ing reflects a further perception gap in travel bragging motivations
between braggers and their audience. This gap is reflective of an attri-
butional bias, in which people tend to attribute others' successes or
positive behaviors to external motivations, such as for external
rewards, while attributing their own positive behaviors to intrinsic
motives (Larson, 1977).
4.2 | Differentiating travel bragging from
experience sharing
As the definition of travel bragging largely depends on the focal indi-
vidual's perceptions, it is important to understand how people distin-
guish travel bragging and travel experience sharing. As for the
distinction between travel bragging and travel experience sharing,
travel bragger/experience sharer participants and audience partici-
pants shared largely the same opinions, and no notable differences
between travel bragger and experience sharer participants were
detected. Hence, findings from the two groups are discussed here in
one section, and discrepancies are discussed whenever relevant.
Several features of travel bragging were identified in participants'
definitions of such bragging, such as a condescending tone, high post-
ing frequency, large posting volume, only posting positive experi-
ences, and many selfies. Aside from these characteristics, several
other criteria emerged (see Table A1 in Appendix). Travel bragging
often featured boastful and exaggerated phrasing, such as “the best”
and “amazing,” as well as content indicating the uniqueness of the
experience or posters' wealth and social status. Such statements were
received as “pretentious” and “snobby” by participants. By contrast,
presenting activities and experiences, such as ziplining or a cooking
class, especially meaningful experiences like those that are once-in-a-
lifetime or a ‘dream trip’, were more likely to be perceived as travel
experience sharing and thus accepted more readily by one's audience.
Relatedly, several participants suggested that when a travel post
revealed the poster's intrinsic interest, such as outdoor activities, it
was more likely to be accepted as experience sharing.
A travel post was also more likely to be designated as experience
sharing if containing “substance,” namely by providing meaningful
thoughts in captions. Conversely, those containing shorter or no cap-
tions were more likely to be perceived as bragging. For example, A13
asserted:
I think when you're sharing experience, I do think it
goes into a lot more depth than posting like one photo,
or it may be three photos…I kind of think of an experi-
ence as really knowing what they got out of it and how
it made them feel. So more substance I guess.
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481
Furthermore, audience participants felt travel posts were less
likely to be perceived as bragging if the content was humorous or
entertaining and informative. For example, participant A06 stated that
one can “get a laugh” from travel posts that are “funny” or when the
braggers “make fun of themselves”. In such cases, travel posts allowed
audience members to gain hedonic or information-based value; then,
out of “reciprocity” (Falk & Fischbacher, 2006), audiences tended
towards positive perceptions of these travel posts and travel braggers.
This supports work by Berman et al. (2015), who found that braggers
can be perceived more positively when bragging provides audiences
with new information. A nuance emerged, however, in that audience
participants felt that displaying hashtags and location tags could be
perceived as bragging, as hashtags indicated intention to attract views
and attention, while location tags were taken as proof of traveling.
A handful of participants pointed out that posting during a trip
was more likely to be perceived as bragging compared with posting
after, as audience members may suspect posters of showing off rather
than enjoying the trip. Additionally, travel bragger/experience sharer
participants observed that sharing travel experiences publicly on social
media was by nature more likely to be perceived as bragging com-
pared to sharing privately with a target audience (e.g., family or
friends). As B15 pointed out:
[S]haring is when you try to send to specific persons,
like, just to specific members of your family, ‘I went to
this place.’ Bragging, it's like, more to everyone to
know, like ‘Everyone, I did it, I did this for everyone.’
Overall, whether a travel post is perceived as bragging or experi-
ence sharing largely depends on the audience's interpretations and
inferences about the poster's motivations. If attributed to extrinsic
motivations, such as gaining envy and attention, travel posts are more
likely to be construed as travel bragging. Conversely, if a travel post is
attributed to intrinsic motivations – personal interest or pure enjoy-
ment of travel experience – it is more likely to be received as experi-
ence sharing. This demonstrates the importance of attribution of
motivations in judgment of travel bragging.
Based on these findings, travel bragging can be defined as: pub-
licizing travel experiences that communicate one's superiority, for
example, wealth, social status, knowledge, skills, achievements, and
any desirable characteristics, for purposes of self-enhancement.
Travel bragging can be explicit or implicit: in the former, experiences
are shared for the purpose of gaining envy and validation from
one's audience, enhancing self-esteem, or improving self-image.
Explicit travel bragging is clearly boastful and self-enhancing, and
most audience members consider it bragging. In implicit travel brag-
ging, a bragging tone is not readily apparent, although some audi-
ence members may perceive the content as bragging and the
purpose as self-enhancement. Implicit bragging behavior may thus
be unintentional, and the purpose could be intrinsic (e.g., expressing
personal interests or positive emotions) from experience sharers'
perspectives.

482
FIGURE 1 Influences of travel bragging on travel braggers/experience sharers and the audience.
4.3 | Influences of travel bragging
The influences of travel bragging were explored by probing all partici-
pants' emotional experiences, thoughts, and reactions to others' travel
bragging posts, and travel bragger/experience sharers' experiences
and reactions to their own bragging behavior. The relevant conceptual
codes are presented in Figure 1, which shows the different positive or
negative effects travel bragging had on travel braggers/experience
sharers and audience members. In response to the negative effects of
travel bragging, both groups had developed their own behavioral and
cognitive coping strategies (Figure 1).
4.3.1 | Effects on travel braggers/experience
sharers
Travel braggers/experience sharers reported having more positive
than negative experiences with travel bragging or experience sharing.
They derived a sense of self-worth and validation from engagement
with their audience, feeling loved, appreciated by friends, and having
proved their ability to do things others could not. As B13 explained: “I
feel excited when people engage with my posts. And I feel respected
or loved when people give positive feedback”. Many participants con-
veyed gaining a sense of achievement from posting travel experi-
ences, whether due to simply taking a trip, the number of countries/
places visited, or realizing a life goal. As B05 reflected:
I usually feel like I accomplished something that I col-
lected memories and experiences that I'll have forever
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LIU ET AL.
and then I have like a history of it on my App that I will
have forever. So I feel good.
Participants derived a sense of accomplishment from participat-
ing in tasks that required physical effort and courage, such as
adventurous activities. Participants also reported that reviewing
travel posts reminded them of pleasant vacation memories, and
selecting travel photos and crafting content provided opportunities
to reflect on a trip, which boosted their enjoyment of the trip.
These findings align with studies indicating that sharing travel expe-
riences leads to higher trip satisfaction (Kim & Fesenmaier, 2017;
Lee & Oh, 2017).
Nevertheless, participants also discussed negative experiences
related to their travel bragging behavior. Notably, the three partic-
ipants who identified themselves as travel experience sharers
only reported positive effects resulted from their experience
sharing but did not report any negative experiences. Many partici-
pants were concerned about being perceived as braggers due
to bragging's negative connotations, suggesting self-presentational
concerns. Several reported experiencing negative emotions
associated with their travel bragging behavior, including disap-
pointment when not receiving enough “likes” and comments or
sadness and anger about negative feedback. For example, B10
lamented:
If people don't give me ‘likes,’ or if I don't get a suffi-
cient amount of ‘likes,’ or I'm not getting ‘likes’ from
certain people I'm expecting the ‘likes’ from, I kind of
feel disheartened.

LIU ET AL.
Moreover, one participant mentioned he felt he had been ostra-
cized by his friends on social media; he then stopped posting and
deleted all prior posts:
I had to stop for a while. I even had to create another
account because I had too many people telling me bad
things like, ‘Hey, you are traveling too much. Hey, you
are doing all of these things’. (B15)
This reaction corroborates findings from Cooney et al. (2014),
who found that sharing extraordinary experiences with peers could
lead sharers to be socially excluded. The fact that many travel brag-
ger/experience sharers would nonetheless like to portray positive
impressions to others through travel posts, gain audience validation,
and were concerned about the negative impressions from bragging
implied their need for social acceptance and approval, which repre-
sents a form of normative social influence (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955).
4.3.2 | Audience effects
Generally, audience participants expressed more negative than positive
feelings about others' travel bragging posts. On the positive side, some
felt excited for their loved ones, and some experienced a sense of vali-
dation and self-enhancement if they saw their friends visiting a place
they had been before or could visit in the future. As B10 explained, “[w]
ell, I think about my own adventures that I want to take, and maybe I
feel more confident in myself that I can do similar things”. This reflects
the essence of social comparison, which provides accurate self-
evaluation through comparison with others (Festinger, 1954). Many
participants also mentioned being inspired by travel bragging posts
showcasing beautiful views, interesting places, or locations they had not
yet visited. Such posts could pique their curiosity and drive them to
learn more about a destination, implying that travel bragging posts could
increase destination awareness through informational social influence.
Additionally, a few travel bragger/experience sharers explained that
others' social media travel bragging made them want to follow and keep
up because of fear of missing out or peer pressure. This implies travel
bragging posts could trigger normative social influence among the audi-
ence, that is, conforming to their peers. For example, B01 related:
I feel like it's more peer pressure at that point, but like
self-induced peer pressure, and it's like FOMO [fear of
missing out]…like you want to do it because everyone
you know is doing it and you don't want to miss out.
Various negative emotions were commonly reported among audi-
ence participants: inferiority, envy or jealousy, and annoyance when
other people posted frequently, at a high volume, or with many
photos of themselves. Audience members were also irritated by con-
descending or pretentious tones in others' travel bragging posts. As
one audience participant remarked: “I wish that I had the ability to
go…When life doesn't allow me to go at the moment, I just feel very
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483
bad. And I just feel bad about my own life…and I feel insecure” (A01).
These negative emotions are consistent with the results of upward
social comparison (Buunk et al., 1990). In contrast, participants also
reported feeling contempt because destinations in some bragging
posts were associated with cheap prices or low social status. Such
emotional experiences paradoxically reflected a sense of superiority
over travel braggers, implying that travel bragging could also trigger
downward social comparison among audience members. As A02 com-
mented on a friend's travel bragging post, “I guess they got to travel
cheap over there, I don't know. I guess nobody – who's going to want
to wreck something on [redacted] Beach on Christmas day?” Negative
emotions were also accompanied by undesirable opinions towards
travel braggers, as they were considered “stupid”, “shallow”, or
“obnoxious” by some audience participants. A mixture of negative
and positive affect (e.g., inspiration and self-enhancement) triggered
by others' travel bragging posts again echoes social comparison the-
ory, in which upward social comparison can be simultaneously threat-
ening and inspiring (Suls et al., 2002).
Several participants furthermore expressed concern over the
authenticity and trustworthiness of travel bragging posts, suspecting
the experiences were not as pleasant as shown due to posters' exagger-
ation, pretentious tone, and polished photos. The audience also sus-
pected that people bragged about travel experiences for self-serving
purposes rather than intrinsic motivations. These reactions reflect attri-
bution theory, which posits that a message is less trustworthy if attrib-
uted to the sender's self-serving motivations (Packard et al., 2016).
Differences in emotional reactions to travel bragging among
travel braggers/experience sharers and audience members underlined
another perception gap. Most of the former stated they had received
positive feedback from their audience; braggers/experience sharers
felt their audience was interested in seeing their travel experiences,
and thought their friends were happy (or should have been) for them.
Conversely, the audience expressed more negative emotional experi-
ences than positive ones. This key perception gap is consistent with
Scopelliti et al. (2015)’ work on bragging more generally, which
reported braggers often overestimate audience members' positive
emotions while underestimating their negative affect.
Audience members' reactions to others' travel bragging were con-
tingent on several further factors. First, audience members with more
travel experience reacted less negatively to others' travel bragging
posts, presumably because they were less likely to feel inferior in
response to others' travel bragging, and hence less likely to engage in
upward social comparison. Second, many participants suggested that
if a trip occurred infrequently (e.g., once-in-a-lifetime) and was associ-
ated with hard work, they would react more positively and considered
the travel braggers deserving of bragging rights, indicating that audi-
ence members' reactions towards others' travel bragging depends on
perceived deservedness of the travel experiences. Perceived deserved-
ness results from perceived efforts associated with an achievement
and reflects perceptions of fairness in social comparison (Feather &
Sherman, 2002). Third, some participants described being happy
about their good friends' travel bragging posts, indicating that audi-
ence members' reactions to others' travel bragging depends on their

484
FIGURE 2 Conceptual Framework of Travel Bragging
relationship with the travel bragger. This insight finds traction in self-
expansion theory, which suggests that people tend to consider close
others and ingroup members as part of themselves (Tropp &
Wright, 2001). As such, people tend to react more positively towards
close ties.
4.3.3 | Coping strategies
In response to negative experiences arising from travel bragging,
travel braggers and audience members developed their own coping
strategies. The former reported using tactics in their travel posts, such
as making jokes, posing questions, offering travel tips, taking candid
photos, and spreading out the travel posts over time. One participant
noted that “I try to be funny…I just try to add a layer of humor…so it's
not just, ‘Look at this completely out-of-reach experience’ but more
of like, ‘Haha, it's funny’” (B07). Another explained:
I'll share a bunch of [photos]…but I'll do it spread out,
so it's not like in one day…It's part strategy and also I
don't want to overdo it in one day, because if I did that
it'd be like 30 photos and people would get annoyed
and they don't follow. (B01)
Travel braggers/experience sharers also used avoidance as coping
mechanisms, such as deleting followers who reacted negatively or
deleting the bragging posts. They furthermore engaged in cognitive
coping, namely rationalization, such as claiming intrinsic or altruistic
motivations or attributing negative feedback to audience members'
envy. For example, B10 argued: “[m]aybe there's a bit of jealousy,
maybe that's why they don't respond”.
In contrast, avoidance was the most popular coping strategy
among audience participants. Such behaviors included avoiding travel
bragging posts by scrolling past them, blocking or unfollowing travel
braggers, and distancing themselves from travel braggers by choosing
different destinations or by not interacting with the braggers. As A12
outlined, “[s]ometimes if it's just too much, I'll unfollow them…Some-
times I'll just ignore them, or I'll just go on to the next posts or
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LIU ET AL.
something.” These actions resonate with Marder et al. (2019)'s finding
on consumers' dissociation behavior in response to others' travel
experience sharing on social media, and are essentially driven by
upward social comparison. Other audience-based coping strategies
included emotional venting (e.g., discussing posts with friends), com-
pensation (e.g., following travel braggers to have the same travel
experiences), and cognitive coping via positive thinking (e.g., believing
they could travel as well or that the posters were not bragging
intentionally).
4.4 | Conceptual framework
A conceptual framework of travel bragging was constructed based
on the findings (Figure 2). This figure shows the process of how a
travel post on social media is perceived as travel bragging, and is
influenced by various characteristics of the travel post and the
poster, with this perceptual process underpinned by attribution the-
ory. The travel post, when perceived as travel bragging, could gener-
ate positive and negative effects on both audience members and
the posters in terms of emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. This
process is mainly underpinned by social influence-related theories
and attribution theory.
Perceptions of travel bragging depend on several factors, includ-
ing destination attributes (e.g., distance and uniqueness), message
characteristics (e.g., tone of voice, timing), motivations behind a mes-
sage, participants' individual characteristics (e.g., travel experience,
relationship with poster), and situational travel constraints or disad-
vantages compared to travel posts. Significant perception gaps were
observed between travel posters and the audience in terms of identi-
fication of travel bragging and motivations behind travel posts. Due to
bragging's negative connotations, audience participants tended to
consider bragging a personality trait of travel braggers and thus
deemed it to be intentional. By contrast, travel braggers were reluc-
tant to admit to bragging. Hence the two sides could hold totally dif-
ferent opinions on whether a travel post is bragging or not. Further,
travel braggers/experience sharers often attributed their travel posts
to intrinsic, altruistic, or utilitarian motives, whereas audience

LIU ET AL.
participants mainly attributed travel bragging to extrinsic motives.
These perception gaps were driven by information differences
between actors and observers (i.e., actors have more information
about their feelings, intentions, and situational factors) as well as
travel braggers' need for self-enhancement and protected self-esteem
(Folkes, 1988; Malle, 2006).
Furthermore, perceptions of travel bragging had various effects
on travel braggers/experience sharers and the audience through dif-
ferent theoretical underpinnings, including informational and norma-
tive social influence, social comparison and attribution. As a result of
these influencing mechanisms, travel braggers and their audience
could have various cognitive (e.g., attitudes towards braggers, and
trust in the posts), emotional (e.g., envy and annoyance), and behav-
ioral reactions (e.g., ceasing posting or unfollowing the poster). Travel
braggers had mostly positive experiences with travel bragging, includ-
ing self-enhancement and social benefits. A minority had negative
experiences, including self-presentational concerns, negative affect,
and even social exclusion. From an audience's perspective, posters'
content was perceived more negatively than positively. Audience par-
ticipants reported lowered self-esteem, negative affect, decreased
trust, and reduced fondness towards braggers. Yet audience members
could also be happy for their friends, inspired by beautiful destina-
tions, and curious about new locales. The different experiences and
emotional reactions towards the same travel bragging post between
travel braggers (mostly positive) and the audiences (mostly negative)
represent an important perception gap, which is mainly driven by the
social comparison process, as travel braggers are typically in a superior
position and the audience in an inferior position within social
comparison.
5 | CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
This study aimed to explore what is travel bragging and what are the
influences of travel bragging from travel braggers' and audience mem-
bers' perspectives, as well as the potential perception gaps between
the two groups. Drawing on our key findings and framed by social
influence-related theories and attribution theory, this study provides
the following key contributions to knowledge and practical
implications.
5.1 | Theoretical contributions
First, we have offered the first systematic conceptualization of travel
bragging. Our conceptualization of travel bragging includes the defin-
ing characteristics of travel bragging, features that differentiate travel
bragging from travel experience sharing, the mechanisms underpin-
ning perceptions of travel bragging, the influences of travel bragging
and its theoretical underpinnings, as well as the perception gaps
between travel braggers and audiences. According to our conceptuali-
zation, travel bragging is a social construction shaped by interactions
among travel braggers, bragging messages, bragged-about tourist
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485
objects, and the audience. The identification of travel bragging is fluid
and largely contingent on audience members' perceptions. By offering
a comprehensive understanding about travel bragging from a dual per-
spective, our study substantially extends existing literature on travel
bragging as a travel motivation (Cha et al., 1995; Kim, Noh, &
Jogaratnam, 2007; Kim, Oh, & Jogaratnam, 2007; Sirakaya
et al., 2003, etc.), and consequences of travel bragging (Chen
et al., 2020). Existing studies examined travel bragging as a travel
motivation, but there was a lack of systematic conceptualization
about travel bragging behavior to untangle the motivations and mean-
ings behind such behavior, as well as its complex consequences. Chen
et al. (2020)'s work focuses on the impacts of travel bragging on the
audience's brand evaluation through the mediation of liking and
benign envy towards the travel braggers in an online review context
using a quantitative approach. The present study uncovered the
effects of travel bragging and associated theoretical underpinnings in
a more comprehensive manner from both travel braggers' and the
audience's perspectives in a more general social media context using a
qualitative approach.
This study further adds to the literature by pinpointing the fea-
tures of bragging about experiential consumption. Although studies
have discussed differences in the benefits of sharing experiential
consumption and material consumption (Carter & Gilovich, 2012;
Gilovich et al., 2015), little is known about how bragging about
experiential consumption is different from that of material consump-
tion. This study found that, unlike material consumption, in which
people predominately rely on wealth and luxury brands to judge
bragging, audience members also turn to other cues, such as fre-
quency and volume of sharing, tone of voice, and motivations
behind the travel post to recognize bragging of experiential con-
sumption. Inferences of motivations were found to play a major role
in determining bragging about experiential consumption: travel posts
associated with extrinsic motivations were more likely to be per-
ceived as bragging, while those associated with intrinsic and altruis-
tic motivations were more likely to be perceived as experience
sharing.
Second, the conceptualization of travel bragging highlights impor-
tant perception gaps between travel braggers and audiences in several
aspects, including the identification of travel braggers, motivations for
travel bragging, and audience members' emotional experiences. Such
perception gaps can lead travel braggers and experience sharers to
execute coping behaviors to mitigate negative audience perceptions.
This process represents the negotiation and reconstruction of travel
braggers/experience sharers in their image and identity in relation to
bragging, which opposes social norms. The findings regarding emo-
tional perception gaps, which suggest that travel braggers mostly have
positive emotional experiences while the audiences mostly have nega-
tive emotional experiences with travel bragging, corroborate those of
Scopelliti et al. (2015), who reported similar perception gaps between
braggers and audience members. The present study uncovered being
in superior versus inferior positions in social comparisons as a major
reason for the different emotional experiences between travel brag-
gers and audiences. Crucially, our findings point to an affirmative

486
response to this paper's title: travel bragging truly is in the eye of the
beholder.
Lastly, this study contributes to tourism WOM literature by
unveiling the effects of travel bragging on the audience as well as the
theoretical underpinnings. The negative effects of travel bragging sus-
tantiate work by Cooney et al. (2014), who found that sharing extraor-
dinary experiences could result in experience sharers' social exclusion,
and Marder et al. (2019), who reported dejection and dissociation in
response to others' travel experience sharing on social media. The
inspirational role of travel bragging posts is consistent with the find-
ings of Liu et al. (2019) in that benign envy resulting from sharing lux-
ury travel experiences on social media can drive aspirational tourism
consumption among audiences. Three underpinnings were identified
underlying the effects of travel bragging WOM on social media. The
first is upward social comparison, which may stimulate compensatory
or aspirational consumption among audience members but reduce the
persuasion effect of travel bragging through negative affect. A second
theoretical underpinning involves social influence, which could
increase destination awareness through informational social influence
and promote visit intention through normative social influence.
A third underpinning is related to attributions of travel braggers'
motivations, which could compromise trustworthiness if travel posts
are perceived as bragging and as being shared for self-serving
purposes.
5.2 | Practical implications
This study provides important practical implications. First, the findings
shed light on social media marketing strategies for destinations and
tourism businesses. Given the information value of travel bragging as a
type of eWOM, the role of travel bragging in stimulating aspirational
consumption, and the positive impacts of social rewards from travel
bragging, the industry should encourage travel bragging among tourists
on social media. This will be especially beneficial to stimulate tourism
consumption during the post-COVID-19 recovery. However, tourism
marketers should be cautious about using the term “travel bragging”
directly in marketing campaigns due to its negative connotation; rather,
they could use terms such as “travel experience sharing.”
To decrease the potential negative effects of travel bragging and
increase its persuasiveness, tourism marketers should guide tourists in
creating travel posts that are less likely to be perceived as bragging.
Although the tourism industry has encouraged selfies (e.g., destinations
and museums) to motivate tourist engagement (e.g., Vankin, 2015), the
results of this study do not necessarily support this marketing practice.
Images of oneself, including selfies, are a strong indicator of travel brag-
ging and could annoy a poster's audience. Hence, destinations should be
careful in encouraging tourists to take selfies excessively. Destinations
could instead suggest that tourists post authentic photos without filters,
which might reduce perceived pretentiousness among one's audience.
Advocating for non-manipulated beauty in tourist destinations could
address trustworthiness concerns and mitigate the negative psychologi-
cal impacts induced by audience members' upward social comparison.
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LIU ET AL.
Second, this study provides a series of interesting suggestions for
tourists who enjoy sharing travel experiences on social media but are
concerned about negative perceptions of travel bragging. Some of the
following tips are also applicable to reputation and personal image
management in general.
1. Avoid posting excessively about oneself, including selfies; take
candid photos rather than staged ones.
2. Post less frequently during a trip and share photos highlighting
exciting experiences rather than a large volume of photos that
could seem repetitive.
3. Post captions that feature trip-related reflections and stories,
including negative experiences. Illustrate the meaning of a trip
through captions, including the effort devoted to taking the trip
and accomplishments during the trip.
4. Avoid a condescending and pretentious tone in text, try to be
authentic and connect with the audience.
5. Avoid flaunting wealth or luxurious locations in travel posts, try to
showcase activities and experiences.
6. Include humor in travel posts; display funny and interesting trip
experiences.
7. Try to be informative in travel posts; provide knowledge about the
destination, tips, or recommendations for the audience.
Third, this study calls for policymakers' attention to the negative psy-
chological impacts of travel bragging. Travel bragging could lead to self-
presentation concerns among travel braggers and lower self-esteem among
the audience due to upward social comparison. It can also contribute to a
serious public health problem: a growing number of accidental deaths
caused by taking selfies, or attempts to take “perfect” photos in dangerous
locations, have been reported in recent years (Chiu, 2018). Policymakers
and marketers should advocate for safer travel experience sharing on social
media to minimize such tragedies; they should discourage efforts to take
attention-grabbing photos in dangerous locations. Celebrities and social
media influencers can play important roles in leading such changes.
5.3 | Limitations and future research
Due to the negative connotations of bragging and self-reported data
used in this study, some participants' responses might have been subject
to social desirability bias. Despite the authors' assurance of anonymity in
the dissemination of research findings, some degree of such bias seems
inevitable. Additionally, this study focused on a U.S. sample; whether its
findings resonate to other demographics and cultural contexts requires
further exploration. As we adopted a qualitative approach to study travel
bragging, future research could examine the antecedents and conse-
quences of travel bragging using a quantitative approach in a larger sam-
ple to validate the conceptual framework developed in this study.
ACKNOWLEDG MENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Fall
2018 Seed Funding Forum, Fox School of Business at Temple

LIU ET AL.
University. In addition, the authors would like to express their sincere
gratitude to Professor Svetlana Stepchenkova for her help with
reviewing the coding results, and Dr. Jingru Zhang for his constructive
feedback to help improve the manuscript, as well as the editor and
anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback and suggestions
to help improve the manuscript.
FUND ING INFORMATION
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study
was funded by the Fall 2018 Seed Funding Forum, Fox School of
Business, Temple University.
CONF LICT OF IN TE RE ST ST AT E MENT
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
DATA AVAI LAB ILITY S TATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the
corresponding author upon reasonable request.
ORCID
Hongbo Liu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3463-3100
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LIU ET AL. 489

APPENDIX A

TABLE A1 Themes and conceptual codes for conceptualization of travel bragging.

Conceptual codes Initial inter-coder

reliability
Themes Travel bragger/experience sharer Audience (% agreement)
Definition of travel bragging 79%
Behavior Frequency and volume Frequency and volume
Content Repetition Repetition
Experiences that convey superiority over others Experiences that convey superiority over others
Photos of self, including selfies Photos of self, including selfies
Only positive experiences Only positive experiences
Tone of voice (condescending, self-centered, Tone of voice (condescending, self-centered,
pretentious) pretentious)
Polished/staged photos*
Motivation Construct/improve image Construct/improve image
Gain validation Gain validation
Gain envy Gain envy
Sense of accomplishment Sense of accomplishment
Nature Negative connotation Negative connotation
Perception Perception
Human nature* Personal trait*
Competitive*
Motivations for travel bragging (Among travel braggers, N = 12) 88%
Altruistic Provide inspiration/travel information
motivations Share a place with friends who will never see it
Entertain people
Spread happiness/positivity
Intrinsic motivations Emotional venting
Sharing/bragging brings joy
Personal interest
Courtship
Extrinsic Impression management
motivations Self-satisfaction/gratification
External validation
Self-esteem
Self-fulfillment
Belongingness
Utilitarian Communication
motivations Seek information
Keep/organize memories
Discovery
Differentiating travel bragging from experience sharing 83%
Content Condescending/signaling superiority vs. Condescending/signaling superiority vs.
connecting with the audience connecting with the audience
Boastful/exaggerated statements vs. descriptive/ Boastful/exaggerated statements vs. descriptive/
objective statements objective statements
Repetitive contents vs. highlighting the most Repetitive contents vs. highlighting the most
exciting experiences exciting experiences

(Continues)

490
TABLE A1 (Continued)
Conceptual codes
Themes Travel bragger/experience sharer
Only positive experiences vs. both positive and
negative experiences
Showing themselves in the photo/more selfies
vs. showing the destinations and sceneries
Showcasing wealth vs. showing activities and
experiences, especially meaningful experiences
Polished/staged photos vs. candid photos
No/short/generic captions vs. meaningful/in-
depth thoughts in captions; long captions
Informative vs. uninformative
Showcasing effort/hard work
Expressing intrinsic interest
Behavioral Posting often and in high quantities vs. posting
occasionally and in lower quantities
Posting during a trip vs. posting after the trip
Sharing publicly vs. sharing privately*
Note: *represents differences between travel bragger/experience sharer participants and audience participants.
15221970, 2023, 5, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jtr.2579 by Test, Wiley Online Library on [04/09/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
LIU ET AL.
Initial inter-coder
reliability
Audience (% agreement)
Only positive experiences vs. both positive and
negative experiences
Showing themselves in the photo/more selfies
vs. showing the destinations and sceneries
Showcasing wealth vs. showing activities and
experiences, especially meaningful experiences
Polished/staged photos vs. candid photos
No/short/generic captions vs. meaningful/in-
depth thoughts in captions; long captions
Informative vs. uninformative
Showcasing effort/hard work
Expressing intrinsic interest
Hashtags/location tags*
Funny/humorous*
Posting often and in high quantities vs. posting
occasionally and in lower quantities
Posting during a trip vs. posting after the trip