Title: Is it really making an impact? Examining the effect of social media marketing participation benefits on perceived value and behavioural intention: evidences from India

Authors: Mohita Maggon; Harish Chaudhry

Addresses: Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 110016, India ' Faculty of Marketing, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 110016, India

Abstract: There is no doubt that traditional marketing practices have changed in recent years and tourism industry is no exception to it. It has become vital for destinations to use social media as a promotion and marketing tool. Social media facilitates the two-way communication between users that permit them not only to interact with each other but also to share information and opinions about products and services in an online environment. In view of the growing interest of tourism industry in the use of social media marketing, this study is designed to examine the relationships among social media community participation benefits, perceived value and behavioural intention, using structural equation modelling (SEM). The underlying constructs of social media marketing benefits were functional, social, psychological and hedonic. The findings indicate that participation benefits have direct effect on destination's perceived value and indirect effect on behavioural intention.

Keywords: tourism marketing; social media marketing; participation benefits; perceived value; behavioural intention; India; structural equation modelling; SEM; tourist destinations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2015.072088

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2015 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.189 - 206

Received: 14 Oct 2014
Accepted: 26 Dec 2014

Published online: 30 Sep 2015 *

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