Cyberbullying Behaviors in Online Travel Community: Members' Perceptions and Sustainability in Online Community - MDPI
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sustainability
Communication
Cyberbullying Behaviors in Online Travel Community:
Members’ Perceptions and Sustainability in Online Community
Donghee Kim
Division of Culture, Tourism & Hospitality Management, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul 04310, Korea;
dkim@sookmyung.ac.kr
Abstract: Online travel community (OTC) has been played a critical role for digital marketing in
the travel industry. The successful operation of an online travel community is depending on social
connection and active friendship among the OTC’s users. However, cyber-victimization has become
a critical concern which has been threaten sustainable online travel community. In this regard, this
study investigates how cyber-victimization recovery practices in OTAs affect online community
ambient and behavioral loyalty in OTCs using second-order confirmatory factor analysis. The
results indicate that the OTCs’ efforts to recover the online ambient against cyber-victimization lead
OTC members to be loyal to the OTCs. Implications for the sustainable online travel community
were discussed.
Keywords: online travel community (OTC); cyberbullying; behavioral loyalty; tourism; online
sustainability
Citation: Kim, D. Cyberbullying 1. Introduction
Behaviors in Online Travel Online travel communities (OTCs) play a critical role for online users in experiencing
Community: Members’ Perceptions the enhancement of friendships and social connections [1]. However, it is reported that
and Sustainability in Online
approximately 42% of online users have experienced a sense of interpersonal victimization
Community. Sustainability 2022, 14,
in cyberspaces [2]. This phenomenon occurs due to the fact that cyberbullying (or called
5220. https://doi.org/10.3390/
cyber-victimization) is increasingly recognized as problematic psychological outcomes
su14095220
for online users, particularly in the U.S. context [3]. In this regard, some studies high-
Academic Editors: Francisco light that cyber-victimization has become a critical concern which has been addressed by
González Santa Cruz and diverse theoretical approaches encompassing rigorously validated assessment in online
Antonio Menor Campos contexts [4,5].
Received: 7 February 2022
As part of the online travel marketing strategy, the role of online travel community has
Accepted: 21 April 2022
grown significantly, allowing users to share their travel experiences, opinions, comments,
Published: 26 April 2022
and ratings online [6]. Currently, previous online tourism studies focused the functional,
social, psycholgocial attributes of online travel community to undesrtand the OTC members
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
to engourage involvement in OTCs [7]. However, those attributes may not enough for the
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
creation of OTC enviroment about the mechanisms linking cybervictimazaion in OTCs
published maps and institutional affil-
to lower-members’ well-being. Thus, the impact of how to deal with cybervictimazation
iations.
in OTCs on the online ambient in OTCS, and the users’ behaviors is a potential area in
tourism research area due to the lack of in-depth investigation. To fill the research gap,
it might be required for tourism scholars to understand if cyber-victimization occurs in
Copyright: © 2022 by the author.
online information/knowledge-sharing communities such as online travel communities
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. (OTCs), which lead to essential discussion about the way of how OTCs’ operators need to
This article is an open access article cope effectively with their members’ experiences on cyber-victimization.
distributed under the terms and A review paper on cyberbullying victimization addressed “Each definition of cyber-
conditions of the Creative Commons bullying contains some aggressive, hostile, or harmful act that is perpetrated by a bully
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// through an unspecified type of electronic device” [6] (p. 278). According to Nocentini
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ et al. [7] and Á lvarez-García et al. [8], cyber-victimization can be categorized into four-
4.0/). fold: visual (e.g., offensive, harmful, or injurious photos/videos), written-verbal (e.g.,
Sustainability 2022, 14, 5220. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095220 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilitySustainability 2022, 14, 5220 2 of 6
annoying, threatening, or offensive calls, messages, or written comments), online exclusion
(e.g., not being accepted or being expelled from an online network), and impersonation
(e.g., making fun of or get online users into trouble. Despite the construct development
of cyber-victimization in diverse domains, few studies have demonstrated the robust
construct of cyber-victimization (i.e., visual, written-verbal, online exclusion, and imper-
sonation) and explored management practices for recovering online users who experienced
or are faced with types of cyber victimization in online community settings [2]. In this
regard, it is necessary for operators of OTCs to develop management practices for online
deviant behaviors.
The purpose of the study is to contribute to the body of research on cyber-victimization
(and cyberbullying) by developing robust validity and reliability of OTC members’ percep-
tions toward cyber-victimization among other members and identifying its psychometric
properties with mediators, and consequences in OTCs. Our specific goals are to: 1. Exam-
ine the validity and reliability of the second-order factor of cyber-victimization recovery
practices in OTCs. 2. Explore the comprehensive model that includes the factor of cyber-
victimization practices, mediators (e.g., ambient stimuli), and outcomes (e.g., intention to
follow OTC advice). 3. Offer OTCs’ management strategies for preventing their members’
cyber-victimization.
2. Materials and Methods
Online travel community (OTC) has been played a critical role for digital marketing in
the travel industry [9]. The successful operation of an online travel community is depend-
ing on social connection and active friendship among the OTC’s users. With the Internet’s
global span, the OTC’s members have opportunities to meet new people, develop travel
profiles, share their travel experiences and advices, and encounter new social situations
instantanesouly [10]. However, these opporutnies provide a new veneu for interpersonal
vicimazation such as cyberbullying in online communities [2]. This phenomenon, due to
cyberbullying, is increasingly identified with problematic social and psychological out-
comes for online users, particularly in the U.S. context [11]. A recent study also highlights
that cyberbullying has become an increasing concern which has been addressed by diverse
theoretical and methodological approaches in online travel communities [8]. Therefore,
rigorous validated assessment instruments should be discussed [12].
Hospitality and service firms are often the target of negative online reviews. The
growth of the internet and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has allowed customers
to share their opinions with large audiences [13]. Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Urbanspoon,
Eatability, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor are all credible forums in which consumers can
review service firms [13]. There are positive reviews, but more often, negative reviews are
more prevalent and receive more attention [13]. Bradley et al. define a negative review
as “one that, on balance, offers more complaints and criticisms than compliments” [13].
Customer complaints and negative reviews are different. Complaints serve the purpose of
restitution for the customer, while negative reviews are issued with either the purpose of
revenge or intent to reach other potential customers [13].
Impersonation involves a party acting as another via mobile phone, social media,
and/or internet forums [14]. Traditionally, the motive behind this form is to embarrass
the victim or harm the victim’s reputation thus damaging their family, social, or work life.
Acting as someone else online, especially in a way that bring about ridicule to the victim, is
impersonation [14]. There is not much research based information about cases or effects of
impersonation in the world of travel reviews save for a work discussing the use of Oauth to
prevent impersonation on social networks [15]. The research discusses issue with Auth [15]
and that could potentially lead to impersonation as it relates to online travel reviews.
Visual cybervictimization occurs when a person photographs or shares embarrassing
or altered photos or videos without consent [14]. Photographing of videoing an employee
or travel without their knowledge is visual cybervictimization. In other cases, an individual
will share images or videos with a trusted individual with the intention that the sharedSustainability 2022, 14, 5220 3 of 6
media stay between the two parties [14]. If the media is shared with anyone outside of the
trusted group, visual cybervictimization has occurred. Altering photos of an individual
using Photoshop or similar applications falls under this type as well. While there does not
seem to be any existing research on the harm that photos and videos can have on a travel
or employee in terms of reviews, there are implications.
Written-verbal cybervictimization is subjecting the victim to irritating, hostile, offen-
sive, or belligerent voice of text messages [14]. This can be carried out by harassing the
victim via mobile phone, on social media, online forums, etc. Threatening the victim, embar-
rassing the victim, or subjecting the victim to bigotry is written-verbal cybervictimization.
This form of cyberbullying has the most applications in online travel reviews. There are
some cases of written-verbal cybervictimization that have manifested on Airbnb and Yelp.
The cases involved racism and bigotry, and sexism, respectively [15,16].
Online exclusion occurs when an individual is banned by an individual or a group
from a shared platform or social media site, online forum, or instant messaging program
without an appropriate reason [14]. Online exclusion can also occur when an individual is
not accepted into a group without appropriate reason. Online exclusion plays an interesting
role in the hospitality industry. One could argue that the third-party review sites are in
control here. When a third-party site removes an accurate, precautionary post about a
hospitality firm, online exclusion may have taken place. Recently, TripAdvisor has been in
hot water for removing a post warning guests of potential rape at a resort in Mexico. Three
women had been raped at the same resort in Mexico, and TripAdvisor repeatedly deleted a
post that warned others [17]. The company claims that the post was removed because “all
language needed to be G-rated” [17]. It could be argued that removing credible or accurate
posts is an example of online exclusion.
Now that it is understood how cyberbullying can manifest in online reviews, potential
effects on employees can be looked at. Employees of a travel may attempt to cope after
coming in contact with a negative review online. There are a number of coping meth-
ods [13]. Actions that are “problem-focused” may include writing explanations for the
failure. Actions that are support-seeking may include confiding in a trusted or empathic
Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW
person. Passing off the review as unimportant or inaccurate is an example of positive cogni- 4 of 6
tive re-appraisal coping. Exercising, relaxing, or laughing are examples of disengagement,
substitution, or incompatible response coping methods.
The present
Hypothesis study
4 (H4). aimsonline
Affective to contribute
community to the
will body of research
be positively relatedontocyberbullying by
behavioral loyalty
developing
toward OTCs. robust validity and reliability of online travel community members’ perceptions
toward cyberbullying behaviors among other members and identifying its psychometric
properties
Hypothesiswith mediators,
5 (H5). Cognitivemoderators, and consequences
online community in terms
will be positively relatedoftothe use of online
behavioral loyalty
travel communities
toward OTCs. in the U.S. context. Figure 1 explains the proposed research framework.
Thus, we propose that:
Figure 1. Proposed Research Framework.
Figure 1. Proposed Research Framework.
Hypothesis 1 (H1). Cybervictimazation recovery practices in OTAs are positvely related to online
3. Researchaffective
community Methodology
ambient.
A convenience sample of online travel community members was obtained using Am-
azon Mechanical Turk (https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome (accessed on 1 April
2017), which were used to employ valid respondents because of its dominant advantage
in assessing frequent online users. To ensure the appropriateness of respondents, the fol-
lowing items were employed at the beginning of the online questionnaire: Online travelSustainability 2022, 14, 5220 4 of 6
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Cybervictimazation recovery practices in OTAs are positvely related to online
community cognitive ambient.
Hypothesis 3 (H3). Cognitive online community ambient will positvely influence on online
community affective ambient.
Hypothesis 4 (H4). Affective online community will be positively related to behavioral loyalty
toward OTCs.
Hypothesis 5 (H5). Cognitive online community will be positively related to behavioral loyalty
toward OTCs.
3. Research Methodology
A convenience sample of online travel community members was obtained using
Amazon Mechanical Turk (https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome (accessed on 1 April
2017), which were used to employ valid respondents because of its dominant advantage
in assessing frequent online users. To ensure the appropriateness of respondents, the
following items were employed at the beginning of the online questionnaire: Online
travel communities (e.g., Tripadvisor.com, and lonelyplanet.com) are travel review sites
offering a great opportunity for travel searchers to find out what other people think in
terms of potential travel products (e.g., destinations) and facilities (e.g., hotels, travels and
attractions). The OTC membership indicates that individuals have joined an OTC with
personal usernames and passwords, and agreeing to the OTC terms of use and guidelines.
When it comes to the measurement items of each construct, the current study employed
17 items, 9 items, and 4 items for cyber-victimization recovery practices [15], ambient
stimuli (affective climate: 5 items and cognitive climate: 4 items) [16], and behavioral
intentions to follow travel advice [17], respectively.
4. Results
The second-order confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that cyber-victimization
recovery practices fits the data well, consisting of the four factors of written-verbal, visual,
impersonation, and exclusion, which is consistent with a previous study verifying the
second order factor of cyber-victimization behaviors [18]. The scales revealed good validity
(construct, concurrent, and convergent) and reliability (internal consistency).
To assess the overall model fit of the measurement model, a confirmatory factor
analysis (CFA) was performed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to
test hypotheses 1 through 5. The goodness-of-fit statistics of the proposed model showed
that the model reasonably fit the data (chi-square = 323.769 (df = 113), p = 0.000, chi-
square/df = 2.865, IFI = 0.935, CFI = 0.935, TLI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.077). Figure 2 shows
the hypothesized results. The hypothesized relationship between the cyber-victimization
recovery practices and affective climate (H1) was not significant (β = 0. 027). The positive
relationship between cyber-victimization recovery practices and cognitive climate (H2) was
supported by a significant estimate, β = 0.029 (p < 0.01), indicating that cyber-victimization
recovery practices positively influence OTC cognitive climate. A cognitive climate had a
significantly positive impact on an affective climate (β = 0.029, p < 0.001). The effect of
affective climate and cognitive climate on behavioral loyalty (H4, H5) were supported by
standardized estimates of β = 0.537 and β = 0.465, respectively (p < 0.001).Sustainability 2022, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 6
Sustainability 2022, 14, 5220 5 of 6
affective climate and cognitive climate on behavioral loyalty (H4, H5) were supported by
standardized estimates of β = 0.537 and β = 0.465, respectively (p < 0.001).
Figure2.2.Results.
Figure Results. Note:
Note: **
** ppSustainability 2022, 14, 5220 6 of 6
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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