From Digital Experience to Brand Commitment: The Effects of Perceived Technical Interactivity and Social Media Content among Online Travel Agent Users for Hotel Bookings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38035/dijefa.v7i4.7437Keywords:
Brand attachment, brand commitment, customer satisfaction, online travel agent, perceived technical interactivity, social media contentAbstract
This study examines the formation of brand commitment through digital experiences, focusing on the roles of perceived technical interactivity and social media content among users of Online Travel Agent (OTA) applications for hotel bookings in Indonesia. The rapid digitalization of the tourism sector has positioned OTA platforms as primary channels for hotel reservations, yet retaining users remains challenging due to low switching costs and intense competition. This research integrates Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) Theory and Relationship Marketing Theory (RMT) to explain how perceived technical interactivity and social media content are related to customer satisfaction and brand attachment, and how these two organism states are related to brand commitment. A quantitative cross-sectional survey of OTA hotel-booking users was conducted, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). All six hypothesized direct relationships were supported: perceived technical interactivity and social media content were positively associated with customer satisfaction and brand attachment, which were in turn positively associated with brand commitment. Customer satisfaction showed the largest direct path coefficient to brand commitment (β = 0.457), followed by brand attachment (β = 0.306). The model tested direct relationships only; indirect (mediating) effects were not tested, and the cross-sectional design supports associations rather than causal conclusions. The study contributes to digital marketing literature by providing an integrated test of stimulus–organism–response relationships in the OTA hotel-booking context and offers practical implications for OTA companies in designing digital experiences and social media strategies that foster long-term customer relationships.
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