Marketing

Context (archaeology)

World Wide Web

Usability

Destination image

Social psychology

Computer graphics (images)

Tourism

Archaeology

Homophily

Computer science

Destinations

Business

Advertising

Psychology

Geography

Social media

Hospitality

Image (mathematics)

Value (mathematics)

Co-creation

Human–computer interaction

User satisfaction

Machine learning

User-generated content

Computer vision

Multimedia

Journal of Destination Marketing & Management

Although value co-creation concept has captured much interest, especially in the tourism and hospitality fields, limited empirical studies have been conducted to explore the complexity of experience value co-creation process in the online tourism review platform context. The current study will fill the research gap by proposing user-generated platforms as a contributor to the online co-creation process (platform engagement: pre-travel) and how this co-creation experience enhances a travel destination's image and, subsequently, impacts on the travel experience (destination engagement: at-travel). It employs a holistic model which incorporates platform-use experience, platform co-creation experience, travel destination image, and overall destination satisfaction. A total of 342 surveys were collected from travellers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Structural equation modelling analysis showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease-of-use, aesthetics and homophily were important determinants for platform co-creation experience. Positive and significant relationships also existed between platform co-creation experience and cognitive and affective images. These images were also found to influence respondents' travel satisfaction. These findings contribute to a better theoretical understanding of the role that UGC platform use experiences play in the overall platform co-creation experience, and how this impacts on destination image formation and subsequently, satisfaction. Managerial implications, limitations and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.

From desktop to destination: User-generated content platforms, co-created online experiences, destination image and satisfaction