The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of SNS advertising on the word of mouth and purchase intention of tourism participants using SNS. And also, the study aims to examine the moderating role of pre-search for information by the par...
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of SNS advertising on the word of mouth and purchase intention of tourism participants using SNS. And also, the study aims to examine the moderating role of pre-search for information by the participants in the relationship between word of mouth and purchase intention. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, previous studies on SNS advertising, information search, word of mouth intention, and purchase intention were reviewed and thereby the research model and its entailing hypotheses were derived.
In September, 2017, a questionnaire survey was carried out for tourism participants using SNS to collect data for hypotheses tests.
A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed to collect 364 copies, and 331 copies were finally used for the empirical analysis.
As a result of the validity and reliability analysis of the measurement concepts before the hypothesis test, 3 factors; interest empathy, usefulness, information factors were derived, and purchase intention was derived as one single dimension. The results of the empirical analysis were as follows.
Firstly, the analysis of the effects of the SNS advertising on the word of mouth intention revealed that information factor, usefulness factor, and empathy factor have significant effects with descending order of importance. Secondly, the moderating effect of previous information search in the relationship between SNS advertising on the word of mouth were found to be partially significant. Lastly, multiple regression analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were performed, and the results showed that there was a significant difference in effects of SNS advertising on the word of mouth and purchase intention according to whether the information was searched previously, Moreover, In the information seeking group, interest empathy and usability factors have significantly positive effects on word of mouth and purchase intention.
In this study, the identification of the causal relationships between SNS advertising and word of mouth/purchase intention was pursued. And, just as important, the moderating effect of previous information search in the relationship between SNS advertising and word of mouth/purchase intention was examined. Most importantly and conclusively, it can be suggested that the further study should be necessary to find more significant factors of SNS advertising attributes affecting the tourism consumers’ word of mouth and purchase intention, and provide the marketing managers with the basis for the development of SNS advertising strategies in the travel and tourism industry.