Central or peripheral? The effect of cognitive elaboration cues on eWOM and destination choice of gen Z travelers to Hanoi, Vietnam

Purpose Grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this study investigates how central and peripheral cues affect Generation Z (Gen Z) travelers’ adoption of electronic word-of-mouth on social media and their destination choice. Design/methodology/approach A convenient sample of 621 Gen Z travelers was collected in Hanoi, Vietnam. SmartPLS ver. 4.0 was used for testing the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that both central and peripheral cues play significant roles in predicting Gen Z travelers’ adoption of eWOM on social media and their choice of destinations. The quality of arguments and informativeness significantly enhances eWOM’s usefulness in the central route. The source expertise, credibility and information volume in the peripheral route positively affect eWOM credibility, in which the source’s expertise shows the most substantial impact. Furthermore, the peripheral route predominantly influences Gen Z travelers’ eWOM adoption (EA) and destination choice. Originality/value This is one of the pioneering studies to assess the relative importance of the central and peripheral cues on EA, hence the impacts on destination choice of Gen Z travelers. The findings provide valuable insights for identifying effective communication channels tailored to Gen Z tourists, thereby enabling the development of efficient and targeted eWOM strategies to attract this market segment effectively in the future.