Speech VS. Writing: The influences of WOM communication on tourism experience storytellers

Word of mouth is the most important source of information for consumption decisions, which has become a powerful marketing tool and competitive advantage in the tourism industry. Word-of-mouth communication could be mainly categorized into speech/oral communication and writing/written communication. Although the categorization has attracted much attention in the literature, little research has systematically investigated the differences between these two communication types and their effectiveness from the perspective of WOM communicators, that is tourism experience storytellers. To fill the gap, this study conducted three studies by utilizing the experimental method. Results show that oral communication exerts more positive impacts on tourism experience storytellers than written communication. Such an effect works through the mediator of selfbrand connection. Moreover, this effect is contingent on the tourism experience type (hedonic vs. utilitarian), which only holds in the condition of a hedonic tourism experience. This study contributes to providing a comprehensive understanding of the impacts of word-of-mouth communication (oral vs. written) from the perspective of communicators. Practical implications and limitations are also discussed.