The impact of environmental social media publications on user satisfaction with and trust in tourism businesses

Abstract

The main aim of the present study was to analyze whether publications related to environmental sustainability in social media directly and positively influence user satisfaction with and trust in tourism businesses. Our second goal was to determine whether the influence of environmental sustainability and satisfaction is moderated by users’ gender. Data collection was performed using a questionnaire. The questionnaire responses were analyzed using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology. The results have shown that there is a positive relationship between environmental sustainability, satisfaction, and trust generated by tourism companies through their publications on social media, and that this relationship is not conditioned by users’ gender. The results of the present study contribute to the literature by bridging the gap in research on tourism enterprises and their strategies regarding social media publications. Our findings also provide important implications related to the content of environmental sustainability strategies and social media communication for tourism companies.