Increasing electronic word-of-mouth activities through self-congruity and tourist values

The management of tourist destinations in the digital era must optimize resources and benefit from the development of digital technology, so that only tourist destinations that are suitable and provide the best value for tourists are recommended by electronic media. This research investigates the impact of self-congruity and perceived value on electronic word-of-mouth. A total sample of 400 domestic tourists at natural tourist destinations comprise the respondents. Hypotheses are tested by structural equations modelling. The results present that self-congruity has an impact on increasing emotional value and epistemic value and electronic word-of-mouth, and that consequently the emotional value and epistemic value have an impact on increased electronic word-of-mouth activity. This study explicitly examines the strong mediating role of perceived value between self-congruity and electronic word-of-mouth for tourists.