Exploring the pivotal role of community engagement on tourists’ behaviors in social media: A cross-national study

With the prevalence of social media networks (SMNs) as platforms for community engagement, substantial attention from academics and practitioners has been paid to investigating the antecedents and consequences of community engagement. Yet, more research is needed to understand the motivations/de-motivations of this concept and its behavioral consequences. Against this backdrop, this study builds on several research streams, including the adapted framework from Hollebeek and Macky, supported by the uses-and-gratifications (U&G) theory and the social exchange theory, and proposes a new framework that explains key individual-level antecedents and first-, second-, and third-tier consequences. This study then goes a step beyond and validates our proposed framework from a cross-national perspective. Data were collected from tourists in the United States and China and analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings suggest that perceived anonymity triggers three levels of tourist community engagement (i.e., “consumption” “contribution” and “creation” in SMNs, while these levels enhance cold and hot brand relationship quality (BRQ). Cold and hot BRQ boost trip decision-making and cross-buying decisions. There are some differences between the American (group 1) and the Chinese (group 2) tourists. For example, in the relationship between perceived anonymity and the three levels of engagement, the effects were stronger for group 1. However, the effect of creation on hot BRQ, and the effect of cold BRQ on cross-buying decisions were stronger for group 2. These findings contribute to the existing research and practice of SMNs as platforms for community engagement in the tourism context.