Exploring smartphone social networking services for mobile tourism

Abstract

Through advanced mobile technologies, multi-functionalities offered by smartphones are emerging for people to use during travel. Under this circumstance, smartphone users can promptly receive information and accordingly adjust travel plans. Such scenario can be extended to social networking services (SNS) for accessing and sharing information on-the-go. However, there is little research in such mobile SNS context. This study aims to investigate the mobile users' willingness to specifically trust travel advice obtained from smartphone SNS, by conducting a quantitative survey to explore factors influencing users' trust on travel advice acquired from smartphone SNS (TTAASS). Our findings show that both perceived value of smartphone SNS (PVSS) and enjoyment of SNS activity (ESA) significantly influence TTAASS, mobile users' smartphone experience significantly affects ESA and PVSS, ESA significantly affects PVSS and facilitating conditions significantly affect ESA. These findings can help managers harvest the benefits of mobile social commerce in the ubiquitous commerce environment.