Investigating the Role of Weibo in Generating Chinese Tourist Motivations: The Application of Self-Determination Theory

Yi Luo^*

Hospitality Management, College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University, USA

*Corresponding Author : Yi Luo
Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant, Hospitality Management, College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University, USA
Tel: 515-735-8477
E-mail: yluo@iastate.edu

Received: May 15, 2017 Accepted: June 07, 2017 Published: June 12, 2017

Citation: Luo Y (2017) Investigating the Role of Weibo in Generating Chinese Tourist Motivations: The Application of Self-Determination Theory. J Tourism Res Hospitality 6:2. doi: 10.4172/2324-8807.1000168

With the role model of Facebook and Twitter, social media has been tailored to satisfy the social needs of users in different countries. Weibo as an online social community gets the limelight in China and has been used as a marketing technique in tourism industry. The primary purpose of this paper is to assess Chinese users’ travel motivations generated by Weibo using self-determination theory and to investigate the impact of travel motivations on users’ satisfaction with Weibo. The results indicated that among the three components (social influence, social comparison, and self-determination) of selfdetermination theory, social influence and social comparison have significant impacts on Chinese users’ satisfaction with Weibo. This study provides a new theoretical foundation for future research on social media and suggests marketing strategies targeting Chinese
tourists.