Social network for the choice of tourist destination: attitude and behavioural intention

Abstract

Purpose -The aim of this paper is to investigate how social networks can become the main tool for achieving fast and detailed information for the choice of tourism destination, in order to deeply understand the benefits of these media for promoting tourism destinations in a global perspective, reaching a wider range of potential visitors, and developing ad hoc and marketing strategies with benefits for competitive advantage on the market. Design/methodology/approach -The research focuses on an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which also integrates the constructs e-word-of-mouth communication and enjoyment. In particular, 1,397 experience users have been involved. Findings -The main findings are related to the key role of e-word of mouth communication on both the perception of usefulness and the attitude towards the use of social network as powerful tool for the choice of tourism destinations; as well as to enjoyment which underlines the role of the fun provided by the social network and represents a stronger predictor for consumer attitude and tourism behavior intention.Research limitations/implications -This research does not focus on a specific tourists' destinations, thus the presence of different destinations may affect consumers in different ways, according to their involvement towards to a particular destination. This study contributes to deepening the scientific debate on the tourist's destinations. Practical implications -The findings of this research support the development of tourism marketing and communication strategies focused on the online contexts as factors capable of influencing tourists' behaviour in a more efficient way. Originality/value -This paper focuses on the web-based technologies, like social media, in order to deeply understand to what extend tourists accept the usage of these technologies for the choice of destination, by providing issues for researchers and practitioners. The present research is of a multidisciplinary value, by linking business science, psychology and social science.

Edição 14 completa

“…De forma geral, em 2015 4 o segmento faturou algo em torno de 42 milhões de dólares, sendo que desse total aproximadamente 21 milhões de dóla-res foram oriundos do consumo masculino. Ainda com base na mesma fonte, nos últimos 5 anos (2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) esse segmento cresceu 16% e é o segundo maior mercado mundial, ficando atrás somente do mercado norte-americano. Já os dados projetados para de 2017 espera-se aumentar em 4,5% o faturamento de cosméticos sobre o segmento masculino, sendo que em 2016 o crescimento foi aproximadamente de 4,6% 5 .…”

“…Para o caminhar pela cidade de Natal, utilizamos o método cartográfico conforme Rolnik (2014) e sua aplicação por Tavares (2016, p. 36), que afirma que "a cartografia é composta de narrativas, seu principal elemento é a escrita, cartografar é praticar, experimentar, produzir junto com o seu objeto de estudo, é coproduzir". Como procedimento metodológico, por meio do qual obtivemos os dados necessários para elaboração da pesquisa, realizamos incursão no campo para produção do material em apreço no dia 13 de maio de 2017, entre às 16h e 17h30.…”

Social media marketing evaluation using social network comments as an indicator for identifying consumer purchasing decision effectiveness

“…The research found that perceived critical mass directly affects the intention to use social media, and also indirectly affects attitudes and intentions to use social media through the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of social media. Pietro et al 23 found that the perceived enjoyment of online social networks has the most effect on attitudes towards the use of social media when choosing tourist destinations.…”

Social media use for travel purposes: a cross cultural comparison between Portugal and the UK

“…Pan and Crotts (2012) report that travel blogs and social media sites have long recognized that there are far more people consuming information than generating it. Indeed, a study carried out by (Deloitte 2015) found that only 16% of the respondents had posted a travel experience online.…”

“…Nevertheless, several studies show that social media has a significant impact on consumer choice in tourism (e.g. Sparks and Browning 2011;Jacobsen and Munar 2012;Litvin and Hoffman 2012;Pietro et al 2012). On the other hand, the utility of social media in tourism greatly depends on the perception people have on social media credibility (Tham et al 2013).…”