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Blurring the borders between B2B and B2C: a model of antecedents behind usage of social media for travel planning

Atanu Nath (Department of Business Administration, Hogskulen pa Vestlandet – Campus Sogndal, Sogndal, Norway and Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden)
Parmita Saha (Department of Business Administration, Hogskulen pa Vestlandet – Campus Sogndal, Sogndal, Norway)
Esmail Salehi-Sangari (Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden and Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, Stockholm, Sweden)

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

ISSN: 0885-8624

Article publication date: 28 June 2019

Issue publication date: 7 October 2019

1930

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to call for a scrutiny of the dualist approach to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) marketing in industries driven by consumer-generated content. It posits that individual consumer-centric factors are influential for B2B marketing as well in sectors such as the travel industry and investigates the determinants of tourists’ intention to use social media websites for travel planning.

Design/methodology/approach

Integrating constructs from IS and marketing literature, the paper proposes information quality and perceived enjoyment as antecedents of perceived usefulness, attitude and intention to use. The research model is tested using data from social media users with experience in travel planning.

Findings

Results show that perceived usefulness and information quality are stronger predictors of attitude and behavioral intention than perceived enjoyment. Enjoyment was not found to be strongly influential. Relevancy and reliability of information and its usefulness concerning travel-planning needs were found more influential.

Research limitations/implications

Data were collected from social media users, raising possible issues of representativeness.

Practical implications

The paper offers clarity regarding antecedents of downstream user behavior which can be of significant value. Demarcations in B2B and B2C perspectives blur in the context of social media, enabling more effective integration.

Originality/value

The paper brings in and validates the roles of information quality and enjoyment as influencers of behavior. Identifying the travel industry as a sector having greater likelihood of B2BC convergence, the paper extends IS adoption research to user-interactive sites in the travel-planning context, which can benefit the consumer as well as the supply side.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This paper forms part of a special section “Emerging Technologies in Business and Industrial Marketing”, guest edited by Jeannette Paschen, Leyland Pitt and Jan Kietzmann.

Citation

Nath, A., Saha, P. and Salehi-Sangari, E. (2019), "Blurring the borders between B2B and B2C: a model of antecedents behind usage of social media for travel planning", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 34 No. 7, pp. 1468-1481. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-11-2018-0329

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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