Leisure time posts on WhatsApp status drive travel and tourism consumption

Abstract

PurposeThe present study aims to examine whether leisure time posts shared on WhatsApp status drive to travel and tourism consumption among users.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, discriminant analysis was employed to test hypotheses and identify essential factors.FindingsThe study indicated that the eight most contributing factors are expressing happiness, planning leisure time, views and comments, attractiveness, inquiring about places, preferring to post, nice way of expression and relax. These factors came from the latent variables of attitude, motivation and self-expression. Overall, the main influencing factors are internal (attitude and motivation), followed by an external factor i.e. self-expression. Additionally, the findings indicated that these significantly and positively impact travel and tourism consumption.Practical implicationsThe discriminators identified in the study would guide tour and travel agencies and the agencies' managers on how best to adopt WhatsApp and WhatsApp's status application to influence aspiring travelers.Originality/valueThis study enlarges the existing literature by integrating three factors, attitude, motivation and self-expression, into a model to influence the behavioral outcomes of aspirational travelers using WhatsApp status.

An Exploratory Research to Reveal the Habits, Motivations, and Tendencies of Generation Z to Use Social Media Platforms as A Leisure Activity

“…These features can be used extensively for transforming the recreational activities experience carried out by Gen-Z members into permanent ones, viewing the shared content by their followers, self-actualization, follower-environment approval, or recognition. WhatsApp, one of the most popular social media tools among all age groups, allows users to transmit a range of content, such as images, audio, video, text, documents, and location sharing in real time over the Internet (Agrawal & Mittal, 2024). All of these reasons lead to the active and intensive use of Gen-Z in recreational activities.…”

What motivates users to keep WhatsApp statuses: a scale development study

“…WhatsApp status updates allow users to share text messages, images, videos, and other information with their contacts. Previous studies have explored various aspects of WhatsApp use, social media addiction, and hashtag motivation (Agrawal and Mittal, 2023; Punyanunt-Carter et al ., 2017; Rauschnabel et al ., 2019). But analyzing user motivations behind status updates on WhatsApp, particularly, from the lens of U&G theory has yet to be addressed in prior research.…”

“…When users spend leisure time (for instance, a recent trip, going out with friends/family/colleagues, or adventure), they prefer to share their feelings, opinions, and experiences on WhatsApp status compared to other social media platforms (Sha et al ., 2019). A recent study by Agrawal and Mittal (2023) explores users' leisure time posts on WhatsApp and how they drive travel and tourism consumption. They found attitude, motivation, and self-expression as crucial drivers of users' posts on WhatsApp status.…”