What is it about?
Considering the strong influence of social media on internet users, it is important to understand its role for hotel businesses, particularly the online aspect of lodging operations. The main purpose of the current research is to examine the effectiveness of embedded social media channels on hotel websites and their influence on traveler behavior. Applying the uses and gratifications (U&G) approach, we examined relationships among traveler gratifications, satisfaction, and purchase intentions by comparing user experience with hotel websites that used embedded social media channels to those without embedded social media channels.
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Why is it important?
Although several social media studies have been done, very few studies have focused on travelers’ needs and the specific gratifications they seek when using embedded social media channels on hotel websites, and how those channels would influence their purchasing behavior.
Perspectives
Most hotel companies are using social media to meet the needs of travelers, using these channels and also embedding them into their official website. However, research is lacking to examine the motivations of travelers for using embedded social media channels on hotel websites, and the gratifications obtained after using them, and how this leads to satis- faction and purchase intentions. Consequently, the current study extended the existing theory in the U&G approach by integrating perceived informativeness, perceived enjoyment, and perceived social interactions in an experimental setting, to examine all three gratification dimensions and their influence on satisfaction and purchase intentions.
Dr AJ Aluri
West Virginia University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Influence of Embedded Social Media Channels on Travelers’ Gratifications, Satisfaction, and Purchase Intentions, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, December 2015, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1938965515615685.
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