MORE THAN FRIENDS: THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON WORD OF MOUTH, BRAND LOYALTY AND PURCHASE INTENTIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL HOTELS

Purpose of the study: Increases in global travel have led to the internationalization of the hospitality industry. Though a number of applications of social media have been examined in the hospitality industry, few of them integrate key dimensions of fan pages into a measurement model in the same time, including interactivity (INT), engagement (ENG), trust (TRT), friendship (FRP), word-of-mouth (WOM) and purchase intention (PI). Methodology: Based on 408 valid fans from Facebook fan pages of 24 International hotels in Taiwan, the empirical results show that ENG, FRP, TRT, and WOM all act as partial mediators in their impact on post-purchase behaviors. Based on Taiwanese International hotels, this study attempts to explore why these owners want more than just a friend. Main findings: The empirical results show that ENG, FRP, TRT, and WOM all act as partial mediators in their impact on post-purchase behaviors. The study demonstrates the mechanisms behind utilizing social media to build solid long term potentially profitable relationships with hotel clientele. Originality/value: We propose and empirically investigate an integrated theoretical framework to more fully capture and describe the consumer’s behavior in the brand community. Our model of the social media process is informed by an “S-O-R” view from consumer behavior, where INT and ENG help create the situation which acts as a stimulus for FRP and TRT which in turn influence BL, WOM, and further PIs. Here, we see the pull force (website INT) as an influence on the brand-consumer relationship (i.e., FRP) through a push force (fan’s ENG). Together and along with the brand content they combine to create the consumer stimulus