Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA): A useful methodological tool for research in the social sciences. An example from the online word-of-mouth context

This study applies the QCA method to the context of the word-of-mouth (WOM) generation process and related motivations. The purpose is to investigate the behaviour of Generation Y in the online context, particularly regarding the activity of WOM about travel/hotels and hospitality experiences. A survey was completed by respondents with questions related to the main reasons for posting comments about travel experiences, summarised into five main motivations. Our main contribution is to provide an application of QCA and its relevance in the social media context. Results reveal that different ‘recipes’ of antecedents lead to share the tourism experience in the online context, deriving from a combination of the presence or the absence of these motivations to generate WOM