TITLE:
User Roles and Sought Gratifications in Online Travel Communities: An Analysis of Tripadvisor Comments on Three Districts in Lima, Peru
AUTHORS:
Kathia Huayana, Yoshimasa (Nancy) Kageyama, Fabiola Peralta
KEYWORDS:
User Roles, Gratifications, Social Media, Content Analysis, TripAdvisor, Online Travel Communities
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.2,
March
12,
2026
ABSTRACT: The goal of the present article is to identify user roles and their link with the theory of uses and gratifications based on the study of Mkono and Tribe (2016). A thematic categorical content analysis was applied by using a software for coding, interpretation, and theory construction. The extracted sample is from TripAdvisor users’ reviews pertaining to three tourist districts in Lima, Peru. Three new roles were identified: “Data Provider”, “Narrator”, and “Product/Service Critic”. With a focus on online communities, the characteristics of users when issuing a comment and what they expect when publishing it are revealed. The present study shows that the place where the user is and the activity carried out influence the way of transmitting their emotions, opinions, and/or recommendations when shared on TripAdvisor. This determines that it is possible to acquire new knowledge that allows designing key marketing strategies and excellent service/product development.