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The Role of Online Social Network Travel Websites in Creating Social Interaction for Gen Y Travelers
Author(s) -
Nusair Khaldoon ‘Khal’,
Bilgihan Anil,
Okumus Fevzi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.1889
Subject(s) - tourism , context (archaeology) , sample (material) , psychology , social network (sociolinguistics) , social media , marketing , advertising , applied psychology , social psychology , business , world wide web , computer science , political science , geography , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , law
This paper aims to evaluate Generation Y users' social interaction with online social networks (OSNs) by testing a theoretical model, which consists of antecedents and consequences of social interactions in an OSN travel context. An online self‐administered questionnaire was sent to a systematic random sample of 12 000 college students at six US universities, and 513 respondents in total participated in the study. Study results suggest that innovativeness, perceived utility, and information sharing are effective for developing online social interaction. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of study results and provides suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.