FACTORS AFFECTING THE USER-GENERATED CONTENT ON THE TOURISTS' DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIOR OF FOOD TOURISTS

This study aims to 1)establish the direct impact mechanism of UGC core elements on thedecision-making of food tourists; 2) identify the mediating role of psychological perception in theinfluence of UGC on decision-making; 3)analyze and validate an integrated model of UGC influence ondecision-making in food tourism; 4) establish a decision support strategy framework driven by UGCoptimization. This study employed an online survey survey to collect empirical data from 435 foodtourists in China who had traveled to Liuzhou and relied on user-generated content (UGC) in theirdecision-making process. A purposive sampling method was adopted to select participants who haddemonstrably engaged with UGC platforms—such as Rednote, Weibo, and other tourism. Then,structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to process the data. The findings reveal that the coreelements of user-generated content (UGC)—namely, information quality, visual cues, content creatorexpertise, and platform professionalism—exert significant positive effects on food tourists’decision-making behavior, with platform professionalism emerging as the most salient predictor.Furthermore, the results demonstrate that all three psychological perception factors—perceived value,perceived trust, and perceived experience—serve as mediators in the relationship between UGCelements and decision-making behavior, with particular emphasis on the critical role of perceivedexperience in bridging platform-related cues and tourist actions. These findings offer practical insightsfor stakeholders in the food tourism sector, underscoring the necessity of targeted interventions aimed atstrengthening the linkage between UGC and psychological perception, enhancing tourists’ awareness ofcredible information sources, and ultimately improving decision-making outcomes in food tourismcontexts.