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of LCCs (29.8% of the total respondents) comes fourth; influencers’ sharing about traveling (9.8% of the total respondents) comes last. The result provides answers to RQ1 (What kinds of content on LCCs’ Facebook Pages appeals to online consumers the most, and lead them to engage with the brand?), showing that airfare promotion is the key feature of LCCs’ Facebook Content.
Figure 12: Preferred Content on LCCs’ Facebook Pages
4.4 Hypotheses Testing
To test the hypotheses, preliminary analysis among the variables is important in
explaining the mutual relationships between the independent variable with mediator variable and moderator variable and the dependent variable. There is a positive relationship between Content, Engagement, Image, and Purchase Intention in a statistically significant manner. The implication for this result is that as respondents feel positive about the content of LCCs’ Facebook Pages,
100 119 33
115
283
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
The service of LCCs Fun and practical travel information Influencers' sharing about traveling Free flight tickets or giveaways Airfare promotion
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they feel positive as well about the engagement with LCCs’ Facebook Pages and reliability and image of LCCs; moreover, they are more willing to purchase tickets of LCCs.
The result supports the 3 hypotheses: H1 (The relationship between engagement with LCC’s Facebook content and purchase intention is positively related); H2 (The reliability and image of LCCs will moderate the relationship between LCC’s Facebook content, the
engagement, and purchase intention); and H3 (The engagement will mediate the relationship between LCC’s Facebook content and purchase intention).
Table 20: Construct Correlation Matrix (N=331)
Variables Content Engagement Image Purchase Intention
Content ---
Engagement .59*** ---
Image .63*** .55*** ---
Purchase Intention .48*** .54*** .64*** ---
***P .001
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Chapter Five: Conclusion and Discussion 5.1 Discussion
The research seeks to systemize the Facebook content by the LCCs, and how user engagement and reliability and image can contribute to online consumers’ purchase intention of LCCs. Through analyzing the data from Facebook Business Manager, and surveying online consumers (N=331), the results corresponding the the research questions and hypotheses are summarized as the following:
Table 21: Summary of Testing Results of Research Questions
Research Questions Testing Results
RQ1. What kinds of content on LCCs’
Facebook Pages appeal to online consumers the most, and lead them to engage with the brand?
Airfare promotion (84.2%)
Fun and practical travel information (35.4%) Free flight tickets or giveaways (34.2%) LCCs brand-related (29.8%)
Influencers’ sharing about traveling (9.8%) RQ2. What are the differences in the
demographics in terms of their purchase intention of LCCs?
•! Respondents aged 21-30 have higher purchase intention of LCCs than respondents under 20 and above 51 years old.
•! Respondents who have traveled with LCCs have higher purchase intention of LCCs than respondents who have not yet traveled with LCCs.
In terms of content marketing as in RQ1, airfare promotion is the most attractive content for fans of LCCs’ Facebook Pages. This is consistent with O’Connell & Williams (2005), that travelers taking LCCs focus on the attractive airfare especially. Although the celebrity
endorsement scored rather low in consumers’ favorable type of content, the opportunity of integrating the celebrity/influencer’s fans cannot be undermined. As a result, LCCs should keep developing and experimenting different types of content on Facebook, and all the same time incorporate the LCCs’ brand personality and image, in order to keep fans continuously engaged.
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Table 22: Summary of Testing Results of HypothesesHypotheses Testing Results
H1. The relationship between engagement with LCC’s Facebook content and purchase intention is positively related.
•! As respondents feel positive about the content of LCCs’ Facebook Pages, they feel positive as well about the engagement with LCCs’ Facebook Pages and the reliability and image of LCCs; moreover, they are more willing to purchase flight tickets of LCCs.
•! Respondents who have become fans of LCCs’ Facebook Pages have more positive sentiments towards the content, more engagement, and higher purchase Intention compared to the respondents who have not become fans of LCCs’ Facebook Pages.
•! Respondents who view LCCs’
Facebook Pages for once or twice or more per week, react more positively towards LCCs’ Facebook content, more engagement, and higher purchase intention, in comparison to the respondents who visit LCCs’
Facebook Pages spontaneously.
H2. The reliability and image of LCCs will moderate the relationship between LCC’s Facebook content, the engagement, and purchase intention.
•! Respondents who view and engage with LCCs’ Facebook Pages for twice or more a week, are more positive about the reliability and image towards LCCs than the respondents who visit LCCs’ Facebook Pages spontaneously.
•! There are no significant differences in respondents’ reactions towards the reliability and image of LCCs, whether they are fans of LCCs’
Facebook Pages or not.
H3. The engagement will mediate the
relationship between LCC’s Facebook content and purchase intention.
•! Respondents who engage with LCCs’
Facebook Pages twice or more a week, are more positive about the reliability and image, and higher purchase
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Intention towards LCCs than the respondents who engage with LCCs’
Facebook Pages spontaneously.
The survey results have demonstrated that effective LCC branding content on Facebook, whether it is airfare promotion or practical travel information, does have an impact on online consumers’ impression and interaction, leading to higher purchase intention. Consequently, we can safely assume in this research that content is indeed king for social media marketing.
Reliability and image serves as a moderator between LCCs’ Facebook content, user engagement, and purchase intention, as the moderator variable effect is exemplified by the interaction effect between the dependent variable and the factor variable in ANOVA. Engagement operates as a mediator variable, which explains the relationship between purchase intention of LCCs (the dependent variable) and LCCs’ Facebook content (the independent variable).
Figure 13: Research Framework and Hypotheses Testing
As we can see from the survey, 75% of the respondents have traveled with LCCs before.
With the growing popularity of LCCs and as the competition between LCCs heats up, LCCs not only focus on low-fare strategies but also tend to move from cut-price deals to more inventive approaches to marketing, engaging with online consumers in order to create distinctive brand image, when competition irons out the differences in their product and service offerings. Social
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media content marketing provides a whole new dimension to marketing, as it offers interactivity to the users, especially on Facebook (Logan, Bright, & Gangadharbatla, 2012). As suggested from this research, it is now critical that not only LCCs but also all kinds of organizations should focus on user engagement in their content marketing strategies, and that the basis for this
engagement is enhancing the reliability and image of the brand. The result endorsed previous research that an organization’s level of interactivity influences the online consumers’ impressions and behaviors toward the brand. (Chu & Yuan, 2013). The result also supports previous research that indicate the effect of interactivity on consumers’ reaction to the brand and their purchase intention (Goldfarb & Tucker, 2011; Hoffman & Novak, 1996). It also resonates with Saffer et al.
(2013), who suggests that a brand’s engagement with consumers on social media influences online consumer behavior.
In conclusion, this research explored the impact of content marketing on online consumers’ purchase intention of LCCs, using online engagement and reliability as mediating and moderating factors. The results confirmed that content marketing has a positive impact on user engagement, positively affirms the LCCs’ reliability and image, and consequently
consumers have a higher purchase intention of LCCs. This research is the first of its kind in exploring the impact of content marketing on purchase intention in the booming LCC industry.
As LCCs strive to create values to their brands that means more than price-cutting, the research gives direction on the importance of content marketing based on the first-hand data and
consumer survey.
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This research has some limitations that have to be acknowledged. First, one fourth of the the sample size are students, so the results could not completely apply to the whole population of online consumers of LCCs in Taiwan. Secondly, this research only focused on the limit number of factors which involved in purchase intention of consumers, as means to improve a company’s content marketing performance. Lastly, the researcher of this study can only access the Facebook data of one LCCs; if future research can compare the Facebook data of different LCCs whereas accessible, the results could be more holistic. Further research could be devoted to the effect of how different digital content marketing channels other than Facebook, e.g., Instagram, apps platforms, contribute to consumers’ purchase intention, and how is it similar or different from Facebook. Moreover, future research can pay attention to other demographic features that are not mentioned in this research, e.g., personality traits, traveling habits, to measure their purchase intention of LCCs.
5.4 Management Implications
This study indicates significant implications for not only LCCs, but also companies that use Facebook as part of their overall content marketing strategy. The Facebook data of Scoot can serve as an indicator for the LCCs and businesses who wish to develop their Facebook content to target similar demographics, i.e., people aged between 25-34 who are fond of backpacking and impromptu adventures, as Scoot positions itself to be a youthful, high-spirited no-frills
contender. LCCs and businesses can refer to the suggested popular posts to develop their Facebook content strategy.
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In order to optimize the Facebook content marketing efforts for LCCs and businesses, they ought to provide more incentives as well as promotions to encourage the online consumer to engage with the brand. The pricing strategy towards the LCC fans can be dynamic – the key is to create a sense of exclusiveness and urgency to save the deals. Moreover, brands can seek to develop the reward system for “super fans” – in this research, we can identify them by their frequencies of viewing and engaging with LCCs’ Facebook Pages. As they visit the page and engage with the brand, brands can offer more incentives for these fans to become the effective eWOM that can foster positive brand image. It is hoped that the results of this research will provide unique guidance’ implication to companies on whether might be of benefit and enhance to their own brands.
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59 References
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68 Appendixes Appendix 1: Questionnaire in Traditional Chinese
(AirAsia) (Scoot) (Vanilla Air) (Tigerair Taiwan) (Peach Aviation)
(Jetstar) (Vietjet) 10
1.
□ □ 2.
□ □ 3.
□
□
□ 」
□ 」
□ □ 4.
□
□ 1
□ 1
□ 1
□ 1
□ 1
□ 2 5.
□
□ 1
□ 1
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12. … □ □ □ □ □
13. ……… □ □ □ □ □
14. □ □ □ □ □
1. ……… □ □ □ □ □
2. ……… □ □ □ □ □
3. ……… □ □ □ □ □
4. ……… □ □ □ □ □
5. ……… □ □ □ □ □
6. ……… □ □ □ □ □
7. ……… □ □ □ □ □
8. ……… □ □ □ □ □
9. ……… □ □ □ □ □
10. 。 ……… □ □ □ □ □
11. ……… □ □ □ □ □
12. ……… □ □ □ □ □
1. ……… □ □ □ □ □
2. ……… □ □ □ □ □
3. ……… □ □ □ □ □
4. ……… □ □ □ □ □
5. …… □ □ □ □ □
6. ……… □ □ □ □ □
□
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72 □10,001 20,000
□ 20,001 30,000 □ 30,001 40,000 □ 40,001
□ □1~3 □4~6 □7~10 □10 □ □1~3 □4~6 □7~10 □10
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Appendix 2: Questionnaire Translation in EnglishThis research aims to find out the impact of the Facebook content of the Facebook Pages of the top 7 LCCs in Taiwan, namely, AirAsia, Scoot, Vanilla Air, Tigerair Taiwan, Peach Aviation, Jetstar, Vietjet, on the purchase intention of online consumers. The questionnaire will take about 10 minutes for you to finish. The researcher will keep your information confidential and for research purpose only. Thank you!
The definition of LCC (Low-Cost Carrier) in this research is: often called budget airlines; the strategy of competition is by providing incredibly low fare, and also rather basic service, e.g., paying extra for in-flight meals and luggage allowance, in comparison to traditional airlines, e.g., Eva Air, China Airlines. To be able to provide the low fare, the LCCs aim to minimize
unnecessary costs in operation, e.g., unifying the fleet, using new aircrafts, simplifying the in-flight services, high efficiency in operation; moreover, the LCCs are active on social media marketing to attract more customers.
I. LCC Consumer Behaviors
1. Have you taken LCCs (budget airlines)?
□ Yes □ No
2. Are you a fan of the abovementioned LCCs’ Facebook Pages?
□ Yes □ No
3. The reason(s) why I am a fan of the LCCs’ Facebook Pages is because… (Multiple choices allowed)
□ I would like to get the airfare promotion
□ I would like to get free flight tickets or giveaways
□ I would like to see celebrities and/or bloggers to share about traveling □ I would like to get fun and practical travel information
□ I would like to know more about the service of LCCs □ Others (Please specify)
4. How often do you view LCCs’ Facebook Pages?
□ It depends – I check when it appears in my newsfeed
5. How often do you engage with LCCs’ Facebook Pages? (e.g., like, comment, share) □ It depends – I check when it appears in my newsfeed
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II. Impressions towards LCCFor the questions below regarding LCCs’ Facebook pages, reliability and image and purchase intention, please answer with “Strongly agree,” “Agree,” “Neutral/not sure,” “Disagree,” and
“Strongly disagree.”
i. Impressions towards the content LCCs’ Facebook Pages 1. The pages are lively, with distinctive brand characteristics.
2. The information shared is fun and interesting.
2. The information shared is fun and interesting.