Proposal Abstract:
Cruise Travel Virtual Communities: Digital Identity Management and
Member Satisfaction
Virtual communities are
emerging as an effective marketing tool with increasing number of
technologies supporting online communications and transactions. To
realize its marketing potential, virtual travel communities (VTCs) have
to provide the service benefits sought by community members in the VTC
online environment. This is a challenging task, since multiple factors,
social, psychological, and technology used, contribute to members’
satisfaction with VTCs. This research tests a model of members’
satisfaction with digital identity management in cruise travel virtual
communities as higher perceived risks virtual travel environments.
Keywords: Virtual Travel Community (VTC);
Digital Identity; Digital Identity Management (DIM); Satisfaction;
Cruise Travel.
Biography:
Svetlana Stepchenkova received a Bachelor’s degree in Applied
Mathematics from Moscow State University, Russia and a Master’s degree
in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Purdue University, U.S. She
is currently a PhD student in Destination Management at Purdue
University. Her interests include studies of destination competitiveness
from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. She has completed
studies on the destination image of Russia as a competitive factor, a
comparative analysis of organic destination images of China and Russia,
as well as a study modeling arrivals to China and Russia in order to
assess whether the two destinations are complements or substitutes in
the UK leisure travel market. Svetlana is also interested in
quantitative methodologies of qualitative data analysis.
Svetlana’s other area of interest is marketing
applications of information technologies in travel and tourism,
particularly virtual travel communities and destination websites as a
means of obtaining a competitive advantage in destination management.
Svetlana completed a study on members’ satisfaction with experiences in
virtual travel communities and a research on quality assessment of U.S.
destination websites. Svetlana has several years of industry experience
working in project management, sales, and marketing in an industrial
medium-size company. She has also worked as an EFL teacher, private
tutor, and, most recently, a math instructor. Svetlana enjoys hiking,
reading, and spending time with her family.
