Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant professor of Management, Science and Arts University, Yazd, Iran
2 Ph.D. candidate of Tourism, Science and Arts University, Yazd, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: The growing number of travel agencies in major cities means a wider range of choices for tourists, which in turn leads to increased competition in the business. The city of Isfahan is no exception to this rule and the existence of several agencies in it has created a wide competition for the owners of these jobs. Undoubtedly, having loyal customers in the face of fierce competition, as well as dealing with the crisis - especially the crisis that the Covid 19 virus has created for the tourism industry - will help travel agencies to be more resilient and economically viable. Therefore, the mentioned conditions have made the owners of these agencies to use every opportunity to convince their customers that they are performing better than their competitors; One of these opportunities is Social Network. In recent years, the widespread use of social networking through the advent of smartphones has made information available anywhere and anytime. The popularity and widespread use of these networks provides an opportunity for business owners to connect online with their customers and use these networks to improve their position in a competitive market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of online interaction on the Instagram social network on the loyalty of customers of travel agencies. Loyalty consists of four dimensions, which are cognitive, affective, conative and behavioral loyalty. Cognitive loyalty means preferring one brand over other brands due to knowing that brand and the benefit it has for the customer. This type of loyalty is very weak because it is quickly lost by improving or promoting the competitors' brand. Affective loyalty is achieved when a person feels good about a brand as well as satisfied with it as a result of increasing knowledge. Conative loyalty (tendency to be loyal) is achieved when the customer intends to repeat the purchase, but this action is not certain and may not lead to a purchase. Finally, behavioral loyalty emphasizes repeat purchases and their amount (Sotude et al., 2014; Van Asperen et al., 2017). Customer interaction with the brand in social networks is also formed in two ways: passive and active interaction. Passive interaction is when the so-called customer is just a consumer of content on social media and only reads and views other users' posts and comments. While active interaction is when the audience is involved in creating the content and it is when the customer comments on the content, raises questions and comments, informs the brand owner about their needs, encourages his/her friends to visit this page, and shares brand posts with others (Van Asperen et al., 2017). Therefore, in order to achieve the purpose of the research, the following questions are raised: To what extent does each dimension of interaction affect each dimension of customer loyalty? Does passive interaction have a sufficient impact on all aspects of loyalty, or should try to users participate actively in the social network? Which dimension of loyalty is most affected by online interactions? How will customer loyalty change if travel agencies lose active engagement on the Instagram network?
Methodology: The research is exploratory in terms of purpose and has an applied orientation, and its statistical sample consisted of 12 university experts and managers of travel agencies in Isfahan who use the social network Instagram in their business. Sampling was performed by purposive method. The research was conducted using fuzzy cognitive mapping technique. The research variables are online interactions and customer loyalty, the dimensions of which were determined by studying the research literature and with the approval of experts. In order to collect data, a matrix questionnaire was prepared in which the research factors were listed in the first row and the first column, and in other boxes the effect of the factor in the relevant row on each column of the table was written using the opinion of experts (numbers ranging from negative to positive One). For this purpose, the researchers distributed the questionnaire in person among the experts and after explaining the questions and how to answer them, entered the answers received in the questionnaire. Finally, the input matrix to the software was obtained from the average opinion of experts and analyzed, and the research graph was drawn. Finally, the active interaction elimination scenario was defined, and its results were compared with the initial results.
Results and discussion: Findings showed that the most influential factor is active interaction and the most affected factor is behavioral loyalty. Interaction, and especially active interaction, affects all dimensions of loyalty, especially behavioral loyalty. Also, by eliminating active interaction, customer loyalty is greatly reduced, the results showed that passive online interaction has the greatest effect on behavioral loyalty, conative loyalty, cognitive loyalty and affective loyalty, respectively. On the other hand, there is an inverse relationship between types of loyalty and passive interaction, and the most impact on passive online interaction is related to conative loyalty, behavioral loyalty, affective loyalty and finally cognitive loyalty, respectively. Active online interaction has the greatest impact on behavioral loyalty, conative loyalty, cognitive loyalty and finally affective loyalty, respectively. All dimensions of loyalty also affect active online interaction, which the most impact is related to affective, behavioral, cognitive and conative loyalty, respectively.
Conclusion: These results suggest that travel agencies can retain their customers more than ever before by relying on online interaction, but relying on passive interaction is not enough, and to have more loyal customers, travel agency managers need to focus on active audience participation on social network. According to the findings of this study, some practical suggestions for agency owners to increase customer loyalty are: Focus on activity in social networks, and increase the number of hits, frequent content updates, use of posts that are more attractive to the customer, and create opportunities that invite followers to actively participate, including encouraging users to comment and request feedback, following user feedback and trying to discover their needs, as well as trying to get feedback from customers who have purchased from the agency and considering incentive schemes for active users.
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