Do travel decision-making styles and gender of generation Y have any association with travel information share on social networking sites?

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association of gender and travel decision-making style of generation Y (Gen Y) – recreational, price conscious, impulsive, perfectionist, high quality, novelty seeker, habitual, confused by over-choice – to the use of social networking sites (SNS) for travel information share. The study focuses on purchase decision pattern of young travelers by examining the travel decision-making styles. Design/methodology/approach The author has adopted the quantitative approach for the fulfillment of the objectives of the study. The exploratory method is used to get a better understanding of different concepts used in the study, Social Networking Sites and Decision-Making Style and Gen Y, and the primary information is collected from the structured questionnaire. Using travel decision-making style and gender as grouping variables, different tests were performed to test the hypothesis and to understand the influence of different travel decision-making style and gender on travel information share on SNS. Findings The present study identifies the existing seven travel decision-making styles of Gen Y, which are Confused by over-choice, Habitual, Novelty seeker, Price conscious, Perfectionist high-quality conscious, Recreational and Impulsive. The results of the study reflect that confused by over-choice, habitual, perfectionist, price conscious travel dimensions have an association with SNS for travel information share. In addition, gender also has an association with usages of SNS for travel information share. Research limitations/implications This study has only used consumer typology approach to study decision-making styles, whereas other variables like personality and attitude can be further studied. Second, the study is limited by the spatiotemporal limitation, as the study is just restricted to one geographical area and time, and generalizations can vary with the change in spatiotemporal features in the study. Practical implications The findings of the study imply that Gen Y is an important travel market segment, and to cater this segment, SNS can be used as an effective marketing tool. The study of various segments in different groups will help in understanding the market more clearly and using SNS more effectively. In addition, finding association of travel decision-making style with SNS helps in forming effective and innovative marketing strategies. Originality/value India is a developing country where many market segments are still unexplored and Gen Y is being one of them. The study was conducted, keeping in mind the need of tourism industry. The study explores the tourism market segment of Gen Y by identifying the decision-making style and also identifies the association of different decision-making style with Gen Y information-sharing behavior on social networking site.