Social Media Usage for Travel Information and its Determinants: A Study of Millennials

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that motivate millennials to consume travel information through social media platforms. It is also aimed at profiling millennials to understand their travel-related information consumption behaviour through social media platforms. This study used primary data which was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 488 usable questionnaires filled up by millennials were used to test the seven hypotheses formulated. ANOVA, t-test, and Structure Equation modeling (SEM) were used for data analysis. The findings reveal that perceived risk is a strong predictor of social media use for travel information followed by usefulness of the information; whereas, ease of use, emerged as a weak predictor, unlike previous studies. The results also show that millennials of varied gender, age group, and educational backgrounds behave differently when it comes to consumption of social media information. This study will help tourism and hospitality professionals to be more socially conscious by understanding the role of content on social media platforms and the factors that determine its usage. It will also help them in targeting their prospects by pushing the relevant information to them. The core contribution of this study is the understanding of factors for their consumption of social media information. Also, it contributes towards profiling them on the basis of gender, age, and educational qualification. The data is collected from Indian millennials; therefore it gives insights of a country which has huge number of millennials along with massive social media usage.

Keywords: Social Media, Tourism, Millennials, Travel, Decision-Making

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