Understanding the intention to follow the advice obtained in an online travel community

Online travel communities are an increasing phenomenon that is motivating great changes in consumer behavior in the travel sector. Travelers prefer to rely on peers’ recommendations and thus visit these communities to look for unbiased information. This work analyzes some of the precursors of the consumer intention to follow the advice obtained in an online travel community. Data show the relevant role of attitude toward the advice, trust in the online community that provides the advice and perceived usefulness of this information in order to determine the consumer intention to follow the advice obtained in the community. As well, trust and usefulness have been found to influence consumer attitude, and usefulness is also directly affected by trust in the community that provides the advice. Finally, a specific personal attribute – namely, consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence –, moderates the effects of the antecedents of the intention to follow the advice obtained in a travel community. Based on these results, some implications for practice are widely discussed.