The Power of Social Media Marketing on Young Consumers’ Travel-Related Co-creation Behavior

TLDR: The analytical results of structural equation modeling indicated that social media marketing activities have a positive significant effect on towards travel-related co-creation intention through the mediating effect of perceived satisfaction.

Abstract: The extensive advancement of information technology, travel-related content creation is largely influenced by the use of social media. Travel-related social media (TSM) users do not only accept products and services but also participate in the operation process and play central roles in strengthening the creating value. Young consumers’ have a more dynamic relationship with social media technology, which is tapping into innovative creation behavior. While very few studies have focused on social media marketing activities in terms of co-creation value. With this realization, the aim of this study is to investigate the effects of social media marketing activities to examine the travel-related co-creation intention of young consumers. To empirically test the hypothetical model, this study conducted a paper-based survey on 365 young social media users from China for data analysis. The analytical results of structural equation modeling indicated that social media marketing activities have a positive significant effect on towards travel-related co-creation intention through the mediating effect of perceived satisfaction. Finally, the implications based on the empirical results of this study are provided as references for the improvement of social media marketing activities to promote the co-creation behavior.