Global Media Journal – Malaysian Edition
ISSN: 2231-9948
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015
THE IMPORTANCE OF COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE,
AND INTERPERSONAL INTERACTION ELEMENTS IN TRAVEL BLOGS
Syed Ramzan, S. E.
Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
[email protected]
Waheed. M.1
Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
[email protected]
Bolong, J.
Faculty of Modern Languages & Communication
Universiti Putra Malaysia
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Media and technology has changed the way people gather information. An industry that has
been affected due to this change is tourism. This study investigates the pattern of blog usage
and the perception of travel bloggers and consumers on the important elements of blogs. An
online survey was conducted through two travel blogs (N = 185). It was found that the
majority of those who read travel blogs wanted to obtain knowledge on certain destinations
by looking at photographs. Of the three elements that were included in the survey, the
affective element was found to be perceived as most positive followed by the cognitive
element and finally the interpersonal interaction element. In essence, findings from this study
shows that people turn to travel blogs in order to obtain information that will further stimulate
their desire to travel.
Keywords: affective, bloggers, cognitive, interpersonal interaction, perception, travel blogs
INTRODUCTION
The world we live in today is undergoing a technological revolution whereby peoples’ daily
routine and communication activities depend on information technology; namely the internet.
Information from within and between countries can be obtained in the blink of an eye. The
various softwares and applications available enable communication and the circulation of
information. The introduction of Web 2.0 in 2004 was met with enthusiasm by the masses. In
1
Corresponding author
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Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015
the beginning, websites functioned solely to relay one-way detailed information of
organizations. Nowadays, two-way communication and information sharing have become
easier than ever. As a result, the dissemination of information is more effective, fast and no
borders can stop it. The Web 2.0 application includes Facebook, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Podcasts, Pinterest, Google +, Instagram and YouTube.
Rosenbloom (2004) found that these days, blogs are used as the main medium in
interpersonal communication for people who would like to disseminate and share information
as well as to establish relationships between one another. Rosli Jamal (2007) defines blogs as
“web space that facilitates spontaneous interactions, a space where people can share their
interests and their specialties”. According to Technocrati (2007), 120 000 blogs are created
every day. This means that 1.4 new blogs are created every second, averaging 1.5 million
posts per day and 17 blog posts per second. Technocrati (2008) also found that blogging is a
global phenomenon, whereby 184 million people actively write in blogs and 346 million
people read blogs. Among the top 18 most popular blog topics, tourism occupies the ninth
spot contributing to 28% of all the topics observed. Besides that, the Technocrati Media 2013
Digital Infuence Report shows that most people browse through blogs when they have the
intention of buying something. Additionally, blogs have been found to be the top 5 most
believable sources on the internet. Nielsen (2012) estimated that 31% of digital users in
Malaysia are above 15 years old and are active in blogging. Simultaneously, Sysomos Social
Media Monitoring (2012) ranked Malaysia at 14th position in the world based on the number
of blogs registered in this country. Blogs are one of the most effective platforms for the
tourism and hospitality industry. Its main function is for promotional purposes (Lin & Huang,
2006; Litvin, Goldsmith & Pan, 2008).
Travel blogs are in the form of journals that are available on the internet. They resemble a
diary which contains individual opinions, reviews related to tourist destinations, stories from
the experiences gathered on trips and other relevant information pertaining to travels
(Schmallegger & Carson, 2008). These blogs are usually updated and arranged
chronologically. Villoria, Anzuola and Diaz (2006) state that the main content of blogs
consists of texts (86%), pictures (38%), videos (10%), and audio materials (4%). In blogs,
travellers can quickly share their experiences with their readers through articles, pictures and
videos. Travel blogs open avenues for large scale information sharing. Information on
accommodation, transportation and dining are at the people’s finger tips (Price & Stakov,
2006). Besides being a platform for information sharing, travel blogs increase social networks
which encourage collaborative learning among the online community.
The overall impression of a tourist destination is written honestly through the actual
experience of the blogger. Therefore, the image of a tourist destination depends on the
description and evaluation of the blogger. It also depends on the pictures that the blogger
uploads and the videos he shares. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the
patterns of blog usage and the perception of travel bloggers and their consumers on the
important elements of blogs (e.g. cognitive, affective, and interpersonal interaction).
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TRAVEL BLOGS
Kamal Ali (2008) stated that travel blogs can be seen through several angles. Most of them
are created by those who like travelling. Some travel blogs even place hotel advertisements
and other travel products. Chaffey, Mayer, Johnston and Ellis-Chadwick (2000) found that
travel blogs are gaining influence by way of interpersonal communication; more specifically
by word of mouth.
Most bloggers write about their personal experiences or offer suggestions in the form of a
diary or product review (Schmallegger & Carson, 2008). The most popular global travel
blogs include travelblog.org, travelpod.com, blog.realtravel.com, yourtraveljournal.com, and
travelpost.com. The travel blogs usually have similar structures whereby the title gives some
information about the blogger, the main topic, the date the entry was made, the written text of
the travelling experience, pictures, and finally a comments section. Most travel blogs contain
links to official websites of travel agencies, airlines and travel products.
Kamal Ali (2008) found that wonderfulmalaysia.com contains links to other sources of
information such as Tourism Malaysia, Virtual Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, etc.
This blog also contains direct links to car rental companies and accommodation booking
websites such as agoda.com. Another approach used by this blogger is based on the
blogsphere concept, that is, an activity which builds, writes, links and promotes other blogs.
Besides that, the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is also used to increase the dissemination
of new information to be sent to the related links. Links to other social networks such as
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google + and Pinterest can also be found in this blog.
TRAVEL BLOGGERS
According to Edelman (2007), the majority of bloggers in this world are Asians. Japan ranks
the highest with 74% of bloggers, followed by South Korea (43%) and China (39%). Blogs
are platforms for internet users to discover a variety of information pertaining to the country,
technology, and latest news.
Kamal Ali (2008) found that readers can easily retrieve information through travel blogs
because they contain relevant links that also discuss similar topics which are of interest to the
readers. Therefore, readers can obtain a wide range and up-to-date information. Bloggers, on
the other hand, are free to write as they wish with no restrictions or controls from anyone. In
the tourism industry, word of mouth has a big influence on the readers of travel blogs. This is
particularly the case when the blogger is one that is popular because he or she carries a
certain level of credibility. According to Gill (2004), blogs encourage the exchange of
information between bloggers and their readers. This could possibly establish a good
relationship between them. Furthermore, the influence of blogs can be strong, especially if
the blogger and the readers have the same demographics (Rak, 2005). Therefore, the
influence of travel blogs is related to their readers’ perception of the elements in the travel
blogs.
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Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015
USES AND GRATIFICATION OF TRAVEL BLOGS
The notion of the uses and gratification of media explains the fulfilment of factors that attract
and hold the audiences to certain types of media and content (Cantril, 1942). According to
Ruggiero (2000), this traditional view of media use still holds true when it comes to studying
newer forms of media. He states that the new media’s attributes include interactivity,
demassification and asynchroneity. These characteristics could possibly explain why the
audiences become interested in travel blogs. Therefore, the uses and gratification of travel
blogs are investigated through three dimensions, namely cognitive, affective, and
interpersonal interaction.
Affective Elements
Kim and Richardson (2003) found that films can stimulate feelings of empathy which
contribute to the perception of the audience about the location shown in a drama. Supporting
this, the study of Kim, Agrusa, Lee and Chon (2007) showed that Korean TV dramas arouse
the emotions of the audience and influence their perception towards the destination of where
the show was shot. The beauty of the landscape creates a feeling in the audience as if they are
actually at the same destination. This process aides the shaping of positive responses.
Additionally, Lin and Huang (2006) found that photos from a travel to Greece touched the
feelings of readers and attracted them to travel to the same destinations. Readers of this blog
rated the blog as more attractive when it could affect them emotionally. This strengthened the
image of Greece as a travel destination. An affective image is said to come into being
following a travel to a certain place and interacting with the locals there (Gartner, 1993;
Dann, 1996; Baloglu & Brinberg, 1997).
Cognitive Elements
With the advancement of Web 2.0, travel blogs have become the main source of information
and the main reference for travelling. According to Wang (2012), travel blogs help readers to
establish a positive perception towards a travel destination through the cognitive elements
that exist in the blogs. For instance, useful travel guides, suggestions of tourist attractions,
accommodation, transportation, shopping centres, weather predictions, etc. Zhong (2012)
found that cognitive images refer to internally accepted pictures which are created by people
who have not yet gone to a certain travel destination but who have an idea of what it may
look like. The picture in their mind is created through information that is received concerning
that place.
Elements in Interpersonal Interaction (Interpersonal Interaction Elements)
A study by Venkatesth, Morris, Davis and Davis (2003) showed that a person will be
influenced to travel to a certain destination or buy travel related products that they see on the
travel blogs. Besides that, social influences such as word of mouth from friends and family
can also influence people’s perception on a certain destination and thus, triggering the interest
in travelling. In the world of travel blogs, a person with strong social influence in the cyber
community will be deemed credible (Litvin et al., 2008). Therefore, this person’s suggestions
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and opinions will be held in high regard in forums and discussions. So he or she will be able
to boost the readers’ desire to go places.
Previous research shows that the interaction and confirmation from the community plays an
important role in predicting an individual’s desire to travel (Hars & Ou, 2002; Hsu & Lin,
2008). Bloggers are perceived to be believable by the cyber community whereby the sharing
of information among them can affect the perception of a product or destination. Capella
(1987) defines social interaction as a process where a person communicates to influence the
thoughts and behaviour of others. Social interaction includes cooperation, competition,
conflicts or disputes, and the adaptation of relationships.
METHODOLOGY
This study used quantitative online surveys to achieve its main aim. Evans and Mathur (2005)
posit that online surveys are convenient research tools because respondents are able to fill in
the questionnaire at any time. Online surveys allow the respondents to answer the questions
according to sections. They can exit the survey and return to the following section at any
time. Online surveys can be disseminated in a few ways. For example, email with an
embedded survey, a link in an e-mail, a link in other websites, a link in relevant social media
sites, etc.
This study conducted the online surveys through two travel blogs: www.faizalfredley.com
and www.kakiberangan.blogspot.com. Both these blogs were chosen because they were
awarded “Favourite Travel Blog” at the Malaysia Social Media Week 2013 and “Best
Tourism Blog 2013” at the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Conference Award
2013. The combined population of the two blogs numbered 1810 followers. The voluntary
sampling technique was used in this study. Based on the sampling size determination table,
185 respondents would be a sufficient number to represent the population at an interval of
.005 and a margin error of ±7%. The online questionnaire was divided into 4 sections, namely
Section A: Demographic information, Section B: Travelling patterns, Section C: Travel blog
usage, and Section D: Perception of blog browsers towards the elements of travel blogs
(affective, cognitive and interpersonal interactions).
The affective factor was measured with 5 items, using a 5-point Likert scale with 1=strongly
disagree, 2=disagree, 3=disagree somewhat, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree. Wang (2012)
stated that the affective elements of bloggers include feeling empathetic towards the writer’s
experiences; the imagination arising from the same point of view (visual and image) as the
writer’s.
The cognitive factor was measured with 9 items, using the same 5-point Likert scale with
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=disagree somewhat, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree.
Zhong (2012) and Wang (2012) stated that cognitive factors include information and
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guidelines obtained on attractive places, nature, history, shopping facilities, transportation,
and weather conditions.
The Interpersonal Interaction element was also measured with 9 items, using the 5- point
Likert scale with 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=disagree somewhat, 4=agree, and
5=strongly agree. According to Wang (2012) and Venkatesh et al. (2003), the influence of
interpersonal interaction includes the influence from the cyber community through forums,
discussions, sharing and exchanging information between readers and writers. Social
interaction influences in interpersonal interaction, which involves persuasion from close
family members or acquaintances to visit a destination, were some of the items studied (see
Table 1).
Table 1. Affective, cognitive and interpersonal interaction
Elements
Item numbers
Item total
Affective
E36, E37,E38,E39,E40,
5
Cognitive
F41,F42,F43,F44,F45,F46,
9
F47,F48,F49
Interpersonal Interaction
G50,G51,G52,G53,G54,G55,
9
G56,G57,G58
Total
23
The pre-test was conducted via www.biqque.blogspot.com which was awarded the Best
Tourism Destination Blog category in the Malaysia International Tourism Bloggers Award
2013. This blog has 606 active followers. Thirty online travel bloggers responded to the pretest questionnaire within one week. A reliability test was conducted on all the pre-test
questions that utilized the Likert scale: Perception on travel blogs, affective elements,
cognitive elements and the interpersonal interaction elements. Results from the t-test showed
that Cronbach’s α for each section was higher than 0.7 (see Table 2). This means that the
questions could be used for the actual study.
Table 2. Reliability of the variables in the pilot study (n=30)
Variables
Item total
Cronbach’s α
Section D: Perception of Travel Blog.
7
0.86
Section E: Perception of the affective element.
5
0.85
Section F: Perception of the cognitive element.
9
0.87
Section G: Perception of the Interpersonal
Interaction element.
9
0.71
The method of data collection for the actual study was done via online questionnaires. The
researchers obtained prior permission from the owners of the blog sites
www.faizalfredley.com and www.kakiberangan.blogspot.com to leave a link to the
questionnaire using the ‘Survey Monkey’ software. The blog authors cooperated by pinning
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the questionnaire as the main topic in their travel blogs. The questionnaires were available to
their readers or followers for 5 weeks. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage,
mean and standard deviation were used to fulfil the objectives of the study which are to
identify the usage pattern of travel blogs and the perception of blog readers on travel blogs.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Demographic Information
From a total of 185 respondents, it was found that 76.2% were female and 23.8% male. More
than half of the respondents (55.7%) were in the age of 36-45 years old. In relation to
ethnicity, the majority of the respondents were Malays (96.2%) followed by Chinese (2.7%),
and Indians (1.1%). Hence it is apparent that females are more active on travel blogs and the
Malays dominate the blog sphere (blogosphere) or blogging activities compared to other
ethinicities. The majority of the respondents (59%) had at least a Bachelor degree while 14.1
% had a Diploma. Thirty eight point four per cent of them were from the Executive class,
whereas 27.6 % were from the Professional class. Based on the findings in Table 3, it can be
summarized that most travel blog readers are educated, are from the working class, and are
able to afford their own computer with access to the internet from their home or office.
Table 3. Demographic profiles of respondents
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Profile
Sex
Male
Female
44
141
23.8
76.2
4
40
103
32
6
2.2
21.6
55.7
17.3
3.2
178
5
2
96.2
2.7
1.1
21
7
26
110
3
11.4
3.8
24.1
59.5
1.2
51
71
9
23
6
25
27.6
38.4
4.9
12.4
3.2
13.5
Age
Below 18 years old
18-25 years old
36-45 years old
46-55 years old
56-65 years old
Ethnicity
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Level of Education
SPM
Certificate
Diploma
Bachelor
Master/Ph.D
Employment Capacity
Professional
Executives
Self employed
Clerk
Housemakers
Student
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Income
Below RM1000
RM1001-RM3000
RM3001-RM5000
RM5001-RM8000
RM8001RM10,000
Above RM10,000
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015
20
78
58
20
3
10.8
42.2
31.4
10.8
1.6
6
3.2
Usage Pattern of Travel Blogs
As can be seen in Table 4, most of the respondents (46.5 %) visited travel blogs within a
period of 1-2 years compared to only 19.5 % who visited travel blogs within 3-4 years. This
finding indicates that more people have been active users of travel blogs within the past 2
years. The popularity of travel blogs has increased due to the easy and fast access to the
Internet. Perlmutter and McDaniel (2005) stated that in recent times, blogs are easily
accessible via the Internet and the impact on traditional writings is apparent. Reading travel
blogs is one of the popular on-line activities (Gretzel, Yoo & Purifoy, 2007). The various
add-ons and characteristics present in blogs such as video links, discussion sites, forum sites,
and links to other blog sites and the audio services lead to an increase in the popularity of
blogs. Travel blogs have also become a prominent medium among social media sites that are
recognized in the tourism industry.
It has also been found that the average blog visits stand at eleven times per month among
47.6 % of respondents. This shows that the respondents visited travel blogs at least two to
three times per week. The majority of the respondents visited travel blogs at home (64.9 %).
As blog readers, they prefer visiting and reading travel blogs at home due to the comfort and
the fast internet connection as opposed to other places. Fast internet connection is important
because travel blogs contain various applications, pictures and videos.
The laptop is the most preferred medium used to visit travel blogs followed by the desktop,
ipad/tab and smartphone. The finding also shows that half of the travel blog readers (53 % of
the 185 respondents) visit travel blogs early in the morning, before starting their jobs at home
or at their office (see Table 4). The remaining 47% usually visit travel blogs during their
break time (lunch or shift change) followed by night time and during holidays.
Table 4. Frequency distribution and percentage of pattern usage of travel blogs
Items
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Period as Blog Readers
Less than a year
36
19.5
1-2 years
86
46.5
3-4 years
36
19.4
Above 4 years
27
14.6
Mean of visiting travel blogs in a month
Not at all
4
2.2
1-2 times
33
17.8
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3-6 times
7-10 times
11 times and above
Place for visiting travel blogs
Home
Office
Cyber cafe
Medium used to visit travel blogs
Smartphone
Ipad/Tab
Desktop
Laptop
Time visiting travel blogs
During the night
Break time (lunch hour/shift change)
During morning before starting work
During the holidays
41
22.2
19
88
10.2
47.6
120
62
3
64.9
33.5
1.6
18
22
54
91
9.7
11.9
29.2
49.2
25
53
98
9
13.5
28.6
53.0
4.9
Interestingly, it was found that 40.6% of the respondents allocated about 20-45 minutes for
each visit to travel blog sites while 24.9 % of the respondents allocated 1 hour to 1.5 hours
for each visit (see Table 5).
Table 5. Time allocated for each travel blog site visit
Items
Frequency
Percentage (%)
5-15 minutes
20-45 minutes
1 -1 ½ hours
2 – 2 ½ hours
3 – 3 ½ hours
4 – 4 ½ hours
5 – 5 ½ hours
30
75
46
21
10
1
2
16.2
40.6
24.8
11.4
5.4
0.5
1.0
Moreover, half of the respondents (51.4%) visit travel blog sites for the purpose of improving
their knowledge of certain destinations, followed by validating tourism information and
interaction with writers on the destinations (see Table 6). These findings match those of
Jenkins (2010), in that the desire to obtain prior information is the main factor in the
characteristic of users which subsequently sparks further information search. There are many
studies that found travel blogs to be the main source for information gathering and trip
planning (Carson, 2008; Li & Buhalis, 2005; Weber & Roehl, 1999).
Table 6. Frequency distribution and percentage of purpose in visiting travel blogs
Items
Frequency
Percentage(%)
Improve knowledge of a certain destination.
Gather information on tourism.
Validate truth in tourism information.
Interact with writers and readers on certain destinations.
95
80
6
4
51.4
43.2
3.2
2.2
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The form of information that people were most interested in were pictures of certain
destinations (64.9 %) (see Table 7). Besides that, infrastructure such as transportation and
basic facilities were also of interest among travel blog readers.
Table 7. Frequency and percentage of information preferred
by respondents in travel blogs
Items
Frequency
Percentage(%)
Picture of a certain destination
120
64.9
Infrastructure (transportation/basic facilities)
39
21.1
Accommodations
17
9.2
Culture
3
1.6
History & Heritage
3
1.6
Food
2
1.1
Places of Entertainment
1
0.5
Perception of Blog Visitors towards Travel Blogs
The perception of travel blog readers is the viewpoint or impression on the visited travel blog
sites. The perception of travel blog readers described in this study is as shown in Table 8
below. The statements and recommendations provided by blog authors are perceived to be
convincing by 62.7% of the travel blog visitors. This is consistent with the study conducted
by Akehurst (2009) which states that users trust the views from travel blogs which are
perceived as more credible than a tourist destination web page. Sixty per cent of the
respondents felt that the image of tourism destinations found in travel blogs is authentic (M =
4.22, SD = .66).
Perception
Table 8. Percentage, mean and standard deviation
for blog readers’ perception towards tourism blogs
Percentage (%)
5
4
3
2
Advisory services provided by blog
authors based on their experience are
convincing.
Image of tourism destinations in the
blog is authentic.
The information in travel blogs is
credible.
Source of information in travel blogs is
trustable.
The information in travel blogs is the
latest.
Information in travel blogs is accurate.
Comments on tourism agencies are
detailed.
M
SD
1
31.4
62.7
4.3
1.1
0.5
4.23
0.63
31.9
60.0
6.5
1.1
0.5
4.22
0.66
22.2
71.9
4.9
0.5
0.5
4.15
0.57
18.4
69.2
10.3
2.2
0.0
4.04
0.61
17.3
67.6
13.5
1.1
0.5
4.00
0.63
14.1
67.0
16.8
1.1
1.1
3.92
0.67
15.1
53.5
28.1
2.7
0.5
3.80
0.74
Note: 1 = Strongly Agree 2 = Disagree 3 = somewhat agree, 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly Agree
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Perception of Blog Visitors towards the Affective Elements
The cognitive component refers to the belief or knowledge of the individual on the acquired
tourist information while the affective factor refers to the feelings and emotions of
individuals on the destinations (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Beerli & Martin, 2004; Gartner,
1993; Li & Vogelsong, 2006). The findings in Table 9 show that the visual and image of
tourist destinations found in the travel blog are among the highest affective factors (M = 4.32,
SD = .55). This shows that the higher the visual and image is in the travel blog, the higher the
readers’ affective value is on the tourism blog. It was also found that the positive images in
the blogs can stimulate the readers’ emotions and eventually convince them to travel to the
same destinations as the blogs’ authors. This is consistent with the study by Lin and Huang
(2006) in which attractive visuals such as clean beaches, scenic mountainous areas and the
unique landscapes featured in the travel blogs can attract the attention of blog visitors and
influence the individuals in their choice of tourist destinations.
Items
Table 9. Mean and standard deviation for each item
in the affective element in tourism blogs
M
SD
Interested in the visual and destination photo
Imagining as if in the same destination
Feeling the experience of the author via the inserted
photo
Feeling empathy (able to understand the feeling of the
author)
Excited and eager to try what is depicted in the video
4.32
4.21
0.55
0.65
4.20
0.64
4.08
4.07
0.59
0.71
Overall Mean (M)
4.18
0.63
Perception of Blog Visitors towards the Cognitive Elements
The statement that “overall presentation of the blog boosts the morale to travel” is the most
agreed cognitive element by the respondents (see Table 10) (M = 4.34, SD = .58), followed
by “obtaining information related to transportation to tourist destinations” (M = 4.32, SD =
.60). This indicates that if a travel blog has an overall presentation which is interesting and
contains useful content, then the influencing cognitive factors will increase. Travel blogs can
help readers in creating a positive perception of the tourist destinations via the cognitive
elements contained in the travel blogs such as useful tour guides, guide on accommodation
facilities, transportation, shopping and weather conditions. These elements can enrich the
reader's knowledge before planning a vacation trip (Wang, 2012).
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Table 10. Mean and standard deviatian for each item
in the cognitive element in travel blogs
Items
The overall presentation of the blog boosts the morale to travel.
Obtaining information pertaining to feasible transportation facilities to
the destination
Obtaining information and comments on the accommodation at the
destination
Obtaining information on popular eateries
Understanding the differences in culture
Obtaining information on location of shopping centres
To know about the diversity of the flora and fauna at a certain
destination
To understand the history and heritage of a certain destination
To obtain information on places of entertainment
Overall Mean (M)
M
4.34
SD
0.58
4.32
0.60
4.30
4.20
4.14
4.10
4.09
0.58
0.63
0.60
0.66
0.63
4.03
4.01
4.17
0.67
0.68
0.62
Perception of Blog Visitors towards the Interpersonal Interaction Elements
It was found that the channel provided for comments on information pertaining to tourist
destinations in travel blogs received substantial attention from blog readers (M = 4.03, SD =
.64) (see Table 11). Previous studies proved that users obtain advice from others who are
more experienced in the form of reviews, comments or suggestions for the decision-making
process (Daneshvary & Schwer, 2000; Doyle, 2007). According to Chatterjee (2001), online
comments affect cognitive attitudes in the decision-making process. In addition, Wang (2012)
also stated that the authors who have gone through a positive experience during a vacation
will pass the information to others via Electronic Word of Mouth (e-Wom). Those who are
active in blogging, readers and authors, will always get in touch with one another for
exchanging information and analyzing comments pertaining to a certain destination or tourist
product. This perpetuates views of the destination. The result from this study also proves that
respondents agree that social influence from family members and close friends affect the
desire to travel.
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Table 11. Mean and standard deviatian for each item
in the interpersonal interaction element in travel blogs
Items
Could convey comments pertaining to travel information
Could provide space for discussion with readers and other travel
blog authors on certain destinations
Get to know authors and readers from other blogs who have similar
interests
Share and exchange experience with authors and other blog readers
Interact with the blog author on issues pertaining to tourism
Usually persuaded to travel by close colleagues
Usually persuaded to travel by family members
Usually persuaded to travel by family members
Clubs or organizations usually organize trips to certain tourist
destinations
M
4.03
SD
0.64
4.00
0.66
3.95
3.95
3.92
3.74
3.54
3.47
0.68
0.67
0.74
1.01
1.12
1.08
3.14
1.12
Overall Mean (M)
3.75
0.86
Based on Table 12, all the factors have a total mean score exceeding the minimum mean
value of M=3. In short, the majority of the respondents agreed that the studied elements in the
chosen travel blogs were good. This shows that travel blog visitors have a positive perception
of the chosen travel blogs. Hence, these particular travel blogs can be used as examples to
develop better travel blogs for the development of the tourism industry in the country.
Table 12. Mean and standard deviatian for the affective, cognitive and
interpersonal interaction elements in travel blogs
Items
Total Average of
Total Average of Standard Deviation
Mean (M)
(SD)
Affective Element
4.18
0.63
Cognitive Element
4.17
0.62
Interpersonal Interaction
Element
3.75
0.86
Most of the respondents were agreeable towards the components related to the affective
element (total M= 4.18, SD = .63) such as pictures and videos depicted in travel blogs that
attracted them, hence increasing the feeling of happiness and eagerness to travel.
CONCLUSION
Tourism information obtained from travel blogs influences the desire to travel if the blog can
affect the emotions and increase the knowledge of the bloggers about a certain travel
destination. This study concludes that the main purpose for blog readers to visit travel blogs
is to obtain advice or opinions from blog writers. Additionally, they try to get a visual
depiction of the destination. The findings also show that the respondents perceive the
information on the blogs to be true, accurate and genuine. It can be concluded that the
presence of the cognitive, affective and interpersonal interaction elements is important in
travel blogs.
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Global Media Journal – Malaysian Edition
ISSN: 2231-9948
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015
The findings from this study lead to several implications. Firstly, the results can be related to
the Uses and Gratification Theory in which respondents choose social media sites to interact.
For example, blog readers participate actively in the discussion site with the travel blog writer
via comments and reviews in order to further stimulate their desire to travel. Secondly, the
action of selecting social media as a medium to obtain information is because readers feel
that social media such as blogs would be able to provide credible information. Readers
perceive travel blogs as the best source as they contain the affective, cognitive and
interpersonal interaction elements to fulfil the needs and wants of the blog readers. Finally,
the communication behaviour of users depends on the availability of the elements in the
travel blogs. If the blogs satisfy the readers, then they will create the urge to travel. Hence,
visitors of travel blogs will proceed with the activities and itinerary similar to what had been
written by the travel blog author.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Moniza Waheed is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Communication, Universiti Putra
Malaysia. She received her M.A in Communication from Western Illinois University (U. S.)
and her PhD in Political Communication from the University of Amsterdam (the
Netherlands). Her research interests include Political Communication, Intercultural
Communication, and Journalism. She has published a number of articles in journals including
the Journal of Intercultural Communication, Journalism Studies, International
Communication Gazette, and the Journal of European Communication Research.
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