Importance of Social Media Sharing Scale

What it measures

The ISMS scale measures the importance potential tourists attach to two types of consumer-generated content (CGC) encountered on social media. Participant sharing (IPS) captures content shared on platforms with direct or indirect organisational involvement, such as destination websites, TripAdvisor, and booking platforms, where CGC serves a primarily utilitarian function. Non-participant sharing (INPS) captures content shared on individuals' own social media profiles, motivated by hedonic goals such as self-expression, social recognition, and relationship maintenance. The scale was developed using a four-phase process including ethnographic observation, expert review, EFA, CFA, and cross-cultural replication across Turkey and Scotland.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

IPS - Importance of Participant Sharing. Response format: 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree).

• When choosing a destination, comments of others on a destination website and/or on social media websites (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) about the destination are important to me.
• When choosing the destination, ratings of others on a destination website and/or on social media websites (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) about the destination are significant to me.
• When choosing a destination, ratings of other users on websites (e.g., TripAdvisor, booking.com) where travel evaluations are included and holiday packages are sold are important to me.
• When choosing a destination, comments of other users on websites (e.g., TripAdvisor, booking.com) where travel evaluations are included and holiday packages are sold are important to me.

INPS - Importance of Non-Participant Sharing. Response format: 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree).

• Holiday related comments of other users on their own social media accounts (profiles) (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) are important to me.
• Holiday related sharing of other users on their own social media accounts (profiles) (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) are important to me.
• Holiday recommendations of other users on their own social media accounts (profiles) (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) are important to me.
• Holiday related sharing (photo, video) of other users on social media accounts of others (profiles) (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) are important to me.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The initial item pool of 37 was reduced to 11 after expert review and pilot testing, then further to 8 items after EFA (items IPS1, IPS2, and IPS7 were deleted). The two-dimensional first-order model demonstrated superior fit over both a one-factor and a second-order model. Measurement invariance was confirmed across gender and four language groups (Turkish, German, Russian, English). Both IPS (beta = .49) and INPS (beta = .17) significantly predicted destination brand awareness, supporting nomological validity. SRMR < .05 confirmed predictive validity in both Phase 3 and Phase 4. AVE: IPS = .66, INPS = .67. CR: IPS = .88, INPS = .89.

Citation

Dedeoglu, B. B., Taheri, B., Okumus, F., & Gannon, M. (2020). Understanding the importance that consumers attach to social media sharing (ISMS): Scale development and validation. Tourism Management, 76, 103954.

Keywords