Will it help me to go? : disabled people’s intentions to use social media in tourism

• Autor(a) principal: Rodrigues, Inês Faria
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/34752
• topic: Disabled tourism; Accessible tourism; Intention to use social media; Information search; Benefits; Turismo com deficiência; Turismo acessível; Intenções de uso de redes sociais; Pesquisa de informação; Benefícios; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

It is estimated that 15% of the world population has a disability. Therefore, tourism companies should provide opportunities for people with disabilities to be part of and take full advantage of traveling and experiencing life. The problem arises from the lack of information, and access to it, that disabled tourists face when searching and planning their trips. The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of the benefits derived from the use of social media on the intentions to use them for traveling purposes in the disabled people’s market. A quantitative research approach was chosen to gather information among social media users with disabilities. The online questionnaire was developed based on the Conceptual Framework and adapted from literature. The survey was distributed online, through social media and email, directly, and with the support of institutions that work with and for people with disabilities. A statistical analysis was conducted through a Linear Regression to test the research hypotheses. Findings of the study stated that the three benefits analyzed – Functional, Social, and Hedonic and Psychological – have a positive, but low impact on the intentions of disabled tourists to use social media when planning and organizing their travels. Thus, the impact that the provision of specific information to potential customers with different disabilities by service companies and tourism enterprises may also have a positive impact on the business of these companies.