| Author: | Ji, Haipeng |
| Title: | Pictorial persuasion : unveiling the impact of user- and firm-generated images on subsequent hotel performance |
| Advisors: | Li, Neil (SHTM) Wang, Dan (SHTM) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | 170 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | With the rapid expansion of digital platforms, firms have increasingly recognized their potential to enhance marketing effectiveness by fostering direct connections with consumers. These platforms not only enable firms to shape brand identity and streamline information dissemination but also offer unique opportunities for real-time interaction with customers. By monitoring and responding to user-generated content (UGC) and creating inspiring and captivating firm-generated content (FGC), firms can strengthen customer engagement, cultivate favorable product reputations, and ultimately improve business outcomes. At the same time, consumers have evolved from passive recipients to active co-creators of brand- or product related content. The rise of visually driven platforms (e.g., Instagram) and other image-centric social media has underscored the pivotal role of photos in digital marketing. Compared to textual content, photos are more likely to attract attention, evoke emotional responses, and vividly convey messages, enabling firms to show their offerings in ways that resonate with prospective consumers. Meanwhile, consumers actively produce and share images that reflect their personal preferences and consumption experiences on online review platforms, further reinforcing the interactive and participatory nature of digital platforms. While the critical role of visual content on digital platforms has been widely acknowledged, existing research has paid limited attention to whether and what types of user-generated photos (UGPs) can help hotels convey authentic and experience-based information to potential consumers, thereby influencing consumer perceptions and hotel performance. Moreover, UGPs often coexist with firm-generated photos (FGPs), yet little is known about whether and how these two types of visual content interact, either substituting for or complementing each other, to enhance hotel marketing effectiveness and, ultimately, firm performance. Additionally, beyond their marketing benefits, existing literature lacks a strategic perspective on how visual content (i.e., UGPs and FGPs) can be intentionally leveraged as a competitive response to market disruptions, such as the rise of home sharing. Addressing these gaps will not only advance a more comprehensive understanding of how visual content influences hotel performance through enhanced marketing effectiveness and competitive dynamics in digital marketplaces, but also provide actionable guidance for hospitality managers on strategically curating and leveraging visual communications to attract more customers and sustain competitive advantage. To address these gaps, this dissertation aims to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the impact of UGPs and FGPs on subsequent hotel performance through three studies. Study 1 applies an instrumental variable approach to rigorously identify the effect of UGP quantity on hotel performance, addressing potential endogeneity concerns. The findings suggest that the influence of UGP quantity is not uniform across contexts: while a greater number of UGP leads to a higher hotel performance, this effect is significantly moderated by photo attributes, text-photo interactions, and hotel type. Specifically, the inclusion of human elements in photos may introduce extraneous cues that divert attention from core product features, thereby diminishing the positive impact of UGPs. Moreover, moderately high aesthetic quality reinforces the “more attractive, higher quality” heuristic, but overly polished images may induce skepticism. Furthermore, both high and low levels of text-photo content consistency can amplify the impact of UGPs, suggesting a U-shaped moderating effect. Notably, the beneficial effects of UGP quantity are more pronounced in independent hotels, where consumers often face greater uncertainty and thus rely more heavily on visual cues to form evaluations. Building on this foundation, the second study examines the interplay between FGPs and UGPs using a moderated-moderation model. While FGPs are typically designed to convey brand professionalism, their effectiveness is shown to be attenuated in contexts with high volume of UGPs. The results further reveal that aesthetic discrepancies between FGPs and UGPs amplify the substitutive effect of UGPs. Specifically, when FGPs appear overly idealized presentations contrast to the organic nature of UGPs, such divergence may trigger cognitive dissonance, leading consumers to question the authenticity of the visual narrative. Conversely, when discrepancies in visual content offer complementary information, they can enhance the richness of the overall information environment, fostering more holistic evaluations and strengthening consumer confidence. Thus, the coexistence of FGPs and UGPs creates a dynamic “visual ecosystem”, wherein the degree of informational alignment and interaction is critical in shaping their combined impact on hotel performance. The third study extends the analysis to a competitive context by examining the impact of home sharing on incumbent hotels' performance. Employing a propensity score matching and difference-in-differences approach (PSM-DID), this investigation situates hotels within a broader market environment characterized by market disruptions. The entry of home sharing such as Airbnb generally exerts downward pressure on hotel performance. The study further reveals that although hotels tend to post more photos on their websites in response, this isolated strategy yields limited improvements in performance. However, hotels that strategically leverage both FGPs and UGPs are more effective in mitigating the adverse effects of home sharing. The authenticity and diversity of UGPs constitute a distinctive, non-replicable asset that fosters consumer trust, an advantage typically absent in home-sharing listings. This competitive benefit becomes particularly salient when UGPs are consistent and coherent with the hotel's official visual content, allowing them to serve as a buffer against market fragmentation. This dissertation advances a theoretically grounded understanding of how visual content (i.e., photos) functions within online travel platforms. It contributes to the literature on visual marketing, digital content management and firm performance by examining the distinct and joint roles of UGPs and FGPs in shaping hotel performance. The findings extend visual marketing literature by demonstrating that the effectiveness of UGPs is conditioned by photo aesthetics, the presence of human elements, text-photo content consistency, and hotel type. Additionally, the study reveals how FGPs interact with UGPs to either reinforce or weaken their marketing effectiveness. The research positions visual content management within competitive disruption, demonstrating that hotel UGPs and FGPs can influence market responses and competitive interactions, offering preliminary insights into how hotels might use both internal and external resources (i.e., hotel UGPs and FGPs) as a non-price strategy in adapting to new market pressures. From a practical perspective, this study offers actionable insights for hotel managers operating in an increasingly competitive and consumer-driven digital landscape. It highlights the marketing and strategic value of cultivating high-quality, consistent UGPs rather than relying solely on polished FGPs. Hotels are encouraged to engage with consumers not only through curated branding efforts but also by fostering authentic content ecosystems. Especially in markets disrupted by home sharing, empowering consumers to co-construct the visual narrative may offer a more sustainable competitive strategy. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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