-
2144
-
1203
-
869
-
782
-
671
Exploring Collective Identity and Community Connections: An Interpersonal Analysis of Online Visitor Reviews at the Overseas Chinese Museum (2012–2023)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v6i5.6952Abstract
The Overseas Chinese Museum in Xiamen, Fujian, is a cultural historical museum in China that promotes heritage tourism and strengthens the community connection among the overseas Chinese diaspora, international and local visitors. The museum has become a platform for interpreting the immigration experience of overseas Chinese communities around the world. In this study, we examine visitors’ feedback to the Overseas Chinese Museum through a linguistic analysis of their reviews. The visitors’ reviews, 207 English-language online reviews, were collected from various travel forums between 2012 and 2023, totaling 11,584 words. We divided the data evenly into two distinct time periods, Stage I (2012–2017) and Stage II (2018–2023) and used statistical corpus log-likelihood analysis to quantify and understand if there were significant linguistic differences over time. Some of the key differences emerging from the linguistic analysis were related to conjunctions, e.g., also, while, after, and so, evaluative language and how identity was construed through language. Findings adopting an appraisal analysis suggested an increase in visitor satisfaction, possibly due to enhanced exhibits and changes in visitor expectations. The findings from analysing the reviews also showed that visitors shared similar values, developed a social bond with overseas Chinese, and engaged with this cultural historical community. The study contributes to a wider discussion on language in digital communication and cultural heritage. In addition, the visitors’ feedback and preferences could be used to improve communication and promotional strategies that ultimately increase the number of visitors to the museum.
Keywords:
Visitor Experience; Online Museum Reviews; Evolution of Discourse Structure and Lexical Patterns; Collective Identity; Log-Likelihood RatioReferences
[1] Timothy, D.J., Boyd, S.W., 2006. Heritage tourism in the 21st century: Valued traditions and new perspectives. Journal of heritage tourism. 1(1), 1–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17438730608668462
[2] Chronis, A., 2012. Tourists as story-builders: Narrative construction at a heritage museum. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 29(5), 444–459. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2012.691395
[3] Kempiak, J., Hollywood, L., Bolan, P., et al., 2017. The heritage tourist: An understanding of the visitor experience at heritage attractions. International Journal of Heritage Studies. 23(4), 375–392. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2016.1277776
[4] Weaver, D.B., 2011. Contemporary tourism heritage as heritage tourism: Evidence from Las Vegas and Gold Coast. Annals of Tourism Research. 38(1), 249–267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2010.08.007
[5] Alberti, F.G., Giusti, J.D., 2012. Cultural heritage, tourism and regional competitiveness: The Motor Valley cluster. City, Culture and Society. 3(4), 261–273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2012.11.003
[6] Zhang, C.X., Xiao, H., Morgan, N., et al., 2018. Politics of memories: Identity construction in museums. Annals of Tourism Research. 73, 116–130. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2018.09.011
[7] Wardoyo, M., Zef, R.O., 2020. Open museum as a tool for culture sustainability: Prambanan Temple study case. Sosiohumaniora, 22(1), 72–78.
[8] ShawHong, S.E.R., 2020. Museums and tourism: Reengineering the role of museums in Malaysia’s cultural heritage tourism. Business Economic, Communication, and Social Sciences Journal (BECOSS). 2(1), 145–157. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21512/becossjournal.v2i1.6151
[9] Murdy, S., Alexander, M., Bryce, D., 2016. Role conflict and changing heritage practice: ancestral tourism in Scotland. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(15–16), 1494–1512. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2016.1181668
[10] Wang, C., 2022. Diaspora museum: Re-conceptualizing Tan Kah Kee’s museum endeavours in 1950s China. Journal of Chinese Overseas. 18(1), 62–89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/17932548-12341456
[11] Yong, C.-F., Gonzalo, J.A., Mar, M., 2014. Tan Kah-Kee: The making of an overseas Chinese legend. World Scientific: Singapore.
[12] The State Council, the People’s Republic of China, 2014. Diaspora display. Available from: https://english.www.gov.cn/services/2014/11/18/content_281475011823224.htm (cited 18 August 2024).
[13] Overseas Chinese Museum, 2019. Overseas Chinese Museum. Available from: https://www.hqbwy.org.cn/en/ (cited 18 August 2024).
[14] Wang, C., 2016. The Turtle Garden: Tan Kah Kee’s last spiritual world. International Journal of Heritage Studies. 22(7), 530–542. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2016.1153494
[15] Agostino, D., Brambilla, M., Pavanetto, S., et al., 2021. The contribution of online reviews for quality evaluation of cultural tourism offers: The experience of Italian museums. Sustainability. 13(23), 13340. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313340
[16] Sotiriadis, M.D., Van Zyl, C., 2013. Electronic word-of-mouth and online reviews in tourism services: The use of twitter by tourists. Electronic Commerce Research. 13, 103–124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-013-9108-1
[17] Amatulli, C., De Angelis, M., Stoppani, A., 2019. Analyzing online reviews in hospitality: Data-driven opportunities for predicting the sharing of negative emotional content. Current Issues in Tourism. 22(15), 1904–1917. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1594723
[18] Cristobal-Fransi, E., Ramón-Cardona, J., Daries, N., et al., 2021. Museums in the digital age: An analysis of online communication and the use of e-commerce. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH). 14(4), 1–21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3464977
[19] Fernandez-Lores, S., Crespo-Tejero, N., Fernández-Hernández, R., 2022. Driving traffic to the museum: The role of the digital communication tools. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 174, 121273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121273
[20] Halliday, M.A.K., Matthiessen, C.M., 2013. Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. Routledge: London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203431269
[21] Martin, J.R., Rose, D., 2007. Working with discourse: Meaning beyond the clause. Bloomsbury Publishing: London, UK.
[22] Martin J.R., White, P.R., 2005. The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, UK.
[23] Rayson, P., Garside, R., 2000. Comparing corpora using frequency profiling. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Comparing Corpora; 7 October 2000; Hong Kong, China. pp. 1–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3115/1117729.1117730
[24] Fazzolari, M., Petrocchi, M., 2018. A study on online travel reviews through intelligent data analysis. Information Technology & Tourism. 20(1), 37–58. DOI: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-018-0121-z
[25] Guo, X., Pesonen, J., Komppula, R., 2021. Comparing online travel review platforms as destination image information agents. Information Technology & Tourism. 23, 159–187. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40558-021-00201-w
[26] Wong, E., Rasoolimanesh, S.M., Pahlevan Sharif, S., 2020. Using online travel agent platforms to determine factors influencing hotel guest satisfaction. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology. 11(3), 425–445. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-07-2019-0099
[27] Rita, P., Ramos, R., Borges-Tiago, M.T., et al., 2022. Impact of the rating system on sentiment and tone of voice: A Booking. com and TripAdvisor comparison study. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 104, 103245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103245
[28] O’Connor, P., 2008. User-generated content and travel: A case study on Tripadvisor.Com. In: O’Connor, P., Höpken, W., Gretzel, U. (Eds.). Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2008. Springer: Vienna, pp. 47–58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-77280-5_5
[29] Ayeh, J.K., Au, N., Law, R., 2013. “Do we believe in TripAdvisor?” Examining credibility perceptions and online travelers’ attitude toward using user-generated content. Journal of Travel Research. 52(4), 437–452.
[30] Filieri, R., Alguezaui, S., McLeay, F., 2015. Why do travelers trust TripAdvisor? Antecedents of trust towards consumer-generated media and its influence on recommendation adoption and word of mouth. Tourism Management. 51, 174–185. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.05.007
[31] Baniya, R., Dogru-Dastan, H., Thapa, B., 2021. Visitors’ experience at Angkor Wat, Cambodia: Evidence from sentiment and topic analysis. Journal of Heritage Tourism. 16(6), 632–645. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2020.1833892
[32] Carter, P.L., 2016. Where are the enslaved?: TripAdvisor and the narrative landscapes of southern plantation museums. Journal of Heritage Tourism. 11(3), 235–249. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2015.1100625
[33] Riva, P., Agostino, D., 2022. Latent dimensions of museum experience: Assessing cross-cultural perspectives of visitors from tripadvisor reviews. Museum Management and Curatorship. 37(6), 616–640. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2022.2073560
[34] Gillette, M.B., Boyd, E., 2024. Mining for tourists in China: a digital ethnography of user-generated content from coal mining heritage parks. Journal of Heritage Tourism. 19(1), 1–19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2023.2255691
[35] Halliday, M.A.K., Hasan, R., 2014. Cohesion in English, 1st ed. Routledge: London, UK. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315836010
[36] Taylor, V., Whittier, N.E., 1992. Collective identity in social movement communities: Lesbian feminist mobilization. In: Morris, A., Mueller, C. (Eds.). Frontiers of Social Movement Theory. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, USA. pp. 104–129.
[37] van Stekelenburg, J., 2013. Collective identity. In: Snow, D.A., Della Porta, D., Klandermans, P.G., et al. (Eds.). The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements. Wiley‐Blackwell: Hoboken, NJ, USA. pp. 219–225. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm039
[38] McGlashan, M., 2020. Collective identity and discourse practice in the followership of the Football Lads Alliance on Twitter. Discourse & Society. 31(3), 307–328.
[39] Richardson, B., Langford, R., 2015. A shifting collective identity. Critical Discourse Studies. 12(1), 78–96. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2014.962068
[40] Karner, M.J., 2022. Collective narratives of the Kfarsghabi diasporic community: An important tool to reinstate group solidarity, ethnic identity and societal acceptance. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies. 9(3), 1–26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/1073
[41] Foster, S., Fillis, I., Lehman, K., et al., 2020. Investigating the relationship between visitor location and motivations to attend a museum. Cultural Trends. 29(3), 213–233. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09548963.2020.1782172
[42] Packer, J., Ballantyne, R., 2002. Motivational factors and the visitor experience: A comparison of three sites. Curator: The Museum Journal. 45(3), 183–198. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2151-6952.2002.tb00055.x
[43] Antón, C., Camarero, C., Garrido, M.J., 2019. What to do after visiting a museum? From post-consumption evaluation to intensification and online content generation. Journal of Travel Research. 58(6), 1052–1063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287518793040
[44] Pojanapunya, P., Watson Todd, R., 2018. Log-likelihood and odds ratio: Keyness statistics for different purposes of keyword analysis. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. 14(1), 133–167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2015-0030
[45] Hui, Y.F., 2022. Museum representations of Chinese diasporas: Migration histories and the cultural heritage of the homeland, written by Cangbai Wang. Journal of Chinese Overseas. 18(1), 199–200.
Downloads
How to Cite
Issue
Article Type
License
Copyright © 2024 Yau Ni Wan, Gail Forey
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.