A model of value-creating practices, trusting beliefs, and online tourist community behaviors : Risk aversion as a moderating variable

Purpose In the context of online travel communities (OTCs), this paper aims to identify the relationships between value-creating practices, trusting beliefs, solution acceptance and stickiness and the moderating effects of risk aversion on the relationship between trusting beliefs and solution acceptance and on that between trusting beliefs and stickiness. Design/methodology/approach A total of 408 survey responses obtained from Amazon website panels were used to test the proposed hypotheses through a structural equation modeling analysis. Findings The results show that three dimensions of value-creating practices, namely, social networking, community engagement and brand use, had positive effects on trusting beliefs; trusting beliefs had positive effects on solution acceptance and stickiness; and solution acceptance had a positive effect on stickiness. Risk aversion moderated the trusting beliefs-stickiness relationship. Research limitations/implications A key limitation of this study is related to the sample collected from Amazon website panels, which may limit the generalizability of results to other OTC members. The results have important theoretical and practical implications in OTC settings. For example, OTCs should be used by members as key platforms for acquiring trust information prior to their behaviors. Originality/value This study extends the OTC literature by integrating different research realms into the proposed research model for a better understanding of the relationships between value-creating practices, trusting beliefs and OTC behaviors.