Exploring usage, expected benefits and perceived usefulness of social media in travel agencies: an empirical investigation in Italy

IF 3.8 Q2 MANAGEMENT
Simone Splendiani, Mauro Dini, Francesca Rivetti, T. Pencarelli
{"title":"Exploring usage, expected benefits and perceived usefulness of social media in travel agencies: an empirical investigation in Italy","authors":"Simone Splendiani, Mauro Dini, Francesca Rivetti, T. Pencarelli","doi":"10.1108/tqm-10-2022-0312","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to investigate travel agencies' social media usage and its perceived effectiveness by small- and micro-Italian travel agencies; the pre-pandemic period is compared to the forecasts for the post-Covid-19 period and different characteristics of firms and entrepreneurs are considered. Furthermore, the study analyses the expected benefits in terms of marketing objectives, such as improving brand image and/or personalizing the offer.Design/methodology/approachThe research was developed through a questionnaire administered electronically to travel agents (282 respondents). The resulting data was analyzed by applying the McNemar test, a pairwise t-test and the multivariate analysis of variance.FindingsThe results show that social media are strategically significant for travel agents, even though their adoption is influenced by different agency aims; the perceived effectiveness results are diversified according to varying agency typologies.Research limitations/implicationsThe two main limitations of the study are its focus on the Italian context only and the missing consideration of the consumer's point of view. The latter prevents an exhaustive assessment of future trends regarding the use of social media in the client–agency relationship.Originality/valueThe study, which focuses on a little debated topic concerning the relationship between social media and SMEs, organically explores various dimensions related to the adoption of social media by small agencies, also considering the impact of the Covid-19 on the perception of travel agents. As a further element of originality, the research takes into consideration the main social platforms separately rather than the set of tools as a whole.","PeriodicalId":40009,"journal":{"name":"TQM Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"TQM Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1108/tqm-10-2022-0312","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to investigate travel agencies' social media usage and its perceived effectiveness by small- and micro-Italian travel agencies; the pre-pandemic period is compared to the forecasts for the post-Covid-19 period and different characteristics of firms and entrepreneurs are considered. Furthermore, the study analyses the expected benefits in terms of marketing objectives, such as improving brand image and/or personalizing the offer.Design/methodology/approachThe research was developed through a questionnaire administered electronically to travel agents (282 respondents). The resulting data was analyzed by applying the McNemar test, a pairwise t-test and the multivariate analysis of variance.FindingsThe results show that social media are strategically significant for travel agents, even though their adoption is influenced by different agency aims; the perceived effectiveness results are diversified according to varying agency typologies.Research limitations/implicationsThe two main limitations of the study are its focus on the Italian context only and the missing consideration of the consumer's point of view. The latter prevents an exhaustive assessment of future trends regarding the use of social media in the client–agency relationship.Originality/valueThe study, which focuses on a little debated topic concerning the relationship between social media and SMEs, organically explores various dimensions related to the adoption of social media by small agencies, also considering the impact of the Covid-19 on the perception of travel agents. As a further element of originality, the research takes into consideration the main social platforms separately rather than the set of tools as a whole.
探索旅行社中社交媒体的使用、预期收益和感知有用性:意大利的一项实证调查
目的本研究旨在调查意大利小型和微型旅行社对旅行社社交媒体的使用及其感知效果;将疫情前时期与新冠肺炎疫情后时期的预测进行了比较,并考虑了企业和企业家的不同特征。此外,该研究还从营销目标的角度分析了预期收益,例如改善品牌形象和/或个性化报价。设计/方法/方法该研究是通过对旅行社(282名受访者)进行电子问卷调查而制定的。通过应用McNemar检验、成对t检验和多变量方差分析对所得数据进行分析。研究结果表明,社交媒体对旅行社具有重要的战略意义,尽管它们的采用受到不同旅行社目标的影响;根据不同的代理类型,感知有效性结果是多样化的。研究局限性/含义该研究的两个主要局限性是仅关注意大利背景,以及缺乏对消费者观点的考虑。后者阻止了对客户-代理关系中社交媒体使用的未来趋势进行详尽评估。原创/价值这项研究聚焦于一个关于社交媒体与中小企业之间关系的争论较少的话题,有机地探讨了与小机构采用社交媒体相关的各个方面,同时也考虑了新冠肺炎对旅行社认知的影响。作为创意的另一个要素,该研究单独考虑了主要的社交平台,而不是将工具集作为一个整体。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
TQM Journal
TQM Journal Business, Management and Accounting-Business, Management and Accounting (all)
CiteScore
9.10
自引率
0.00%
发文量
114
期刊介绍: Commitment to quality is essential if companies are to succeed in a commercial environment which will be virtually unrecognizable in less than a decade. Changing attitudes, changing perspectives and changing priorities will revolutionise the structure and philosophy of future business practice - and TQM will be at the heart of that metamorphosis. All aspects of preparing for, developing, introducing, managing and evaluating TQM initiatives.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信