Human Systems Management 38 (2019) 209–220 209

DOI 10.3233/HSM-180465
IOS Press

Tourism apps women prefer and their

tipping point
Li Liua , Xin Sub , Umair Akramc,∗ and Hassan Rasoold
a Schoolof Management, China Women’s University, Beijing, China
b Schoolof Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China
c Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing, China
d Department of Business Studies, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Pakistan

Abstract. As a singularly important tourism group, women have unique perceptions and preferences, regarding the
travel-information platforms that influence their tourism decisions. Based on the societal-development capital, technol-
ogy acceptance and societal psychology constructs, this article proposes and empirically assesses an innovative research
framework, in the tipping-points context. The empirical study discloses important effects by the pivotal virtual community,
informational and environmental factors in China. The results show that collegial group centrality has a positive effect on
participative behavior, while the latter, along with perceived usefulness and imitation of others, have positive effects on usage
behavior. Besides, gender plays a moderating role in the relation between collegial group centrality and imitation of others-
usage behavior. Despite the study’s limitations, these empirical results enable future researches to conduct comprehensive,
dynamic studies of women tourists in the virtual tourism communities. And accurate perceptions of personalized needs of
specific groups of tourists can substantially benefit travel application or ‘app’ operators.

Keywords: Female tourist, tourism app, tipping point, behavior of crowds

Li Liu (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer Xin Su is a post-doctoral researcher

and the head of Practice Teaching in School of Economics and Man-
and Research Section in the Manage- agement, Beijing University of Posts
ment Department at China Women’s and Telecommunications. She got her
University in Beijing, China. She PhD in School of Business, Ren-
received doctor’s degree in enterprise min University of China. Her research
management from Renmin Univer- focuses on E-commerce, customer
sity of China. Her research on behaviour analysis and big data driven
the enterprise management, electronic management innovation. Her work
commerce and customer behavior has appeared in Applied Economics
research appears in the Tourism Tri- et al. She can be contacted at: E-mail:
bune, Science & Technology Progress xin.su@bupt.edu.cn.
and Policy and others. She can be con-
tacted at: E-mail: liuli@cwu.edu.cn.

Umair Akram is a post-doctorate

research fellow at Guanghua School
of Management, Peking University.
He got Ph.D. degree in (Market-
ing) from School of Economics and
Management, Beijing University of
Posts and Telecommunications, Bei-
jing, China. Before commencing his
Doctoral research, he worked as a
Lecturer of marketing management
at Institute of Business and Manage-
∗ Corresponding author: Umair Akram, Guanghua School of
ment Sciences, UAF, Pakistan He is
the author of several publications and
Management, Peking University, Beijing, China. Tel.: +86 13120 international conference proceedings.
333936; E-mail: akram.umair88@pku.edu.cn. He has published numerous papers in journals such as Human

0167-2533/19/$35.00 © 2019 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
210 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point

Systems Management, China Economic Review, Sustainability, tourism virtual communities, and greatly enriches
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Asia Pacific the Internet application environment of “user experi-
Journal of Financial Studies, Chinese Management Studies and
International Journal of Conflict Management etc. He is reviewer ence first”, bringing huge business opportunities for
board member of numerous SSCI journals. He is editorial board tourism industry and providing information service
member of Business and Management studies. His Current areas of
interest includes, Online Impulse Buying Behavior, E-Marketing, platforms.
E-Commerce, Social Commerce and Consumer Psychology. With the continuous improvement of women’s
social status, education level and economic income,
Hassan Rasool is a PhD in Human the number of female tourists has increased, and it has
Resource Management and has more become a special and important group in the tourism
than fifteen years of experience in market. According to the “2018 Women’s Travel
teaching, research and consulting.
He teaches leadership and orga- Demand Trend Report” released by Tongcheng Co.
nizational development at Pakistan (one of the largest tourism companies), 71.5% of
Institute of Development Economics.
His research focuses on identifying the respondents indicated that the family’s decision
ways to nurture human well-being. to travel is decided by the wife; The “2017-
The scope of his research covers vary- 2018 Women’s Tourism Demand Analysis Report”
ing research designs, sample sizes,
geographical reach and analytical released by Tuniu Co. (another large tourism com-
methods. This includes qualitative and panies) also shows that women account for 54% of
quantitative surveys, potential sur-
veys, impact assessments, post event evaluations, exploratory the annual total tourists. Studies have shown that
and experimental studies. His research on leadership develop- women’s perceptions, preferences and decisions in
ment earned “Distinguished Research Award” from Academy of the process of tourism demand vary a lot from male
Strategic Management USA. He conceived and successfully imple-
mented TASCOT™ tool for nurturing organizational culture and tourists [3–6]. Since the 1980s, scholars have paid
related performance. Currently he is designing PACE framework more attention on female tourists, most of them
for transforming next generation human resources practices in civil
service and other public organizations in Pakistan. focus on tourism perceptions [3], experiences [5,
7], motivations [8] and gender differences, etc. [3,
9], as well as specific female tourist behaviors,
1. Introduction such as business woman tourist’s choice on hotels
[10], limitation factors of single or self-help female
With the rapid development of China’s econ- tourists [11], travel motivations of female college
omy and improving living standards of the people, students [12], difficulties of older women tourists
tourism, as a new industry, has gradually raised its to travel abroad [13] and so on. However, there
strategic status in the increasingly fierce market econ- are few studies focus on the influencing mechanism
omy. In 2017, China’s domestic tourists reached of female tourists on the development of tourism
5.01 billion, with a 12.8% increase over the last informationization. Therefore, by integrating rele-
year. Domestic tourism revenues exceeded 4.5 trillion vant important constructs of this area, we explored the
yuan, which has an increase of 15.9% compared with effect of three important factors on women tourists’
the previous year. Tourism has become an important participation in virtual tourism communities commu-
part of people’s daily lives. Based on the rapid devel- nications and their travel apps usage behaviours from
opment and popularization of mobile communication the perspective of “tipping point”, these factors are
and mobile Internet techniques [1], many companies important characteristics of spreading information,
such as online travel e-commerce companies, air- the information structure and the external environ-
line companies, tourist resorts, travel agencies and ment, respectively. Due to time and data collection
hotels have launched travel apps to build a virtual limitaions in this article, future studies can collect
community based on tourists, attracting more and a more comprehensive and larger dataset to con-
more visitors with common travel interests, hob- duct more detailed analysis on behaviours of specific
bies and concerns to build and expand travel groups groups of tourists. It is of great theoretical and prac-
relationships, self-organizing team trips, share travel tical significance for tourism companies to deliver
experiences and obtain information [2]. The social- more efficient and accurate tourism product informa-
ization and mobilization of travel industry not only tion, to create a perfect and effective social tourism
meets the needs of tourists for information shar- virtual community platform, to attract tourists’ atten-
ing, communication, socialization and entertainment, tion and to promote their enthusiasms for interactive
but also promotes the formation and expansion of participation.
 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point 211

2. Literature review concepts or products, it is actually changing or infect-

ing them. This can be achieved through the influence
By combing domestic and foreign research litera- of special groups of people who have extraordinary
ture, we find that in recent years, the research has been relationships. At the same time, this can be done
increasing on the participation behavior of tourism by changing the content of the communication or
virtual community from the perspective of customer making the message easy to comprehend. Of course,
behavior, sociology, anthropology, psychology and this can also be achieved through the influence of
other multi-disciplinary perspectives [14]. In the con- surrounding groups to facilitate their final actions.
dition of tourism, the development of mobile and Therefore, it has been widely used in market econ-
socialization has changed tourists’ demand for infor- omy and advertising after the construct of tipping
mation content and communication mode. This will point was proposed. This construct provides a huge
make their social behavior and unconsciously collec- impetus for the popular trend of commercial market,
tive behavior more complicated with the change of product and behavior pattern.
environment.

2.1. The tipping point perspective 2.2. The law of the few

In the early 21st century, Malcolm Gladwell pro- The law of the few focuses on the pivotal fig-
posed in The Tipping Point that only by focusing on ures in information dissemination. In the process of
people’s psychology and behavior, thoughts, behav- obtaining tourist information, there are scenic spots
iors, information, products or behaviors can generate “expert” that “know everything about tourist products
popular and spread rapidly so as to reflect the power and services” and actively share tourist information
of the tipping point [15, 16]. The concept of the tip- with tourists. There are also “contact persons” (such
ping point is embodied in three aspects. The law of the as opinion leaders) who “know a lot of people” and
few focuses on the pivotal influence of the “minority” keep in touch and live in virtual community centers.
in the dissemination of information. Among them, There are “salesmen” who can persuade others to
“expert” is relatively proficient in required knowl- accept information. For tourists, information shared
edge and information and has certain expertise; The by virtual communities and other social groups is
“contact person” is at the center of the group and has more valuable and objective and accurate. However,
the instinct and talent to establish social relations so opinion leaders are an important and effective infor-
that it can spread information to various places. The mation source in the society [17], and they often
“salesman” can easily gain the trust of others and can act as important “contact person”. Opinion leaders
persuade others to accept the information with the can quickly recommend, share and spread informa-
rules and vision of the group members’ common cog- tion through virtual communities. Therefore, opinion
nitions. “Expert,” “ contact person “ and “salesman” leaders play an important role in process of infor-
started and drove the whole process of information mation dissemination. Both of Van-Eck (2011) and
dissemination. They also determine the depth and Valente and Davis (1999) find that opinion leaders
breadth of information dissemination. Adhesion fac- should be the center position in social networks or
tor method think that the message that starts a popular groups [18, 19]. The community core members who
trend should be memorable, impressive and easy to is located in “center” position are active. They have
accept and remember. Because only in this way can more opportunities to get better resources from others
be more useful and share more with others. This is (such as sequestered techniques, property or man-
to strengthen the attachment of information so as to agement skills, etc.) [20], and more opportunities to
increase tourists’ initiative of interaction. The law of publish valuable information, share experiences and
environmental power emphasizes the importance of opinions, provide suggestions and solve problems of
the environment and the power of the surrounding others, guide strong information dissemination effect
groups at the time of the epidemic. This powerful [21–23]. Leading more topics will help tourists have
effect may trigger a pandemic that make the individ- information superiorities, which will enhance their
ual’s crowd psychology and behavior become more sense of cooperation and belonging. Therefore, this
complicate. study chooses “centrality” [24] in structural capital
From the tipping point perspective, we can see that as a variable to measure the importance of members
when companies try to get others to accept their ideas, in the central position of tourism virtual community.
212 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point

2.3. The law of adhesion the crowd behavior of tourists [29]. It describes the
degree to which visitors follow others to make the
The law of adhesion focuses on the transmission of same decisions or choices when using the travel app
information and the expression of information. The and participating in tourism virtual community activ-
rule holds that information can be so strongly attached ities.
that it is impressive as long as the information is
simply updated and personalized in terms of word-
ing and expression, the structure of the information 3. Theoretical model and hypotheses
is adjusted and the feedback is timely and accurate.
Such information will also have a huge impact, have a From the review and analysis of the above lit-
significant difference of effect and enhance the con- erature, it can be seen that in the tourism context,
ductivity of tourism information. We can easily to from the perspective of the tipping point, the research
see that it can make a piece of information more on the trend of information exchange and social
acceptable, easier to remember, use, share and more behaviors in the tourism virtual community and the
useful. Previous studies have shown that the use and research on the use of tourism apps are still blank.
convenience of information techniques can improve In the context of mobile Internet, self-service tour,
the efficiency of user processing [25]. This can pro- put many people together travel, exchange tour, hol-
vide the travel app with accurate matching of location iday tour, graduation tour and other new forms of
and navigation, accurate search of information and tourism have emerged one after another. The role of
full payment of travel. The services provided before, social media is broader. Tourists’ use of tourism apps
during and after tourism can improve the experience and participation in tourism virtual communities is
and subjective attitude of tourism customers towards increasingly common, diversified and complicated.
tourism apps [26]. The information that visitors get On this basis, this article constructs the theoretical
should be relevant, useful, interesting and novel in model. See (Fig. 1). Here we explained the effects of
form. Such information should not only maintain a travel app use and travel virtual community partici-
high degree of correlation with tourism, but also meet pation behavior.
their value demand for information content and recre- According to the perspective of social-
ation demand so as to improve information adhesion. development capital, centrality indicates the
Therefore, this study chose “perceived usefulness” status of individuals in community relations. In this
in the technology acceptance model [27] as a vari- study, some opinion leaders (tourism talent) are at
able to measure the degree of information adhesion the center of the tourism virtual community. They are
of tourism virtual community. the core members of the community, having a direct
connection with other members and influencing the
2.4. The environmental impact of information depth and breadth of tourism information within the
dissemination community. These “contact person” have a wealth of
travel experience. At the same time, they like to lead
The environmental impact of information dissem- discussions on related topics, initiate travel activities,
ination assumes that any small details of time, place, share their travel experiences and answer questions
and population in the environment can be a tipping for other members. This often attracts so much atten-
point, producing a powerful effect and causing or tion that other community members have a sense
altering the movement of trends. Tourists’ choice of of trust, while opinion leader play a relative neutral
destinations, travel itineraries and local shopping and role, representing customers’ own interests and
entertainment plans will be affected by the surround- needs, which might be easier to gain credibility [30].
ing social groups. This is related to the individual’s It is possible that the tourist information obtained
crowd psychology. When using the tourism app, by tourists comes from the recommendation of these
tourists only have incomplete or asymmetric infor- core members. This enables each visitor to feel the
mation and uncertain decisions [28], or observe that cohesion of the community team and has a positive
many people (such as prestigious people or leaders impact on the behavior of tourists participating in the
and so on.) have made the same decisions, and people tourism virtual community. At the same time, it is also
are more likely to have the popular mind. There- conducive to the dissemination of tourism informa-
fore, this study selects the “imitation others” in the tion and highlight the impact of individual characters
behavior of crowds area as the variable to measure on the participation of virtual communities.
 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point 213

According to the study based on Dholaki and communities based on common interests can often
Bagozzi (2004) [31], the participation behavior of provide highly feasible suggestions and recommen-
tourism virtual community can be interpreted as that dations. At the same time, the knowledge and
tourists gather together to spend a certain amount opinions of others also strongly influence their accep-
of time to obtain information, share tourism experi- tance and use of travel apps. This social environment
ence and actively participate in the discussion topics will encourage tourists to follow the crowd mentality
in the community because they have the same inter- and imitate the behavior or decision-making of oth-
est, similar tourism information and travel demands. ers (IMI). Mimicking the behavior of travel app users
The mobile Internet covers a wide range, and visi- means avoiding the potential risks of making deci-
tors can connect the network anytime and anywhere sions on your own and having a positive and direct
during the whole process of tourism activities. On impact on the behavior of use (UB). Therefore, we
the one hand, this can meet their personalized travel propose the following hypotheses:
and dynamic information search needs. On the other
hand, it can also meet their needs in travel planning H3: The perceived usefulness (PU) of visitors’
adjustment and information acquisition, booking and participation in the tourism virtual community
payment, travel experience sharing and entertain- has a positive effect on their travel apps usage
ment socialization. To some extent, the participation behaviors (UB).
behavior of tourists has a significant promoting effect H4: Imitation of others (IMI) of visitors’ partic-
on attracting new members to the virtual community, ipation in the tourism virtual community has a
improving social interaction and promoting the sus- positive effect on their travel app usage behaviors
tainable use of tourism apps. Therefore, we propose (UB).
the following hypotheses:
In the process of tourism, different physical char-
H1: The centrality of visitors’ participation in the acteristics, psychological characteristics and social
tourism virtual community has a positive effect roles of men and women will lead to differences
on their community participation behavior. in tourism demand behaviors. They will also show
H2: Tourists’ participation behaviors in the differences in the selection of tourism information
tourism virtual community have a positive effect platform and social group behaviors. Tourism apps
on their using behaviors of travel apps, and the and tourism virtual communities have become more
participation behavior plays a mediating role in extensive and comprehensive information platforms
the “centrality-use behavior” process. and social platforms in the tourism industry. When
searching for information, women search more com-
Perceived usefulness pertains to the tourist belief prehensively than men [33]. Moreover, women are
that a tourism app is useful and convenient. Accord- more sensitive to social environment and group atti-
ing to a survey, tourists describe abundant, timely, tudes than men. Young women have insufficient
accurate and credible tourism information provided tourism experience and weak social practice ability,
by the tourism app in the tourism context by using so they tend to believe that the subjective evaluation
the term “useful” or “helpful” [32]. This can also of tourist destinations by relatives, friends, colleagues
add various forms of information transmission of and other members of the virtual community with
sensory impact (such as video, photo and so on.) to rich tourism experience is more credible. The advice
meet the needs of tourists and enhance the sense of of opinion leaders in the tourism virtual community
information attachment. The higher the efficiency and is more useful. Women are willing to communi-
effectiveness of tourism affairs handled by tourism cate with others in the tourism virtual community
apps perceived by tourists, the stronger their per- in order to obtain more comprehensive information
ceived usefulness will be. As a result, they can use [34], establish a harmonious relationship and upload
the travel app (UB) more actively. photos, upload video, and make comments, so as to
At the same time, due to the asymmetric tourism attract the attention and approval of other community
information, tourists often feel that their own members [35]. This shows that women prefer experi-
experience is limited and cannot make correct ential sharing. In conclusion, women believe that the
decisions. However, in the mobile and socialized rich, accurate and flexible information provided by
environment, information forms are diverse and tourism apps and tourism virtual communities can
information transmission is rapid, and tourism virtual meet their needs in the process of tourism, make
214 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point

Fig. 1. The empirical study model.

friends and get advice from others. If they feel this questionnaire items of all core concepts are all from
way, they will perceive the usefulness of the travel the foreign classic literature, including 4 items of
app and the tourism virtual community, the centrality “perceived usefulness” (Davis, 1989) [27], 3 items
of community opinion leaders and the role of imitat- of “centrality”(Tsai and Ghoshal, 1998; Wasserman
ing the behavior of others, and then they will be more and Faust, 1994)[36, 37], 3 items of “model others”
active in constructing and participating in the tourism (Sun, 2013) [29], 2 items of “participating behavior”
virtual community activities. Therefore, we propose (Dholakia, Bagozzi and Pearo, 2004) [31] and 2 items
the following hypotheses: of “using behavior” (Davis, 1989; Malhotra and Gel-
letta, 1999) [27, 38]. All the scales used in the above
H5a: In the “Gender centrality (CEN)- studies were likert scale 5. Among them, 1 means
Participation Behavior (PB)-Usage behavior completely disagree and 5 means completely agree.
(UB)” part, the first half has a moderating In order to ensure the universality of the mea-
effect, that is, for young women, the centrality surement of western scale in the context of China,
triggers a higher level of participation behavior, the author invited four doctoral students majoring
thus resulting in a positive impact on the usage in tourism and academic experts to translate all the
behavior. referenced measurement questions into English and
H5b: Gender has a moderating effect in the Chinese. At the same time, they also deleted, revised
relation of “Perceived Usefulness (PU)-Usage and improved some questions to ensure the scien-
Behavior (UB)”, that is, for young women, per- tific, reliable and universality of the questionnaire in
ceived usefulness triggers a higher level of usage the Chinese context. Note the explanatory statements
behavior. and declaration information in the questionnaire in
the light of the Link and Mokdad (2005) study [39].
H5c: Gender plays a moderating role in the rela- The final questionnaire is generated.
tion of “Imitating others (IMI)-usage behavior
(UB), that is, for young women, imitating others 4.2. Sample and data collection
triggers a higher level of usage behavior.
According to the purpose of this study and
the research plan, the following two methods of
4. Research design and research method questionnaire collection were selected: paper ques-
tionnaire and online questionnaire. The interviewees
On the basis of reading and collating a large amount can fill in all the questions of the questionnaire as
of studies, we explored the influencing factors of long as they have used any kind of tourism apps
participation behaviors in virtual tourism community and participated in the activities of the tourism
and usage behaviors of tourism app, and designed the virtual community. In this study, a total of 700
scale and collected questionnaires. questionnaires were issued and 640 questionnaires
were recovered, with a recovery rate of 91.4%. In the
4.1. Research design questionnaire, the experience of using travel apps
was set and the questionnaire with the result of “no”
According to the research content and questions, was rejected. At the same time, invalid questionnaires
the questionnaire contains personal basic infor- with incomplete information or filled out randomly
mation and core concept measurement scale. The were also excluded. Finally, 607 valid questionnaires
 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point 215

were retained, with an effective questionnaire rate Table 1

of 86.7%. That makes sense. At the same time, this Result of exploratory factor analysis
meets the requirement that the sample size is at least Factor Items Factor KMO Cronbach’s
10 times the number of items in the scale. Therefore, loading ␣
the questionnaire recovery rate in this article is ideal.
CEN CEN1 0.947 0.772 0.942
From the perspective of gender, males account for
AVE = 0.896 CEN 2 0.943
36.9%, while females account for 63.1%. The pro-
CR = 0.963 CEN 3 0.950
portion of males and females is relatively reasonable.
PU PU1 0.840 0.820 0.848
In the past two years, 76.4% of respondents visited
AVE = 0.687 PU 2 0.836
more than two times, and 66% of those who used
CR = 0.897 PU 3 0.854
travel apps for more than three months.
PU 4 0.782
IMI IMI1 0.837 0.795 0.759
4.3. Data analysis method
AVE = 0.714 IMI2 0.848
CR = 0.882 IMI3 0.850
In this study, we use SPSS 19.0 to conduct
PB PB1 0.893 0.500 0.747
exploratory factor analysis, use AMOS 21.0 to con-
AVE = 0.797 PB2 0.893
duct confirmatory factor analysis to determine the
CR = 0.887
reliability and validity of the data, and calculate the
UB UB1 0.895 0.500 0.753
path coefficient and goodness of fit of the model.
AVE = 0.801 UB3 0.895
CR = 0.890
Total Scale 14 0.846 0.827
5. Results

5.1. Data reliability test and validity test

factor load matrix was obtained, and the standardized
According to the requirements of scale analysis, load coefficients were all greater than 0.78. This is
the data to be investigated in this study were ana- evident at a P of 0.01. The results of exploratory fac-
lyzed with the cronbach’s alpha for reliability, so as tor analysis showed that the scale had good validity.
to evaluate the reliability, stability and consistency Therefore, the option of measuring all the questions
level of the observation topic option data of the core will be retained.
variables. The higher the coefficient value, the higher
the reliability between the items. According to the 5.2. Confirmatory factor analysis
statistical analysis of SPSS 19.0 (see Table 1), the
cronbach’s alpha of each variable was above 0.740. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to further
The overall reliability of the questionnaire was 0.827. determine the convergent validity and discriminant
This fully shows that the scale has high reliability. validity of the question options. The factor load-
The validity analysis adopts the exploratory fac- ing coefficient of each observation variable is above
tor analysis method to investigate the validity of 0.50 and the height is obvious. The average variance
the measurement indexes in the scale. The correla- extraction (AVE) values of latent variables are all over
tion coefficient matrix, bartlett sphericity test and 0.50. The combined reliability (CR) values were all
KMO test of the variables in this study showed over 0.85. This indicates that the observed variables
that the KMO value of each latent variable in the have convergent validity. Test the differential valid-
scale was greater than 0.770. Bartlett test significance ity of the measured variables (see Table 2). The root
level p = 0.000 < 0.05. This indicates that the struc- mean square of AVE values of each potential vari-
ture validity of the sample data is relatively good, able is higher than the correlation coefficient between
and there is a strong clue relation between the topic potential variables. This indicates that the observed
options. This is suitable for exploratory factor anal- variables have sufficient discriminant validity.
ysis.The principal component analysis (pca) method
is used to extract common factors and the maximum 5.3. Hypotheses test
variance method is used to implement orthogonal
rotation of factor loading matrix to make the fac- In order to verify the moderating effects of gen-
tors have naming explanatory property. The rotation der in the impact relation of perceived usefulness-use
216 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point

Table 2 the mechanism of action of independent variables on

Test of discriminative validity dependent variables through intermediate variables.
Factors AVE SD CEN PU IMI PB UB First, model 5 shows that the main effect coefficient of
independent variable on dependent variable is 0.280,
CEN 2.99 0.857 0.947
which is positively significant. Model 10 shows that
PU 3.74 0.534 0.35∗∗ 0.829
the influence coefficient of the independent vari-
IMI 3.92 0.440 0.45∗∗ 0.34∗∗ 0.845
able on the intermediate variable is 0.281, which is
PB 4.10 0.453 0.42∗∗ 0.45∗∗ 0.51∗∗ 0.893
positively significant. So, hypothesis H1 is verified.
UB 3.99 0.395 0.33∗∗ 0.38∗∗ 0.40∗∗ 0.54∗∗ 0.895
Model 6 shows that the main effect coefficient of
Note. ∗∗ p < 0.1; ∗∗ p < 0.01; Reliability value is in the parenthesis the intermediate variable to the dependent variable is
on the diagonal. 0.470, which is positively significant. Model 7 shows
that the effect coefficients of independent variables
behavior, imitation of others-use behavior, and and intermediate variables on dependent variables are
centrality-participation behavior, we first conducted respectively 0.244 and 0.457, both of which are posi-
a centralization of perceived usefulness, imitation of tively significant. It can be seen that the participatory
others, centrality and participation behavior, and gen- behavior has a partial mediating effect in the relation
der (that is, variables minus their mean values) [40]. between centrality and use behavior. In the mediat-
Then, we performed regression analysis on the vari- ing action, the mediating effect is verified, that is, the
able relation, as shown in (Table 3). hypothesis H2 is verified.
In model 1, the influence coefficient of perceived The mediators are regulated by the regulating vari-
usefulness on the use behavior was 0.241. This is able. That is to say, what is the difference in the
positively significant, so the hypothesis H3 is vali- strength of the effect between men and women? The
dated. In model 2, the interaction coefficient of gender test procedure for regulating mediating effect recom-
and perceived usefulness was 0.012. This result is not mended by Wen Zhonglin and ye Baojuan [41] was
significant. This prescriptive regulation effect is not adopted. The first step is to test whether the direct
significant, so suppose H5b is not verified. In model 3, effects of independent variables on dependent vari-
the influence coefficient of imitating others on using ables are regulated. Model 8 shows the result of direct
behavior is 0.359. This is positively significant, so H4 central effect, showing the interaction coefficient is
is validated. In model 4, the interaction coefficient 0.117. This is not significant, so the direct effect is not
between gender and imitation was 0.126. This is pos- regulated. Step 2: check the radius before adjusting.
itive significance. This suggests that gender plays a Model 11 shows that the coefficient of independent
moderating role in the imitation of other people’s use variable a1 in the forward regulation of gender is
behaviors. So let’s say that H5c is validated. 0.312, which is significant, while the interaction coef-
Gender plays a moderating role between inde- ficient a3 is 0.406, which is significant. Model 9
pendent variables and intermediary variables in the shows that the effect coefficient b1 of the mediator
relation of centrality, participation, and use. So this on the dependent variable is 0.457, which is signif-
is a mediating model. The focus of the model lies in icant. When U = 0 (male), the mediating effect was

Table 3
The regression analysis results

UB PB
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11
CEN 0.280∗∗ 0.244∗∗ 0.245∗∗ 0.243∗∗ 0.281∗∗ 0.312∗∗
PU 0.241∗∗ 0.242∗∗
IMI 0.359∗∗ 0.364∗∗
PB 0.470∗∗ 0.457∗∗ 0.457∗∗
GEN –0.035+ –0.029+ –0.015+ 0.001+ –0.035
GEN × CEN 0.117+ 0.019+ 0.406∗∗
GEN × PU 0.012+
GEN × IMI 0.126∗∗

Note: ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; + non-significant.

 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point 217

Table 4 Thirdly, gender has no moderating role in the rela-

The fitness index of SEM tion of perceived usefulness - use behavior. Gender
χ2 df χ2/df CFI TLI RMSEA SRMR plays a moderating role in the relation of mimick-
ing others-using behavior. Gender plays a moderating
Recommen-
role in the first half of the mediating relation between
ded Value <3 >0.90 >0.90 <0.08 <0.08
centrality - participation - use behavior. Therefore,
Our result 205.13 73 2.81 0.933 0.914 0.069 0.058
it can be seen that there is no obvious difference
between women and men in the process of promoting
the use of travel apps by the perception of informa-
0.143; when U = 1 (female), the mediating effect was tion usefulness. However, women are more sensitive
0.328, and the mediating effect was 0.185, assuming to social groups than men. Women are more trusting
that H5a passed the test. of opinion leaders. Women have greater willingness
and attitude to use travel apps.
5.4. The goodness fit analysis of structural
equation model
6. Conclusions
AMOS 21.0 software was used to verify the theo-
retical model and the structural equation model. The The use of tourism apps and the participation
goodness of fit index of the model and data adopts behaviors of virtual tourism community activities
chi-square/degree of freedom (edition 2/df), compar- are complex psychological behaviors and technolog-
ison fitting index (CFI), TLI, progressive residual ical impact processes. Therefore, in the context of
mean square and square root (RMSE), and quasi-root tourism, this article has very important theoretical
residual (SRMR) as the main reference indexes (see and practical implications.
Table 4).
6.1. Discussion and contribution
5.5. Results analysis
The theoretical model constructed in this study
First of all, centrality has a significant effect on has two theoretical contributions. First, on the basis
participation behavior. Participation behavior has sig- of mature social-development capital perspective,
nificant influence on usage behavior. Participation technology acceptance model and unconsciously
ACTS as a mediator between centrality and use. It collective behavior effect, from the perspective of tip-
can be seen from this that crucial members (such as ping point, innovative theoretical model is proposed.
opinion leaders) at the center of the tourism virtual This explores the critical role of the virtual commu-
community deliver more accurate information and nity, the information itself and the environment. The
more effective advice to tourists. This has a great results showed that gender played a moderating role
promoting effect on the behavior of tourists partic- in the relation between centrality-engaging behav-
ipating in the virtual community. At the same time, it ior and imitative behavior—using behavior. Women,
also forms a certain cohesion in the community, and however, had a stronger effect on variable relations.
improves the frequency of using the travel app. This study not only expands the research perspec-
Secondly, both perceived usefulness and imitation tive, but also enriches and improves the research
of others significantly influence use behavior. The content of tourism socialization. At the same time,
impact of social groups on tourists’ use of tourism this study has both rigorous theoretical support and
apps is the greatest and the crowd effect is obvi- scientific empirical analysis. Therefore, research has
ous. This reflects the characteristics and influence certain theoretical value. Secondly, this study has
of socialized environment in the process of tourism some applicability. In the context of the Internet,
development. Because tourists can obtain accurate especially the mobile Internet, many scholars and
and effective tourism information and feel the useful- industries in various fields are concerned about how
ness of the information, this also encourages tourists to promote the participation behavior of users, trigger
to use the tourism app. This enables people to use the popularity of products or behaviors, effectively
the travel app habitually and continuously to com- grasping the behavioral characteristics of users and
plete booking, payment, adjust travel plans and make accurately analyzing their needs. The theoretical
correct travel decisions. model constructed in this study is also applicable to
218 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point

the practical application of online education, online independent opinions [45]. They believe that “first-
learning, financial investment, game and video user hand experience is more reliable and important”.
participation behavior. Therefore, the research has Therefore, they will have more confidence in the
certain theoretical significance. travel experience and advice provided by opinion
leaders. Whether it’s choosing a travel companion,
6.2. Limitations and future directions searching for information, completing a transac-
tion or sharing a travel experience, women show a
Despite the above-mentioned contribution, this stronger preference than men. Therefore, they are
article also have few limitations: (1) Due to ques- more actively involved in the activities of the tourism
tionnaire collecting methods limitation, we choose virtual community. Therefore, it is important to seek
to hand out paper questionnaire in Beijing area, the support and recognition of these indispensable
future studies Future studies should expand the sam- members for corporate tourism products and services
ple range, which can help to conclude more precise and encourage them to share and disseminate infor-
results. (2) Due to time limitation, this survey was mation on tourism virtual communities. Make full
conducted at a specific time point, so we didn’t col- use of their influence to attract tourists’ attention
lect data for the “observing others’ behavior” variable and maintain good and harmonious inter-community
in the behavior of crowds, neither do we continue to relations [46]. The spreading ability of opinion lead-
record users’ following perception and satisfaction. ers directly affect tourists’ demand behaviours [47],
Futher researches can continue to explore tourists’ opinion leader marketing has become one of the new
behaviors on the social media platform, their contin- marketing trends, which is very important for tourism
uous usage and the integration from online to offline, companies to promote new products, services and
thus improving tourists’ demand experiences. (3) We concepts [48]. (3) Widely publicizing tourism apps
didn’t explore the effect of age profoundly in this and tourism virtual communities can make poten-
article because of data deficiency. Further studies can tial users and important people around them more
conduct more detailed analysis on the similarities and familiar and generate the willingness of adoption
differences of women’s behaviours who are at differ- and recommendation [49]. Women are susceptible
ent ages, focusing on their experiences of the usage to external factors (information/channels) [50, 51].
of apps and virtual tourism communities. Especially when making decisions, women’s influ-
ence is spread through groups. Therefore, tourism
6.3. Managerial implications enterprises must comprehend the needs of female
tourists, their actual demand behaviors and the char-
Women actively participate in the activities of acteristics of mobile Internet platforms, in order to
the tourism virtual community and long-term effec- create a suitable environment, stimulate the poten-
tive use of the information search and booking tial tourism needs of female tourists and enhance the
payment functions of the tourism app can pro- sense of trust, providing personalized and diversified
mote tourism enterprises to more accurately obtain customized products and services that are more con-
tourists’ personalized needs. This is of great practi- sistent with female tourists, which can effectively
cal significance for improving the quality of tourism promote women tourists’ demand [52]. (4) Pro-
products and services. (1) when developing and pop- vide more functional tourism virtual social platform.
ularizing tourism apps, tourism enterprises should Women were significantly more likely than men
fully consider tourists’ demand for information use- to communicate regularly and occasionally in their
fulness and pay attention to the effect of information communities and to share more. Tourism enterprises
dissemination. Therefore, it can easily and quickly should attract and maintain a large number of tourist
satisfy the travel information search, travel itinerary networks. This can show the commercial and social
planning and adjustment, positioning, mobile book- value of the virtual community and promote the pop-
ing and payment, communication and sharing which ularization and continuous use of tourism apps [53].
can improve the actual use behavior of tourists [16,
32, 42, 43]. (2) pay attention to the role of core
members of virtual communities (such as opinion Acknowledgment
leaders, travel talent, etc.). Social Media help tourists
to share experiences and communicate with each This study was supported by the China Women’s
other more easily [44], while many women lack College (Grant No. KY2018-0205).
 L. Liu et al. / Tourism apps women prefer and their tipping point 219

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