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

• Published in: The Journal of business & industrial marketing 2019-10, Vol.34 (7), p.1468-1481
• Main Authors: Nath, Atanu, Saha, Parmita, Salehi-Sangari, Esmail
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Automobile clubs; B2B B2C convergence; Behavioral intention; Business to business commerce; Communication; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Customers; Hypotheses; Industrial Marketing; Industrial markets; Industriell marknadsföring; Influencer marketing; Information quality; Information sources; Internet; Marketing; Perceived enjoyment; Perceptions; Principal components analysis; R&D; Research & development; Social networks; Social research; Technology Acceptance Model; Tourism; Travel planning; User generated content; Web 2.0; Websites
• ISSN: 0885-8624; 2052-1189; 2052-1189
• DOI: 10.1108/JBIM-11-2018-0329

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.