The influence of hotel customer demographics on their trust on EWOM

Abstract EN

The advancement of internet technologies increased the number of travelers who are using the internet to seek destination information, and one of the most important information sources when consumer is making a purchase decision is EWOM.

It has higher credibility, empathy, and relevance than marketer-created sources of information.

While a lot of studies addressed the impact of EWOM on customer trust and purchasing decision, only few studies have discussed the role of receiver's demographic characteristics in determining the influence of EWOM.

So, this study comes to meet this gap and identify the determinants that affect the customer trust of EWOM in hotel industry, and shows the role of demographic characteristics in determining the influence of "EWOM" on hotel customer trust.

The study targeted the hotel customers of Sharm El sheikh city using a questionnaire form.

Two quantitative analysis methods were used; linear regression to test the relation between EWOM determinants and the customer's trust of EWOM, and the compare mean function with ANOVA analysis to identify the differences between categories of respondents due to their demographic characteristics.

Result of the study would assist hoteliers identify the determinants of EWOM that can influence customers trust, and how to manage these determinants with the different demographic market segments.