Obtaining a better understanding about travel-related purchase intentions among senior users of mobile social network sites

Although a majority of seniors continue to express interest in using mobile social network sites (MSNSs), research has yet to provide sufficient understanding of this very large market's motivations related to MSNS usage. As a viable consumer business segment, seniors are attractive enough to warrant potential MSNSs to invest necessary capital for developing tourism related MSNS designed to assist with this market's decision making and ultimately with their purchasing behavior. To address this gap, a research model was developed for this study using seniors having used MSNSs for purposes directly related to tourism and travel. Findings revealed intrinsic motivations had stronger effects on flow experience than did extrinsic motivations. Flow experience was found to have the greatest effect on subjective well-being, which in turn highly influenced purchase intention. Results documented that senior MSNS users differed significantly according to levels of anxiety attachment. Findings provide theoretical and practical contributions for tourism research, products, and services regarding senior MSNS consumers.