DRIVING TOURIST INTENTIONS THROUGH USER-GENERATED CONTENT: EVIDENCE FROM STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
Main Article Content
Sarah Madaniah
Eunike Al Grea
Atika Arfa Matondang
Syafrizal Helmi Situmorang
This study investigates the impact of User-Generated Content (UGC) on tourists' visit intentions and decision-making. Data were collected through online surveys with purposive sampling, involving 133 participants in Medan, North Sumatra, focusing on visit intentions to the Tjong A Fie Mansion. The proposed model was tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that trust in UGC (TUGC) substantially affects visit intention (VI). Emotional UGC (EUGC) has a small effect on visit intention and strongly affects trust in UGC. In contrast, factual UGC (FUGC) has no significant impact on either trust in UGC or visit intention. EUGC demonstrates a strong mediation effect on visit intention through trust in UGC, while FUGC shows a low mediation effect.
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