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The impact of social media influencers on travel decisions: the role of trust in consumer decision journey

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  • Rebeka-Anna Pop
  • Zsuzsa Săplăcan
  • Dan-Cristian Dabija
  • Mónika-Anetta Alt

Abstract

The growing presence of social media influencers (SMIs) is increasingly modulating consumer behaviour in the travel industry. Trust is a vitally important topic in influencer and tourism marketing and is responsible for creating and maintaining successful long-term relationships between organizations and consumers. This study uses customer journey theory to explain the impact of SMI trust on customer travel decision-making and focuses on evaluating the role of customer journey constructs (including desire, information search, evaluating alternatives, purchase decisions, satisfaction and experience sharing) in mediating the interrelation between SMI trust and the dimensions of customer journeys. Using Smart PLS to analyze the data collected, the results indicate that consumer trust in SMIs has a positive effect on each phase of travel decision-making. Moreover, each step of the decision-making journey mediates the trust effect on the next step, having a spillover effect on the whole journey, implying continuous SMI input. Tourism marketers are advised to use SMIs to increase and stimulate the desire to travel as clearly, a means by which consumers search for information about their next journey. Besides SMIs as a marketing tool, their trustworthiness serves as a highly important aspect to successfully influence tourists’ destination decision making.

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  • Rebeka-Anna Pop & Zsuzsa Săplăcan & Dan-Cristian Dabija & Mónika-Anetta Alt, 2022. "The impact of social media influencers on travel decisions: the role of trust in consumer decision journey," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 823-843, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rcitxx:v:25:y:2022:i:5:p:823-843
    DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2021.1895729
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    Cited by:

    1. Nazir, Sajjad & Khadim, Sahar & Ali Asadullah, Muhammad & Syed, Nausheen, 2023. "Exploring the influence of artificial intelligence technology on consumer repurchase intention: The mediation and moderation approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    2. Alboqami, Hassan, 2023. "Trust me, I'm an influencer! - Causal recipes for customer trust in artificial intelligence influencers in the retail industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Option Takunda Chiwaridzo & Reason Masengu, 2023. "The impact of social media branding and technology adoption on green tourism: the role of tourist behavior as a mediator in developing countries post-COVID-19—context of Zimbabwe," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Mukta Garg & Apurva Bakshi, 2024. "Exploring the impact of beauty vloggers’ credible attributes, parasocial interaction, and trust on consumer purchase intention in influencer marketing," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Jianxin Zhang & Yuting Yan & Jinyue Zhang & Peixue Liu & Li Ma, 2023. "Investigating the Spatial-Temporal Variation of Pre-Trip Searching in an Urban Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    6. Zhang Yangzi & Kenny S. L. Cheah & Mohd Shahril Nizam Bin Shaharom, 2023. "Enhancing Self-Leadership in Online Fitness Education and Training: Exploring Strategies and Addressing Challenges Among Social Media Influencers in Henan Province, China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

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