The roles of involvement, source credibility, and authenticity in the formation of online destination image
Social media platforms are now prevalent in tourism literature and have the potential to influence tourists’ decision-making by impacting the process of their destination image (DI) formation. The aim of the study was to investigate the DI formation process by simultaneously incorporating three pivotal constructs—involvement, source credibility, and authenticity—in the context of social media platforms, a context relatively unexplored in the literature. The study employed a mixed research design to verify the proposed model empirically. The interrelationships among different constructs were analysed with a sample of 210 tourists who had recently visited or intended to visit Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh. The data were tested using PLS-SEM method. Results indicate that: (1) authenticity and source credibility both have positive influence in the formation of DI, demonstrating it as an antecedent of the tourists’ intention to visit; (2) tourists’ perceived authenticity has a direct positive impact on the intention to visit; (3) tourists’ involvement might not be a significant factor in the formation of online DI. Practically, this study highlights the factors that affect tourists’ perception of and intention towards selecting a tourism destination in the context of social media platforms, which can serve as a basis for tailoring an effective online positioning strategy for destinations.