Cognitive psychology

Communication

Statistics

Social psychology

Tourism

Operating system

Coding (social sciences)

Computer science

Destinations

Business

Advertising

Psychology

Mathematics

Political science

Affect (linguistics)

Popularity

Sensory cue

Heuristics

Journal of Business Research

Consumers increasingly use eWOM to make decisions about various products and services. However, few studies have investigated how different visual and verbal eWOM cues affect the intention and decision to visit tourist destinations and their attractions. The current study fills this gap by drawing on Dual Coding Theory and investigating the influence of verbal and visual eWOM cues on consumers’ intention and behavior. The findings of a field study and an experimental study revealed that eWOM mainly affects tourists’ intentions and decisions through visual cues. Specifically, popularity heuristics, performance visual heuristics, and user-generated pictures affect tourists’ intention and decision to visit a destination and its attractions. Interestingly, information quality did not affect tourists’ decisions. The study offers important theoretical and managerial implications.

The role of visual cues in eWOM on consumers’ behavioral intention and decisions