Antecedents driving the different levels of behavioral engagement in online travel communities

With the rapid development of online travel communities, understanding the determinants of users ’ engagement with the online travel communities is critically important for researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this study is to understand which environmental cues drive the engagement behaviors. Specifically, by using a rich data set from a large travel knowledge sharing website and seemingly unrelated regression model, we investigate and compare the antecedents leading to two different behavioral engagements including liking and social interaction. We find that information-, source-, and social interaction-level cues are associated with these behavioral engagements. The results also demonstrate the differential effectiveness of these cues between these two engagement behaviors. Our empirical findings provide theoretical and practical implication for online travel community operators to build a vibrant and successful online travel community