.Investigating the facilitators and deterrents for sharing travel experiences on social networks

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Mostafa Mohammadi 1
shokoufeh asadi 2
1 Associate Professor; Faculty of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran
2 MSc. In Business Administration, University of Mazandaran, Mazandaran, Iran
10.22054/nms.2021.57563.1107
Abstract
Social networks have provided a convenient platform for communication between users due to their ease of use and they have infiltrated people's social life with great speed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the sharing of travel experiences in social networks, which are classified into two categories of facilitators and deterrents. Perceived pleasure, altruism, and self-fulfillment variables as facilitators, and personal variables, relationships, security reasons, and privacy were examined as deterrents. The present research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive and correlational in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the study included tourists and visitors to the tourist destination of Babolsar city. The statistical sample was calculated based on Cochran's formula of 384 people. Simple random sampling method was used to select the sample. Data were collected through the distribution of a questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS24 and SmartPLS2 software packages. Findings indicate the importance of the effect of deterrents and facilitators on sharing travel experiences on social networks and the results encourage tourism and marketing activists to become aware of the power of user-generated content through social media.
Keywords
Tourism
Social Networks
Facilitators
Deterrents
References
Amaro, S., Duarte, P., and Henriques, C. (2016). Travelers’ Use of Social Media: A clustering Approach, Annals of Tourism Research, No. 59: 1-15.
Al-Alufi, A., & Fulton, C. (2014). Use of social networking tools for informal scholarly communication in humanities and social science disciplines. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 147, 436-445.
Bastida, U. and Huan, T.C. (2014). Performance Evaluation of Tourism Websites’ Information Quality of Four Global Destination Brands: Beijing, Hong-Kong, Shanghai, and Taipei, Journal of Business Research, 67(2): 167-170.
Bhatiasevi, V. and Yoopetch, C. (2015). The Determinants of Intention to Use Electronic Booking among Young Users in Thailand, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, No. 23: 1-11.
Bizirgianni, L. and Dionysopoulou, P. (2013). The Influence of Tourist Trends of Youth Tourism through Social Media (SM) & Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, No. 73: 652-660.
Bogicevic, V., Seo, S., Kandampully, J. A., Liu, S. Q., & Rudd, N. A. (2019). Virtual reality presence as a preamble of tourism experience: The role of mental imagery. Tourism Management 74 (2019) 55–64.
Bosangit, C., Dulnuan, J. and Mena, M. (2012). Using Travel Blogs to Examine the Post-Consumption Behavior of Tourists, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 18(3): 207-219.
Bilgihan, A., Barreda, A., Okumus, F., & Nusair, K. (2016). Consumer perception of knowledge-sharing in travel-related online social networks. Tourism Management, 52, 287–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.07.002.
Buhalis, D., & O’Connor, P. (2005). Information communication technology revolutionizing tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 30(3), 7–16. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/02508281.2005.11081482.
Chung, N., & Han, H. (2017). The relationship among tourists’ persuasion, attachment and behavioral changes in social media. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 123, 370–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.09.005.
Chung, N. and Koo, C. (2015). the Use of Social Media in Travel Information Search, Telematics and Informatics, No. 32: 215-229.
Fotis, J., Buhalis, D. and Rossides, N. (2011). Social Media Impact on Holiday Travel: The Case of the Russian and the FSU Markets, International Journal of Online Marketing, 1(4): 1-19.
Fotis, J., Buhalis, D. and Rossides, N. (2012). Social Media Use and Impact during the Holiday Travel Planning Process, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, Vienna: Springer.
Hindle, D. (2011). Social Media Travel Insights, UK: The Integrated Travel specialists.
Hudson, S. and Thal, K. (2013). The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Decision Process: Implications for Tourism Marketing, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Special Issue: Social Media, 30(1-2): 156-160.
Kang, M., & Schuett, M.a. (2013). Determinants of sharing travel experiences in social media. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(1), 93–107. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/10548408.2013.751237
Lee, S. A., & Oh, H. (2017). Sharing travel stories and behavioral outcomes: A case of travel. Tourism Management, 62, 147–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. tourman.2017.04.005.
Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E. and Pan, B. (2008). Electronic Word-of-Mouth in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Tourism Management, 29(3): 458-468.
Minazzi, R. (2015). Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality, New York Dordrecht London: Springer Cham Heidelberg.
Munar, A. M., & Jacobsen, J. K. S. (2014). Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media. Tourism Management, 43, 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. tourman.2014.01.012.
Osatuyi, B. (2015). Is lurking an anxiety-masking strategy on social media sites? The effects of lurking and computer anxiety on explaining information privacy concern on social media platforms. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 324–332. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.062.
Oliveira, T., Araujo, B., & Tam, C. (2020). Why do people share their travel experiences on social media?, Tourism Management, 78, 1-14.
Perez-Vega, R., Taheri, B., Farrington, T., & O’Gorman, K. (2018). On being attractive, social and visually appealing in social media: The effects of anthropomorphic tourism brands on Facebook fan pages. Tourism Management, 66, 339–347. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2017.11.013.
Pabel, A. and Prideaux, B. (2016). Social Media Use in pre-Trip Planning by Tourists Visiting a Small Regional Leisure Destination, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 22(4): 335-348.
Pantelidis, I. S. (2010). Electronic Meal Experience: A Content Analysis of Online Restaurant Comments. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 51(4): 483-491.
Pearce, P. L. (2005). Tourist Behavior: Themes and Conceptual Schemes, UK: Channel View Publications.
Rudez, H.N. and Vodeb, K. (2015). Students’ Use of Social Media during the Travel Process, Tourism and Hospitality Management, 21(2): 179-190.
Smith, C. (2017). By the numers: 31 amazing TripAdvisor statistics (july 2017). Retrieved https://replypro.io/article/numbers-31-amazing-tripadvisor-statistics-januar y-2017/. (Accessed 10 October 2017).
Sun, N., Rau, P. P.-L., & Ma, L. (2014). Understanding lurkers in online communities: A literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 38, 110–117. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.022.
Schmallegger, D. and Carson, D. (2008). Blogs in Tourism: Changing Approaches to Information Exchange, Journal of Vacation Marketing, 14(2): 99-110.
Tong, X., Bao, H. and Chong, A.Y.L. (2016). Predicting Adoption of Location-based Social Media Service in Travel Decisions. International Journal Mobile Communications, 14(6): 539-552.
Treer, E. (2010). Social media: an interesting option for tourism destination promotion? Master Thesis, Tourism Programme, Aalborg University.  http://projekter.aau.dk/projekter/files/34966332.pdf
Yoo, K.H. and Gretzel, U. (2012). Use and Creation of Social Media by Travellers, in Sigala, M., Christou, E. and Gretzel, U. (Eds.), Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality: Theory, Practice and Cases, UK: Ashgate Pulsihing Limited, Surrey.
Yang, Y., Tan, K. P.-S., Li, X., & Robert. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of home-sharing stays: Evidence from a nationwide household tourism survey. Tourism Management, 70, 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.004.
Venkatesh, V., Thong, J. Y., & Xu, X. (2012). Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, 36 pp. 157–178). MIS Quarterly.
Zehrer, A., Crotts, J.C., and Magnini, V.P. (2011). The Perceived Usefulness of Blog Postings: An Extension of the Expectancy-Disconfirmation Paradigm, Tourism Management, 32(1): 106-113.
New Media Studies
Volume 8, Issue 32
Winter 2023
Pages 324-301