The cultural value effects on social media eWOM in the hospitality industry -A cross cultural study of comparison among China, Korea, and the USA

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social media has been recognized as one of the most influential marketing tools across various businesses. Understanding eWOM in social media is critical to reach potential global consumers easily and quickly in the hospitality industry. However, few empirical studies in hospitality attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of eWOM in social media from a global perspective. Given the competitive climate of the hospitality market, it is meaningful for hospitality marketers toevaluate the effectiveness of eWOM in social media and the influence of cultural factors to promote customers and increase profitability globally. The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of cultural values on social media eWOM in the hospitality industry in China, Korea, and the USA. The result of this study indicates Chinese and American people engage more than Korean people when they try to purchase hospitality product and service This study particularly provided a cross-cultural study of comparison among these countries and the findings of this study are expected to provide important practical assistance for global marketing strategies in social media.