Sharing economy in geotag: what are the travelers’ goals sharing their locations by using geotags in social network sites during the tour?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate what triggers tourist’s use of geotag as an information sharing tool in social media. Design/methodology/approach – This study divided tourists’ goals into task-involved goals (enjoyment of geotags and altruism) and ego-involved goals (anticipated extrinsic reward and desire for attention), and then examined the influences of these goals on their geotag satisfaction and information-sharing behavior by using PLS-Graph 3.0. Findings – Whereas the anticipated extrinsic rewards, altruism, and enjoyment of geotags were found to influence their geotag satisfaction, desire for attention was not. Enjoyment of geotags was found to be the strongest predictor of tourists’ geotag satisfaction, which in turn affected their information-sharing behaviors. Based on these findings, the authors present theoretical and practical implications with suggestions for future research. Research limitations/implications – Geotag services are not identical in all social media, so study participants might have perceived the characteristics of geotags differently depending on which social media they use. Originality/value – The enjoyment of geotags, altruism, and anticipated reward were found to influence geotag satisfaction; however, desire for attention was not. The results imply that enjoyment of geotags and anticipated reward strongly predict geotag satisfaction.