Using Facebook for travel decision-making: an international study of antecedents

Abstract

This study investigates antecedents of using non-travel-specific social media (specifically Facebook) for travel decision-making before a leisure trip. Design/methodology/approach: Based on an online survey of 426 young travel consumers from Italy and Sweden, this work applies structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. Findings: The study finds support for most of the conventional TAM-related constructs: perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and intention, while ease of use is not found relevant in this context. Research limitations/implications: Results shed light on the antecedents of using non-travelspecific social media in two countries. Future research might focus on validating the factors identified and add others that might shape usage in the selected countries. Future studies could further investigate possible differences arising from culture, country of origin and age. The analysis can also be extended to other countries. Practical implications: The analysis might help managers in the hospitality and tourism sector by providing an understanding of the cognitive factors which determine travelers' decision to use Facebook for trip planning. Thus, managers should get to know these factors in their effort to influence social media in hospitality and tourism settings. Originality/value: The findings offer interesting perspectives on the applicability of conventional models to the context of non-travel-specific social media platforms. The exploration of crosscultural differences also adds to the extant body of knowledge.

The relevance of mixed methods for network analysis in tourism and hospitality research

“…E-WOM literature has focused on online review generating factors on the one hand (e.g., Kim et al, 2009) and the impact of the online reviews on companies (Yang et al, 2018) and consumers (e.g., Sparks & Browning, 2011). However, to our knowledge almost no attempts have been made to adopt a truly mixed-method approach to explore first the perceptions of online users when reading online reviews or other social media content Mariani, Ek Styven and Ayeh, 2019) through a kind of netnographic approach to generate a conceptual model of online users behaviour. The model could be tested in a second stage through quantitative methods such as surveys or experiments or even digital analytics (Mariani, 2019).…”

Applications of Social Media in the Tourism Industry: A Review

“…As an emerging subject in the tourism industry, social media's position has been illustrated and researched progressively. Travel 2.0 is a new term that has been developed as a fresh concept which indicates the progress of social media's significance in travel and recent buyers in the travel industry (Chu, Deng, & Cheng, 2020;Baker & KaWon, 2019;Lo & Yao, 2019;Chang, Ku, & Chen, 2019;Mariani, Styven, & Ayeh, 2019). Social media plays an increasingly important role in many aspects of tourism, exclusively while searching information, making the decision and promoting tourism, focusing on the best applications to engage with customers through the platforms of social media (Sahoo & B.G, 2017).…”

The Effects of Trust on Parasocial Interaction of Malaysian Facebook (FB) Travel Community

“…This platform provides a wide range of features, including status update, wall update, giving comments and likes, reading news feed, messaging in private or chatting in groups, posting photos or videos, forming groups, and playing games (Feng et al, 2019). The existence of such a digital platform leads to the change in how people generally communicate, share and exchange ideas or opinions, and even in sharing their experiences (Mariani, Styven, & Ayeh, 2019) including in tourism (Fauzi & Abdul-Latif, 2019).…”