Sharing tourism experiences in social media: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Although social media studies in tourism are increasingly important, little is known about factors influencing intention of sharing tourism experiences in social media. Tourists are unwilling to share experiences as much as tourism business expected. Thus, this article aims to identify the relevant theories and influencing factors through Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). The paper reviews 31 hospitality and tourism articles published until June 2021. As there is a lack of widely used theory, a model combining the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Technology Acceptance Model is proposed. The study highlights the influencing factors of sharing tourism experiences in social media from different perspectives with an integrated model and provides implications for researchers and destination managers.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourism experiences
• social media
• systematic review
• PRISMA
• theory of planned behaviour
• technology acceptance model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Taylor’s University through its TAYLOR’S RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP Programme as well as by China Scholarship Council, grant number 202210710001

Notes on contributors

Zhiqi Lin

Lin Zhiqi is a Ph.D. candidate with a subject major in Hospitality and Tourism, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. She earned a Master of International Hospitality Management in 2021, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. Her research interest areas include tourist behaviour, tourism experiences, heritage tourism, and tourism marketing.

S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh

S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh is an Associate Professor and Director of Centre for Research and Innovation in Tourism (CRiT), in Taylor’s University, Malaysia. His research interest areas contain sustainable tourism, heritage tourism, community participation, residents’ perceptions, and urban sustainability. He has published widely in top tier journals and serves as Editorial Board member of several tourism and hospitality journals.