Online travel information filtering: Role of commercial cues in trust and distrust mechanisms

Abstract

Given the exponentially increasing number of fake/suspicious online information, this study aimed to investigate tourists' filtering mechanisms for detecting credible or suspicious information. To examine the effects of visual cues on those mechanisms, we adopted a mixed method approach with two empirical studies. As a result, Study 1 identified visual cues that induce credibility and/or skepticism heuristics. Study 2 findings illustrated how tourists differently use these heuristics in trust and distrust information filtering mechanisms. Credibility is used in a holistic and cognitive process in the trust mechanism, whereas skepticism appears to evoke a spontaneous emotional response in the distrust mechanism.