ACCEPTING SOCIAL MEDIA AND NETWORKS FOR SELECTING DESTINATIONS IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY –A COMBINED STUDY OF IAM AND UTAUT2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/vraww516Keywords:
Social media, Destinations, Travel and Tourism, IAM, UTAUT2Abstract
Purpose: This study aims to determine the extent to which consumer adoption of information technology raises concerns for researchers and practitioners, and how web-based social networking can serve as the primary tool for obtaining rapid, comprehensive information for destination selection.
Methods: In this study, which is primarily survey-based, data were collected online from 400 respondents residing in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal. In this case, the pertinent data for the current investigation were gathered using the virtual snowball sampling and convenience sampling techniques.
Findings: Choosing a destination is greatly aided by this knowledge. Customers can save time, money, and unwelcome concern by using social media to find information about hotels from their trusted friends, family, and associates. Social media helps users choose destinations.
Implication: The social media platforms that consumers favor are quite useful for marketers who wish to use social media marketing. Additionally, the results show the components of social media information that consumers take into account; by taking consumer expectations into account, marketers may create more effective social media marketing strategies.
Originality: We perform additional research using in-depth interviews to properly interpret the findings. The findings of our study demonstrated that, in terms of Argument Quality, Source Credibility on Information Usefulness, Behavioural Intention, and Information Use had a greater impact on online purchase intention than social media information on social media.
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