Hotel Manager’s Attitudes

toward Social Media

Colleen Iacianci

Why?

• Electronic Word of Mouth

• Competitive Strategy

• Decision Makers

Significance and Contributions of the Study

• Growing Hotel Market (Lodging Econometrics, 2013)

• Increased Occupancy (PwC, 2014)

• Increase in Consumer use of Social Media (Alston, 2009)

• Contributions ▫ Management Companies ▫ General Managers ▫ Department Managers ▫ Line Employees ▫ Students/Future Hospitality Employees

Research Questions

1. Which internal or external factors are perceived to exercise the most influence on manager’s attitudes to implement social media within their organization?

2. Are there significant differences in managers’ perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward social media based on their demographics and contextual background (i.e., age, levels of education, work experiences, job titles, type of hotels, and management ownership)?

3. Which of the predictor variables are most influential in predicting managers beliefs and perceptions (i.e., ease of use, return on investment, and usefulness) as well as their attitudes and actual use of social media?

4. What are the factors that drive changes, what are the pressing challenges, and what are the most important returns on investments which affect social media use within the organization?

Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al., 1989)

Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

(Venkatesh & Davis, 2000).

Proposed Model

Instrument Design

• Section 1 ▫ Attitude (Harvard Business Review, 2010) ▫ Technology Readiness (Parasuraman & Colby, 2015) ▫ Technology Acceptance (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000)

• Section 2 ▫ Actual Use (Harvard Business Review, 2010)

Channel use and online reviews (Benea, 2014; Nadda, Dadwal, Mulindwa, & Vieira, 2015)

▫ Return on Investment (Harvard Business Review, 2010) ▫ Challenges (Harvard Business Review, 2010; Wilson, 2009) ▫ Factors that Drive Change (Alston, 2009; Anderson, 2012; Benea, 2012;

Fisher, 2009; Hotel News Now, 2014; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010)

• Section 3 ▫ Background Information (Gregory, 2006; Kimes, 2010)

Sample & Procedure

• Obtained GM email addresses in OH

• Email/Qualtrics Survey

• Expanded search to PA & MI

• Expanded again using snowball sampling

• Total of 470 emailed, 97 returned

▫ (2% response rate)

• Descriptive Analysis

▫ Demographics & Job Background

• Cronbach alpha coefficient

▫ Internal Reliability of Scales

• Factor analysis

▫ ROI, Challenges, Driving Forces

• ANOVA (and independent samples t test)

▫ Differences among external variables

• Simple linear regressions and multiple regressions

▫ Which variables affects attitudes and actual use

Data Analysis

Measurement Quality

Significant Findings – differences among external variables

(Research questions one and two)

• Perceived Usefulness/Return on Investment ▫ job title

• Perceived Ease of Use

▫ years of experience ▫ age

• Challenges

▫ Age

• Internal Variables (TRI) ▫ discomfort - strongest variable

Significant Findings – causal relationships among variables

(Research question three)

• Perceived Ease of Use ▫ technology readiness

• Return on Investment ▫ type of hotel

• Perceived Usefulness

▫ return on investment

• Attitudes ▫ return on investment

• Actual Use

▫ Type of hotel

Challenges (Research questions four)

• Organizational • Operational • Financial

• Top specific challenges

▫ linking social media activities to an impact on company financials or ROI (operational)

▫ malware and phishing scams by cyber crooks (organizational)

▫ educating your staff on how to use social media (organizational)

Driving Forces (Research questions four)

• Increased Budget

• Knowledgeable Employee

• Customer Encouragement

Return on Investment (Research questions four)

• Brand Promotion

• Engagement

• Impression

• Top specific ROIs

▫ Monitor trends among customers (impression)

▫ Have a social media profile (brand promotion)

▫ Build brand/property loyalty (engagement)

Limitations

• Lack of prior research on social media in hotel industry

• Difficulty in obtaining email addresses and willing participants ▫ Produced small sample size ▫ Not generalizable

• Online survey ▫ Difficulty tracking non-response rates ▫ Spam/junk

• Low reliability for scale of actual use • Design of actual use question(s)

Managerial Implications

• High levels of discomfort

• Gap in perceived ease of use between job titles

• Gap in perceived ease of use with tenure

• External challenges perceived differently with age

• ROI key factors

• Challenges and driving forces

Future Research

• Replicate study and share with wider population ▫ Generalizable

• Actual Use ▫ Measure by frequency of activity

• Compare survey results ▫ Resorts vs casino ▫ Cleveland vs Miami

• Expert interviews or focus group ▫ May help to better explore attitude and actual use and

ask follow up questions

Thank You

Questions or Comments?