The Influence of Social Media on the Ecotourism Consumption Behavior of China's Elderly Middle Class: An Exploratory Study Based on Grounded Theory

Abstract

The continuous increase in the number of middle-aged and elderly people in China has provided important opportunities for the development of China's tourism industry. Ecotourism—a green, healthy, and high-quality tourism method—is particularly popular among middle-aged adults. Social media use has been widely integrated into the consumption decisions of middle-aged and elderly Chinese tourists. It is of great significance to clarify the impact of social media on tourism consumer behavior among China's elderly middle class, especially on rising ecotourism consumption. This study conducted in-depth interviews with 26 elderly middle-class ecotourists in China, abstracted the impact path based on grounded theory, and constructed a set of impact path models of social media on the consumer behavior of elderly ecotourism in China's middle class. This study found that, because social media has the characteristics of information and communication, its impact on the ecotourism consumer behavior of China's elderly middle class mainly involves five factors: social media information utility, social media support, social media impact, self-value realization, and spiritual needs satisfaction. These five elements do not exist in isolation but are interrelated and mutually influencing. Among them, social media can help fully display ecotourism information, plus its own brand building, reputation, and other factors. Moreover, social media information utility, social media impact, and social media platform support can help stimulate the willingness of China's elderly middle class to promote the occurrence of consumer behavior. With the support of social media, a good ecological tourism consumption experience will help realize the self-worth of China's elderly middle class and meet their spiritual needs. The realization of self-worth and satisfaction of spiritual needs will further strengthen the impact of social media on the willingness of China's elderly middle class to engage in ecotourism. First, this study shows that China's elderly middle class can conveniently access destination-related health and historical and cultural knowledge through social media, thus strengthening the ecological tourism motivation of this special group. Second, social media have strengthened the emotional bond between China's elderly middle class and others, helping them meet their social and spiritual needs. Third, poetic dwellings are a prominent feature of the elderly middle class in ecotourism, which differs from other forms of tourism under the influence of social media. This study systematically summarizes and combs the influence path of social media on the consumer behavior of ecotourism in China's elderly middle class by using grounded theory for the first time, and expounds on the important influencing factors, which can provide a reference for future research and practice. Concurrently, this article focuses on the impact of social media on the ecotourism consumer behavior of China's elderly middle class and proposes that the realization of self-value and satisfaction of spiritual needs is an important result of their participation in ecotourism behavior under the influence of social media.

Keywords

• ecotourism consumption behavior
• social media
• elderly middle class
• grounded theory
• path of influence
• china