Online Travel Review Adoption Scale

What it measures

Measures factors influencing tourist adoption of online travel reviews from platforms like TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Google Reviews. Information quality, quantity, and reviewer credibility are key antecedents of review adoption. Widely used in digital tourism and e-WOM research as online reviews become the dominant source of travel information.

Response format

Likert (1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

Scale items

Information Quality — accuracy and usefulness of review content (Likert 1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

• The online travel reviews I read are accurate.
• The online travel reviews I read are up-to-date.
• The online travel reviews I read are relevant to my needs.
• The online travel reviews I read are comprehensive.

Source Credibility — trustworthiness of review authors

• I trust the reviewers who write travel reviews online.
• The travel reviewers I read are credible.
• The people who write online travel reviews seem knowledgeable.
• Online travel reviews are written by people with genuine experience.

Review Confirmation — consistency with prior expectations

• Online travel reviews confirm what I already expected about a destination.
• The reviews I read align with other information I have about the destination.
• Online reviews are consistent with information from other sources.
• Online travel reviews support the travel decisions I was already considering.

Adoption Intention — intention to use reviews in decision-making

• I use online travel reviews to help me make travel decisions.
• Online travel reviews influence my choice of destination.
• I rely on online travel reviews when planning trips.
• Online travel reviews are an important part of my travel planning process.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Three antecedent subscales and adoption outcome. Information quality is the strongest predictor in travel contexts. Negative reviews are asymmetrically more influential than positive reviews for risk-averse travellers.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Filieri, R., & McLeay, F. (2014). E-WOM and accommodation: An analysis of the factors that influence travelers' adoption of information from online reviews. Journal of Travel Research, 53(1), 44–57.

Keywords