Social networking sites (SNS) and Social media has altered the Tourism and Hospitality Industry (Buhalis & Law, 2008). Social media influences how people make decisions, information seeking and sharing and their experiences. As the internet and so...
Social networking sites (SNS) and Social media has altered the Tourism and Hospitality Industry (Buhalis & Law, 2008). Social media influences how people make decisions, information seeking and sharing and their experiences. As the internet and social media allow users to express their thoughts and themselves; they create and share all sorts of information and data. They can participate and interact with other users while creating and sharing their knowledge and experiences. However, SNS is limited when showing how users attach in SNS communities and few researches have been examined with specific online groups and information sharing in SNS (Chung, Nam, & Koo, 2015).
The overall goal of this dissertation is to examine information seeking behavior and motivations in social media. A quantitative approach was used to achieve the goal. The study examined motivation theory, attachment theory, and the outcomes of intimacy and buzz. The study only focused on one online group.
Results of the study indicate that information seeking didn’t positively affect identity-based nor bond-based attachment. However, information providing did have a positive effect on both attachments. In the case of the second antecedent variable of attachments, only social interaction positively affected identity-based attachment and bond-based attachment. Enjoy helping did not have effect on both attachments as well. However, social interaction had higher influence than information providing. Therefore, the results do show intrinsic motivation highly influencing both attachments more than extrinsic factors. Furthermore, the results also demonstrated the relationships among two types of attachment, intimacy and buzz. Identity-based attachment influenced intimacy however identity-based attachment didn’t influence buzz (likes, comments, and sharing). Significant relationships do exist between bond-based attachment and both intimacy and buzz. Interestingly, intimacy didn’t have any effect on buzz. To conclude, the limitations to this dissertation and suggestions for and to future research are proposed as well.