Gender differences in antecedents and consequences of trust in an enterprise's travel blogs

We developed a research model based on the trust literature to explore both the antecedents and consequences of users’ trust in an enterprise’s travel blogs, and gender differences in determinants of trust. Responses from 239 participants were used to test the research model hypotheses. The causal model was validated using partial least squares regression analysis. The results showed that the visual appeal and information adequacy of the blog platform, as well as trust in travel experts’ blogs, were the key factors influencing readers’ trust, for both men and women. Contrary to our expectations, trust for men was not significantly affected by the operational efficiency of the blog platform. Moreover, although trust was found to influence male and female users’ intention to recommend travel services, it did not have a significant effect on female users’ purchase intention.