A proposal for measuring hotels’ managerial responses to User-Generated-Content Reviews

• Main Author: Perez-Aranda,Javier
• Publication Date: 2018
• Other Authors: Vallespín,María, Molinillo,Sebastian
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Download full: http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2182-84582018000500001
• topic: eWOM; User-generated-content; review sites; ranking; hotel

Despite the fact that User-Generated-Content (UGC) has emerged as a widely implemented practice in many disciplines and industries, including tourism and hospitality, academic research lacks a measurement method for hotels’ managerial responses to UGC- Reviews (UGC-R). Based on data from a survey of 335 hotels, this article validates a 32-item UGC-Review scale that, through a battery of exploratory factorial analysis tests, comprises 6 constructs: identification of the reputation landscape; assessment of changes in the company´s ratings and rankings over time; determination of the publication reach; comparison with industry competitors; review and comparison of ranking methodologies and increased reputational scores. The results show that the proposal scale demonstrates reliability and dimensionality. The proposed UGC-R scale is a strategic tool for business managers aiming to improve their marketing strategies and to gain insights into the competitive advantage of reputation management.