Travel vlogs influencing tourist decisions: information preferences and gender differences
| Date | 06 January 2023 |
| Pages | 86-103 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-05-2022-0261 |
| Published date | 06 January 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
| Author | Wenyi Cheng,Ruwen Tian,Dickson K.W. Chiu |
Travel vlogs influencing tourist
decisions: information preferences
and gender differences
Wenyi Cheng
Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Ruwen Tian
Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong and
Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong,
Hong Kong, and
Dickson K.W. Chiu
Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose –As independent travel has become increasingly popular in recent years, factors influencing users’
attitudes and behaviors should be explored. Besides, the rise of video platforms like YouTube, Bilibili and
TikTok has led to the flourishing of user generated content (UGC), among which travel vlogs have become
convenient and essential references for tourists before and while they travel on their own.
Design/methodology/approach –This research used quantitative analysis through a survey designed for
young people, as most vlog viewers are in those age groups, to explore the attitudes and perceptions of vlog
preference, attitudes and cognizance of travel vlogs among different gender, guided by the decision-making
theory and preference theory with 455 participants.
Findings –Survey results showed that both genders have common choices regarding travel vlog preference,
attitudes, sharing and cognizance. Yet, gender differencesappear in some cognition of travel vlogs and specific
preferences, such as information searching habits, trusty travel and information sources.
Originality/value –Existing studies focus on the influence of platforms on users, but scant studies focus on
user perceptions of vlogs as a new information carrier for young people in East Asia, especially regarding
gender differences, which is crucial in media-based marketing. This research provides practical suggestions to
marketers and vloggers to attract and engage different genders of young people and theoretical implications on
decision and preference theories.
Keywords Travelvlog, Vlog impacts, Information preference,Gender difference,Quantitativeresearch, Survey
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The advent of the mobile Internet, navigation systems and online maps has dramatically
transformed people’s travel modes, planning and information behaviors and reshaped the
distribution of travel-related information for anytime, anywhere access (Ni et al., 2022;Chan
and Chiu, 2022;Lau et al., 2020;Alam€
aki et al., 2019). Such convenience makes self-service
travel the first option for travelers, especially young people (Ni et al., 2022). Further, the
popularity of social media prompted a trend of a significant influence on tourism (Xiang and
Gretzel, 2010), providing popular platforms for travelers to share their travel experiences.
Tourists are passionate about recording, portraying and reconstructing their travel trips on
social media, featuring consumer-generated content (CGC) (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). In
return, social media has become a significant source of travel information, and tourists are no
longer satisfied with traditional information in word and photo forms. In particular, as video
is intrinsically more explicit and impactful (Chan et al., 2020;Cheng et al., 2020;Lam et al.,
2019), videos shared on sites like Bilibili, YouTube and Instagram have become widely
embraced and fascinating to tourists (Dong et al., 2021;Cheung et al., 2022).
AJIM
76,1
86
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2050-3806.htm
Received 17 May 2022
Revised 16 August 2022
26 September 2022
Accepted 3 October 2022
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 76 No. 1, 2024
pp. 86-103
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-05-2022-0261
Video blogs (vlogs) are blogs that record personal life through video instead of texts or
photos (Abad and Borbon, 2021), usually filmed by handheld point-and-shoot cameras or
ubiquitous smartphones. Such videos, especially short-form ones, have become a popular
way to record daily lives and events to attract broad audiences (Chan et al., 2020;Fong et al.,
2020;Cheng et al., 2020;Lam et al., 2022). The popularity of vlogs has recently grown
exponentially on video websites, such as YouTube, Bilibili and other social networks have
become a high-traffic area on these platforms (Abad and Borbon, 2021;Xu et al., 2020). Travel
vlogs work as informative online travel guides people to attractions worldwide, emphasizing
food, accommodation, activities and many more attractive aspects (Kapoor, 2017). Vlog is also
a way for video producers to record travel experiences and professional vloggers to make
money once the content attracts viewers and drives traffic.
Tourists may conveniently follow the vlogs to visit travel spots, famous destinations,
tourist attractions, or other places of interest. The influence of travel vlogs depends on the
features, video quality and impact on the audience. Video quality depends on content
creation, editing level and vlogger styles, which are essential to yield credibility. Credibility is
a decisive factor for professional vloggers to stand out from the competition and become
popular (Le and Hancer, 2021). As the professionalization and credibility of individual
vloggers and the intuition of videos gradually make viewers consider vlogs credible sources,
the number of people watching travel vlogs has been rising recently (Alam€
aki et al., 2019).
Some researchers studied the gender differences in travel information search, such as
those generated from physiological traits, leading to psychological, cognitive and behavioral,
personality and emotional differences (Geary, 2010). Notably, gender differences are often
critical for marketers to analyze users for better marketing because of their differences in
decision-making and preferences (Kim et al., 2007). Understanding the gender preferences of
individual users can help practitioners better address the characteristics of their target
audience for productive business campaigns to achieve better results. Further, significantly
different gender characteristics on YouTube videos have been shown on various leisure and
informative channels, such as museums, popular science and extreme sports (Thelwall, 2018;
Thelwall and Mas-Bleda, 2018).
In addition, research on the value of gender differences in tourism research has also been
confirmed. For example, Meng et al. (2008) found significant gender differences in their values
and perceptions of natural attractions. Kim et al. (2007) used Canadian online travel websites
to analyze the function, content and search behavior preferences of different gender netizens
towards travel websites and found significant gender differences in attitudes toward
information channels and preferences for website functionalities. Yet, research on gender
differences is scant within the context of the travel vlog, especially in East Asia. Therefore, we
aimed to conduct an extensive study on the behavior of information-seeking and decision-
making process of vlog viewers of different genders in the target regions to understand better
the factors influencing their attitudes and behaviors. Accordingly, this research investigates
how travel vlogs influence users’information preferences and decision-making by comparing
such differences between genders, especially for young people.
Literature review and theoretical framework
Travel information and the new vlog media
For tourists unfamiliar with destinations or attractions, travel information could help them
select accommodations, determine traffic routes, ride schemes and give them comprehensive
travel guidance (Ni et al., 2022). Moreover, travel information needs may vary according to
motivations, purposes and personal knowledge and preferences (Gong et al., 2017). Common
travel information includes food, cityscape, nature, scenic spots, customs, culture,
accommodation, shopping, entertainment, traffic, etc. Tourists rely on travel information
Travel vlogs
influencing
tourist
decisions
87
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