How Does Consumer-Generated Media Adoption influence Travel

Planning? A Cross-Cultural Study

- Dandison Chukwu-Nna Ukpabi- Supervisor: Prof. Heikki Karjaluoto

Contents

Introduction and motivation Literature Review Theoretical Background Research Gap and Objectives Conceptual Framework Methodology First year publication targets End

Introduction and Motivation

The tourism sector is the biggest global industry generating the highest number of employments across the globe - Law, Leung, Buhalis (2009)

Introduction and motivation

In Finland, the tourism industry provided jobs for about 140,000 people in 2013 with 14.4 Billion Euros spent by tourists, 2.5% GDP, twice as big as agriculture and forestry (Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Finland, 2015).

In Nigeria as well, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC, 2015), the industry created 1,837,000 jobs in 2013, about 2.8% of total employment in that year.

These figures show that attracting patronage into the sector is an investment with a guarantee return

Tsao, Hsieh, Shih & Lin (2015), report that 80% of travellers maintain that they would

read reviews about a hotel before embarking on a trip and 53% maintain that

they would not book a hotel that has no reviews.

Introduction and motivation Contd.

The choice of a destination is influenced by comments, reviews and experiences shared

about that destination

Literature Review

During trip planning, the potential tourist engages in searching for different sources of information in order to make the best decision in terms of destination choice.

Literature Review Contd.

Gretzel, Kang & Lee (2008) define consumer-generated

media as “media impressions created by consumers, typically

informed by relevant experience and archived or

shared online for easy access by other impressionable

consumers.”

Theoretical Background

In social media adoption and use for travel planning, Casalo, Flavian & Guinaliu (2011) used the TAM, TPB; Ayeh, Au & Law (2013) used TAM; Hsiao, Lu & Lan (2013) used TRA; Chung, Han & Koo (2015) used ELM and Bashar (2014) used IAM.

Of 51 articles being reviewed by the presenter on social media adoption and use for travel planning, 15 articles used TAM; 5 articles used TPB; 3 articles used TRA; 3 articles used ELM and the rest used others.

Theoretical Background

Theoretical Background

Studies involving cross-cultural analysis have always involved Hofstede’s (1980, 1984) culture dimensions:• Individualism/Collectivism• Uncertainty Avoidance• Masculinity/Femininity• Power Distance• Time Orientation

Research Gap

No study has used the UTAUT model to investigate adoption and use of consumer-

generated media for tourism and travel planning.

No study has also investigated consumer-generated media adoption and use in travel planning across cultural context using the

UTAUT model.

Research Objectives

To identify the factors that influence tourists’ adoption and use of user-generated media for travel planning and how cultural variables moderate the influence of these factors on Finnish and Nigerian tourist

Research Questions

What are the factors that influence tourists’ adoption and use of user-generated media for travel planning?

How do these factors affect the Finnish tourist?

How do these factors affect the Nigerian tourist?

What are the cultural differences in the perception of these factors by the Finnish and Nigerian tourists?

Why Finland and Nigeria

In a study of over 200 countries, Finland was the fourth most competitive destinations after USA, Sweden and Norway – (Gooroochurn, & Sugiyarto, 2005)

Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa and boasts of the largest GDP among all African nations – (McKinsey, 2014)

Nigeria is the top internet country in Africa with the highest social media subscription (Internetworldstat, 2015)

Conceptual Framework

Behavioural Intention

Use Behaviour

PerformanceExpectancy

EffortExpectancy

SocialInfluence

Facilitating Conditions

Individualism Power Distance

Masculinity UncertaintyAvoidance

Note: Culture dimensions are used as moderators of the UTAUT variables

MethodologyIn Nigeria:

Sample Social media users in the city of Port Harcourt, primarily students of

universities who have taken travel and tourism recently. Extant studies have used students (Wang, 2012; Tsao, Hsieh, Shih & Lin, 2015)

Reasons for choice of Port Harcourt It is a microcosm of the entire country because:

A metropolitan city Every tribe and profession is represented.

Data Collection Questionnaire Design through physical contact

MethodologyIn Finland:

Sample Social media users who have taken travel and tourism recently.

Data Collection An online survey shall be used. A web link shall be opened through

which responses shall be solicited.

Data Analysis Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM)

SmartPLS 3.0

Completion Period

Target Journal

Article aims Article research questions

Status

March 2016 Tourism Management

A review of articles from 2005-2016 on factors influencing consumer intention to use social media in travel and tourism

What is the current state of social media research in tourism and travels: analysis of theories and concepts in the selected articles

All relevant articles have been found and analysed. Writing up has began – 51 articles

May 2016 Computers in Human Behaviour

A review of articles from 2005-2016 on the factors influencing consumer adoption of IT/S in tourism and travels

What are the factors that influence the intention to use tourism websites, social media and mobile tourism applications in tourism and travels

All relevant articles have been found and analysed – 71 articles

August 2016 Tourism Management

To understand how consumer-generated media influence intention to visit a restaurant/fast in Nigeria

What are the influence of e-WOM recommendation on in intention to visit a restaurant/fast food in Nigeria

Questionnaire is being worked out.

Publication targets within first research year (August. 2015-August.

2016)

End

Thanks for your attention