Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Publication Date

11-1-2017

Abstract

© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Purpose of this study is to examine the trends in retail consumers' consumption dynamics and patterns of purchase behavior within this new-technology-mediated environment. A behavioral purchase model was developed and tested to understand the ways social networks influence the decision making of individuals planning to visit a theme park. In particular, the proposed model delineates how online social networking (OSN) experience factors affect actual use (AU) of social media for purchasing of theme park services through an assessment of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU). An electronic survey was conducted with members of a theme park's brand fan page on the Facebook social media site namely, the E-da World theme park in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. Smart PLS 3, a partial least squares analysis, was employed to examine a series of eleven research hypotheses. The findings revealed a series of statistically significant influences from five exogenous variables on PU and PEOU, as well as the mediating role of PU on the PEOU–AU relationship. The results also provide important practical implications both for academics and practitioners by shedding light on the way social media works to encourage and support online purchasing of amusement services.

ISSN

0040-1625

Publisher

Elsevier Inc.

Volume

124

First Page

283

Last Page

294

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

Attraction and entertainment services, Online purchasing, Partial least squares analysis, Social networking, Taiwan, Theme park

Scopus ID

85004038608

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Green: A manuscript of this publication is openly available in a repository

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