Who is sharing green eWOM? Big data evidence from the travel and tourism industry

Although research has investigated the drivers of pro-environmental intentions, little research has adopted big data to understand the socio-demographic profile of customers who share electronic word-of-mouth (i.e., online reviews) about tourism services’ environmental prac-tices (i.e., green eWOM). Our methodology includes a large sample of customers with different demographic characteristics and trip motiva-tions, who shared green eWOM about different product types (496,813 hotel reviews, 129,455 airline reviews, and 22,373 reviews of tourist attractions). This sampling enables us to get an accurate picture of the customer segments who are sharing green eWOM. We used text analytics for data extraction (i.e., environmentally-related semantics), ANOVA tests, and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression for data analysis. Findings reveal that Gen Z Asian male customers traveling for business and staying at hotel chains are more likely to discuss sustainability practices in their reviews. The longitudinal analysis shows a steady increase in green eWOM for hotels and consumers are more often sharing green eWOM for tourist attractions, rather than hotels or airlines. Interestingly, green eWOM is associated with 5-star reviews and country of origin influences green eWOM of various travel and tourism services.