The effect of social media marketing on brand loyalty in the hospitality industry in Zimbabwe: the moderating role of age

Figures & data

Figure 1. Research model.

Table 1. The study demography.

Characteristic		Frequency	Percent (%)
Age	18–20	20	9.1
	21–30	36	16.4
	31–40	30	13.6
	41–50	48	21.8
	51–60	40	18.2
	61+	46	20.9
Gender	Male	142	64.5
	Female	78	35.5
Occupation	Self-Employed	40	18.2
	Employed	82	37.3
	Unemployed	12	5.4
	Student	46	20.9
	Retired	40	18.2
Nationality Nationality	Zimbabwe	71	32.3
	Zambia	35	15.9
	Malawi	25	11.4
	Mozambique	17	7.7
	Botswana	9	4.1
	South Africa	32	14.5
	Other	31	14.1

Table 2. λ, IIR, CR, α and CRel.

Constructs	Code	Item	Λ	IIR	CR	α	CRel
Social Media	SOMED1	I like the adverts that this brand has published on social media	.632	.601	–	.749	.815
	SOMED2	The adverts that this brand has released on social media are interesting	.842	.709	8.550***
	SOMED3	Social media adverts of this brand positively affect my attention for the brand	.843	.711	8.270***
	SOMED4	The social media account of this brand is enjoyable	.751	.664	6.313***
	SOMED5	The information that I need can be found on social media account of this brand	.672	.652	15.110***
Media Sharing Networks	MSNET1	Information sharing is possible on media sharing networks of this brand	.679	.661	–	.713	.821
	MSNET2	The discussion and exchange of opinions is possible on media sharing networks media page of this brand	.816	.666	15.143***
	MSNET3	The expression of opinions is easy on media sharing networks of this brand	.829	.687	10.714***
	MSNET4	The content shared by media sharing networks of this brand is enjoyable	.812	.659	17.219***
	MSNET5	The sharings of this brand on media sharing networks are interesting	.645	.616	17.216***
Consumer Review Networks	CRNET1	The information shared on consumer review networks of this brand is up to date	.727	.629	–	.784	.806
	CRNET2	The use of consumer review networks by this brand is trendy	.796	.634	12.398***
	CRNET3	The consumer review networks of this brand provided the information that I needed	.818	.669	16.161***
	CRNET4	I can easily obtain information of reviews by other customers from the consumer review networks of this brand	.729	.631	16.391***
	CRNET5	It is easy to deliver my opinion about the brand I am considering buying through consumer review networks	.613	.616	17.002***
Brand Loyalty	BRLOY1	I am satisfied with brand that appeared on social media	.826	.682	–	.766	.859
	BRLOY2	I usually use this brand as my first choice in comparison with the other brands	.832	.692	13.292***
	BRLOY3	This brand provides me superior product quality as compared to other competitors in marketplace	.664	.641	14.419***
	BRLOY4	I would recommend this brand to others through the social media	.839	.704	16.283***
	BRLOY5	I will continuously use services from brand in future	.887	.787	17.318***

Note: - CR is fixed; *** p < .001.

Table 3. Mean (M), standard deviation (SD), AVEs and SICCs.

Construct	M	SD	SOMED	MSNET	CRNET	BRLOY
Social Media	4.171	.819	.687
Media Sharing Networks	4.126	.863	.487	.694
Consumer Review Networks	4.182	.827	.482	.456	.676
Brand Loyalty	4.134	.813	.472	.429	.551	.742

Note: Diagonal elements in bold represent AVEs.

Table 4. Hypotheses tests results.

Hypothesis	Hypothesised relationship	SRW	CR	Remark
H1	Social Media → Brand Loyalty	.469	11.815***	Supported
H2	Media Sharing Networks → Brand Loyalty	.236	19.613***	Supported
H3	Consumer Review Networks → Brand Loyalty	.238	8.037***	Supported

Notes: SRW standardised regression weight, CR critical ratio, *** significant at p < .001.

Table 5. Coefficients of moderated regression model.

Variable	Beta	t-statistic	p value
Social media	.012	.288	.761
Media sharing networks	.113	2.755	.003
Consumer review networks	.238	6.631	.000
Age	.001	.028	.978
Social media*Age	.082	2.113	.032***
Media sharing networks*Age	.085	2.125	.035***
Consumer review networks*Age	.088	2.139	.039***

Notes: R Square = 0.112, F = 22.453, significant at p < .05.