Exploring the Factors Influencing Tourists’ Willingness to Share Photos on Social Media

With the rapid development of the internet industry in recent years, social media has become an integral part of people’s daily lives. At the same time, the tourism industry is also in a booming period. The relationship between social media and the tourism industry is getting closer and closer, and social media is increasingly important to the tourism industry. Tourists enthusiastically embrace sharing photos, feelings, and experiences on social media, with photo sharing being the most common method. While numerous factors drive tourists to share on social media, there is limited research and inconsistent results regarding what hinders tourists from sharing photos on these platforms. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the reasons behind tourists’ reluctance to share their photos on social media, thereby addressing existing research gaps and providing theoretical and practical significance to the study of obstacles to photo sharing on social platforms. Building upon a comprehensive literature review, this study concludes with the formulation of a four-dimensional model comprising social intimacy, personal privacy and information security, social media environmental factors, and personal factors that impede photo sharing on social media. The study aims to construct the final model in this area. The results indicate that social intimacy, personal privacy and information security, social media environmental factors, and personal factors all have negative effects on tourists’ photo sharing on social media, thereby verifying the inhibiting impact of these factors. © 2024, Chinese Society for Quality. All rights reserved.