Antecedents of Social Media Adoption and its Influence on the Performance of Hospitality Sector Exploring the Mediating role of Marketing Capabilities

Abstract

newline The tourism and hospitality sectors, rapidly evolving service industries in emerging and developed economies, cannot thrive without present-day information and communication technology (ICT).Also, with the emergence of participatory Web 2.0, travellers, tourism, and hospitality businesses were successfully bridged together more than ever. In recent years, social networking platforms developed on the concept of Web 2.0 have revolutionised the business. Moreover, with the rise in social media platforms and their updated features, businesses are becoming more aware of the potential benefits of these platforms. Additionally, to maximise the benefits of social media usage, businesses must consider improving their social media performance. newlineCurrently, a variety of businesses worldwide, including those operating within the hospitality sector whose success strongly depends on guest satisfaction, use social media as a tool for business. Hospitality firms, therefore, need to broaden their awareness of social media usage and obtain expertise. Additionally, social media provides a unique opportunity for the hospitality sector regarding marketing, customer relationship management, and information accessibility. It allows for growth and expansion and facilitates several corporate operations. Therefore, due to its obvious practical consequences for business, studying the effect of social media applications on the performance of the hospitality sector has drawn the attention of many academicians and scholars. Also, these studies have become vital due to the quick globalisation of social media. However, even though for economies worldwide, the tourism and hospitality sectors are important contributors, Jammu and Kashmir, particularly, have abundant resources in tourism and hospitality products/services. Still, the literature on hospitality and tourism has not paid much attention to the adoption of social media. There are even fewer newline15 newlineinstances where the current study topic has been examined in the hospitality sector