SOCIAL MEDIA’S OFFICIAL DESTINATION PROMO VIDEOS AND COUNTRY IMAGE INFLUENCING VISITING INTENTION TO RISKY DESTINATIONS

Social media destination promo videos (DPVs), are among the most important information sources of travel decision-making for their interactive and sharing features, and outstanding destination promotion strategy. Country image is also another important factor for travel decision-making. This study’s purpose is to assess whether the social media DPVs like DMOs’ promo videos and country image have any impact on visiting intentions towards risky destinations. A quantitative method was used for this study. Data was collected by online questionnaires, and 609 valid responses were considered for the analysis of the study. The results showed that the country's image positively influences the attitude of young tourists towards the country and that attention towards the promo videos positively influences young tourists’ overall emotions, attitudes, social norms, interests, desires and behaviours toward visiting a risky destination. This study results would be beneficial for those who are interested in using social media DPVs as part of their destination-promotion strategy, and also can guide destination-marketers to monitor and create better destination promotional contents in social media platforms, to encourage tourism to the destinations, especially risky ones.

Chinese international students and American domestic students’ intercultural communication in response to group criticism: collective face and discomfort feelings

Purpose Group criticism plays an important role in intergroup relations and conflicts, but few studies have related group criticism to intercultural communication contexts. This study aims to explore two cultural groups’ (Chinese international students in the USA and American domestic students) collective face concern as a unique experience in intercultural communication and other psychological responses while encountering group criticism targeting their country image. Design/methodology/approach A laboratory experiment was conducted assessing Chinese international students (n = 115) and American domestic students’ (n = 100) responses to a research-confederate critic (whose group membership was manipulated) criticizing participants’ country image such as blaming China and the USA for air pollution or using drugs in the Olympics. analysis of covariance, correlational analysis and regression analysis were adopted to analyze the data. Findings Chinese international students reported higher collective face concerns and lower liking toward the critic compared with American students. When criticism specifically targeted participants’ country image, Chinese international students reported more discomfort feelings than American students; and while responding to the critic who identified as participants’ ingroup member, Chinese international students’ discomfort feelings were more susceptible to their collective face than American students in the same condition. Originality/value This study illustrates cultural differences in collective face concerns and psychological reactions in responding to criticism targeting a country image in intercultural communication contexts.

The Influence Of Country Image And Destination Image On Intention To Visit South Korea

The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the influence of country image, destination image and destination familiarity on visit intentions to South Korea with destination familiarity as a moderating variable. The data used in this study is the result of a questionnaire that was distributed directly in March 2021. Sampling was carried out through a purposive sampling method, where the researcher had set several criteria. There are 150 respondents in this study. This research method uses PLS-SEM with the help of SMART PLS. The results in this study indicate that country image, destination image and destination familiarity has a positive significant influence on intention to visit, as well as the moderating relationship between destination image and country image on intention to visit The managerial implications suggest where innovations need to be improved that are more attractive and take advantage of the great potential of South Korea's image. For further research, researchers are advised to look at the Visit more broadly so that they can better observe and explore the problems that exist in South Korea

Impact of company and country antecedents on B2B buyer perceived supplier performance

Purpose To date, country-of-origin research has commonly explored structural relationships among country image (CI) constructs, together with attitudinal constructs, using a variety of halo, summary construct and flexible models, drawing on consumer samples. There has been no previous attempt to examine or synthesize these three models with respect to business-to-business (B2B) buying behavior. To fill this gap, this study reconceptualized these three models with B2B constructs using multi-cue settings and tested on B2B samples. This study aims to examine and estimate the relative impact of company- and country-specific images on B2B buyers’ evaluations of suppliers, and the direction of structural relationships with mediation among the constructs. Design/methodology/approach Data collection was administered through a web-based structured questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 276 purchasing managers. Structural equation modeling was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Findings Company image is significantly influenced by product country image (PCI) but not by overall CI. The existence of a significant relationship between PCI and perceived supplier performance in a multi-cue setting is an important new finding. In addition, company image significantly influences supplier performance and mediates the relationship between PCI and supplier performance. Among the three models that test structural relationships among CI and other constructs, the reconceptualized halo model fits the data best. Practical implications The study results revealed the contribution of company and country-related facets on B2B buyers’ perceptions of supplier performance while purchasing intermediate goods internationally. The significance of PCI on supplier performance emphasizes the strength of the industry sector within a country that may enable an industry to build a product-specific CI in international marketing. Originality/value This study advances the country-of-origin issue and debate concerning the strength of the country influence in the academic literature by addressing B2B buyers’ international purchasing behavior of intermediate goods. Additionally, the examination of multiple country facets, multi-cue settings and the CI influence structure in a single study, from a B2B perspective, offers a novel dimension to CI studies.

Thailand Consumer’s Response to Social Media Marketing of Chinese Consumer Electronics Products

This study is to explore the relationship between social media marketing and brand loyalty by the mediating variables of brand equity and product country image. Therefore, this paper is designed by the foundation of literature reviews to build a research framework of six hypotheses. Using SmartPLS for data analysis, and it is found that brand equity and product country image play a mediate role of the relationship between the social media marketing and brand loyalty. Based on the research results, managerial implications were proposed and future studies were suggested through this study.