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1.      Introduction – Chapter Overview

Social Media Marketing: The following section covers a wide range of academic literature related to consumers’ attitudes towards social media marketing in the context of UK and UAE tourism industry. The critical components of reviewed literature include the core concept of consumer attitudes and relationship of consumer attitude in travel and tourism industry. Furthermore, the idea of social media has been defined along with different types of social media that are being used for marketing purpose. In addition to that, the relationship of social media and marketing has been critically evaluated. Further, an extensive literature has been incorporated regarding social media and consumer attitude in UK and UAE travel industry. Finally, a brief conclusion summarizes the entire reviewed literature.

2.      Background of Consumer Attitude

In the marketing environment, consumer attitude is an integral component that used to enhance a wide range of marketing activities. It has been identified that wide range of research studies have been conducted on consumer attitude in a relationship with marketing (Cao, Yu, and Tian, 2017). According to Haryani, Motwani, and Sabharwal, (2015), positions are defined as an individual element of likeness and dislikes towards any object. Lee, Kim, and Ham, (2016), also supported that view is a psychological phenomenon related to favourableness and unfavorable elements. On the other hand, Ali et al., (2016), stated that attitude could be learned through specific behaviors. Paquette, 2013; Stephen, (2016), argued attitude is based on perception, believes and critical attributes of the products and services.

Similarly, Lee, (2013), defined consumer attitude as social and psychological construct related to consumer behavior. The consumer attitude is also aligned with concepts and beliefs of an individual customer. A decisive attitude assists in better and improved consumer decision making. In this regard, several theories have been proposed including classical and contemporary views of attitude. According to the attitudinal method, consumer attitude leads towards consumer behavior. Social Media Marketing.

On the contrary, the modern approach of social psychology focuses on the stability of consumers’ attitudes that remain affected by external and contextual factors. The contradiction between conventional and contemporary theories evolved the theory of planned behavior. According to Molina et al., (2017), proposed behavioral theory suggests that three core components define consumer attitudes and actions; these include normative beliefs such as expected believes, the second one is behavioral beliefs that comes as a consequence of any action and lastly, control beliefs based on performance behavior of consumers. This theory shows that attitudes lead towards specific response among consumers.

3.      Consumer Attitude in Travel Industry

As per the previous research studies, Farhangi et al., (2014); Fotis, (2015), examined that consumer attitudes have remained one of the key research topics in the field of marketing and travel industry. Darban and Li, (2012), also supported that in travel industry the consumer attitude is commonly known as travel behavior or most widely as tourist attitudes. According to Cohen, Prayag, and Moital, (2014), different types of models and theories have been proposed specifically for the tourism and travel industry. Different authors have identified various behaviors and attitudes showed by tourists related to tourism. However, Fotis, Buhalis, and Rossides, (2012), recognized four components that are essential in tourism industry about consumer attitudes. These include personal ego of an individual, combine family decision making, commitment, and innovation seeking.

On the other hand, Ajzen (2008), assessed individual and social context also influences consumer attitude and behaviors. For instance, the social influence in consumer attitude affects directly through the experience of others’. It is called a power of pre-visit and the post-visit of social networks including friends, family, and others. Along with this, researchers also identify that consumer expectations related to visiting destination and overall image also influence consumer attitude. However, Ajzen (2015), argued that emotional and behavioral reactions affect mostly rather than social indicators. In this regard, Hajli (2014), proposed that most effective way to understand consumer attitude in the tourism industry is to comprehend emotions that have been depicted by consumers on a full scale.

On the contrary, Michaelidou, Siamagka, and Christodoulides (2011) highlighted the multiple issues related to consumer attitudes in the tourism industry. These include attitudinal changes towards host country, post-trip attitude, and experience, complaints related to hotel and host nationalities, cultural difference and even the impact of climate change on travelers. These are some of the commonly identified issues that raised within consumer attitudes in the tourism industry. Along with this, Ashley and Tuten (2015), recognized the impact of mood swings and emotions in consumer attitude development. It is also one of a useful tool to measure consumer attitude and judgments as well. In addition to that, consumer attitude and emotions lead towards the creation of brand loyalty, consumer satisfaction and personal involvement with the set destination. It reflects that consumer attitude in the travel industry is highly delicate and easily motivated by personal and social factors.

4.      Social Media

The terminology social media has widely been used as an interchangeable term for web2.0 (Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat and Fabeil, 2014). However, Cao, Yu, and Tian (2017) argued that both the terms are interrelated but cannot be used as synonyms. It is because of the difference in usage of both social media and web2.0. In this regard, different researchers have proposed various definitions of social media. In a current era, most of the research studies have been conducted related to social media along with its role in marketing. As stated by Dahnil, Marzuki, Langgat, and Fabeil (2014), social media is defined as a complete guide for users to communicate with the consumer through digital media. According to Lee, Kim, and Ham (2016), social media is useful to organizations and consumer to enhance the popularity of their brands, increasing sales volume and communicate with consumers instantly. The key benefit of social media is related to effective communication and information sharing with all stakeholders.

Similarly, due to extensive expansion of social media….