Transformations  in
Business & Economics

INFLUENCE MECHANISM OF SOCIAL SUPPORT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON USERS’ INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOR⁹
Yanping Shen, Wenbing Wu, Fangyuan Cai, Lingyu Song, Yue Zhang

ABSTRACT: In the Internet age, tourists’ behavioural decision-making is strongly affected by social media information. Exploring how to arouse tourists’ interests via social media information and stimulate them to search for information on destinations is highly important for inspiring tourists’ decision-making. In this study, the influence of social media support on users’ information-seeking behaviour was explored using a structural equation model and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis based on social information processing theory and questionnaire data. The findings are as follows: (1) Social support attributes (information support and emotional support) exert significantly positive effects on users’ information-seeking behaviour; (2) Affective commitment plays a mediating role between social support and information-seeking behaviour; (3) Tourism destination exposure weakens the positive effect of social support on affective commitment; and (4) The combination of affective commitment with information support or emotional support is the antecedent for stimulating users’ information-seeking behaviour. The obtained conclusions provide a novel perspective and a personalised method for social media marketing in the tourism industry.

KEYWORDS:  information support, emotional support, affective commitment, information-seeking behaviour, tourism exposure.

JEL classification:  D91, L82, M31, C3.

⁹Acknowledgments:  Acknowledgment: This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2021JBM430).