Author(s): Lai Sau Ling (ESCE)
 
Summary:
The decision-making process of travellers is not only functional, psychological but also social in nature. Such decisions are largely influenced by group interactions and socialization, particularly when it comes to product/service/destination. Notably, Web 2.0 communities adequately provide the social needs of travelers. It has the potential for social capital building and could be utilized by participants to their advantage. For these participants, such utilization of social capital is chiefly centred on knowledge transfer and decision support within the social network that they belong to. This paper was made on the basis of participatory observations of social networking among travelers. This includes the aspects of knowledge transfer, trust building, and decision support among the users of such network. Furthermore, the theory of social capital has been well applied to these observations to better understand knowledge transfer and the required trust in these transactions.