Exploring the effect of heuristic factors on the popularity of user-curated ‘Best places to visit’ recommendations in an online travel community

In online travel communities, ‘Top-K best places to visit’ recommendations are gaining more attention from travelers due to their ubiquitous access to the Internet, but little empirical effort has been made to investigate what factors lead to the popularity of user-curated ‘best places to visit (BP2V)’ recommendations. This research therefore aims to identify and validate the heuristic factors affecting the popularity of BP2V recommendations. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) of persuasion, we derive recommender-related (i.e., recommender's identity disclosure, reputation, experience, and location of residency) and recommendation-related (i.e., number of places recommended, helpfulness rating, number of comments added, and length of recommendation) heuristic characteristics of BP2V recommendations and investigate their impact on recommendation popularity. In addition, this study examines the moderating effect of destination category (i.e., attractions, food, shopping, and activities) on the relationship between heuristic characteristics and the popularity of BP2V recommendations. Our empirical results, which were based on 565 ‘best places to visit in the U.S.’ recommendation postings from Qyer.com, a major online travel community in China, suggest that recommender's identity disclosure, reputation, number of places recommended, helpfulness rating, and length of recommendation are positively associated with recommendation popularity. We also found that the relationships between heuristic factors and the popularity of BP2V recommendations are contingent on destination category. This study will contribute to the body of knowledge on online travel communities and HSM and provide valuable implications for general travelers and managers in the tourism and hospitality industry.     

A declaration on the notion of science

While constantly revealing the laws of the objective world and of mankind itself, science, and technology, whose development is based on the former, have greatly advanced the productive forces of society and brought about     

Curing cut or ritual mutilation? Some remarks on the practice of female and male circumcision in Graeco-Roman Egypt

Ancient texts and archaeological artifacts provide the starting point for a review of the surgical aspects of female genital mutilation (FGM) in ancient Egypt. Analysis of the ancient surgical procedure incorporates modern experience on the subject as well as ancient literary and cultural perspectives. Comparison of FGM with ancient Egyptian male circumcision and consideration of motivations for the practice contribute to our understanding of FGM. In particular, the documented association between male circumcision and generative ability suggests a novel comparison with a natural process in the female--the breaking of the hymen on first intromission--and ultimately a new hypothesis for the origin of ancient FGM.     

A Brief Analysis to Informal Chatting on the Phone

ⅠⅠ.IntroductionInthispaper,wetendtogiveananalysistoaspecialdiscourseasaninformalchattingthroughthephone.Numerousexpertshavecontributedtheirattentiontosomecharacterizeddiscourseasadvertisements,politics,newsbroadcasting,ordeathnewsspreadingorothers,otherthantelephonechatting.Thereasongiventothismaybeduetothesimplicityandcommonnessoftheinformalchatting,orresultsfromitssimilaritytodailytalkwhichhasbeenpaidmuchattentiontointhepastdecades.WhereasIthinkit’sjustthissimilaritybutnotsamenessthatcal…