Why Do Park Visitors Engage With Social Media for Peer-to-Peer Information?

Abstract

Park visitors are increasingly gravitating toward peer-to-peer sources of information on social media to prepare for their visit to nature parks. This has significant implications for park safety and management. The current study utilizes the Theory of Consumer Values and Crompton’s Push and Pull Theory as the theoretical lens. This research presents a thematic analysis of 19 interviews with participants who visited a nature park in Western Australia and engaged with social media communities to seek park-related information in the past 12 months. Six themes were identified related to the motivators and barriers for park visitors to seek park-related information from social media communities. They are: (1) destination planning and activities information; (2) access to real-time information; (3) source credibility; (4) social interactions and influences; (5) entertainment; (6) novelty. The findings provide significant managerial insights for park agencies and managers to optimize their social media communication of park-related information.

Keywords:

• nature park
• park information
• social media communities
• social media engagement

Introduction

Most parks require visitors to prepare and plan for their visit when engaging in activities at the park. For instance, the Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Service’s website explicitly recommends strategising and organizing before visiting to ensure an enjoyable and safe time at the parks. A range of communication strategies are used by parks to convey park-related information to visitors (Saunders et al., 2019). This includes online mediums (Tsakakis & Schneider, 2021), messages through signages (Abrams et al., 2019) and signage in situ at parks and on official park websites (Saunders et al., 2019). Recent literature indicates that social media has increasingly become an effective platform for conveying park-related information to visitors (e.g. Miller & Freimund, 2017; Tsakakis & Schneider, 2021; Wilkins et al., 2021). Consumers often turn to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to obtain credible and useful information about the company or its products (Goh et al., 2013); in this paper, we focus on how this behavior may influence the seeking of park-related information on peer-to-peer social media communities.

Nature parks across the globe are a major source of income in the tourism industry. For instance, national park visitations in New South Wales (NSW)—one of eight states and territories in Australia—were estimated to be around 60.23 million across all parks (Department of Planning & Industry & Environment, 2019). Extending beyond the Australian context, U.S. national parks had approximately 3.5 billion visits in the span of 2007–2018 (National Park Service [NPS], 2019), demonstrating the potential economic value that nature parks bring to the country. To our knowledge, there is limited research on how park visitors engage with park-related information on social media, especially in peer-to-peer social media communities.

Company-driven social media have been popular due to the wide accessibility that the public has to social media and the increasing detraction away from traditional sources of media (e.g. TV and radio). This allows a wide reach of marketing and campaigning strategies that will reach a far more heterogeneous audience and consumer base in comparison to older forms of media (Booth and Matic, 2011). Aside from companies engaging with social media, studies have shown that park visitors increasingly gravitate toward peer-to-peer sources of information because they perceive it as more credible (Tayal & Vijayakumar, 2021). The proliferation of social media has led to the formation of virtual communities, defined as open participation systems, whereby users can communicate and exchange information with other individuals (Cao et al., 2013). These virtual communities allow individuals who share specific interests to engage with one another; this includes building trust, bonding socially and engaging in cooperation among members for mutual benefits (Putnam, 2000). Unlike legacy media (e.g. newspapers), virtual communities operate on this notion of social capital, with users able to benefit from one another through the exchange of information and engagement with others.

Contemporary research has underscored how participation in virtual communities influences consumer behavior among users (e.g. Chiang et al., 2019; Gummerus et al., 2017). The distinction between consumers and brands lies in how they engage with social media, where brands focus on engaging with consumers to promote their brand or product, and consumers engage in social media for social connection with other users. Nevertheless, there has been scarce research into the motives behind park visitors’ choice to use online social communities to obtain park-related information.

Among the few reasons an individual may choose to use a specific form of technology can be viewed through the lens of a perceived value framework, such as the Theory of Consumption Values (TCV) by Sheth et al. (1991). The TCV has been extensively used to investigate how individuals perceive technology or systems, such as online gaming (Teng, 2018) and social media (Wei et al., 2017) to derive value. For instance, it has been found that the value perceived in social networking predicts the high usage of Twitter (Cocosila & Igonor, 2015). However, there is limited research surrounding the perceived value of social media communities for park-related information.

This research fills this gap by exploring the motives and values perceived in using social media communities for planning and preparation of park visits. To achieve this, we conducted a qualitative study that involved interviews with participants to understand their engagement with social media communities. Specifically, our research identifies the drivers underpinned by motivation theory (Crompton, 1979), and the perceived value underpinned by the TCV (Sheth et al., 1991), sought by park visitors in their engagement with social media communities to obtain park information. These insights can inform government agencies and park managers of the effective promotion of park-related information on social media, specifically, within social media communities for certain park activities. As such, the current study seeks to investigate two research questions (RQ):

RQ1: What are the motivators for park visitors in engaging with social media communities to seek park-related information?

RQ2: What are the perceived (a) functional, (b) social, (c) conditional, (d) emotional and (e) epistemic values for park visitors in engaging with social media communities to seek park-related information?

Review of relevant literature

Motives in information seeking and social media usage

Social media is widely regarded as a source of information for many individuals, and different theories have been proposed to understand the motivation behind social media use for information consumption. A meta-analysis conducted by Boulianne (2015) elucidated that numerous studies highlight social media providing: (1) entertainment through general browsing of digital content; (2) socialization through the expansion of social networks; and (3) learning through news updates and political information (Dolan et al., 2015; Kaur et al., 2018). The same observations are likely to apply to park visitors who join social media communities. The assumption within this study is that participants are engaged in ‘active’ information seeking because they are interested in managing information or intentionally engaging with the information available on social media (Afifi & Weiner, 2004). Demuth et al. (2018) and Sutton et al. (2014) highlighted the usefulness of social media in transmitting messages about safety information. Both studies reflect the usefulness of Twitter as a social media platform that provides an opportunity for users to actively seek information from and disseminate information to others. Moreover, users on social media often play dual roles whereby one is regarded as a consumer in obtaining information while the other is regarded as a contributor where they provide information (Rieh et al., 2015). Therefore, there is a distinction between the types of users here within the context of the study.

Extending to nature parks, social media has increasingly become a primary source of information for park visitors (Saunders et al., 2019; Wang & Lopez, 2020; Wood et al., 2020). This is apparent through the rise of social media as a platform for learning park-related information as well as information about various other topics, such as safety, health, news updates and crisis information (Westerman et al., 2014). Within Western Australia, there are multiple virtual communities, such as Trails Western Australia, Camping Crew Western Australia and Trails Perth Western Australia, where information exchange and user engagement take place, highlighting the usefulness and salience of social media in providing park-related information. Although both motivations to seek out park information and utilize social media for information involve similar underlying processes of information seeking, the two motivations are undeniably different. The primary concern of the current study is the motivations of park visitors in seeking park-related information through social media, thus, it examines the interaction of both motivations. This research may offer significant theoretical and managerial insights as little has been done to understand the motivational drivers that explain engagement in social media communities by potential park visitors.

Attempting to do so, this study applies Crompton’s theory with a particular focus on park information. Specifically, we applied motivation theory adapted from Crompton (1979) in the context of tourism destination choices to examine the ‘push’ factors that drive visitors to seek park-related information from social media communities. Crompton (1979) suggests seven different socio-psychological push factors or motives related to tourism destination choices, namely: escape from a perceived mundane environment, exploration and evaluation of self, relaxation, prestige, regression, enhancement of kinship relationships, and facilitation of social interaction (see Table 1).

Table 1. Crompton’s push and pull factors.

Push or Pull	Factors	Behavior
Push	Escape from a perceived mundane environment	A temporary change of environment for individuals to escape their environments.
	Exploration and evaluation of self	Engaging in activities that allows individuals to learn or reevaluate something about themselves.
	Relaxation	Ability to relax while away from home or as tourists.
	Prestige	Prestigiousness of traveling may motivate individuals to engage in travel behavior.
	Regression	Ability to regress from certain behaviors when away from home.
	Enhancement of kinship	Travel enhances relationships between family members and friends.
	Facilitation of social interaction	Social interactions that fostered and created through tourism.
Pull	Novelty	Exploring new cultural stimuli to experience something that has not previously been experienced.
	Education	Education of self and others through exposure to diverse cultures.

In addition to the push factors that can be used to motivate individuals toward the use of social media groups, our study also considers pull factors that attract individuals toward social media groups. We conceptualize the pull factors in the context of perceived value obtained from using social media groups for park-related information. Specifically, individuals who are motivated to use social media groups for park-related information are likely to perceive certain values, and these perceived values may serve as the pull factor that motivates the use of social media groups.

Perceived value in information seeking and social media use

Perceived value is defined as how consumers evaluate the tradeoff of the benefit and sacrifice that they will experience when consuming a certain product or even information (Tanrikulu, 2021; Zeithaml, 1988). Underpinning the concept of perceived value is the theory of consumption value (TCV). The theory proposes that consumer choice is characterized by multiple and distinct consumption values that may equally contribute to the choices made by the consumer (Sheth et al., 1991). These TCV dimensions, namely functional, social, conditional, emotional and epistemic value, are construed to be the key pull factors that consumers consider when acquiring product information that determines their consumption (Hallikainen, 2015; Sheth et al., 1991). The TCV has been applied to explain consumers’ perceived value across a range of contexts and product categories, such as cigarettes (Sheth et al., 1991), green products (Lin & Huang, 2012), hedonic digital artifacts (e.g. ringtones) (Turel et al., 2010), online gaming (Teng, 2018) and social media (Wei et al., 2017). Refer to Table 2 for the dimensions and their descriptions.

Table 2. Theory of consumption value.

Dimensions	Description	Tourism and information
Functional Value	Functional benefits that can be gained through adoption of a product (Sheth et al., 1991)	Destination marketing (Phau et al., 2014) Gastronomy tourism (Yeap et al., 2019) Trail hikes (Kotut et al., 2020) Airline flyer program (Long & Schiffman, 2000)
Social Value	Use of a product for social purposes (Khan and Mohsin, 2017).	Destination marketing (Phau et al., 2014) Gastronomy tourism (Yeap et al., 2019)
Conditional Value	Use of a product based on certain conditions or circumstances (Lin & Huang, 2012).	Destination marketing (Phau et al., 2014) Gastronomy tourism (Yeap et al., 2019) Airline flyer program (Long & Schiffman, 2000)
Emotional Value	Use of a product to attain certain feelings or affective states (Turel et al., 2010).	Destination marketing (Phau et al., 2014) Gastronomy tourism (Yeap et al., 2019) Airline flyer program (Long & Schiffman, 2000)
Epistemic Value	Curiosity or sense of novelty that is induced by the adoption of a product (Sheth et al., 1991).	Destination marketing (Phau et al., 2014) Gastronomy tourism (Yeap et al., 2019)

Functional value

Within the context of technological products, functional value may be defined as utilizing technology that helps users attain their goals or motives. For instance, Chung and Koo (2015) surveyed tourists on social media and found that users perceive information on social media to be more reliable than other traditional sources of information (e.g. newspapers, magazines, books). Kotut et al. (2020) noted that hikers frequently utilize social media platforms for pre-hike preparation, exchanging post-hike reflections, and real-time commentary during hikes, representing a pragmatic approach to both planning and achieving hiking objectives. Users would voluntarily engage in social media to provide information about potential hazards on trails and respond to any user who is thinking of attempting the trail.

Social value

Individuals who join social media communities belong to a larger collective of a social group that they perceive to have social value. For instance, Hsiao and Chiou (2012) suggested that the social value of social media plays an important role in its continued utilization by users. Social media platforms are a medium for social connection, networking, and communication among users of the platform (Kaur et al., 2018). Thus, Facebook users perceive its social value when they utilize the platform as a means of self-empowerment and to attract attention (Aladwani, 2014).

Conditional value

Sheth et al. (1991) suggested that conditional value derives from temporary functional and social value, which means that specific conditions cause the perception of a certain product’s value due to its functionality or cause an increase in the social value of a service. Within the context of technology, Wang et al. (2013) noted that conditional value significantly predicts mobile app usage as a mediator to the other values within the TCV. For instance, the use of mobile apps to check on weather conditions informs users about the type of clothing they need to pack. This, in turn, relates to the functional value of mobile apps in checking for the weather. When technology or a product is perceived to be of value within a particular context, conditional value arises.

Emotional value

Researchers suggest that social media platforms appropriately reflect this value dimension as they are often exciting, fun, and interactive (Aladwani, 2014). For instance, the positive emotional values of enjoyment and entertainment are linked to the adoption of social media (Special & Li-Barber, 2012; Valenzuela et al., 2009). In contrast to this, the negative emotional values of anxiety arise from the high volume of information available on social media (Koroleva et al., 2010). The engagement of social media users in sharing information, uploading photos and conveying empathy during an experience to appeal to other users with similar goals can be emotionally gratifying and satisfying (Oliveira et al., 2020). This gratification instigates individuals to engage in social media communities because a perceived emotional value is associated with the activity.

Epistemic value

Kong et al. (2012) found that many users of social media express the intention to learn new things, either individually or in collaboration with other users, on different platforms. Thomas and Vinuales (2017) noted that curiosity instigates users of social media platforms to search for information and knowledge. Due to the novelty of the information, it can be deduced that users are more inclined to see the epistemic value of joining social media communities.

Given the salience of the TCV in the marketing and tourism literature, we deemed it as an appropriate underpinning framework from which to examine the perceived value of utilizing social media. This study utilizes the TCV (Sheth et al., 1991) and push–pull factors of Crompton (1979) to examine the perceived value factors of park visitors to engage with social media communities in seeking park-related and safety information.

Methodology

Research design

We designed the study as an exploratory study utilizing a semi-structured interview process. In a semi-structured interview, interviewers follow a set of open-ended questions that prompt participants to elaborate on their answers (Weller et al., 2018). We formulated our interview questions based on the TCV (see Appendix A). The interview asked questions that considered their: (1) engagement behavior; (2) motives for engagement; (3) perceived functional, social, conditional, emotional and epistemic value; and (4) any perceived benefits or limitations in their engagement with social media communities to seek park-related and safety information. Each interview ranged from 25 min to 45 min and was audio-recorded and then transcribed. Human ethics research approval for the study was granted by [HIDDEN FOR REVIEW].

Participants

This research focused on park visitors who had planned and visited a nature park for an outdoor activity. The inclusion criteria of participants for this study were individuals who: (1) were between 21 and 60 years old as the majority demographic of park visitors engaging in activities within the parks often fall within this age range (see Torsney & Buckley, 2023; Veitch et al., 2015); (2) had visited and carried out an outdoor activity at a Western Australia nature park in the past 12 months; and (3) who had engaged at least once in online communities on Facebook about their visit to a Western Australia nature park in the past 12 months prior to their visit. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling, where park visitors who fit the inclusion criteria were asked if they were interested in taking part in the study. Facebook was selected as the targeted social media platform because: (a) peer-to-peer information on Western Australia nature parks is generally disseminated on Facebook; (b) Facebook has the largest active social media communities that disseminate park information; and (c) Facebook is the dominant social media in Australia that allows for different types of information, including text, images, videos and links.

Following the recommendations of Saunders et al. (2018) on qualitative research, recruitment for the study ceased when the qualitative data reached saturation, which occurs when no additional themes are extracted from the interviews. The semi-structured interviews were conducted via teleconference calls and face-to-face meetings.

The final sample consisted of 19 participants who met the inclusion criteria. The age of the participants fell between 21 and 54 years, with a mean age of 33.1 (SD = 6.88). The mean number of park visits for participants were 14.66 visits per year, with the minimum being 2 visits a year and the maximum being 30 visits a year. Three participants identified as male and 16 as female. All participants had visited a national park in Western Australia at least once in the last year. During their visit, participants engaged in outdoor activities, such as hiking, camping, sightseeing, mountain biking and surfing. Examples of online communities with whom participants engaged are Trails Western Australia, Camping Crew Western Australia and Trails Perth.

Thematic analysis procedure

The thematic analysis conducted in this study was largely centered on the six-step framework of Braun and Clarke (2006) and was conducted by one of the researchers. The first phase of thematic analysis was to go through and become familiar with the data while transcribing the entire interview data that was collected from participants. Phase two assigned codes along with a brief description to the transcribed data. In the third phase, the various assigned codes were categorized into common themes, this allowed a vague conceptualization of concurrent themes that were being extracted from the interviews. In phase four, the researcher reviewed and refined the themes that had been formulated, where any themes that did not answer the two research questions were excluded, and themes that had overlapped were integrated into wider themes. Once this was done, phase five named the themes based on descriptive information and identified themes relevant to the two main research questions. In the final phase, a list of final themes deemed to be answering the research questions was compiled, with interpretations of these findings expounded on. Within the final phase, themes from the results were inductively generated. Once the themes were extracted, they were deductively categorized into the push-pull factors and the factors of TCV. To account for the reliability and validity of the results, the themes were also cross-coded by another researcher. There were instances of inconsistencies in the codes that were extracted or identified in phases three and four between the coders. To resolve this, the coders had a discussion to understand their positioning and epistemologies when approaching this coding process of the dataset. This process allowed both coders to reach a mutual understanding and agreement on their views, which led to more refined themes being generated and selected to be discussed in the study.

Results

The thematic analysis resulted in six themes that reflect the motivators for park visitor engagement with social media communities to seek park-related information. Themes 1 to 3 are related to the gathering of information and how users perceive the information to be reliable or not, while Themes 4 and 5 are concerned with the social aspects of using social media groups for information. Theme 6 is related to the novelty and entertainment aspects of engaging with social media groups. All themes were extracted based on their prevalence across different participants.

Theme 1: Destination planning and activities information

In this study, participants noted that the abundance of information surrounding their planned destinations and activities was a big motivator for them to engage with online communities, which is reflected by participants’ quote, “I can know where I can go for hiking (9).” Participants tended to seek information from these social media community groups as they perceived users of these communities to provide functional information regarding the destination. For example, one participant stated: “Collecting their feedback before hiking to find out whether the place has suitable trails grades for myself (3).” Social media communities also help participants gain a clearer idea of what can and cannot be done at the destination. One participant stated: “The time needed for a visit to the national park are the pets allowed and the incidents that may have happened (6).” The information available also further helps destination planning for participants and visitors. Participants stated: “The information from WA trails really helped for a holiday travel itinerary (2); Before Christmas and long weekend, I will spend more time surfing the communities and search information frequently to help me plan my trip itinerary, to see how others plan…(6). Thus, participants engaged in social media community groups as a way of collecting information on their destinations to plan for their visits.

Participants in the study believed that other users within the community were more likely to provide realistic user experiences at the location. This allowed them to save time in planning for the destination because they gained more detailed information on activities, such as hiking, length and trail conditions. For instance, they indicated that “if we plan to go for the new trails that we haven’t been to, I would like to get details and information from members based on their previous experiences (18).” This also allows better insights into potential services and activities provided at the park. For instance, participants said, “got the advice for the price for the entry fee, some people even recommended buying the national parks pass and the time for opening hours (2).” “I will also check through the communities if they recommend the foods, restaurants or hotels nearby the destination (8).”

Participants voiced that if they visited the official websites of destinations, the websites often over-glorify the attractions and the positive attributes of the destination, making them favor information on social media communities over official sources: “Official websites just want to sell products…you have no idea what it is like. People will be more realistic about how they feel when they get there (19).”

Theme 2. Access to real-time information

This theme refers to the ability of participants to have access to real-time information related to park conditions and situations, where participants were found saying “Communities can provide fully detailed situations (17)” and “People share the photos and video to reflect the severe weather (3).” This likely stems from the information that participants obtain from websites or agencies that may not accurately reflect park conditions. Participants mentioned that the constant updates by members of the community groups were informative and sometimes not provided by authorities at the destination. These information posts often come with photos that allow for real-time insight. For instance, “Some of the hikers will update the park conditions, for instance, if there is any urgent maintenance work going on or things that required hikers’ attention, including damages caused after a cyclone and any sudden changes to the site access conditions (5).”

Participants also stated that information was accessible due to the quick responses and updates from community members. This vastly outweighed the response time compared to official channels of communication at parks, especially regarding issues on the trail conditions. Examples from participants include: “People will reply to your questions in time, it is impossible to get a reply form the official website immediately if I want to go hiking next week (9).”

Participants also seemed to engage with social media community groups to obtain timely on-site information about the weather. Members update each other within the community groups with information about suitability for sightseeing and camping as this helps other members to plan and take certain safety precautions. For instance, “The temperature promptly dropped in the mountain and nearby the stream at night. I searched camping site information and got this from communities (14).” The participants also mentioned that numeric data provided by weather forecasts were usually not an accurate picture of the possible weather conditions at the destination. A social media community, however, allows for photo examples and seasonal climate information contributed by regular or experienced visitors. Participants said: “Only figures and data were shown on the official website, people in communities told me what to wear and they also posted the photos of what kinds of clothes they wore (2).” “If I am planning to go in Spring, I will search the weather information related to season (15).”

Theme 3: Source credibility

This theme refers to the reliability of the information that participants can access from social media groups. The occurrence of misinformation and inaccurate information has led to various participants voicing concerns about the information they receive, where participants sources of information from community groups to be more credible, this is seen “via the interactions in the community, their comments will be credible opinions for people who want to visit national parks (9).” This further motivates users to use community groups on social media for park-related information. For example, participants stated, “the information in the official website is out of date. People share road safety instantly and will take photos as evidence…people from the communities will tell me whether the water is polluted due to the old pipe or heavy rain (6).”

The advice from members of social groups also fosters further trust and reliability based on the type of information that is received by the participants. One participant stated, “some people posted the pictures and reminded us of what we should pay attention to when we were at certain kilometers. This kind of information helped us predict the danger during hiking (18).” Members of the group also often initiate discussions on potential safety hazards within the community. Advice is given on how individuals can prevent danger and predict incidents, which is often unobtainable from official websites. Participants stated, “they suggested the safe camping sites, such as no dangerous animals, no flooding in the lowlands after heavy rain, no strong breeze and no toppled trees (6).”

Theme 4: Social interactions and influences

Participants also engaged with social media communities for park-related information where some identified social interactions as being key motivators while others mentioned the influence of peers and family members. This is depicted in cases where participants were found saying “I think I have to contribute to this community and social society (9),” indicating that they felt the need to contribute and be socially responsible through their social membership in the group. This is pegged on the social interactions and exchanges made within the communities where advice and recommendations are given to members. On the other hand, participants were also found saying “some of my friends recommended me to join the communities (6),” which suggests the presence of social influence to join these community groups. The behavior here can be attributed to a social norm whereby there are strong social influences of utilizing and engaging with social media community groups for park-related information.

Participants stated that they had friends who recommended communities to them. For instance, one participant said, “Another participant was quoted as saying, “I will ask my friends to recommend me the communities to join if I could not find any useful information online (15).” Aside from friends, participants also shared that once they engaged with a community group, they felt supported and encouraged by other members within the group through the various social interactions. There seems to be the fostering of a social bond in this instance that motivates them to continue their engagement. For example, respondents indicated that “It’s a positive vibe in the community (11). They could be very supportive, people support your interests and support you learn more.” “It can be really nice to encourage you to do something and inspiring and emotional support (16).”

Theme 5: Entertainment

This theme of entertainment addresses the participants describing participation in a social media community as having a positive influence on their emotional wellbeing by browsing posts and photos shared by others regarding their own adventures. The sceneries and descriptions related to the trails seemed to release tension and stress in their daily lives. For example, “The posts from members can release my tension and stress and I can share the interesting photos with my friends…during the break in the workplace (3).” Many respondents also indicated that the information shared by other members of the social media communities allows them to experience outdoor activities and destinations viciously, which brings them a sense of fun and excitement.

By showcasing vivid images and stories of nature, these types of information not only serve as a virtual escape for individuals confined by their daily routines or unable to access certain physical locations but also allow people to derive joy and entertainment from discovering different outdoor activities and destinations. For instance, when asked why they enjoyed the social media communities, the respondent suggested that:“I think it is good to motivate other people to have some outdoor activities and continue to discover the beauty of nature in Western Australia (5).” Some respondents also expressed how the entertainment value derived from these social media interactions often translates into motivation for real-world action to participate in outdoor activities and motivate visitation. For instance, a respondent said: “I have seen many people share their experiences of mountain biking…it will encourage me to try this activity. (9)”

Theme 6: Novelty

This theme addresses the notion that participants feel motivated to engage with community groups on social media due to the sense of novelty that they get from visiting parks and engaging in outdoor activities. They mentioned that this was a way to discover new places to visit. For example, a respondent said, “I love outdoor activities, so I use those communities to get information about new attractions and new activities on the weekend in WA (8).” Another participant mentioned that “I was curious how people found new camping sites, new attractions and how to get there (3).” Respondents also see social media community as a platform for up-to-date information, indicating that their engagement allows them to gain knowledge for live and up-to-date safety precautions and advice as well as weather and park facility conditions.

Aside from this, participants mentioned the desire to expand their knowledge and understanding of outdoor activities by incorporating new information. More than half of the participants mentioned their curiosity toward others’ preparations for camping, the difficulty grading systems of hikes, and the duration and length of hiking trails were a driving factor in connecting to online communities. For instance, “any sort of that information will be new and interesting for me to use communities as a tool to gain knowledge (13).” The findings therefore indicate that epistemic value, such as novelty, motivates park visitors to use social media communities to discover new tourist places, receive appropriate guidance for outdoor activities and obtain up-to-date weather as well as safety information of destinations.

Discussion

The overall aim of the study was to utilize the TCV and motivation theory as a conceptual framework to understand reasons for the use of social media communities/groups to prepare for park visits. Extending prior studies, our findings empirically demonstrate the factors serving as motivators for individuals to utilize social media community groups for access to park information. The results further support the use of motivation theory and TCV to explain behavior when it comes to engagement with social media community groups for park messages (see Table 3).

Table 3. Themes extracted relating to Crompton’s theory and the TCV.

Themes identified in interviews	Perceived value dimensions (pull factors)	Motivation dimensions (push factors)
1. Destination planning and activities information	Functional Value	Learning motive, explore motive, relax motive
2. Accessibility to real-time information	Functional Value, Conditional Value	Learning motive
3. Source credibility	Functional Value, Conditional Value	Learning motive
4. Social interactions and influences	Social Value	Kinship motive, social interaction motive, learning motive
5. Entertainment	Emotional Value	Relax motive
6. Novelty	Epistemic Value	Novelty motive, learning motive

In understanding what motivates individuals to engage with social media groups, the study first applied Crompton’s (1979) push–pull factors. The push factors in this study can be identified in the different themes that were extracted. One of the more common factors identified is the learning motive, whereby individuals use social media groups to learn about new things, such as park and trail information, the type of gear needed for different activities and park conditions (e.g. weather and trails). The exploration motive can also be seen through participant results in which they were able to identify and explore new sites, trails and parks to visit through engagement with social media community groups. The relaxation motive was also reflected, with individuals finding entertainment and relaxation through engagement with social media posts in these community groups.

Another factor that was identified in the results was the novelty motive whereby individuals are looking to engage in new experiences, whether online through social media groups or by identifying parks and activities that they have never done before. This also aligns with the pull factor of epistemic value, which means users engage with community groups to fulfill their sense of curiosity (e.g. Sheth et al., 1991). The kinship motive is reflected when participants in the study acquire new friendships by engaging in social media community groups that are new to them. Our findings also identify Themes 4 and 5 related to social value (i.e. social influence, interaction and responsibility) as both push and pull motivators in using and engaging with social media community groups on park-related topics. The kinship motive also ties into the social interaction motive and can be seen when participants are able to engage and have a sense of community with online individuals who are part of the same online community group.

The pull factors attract individuals to actually engage in online community groups to obtain information related to parks, while the functional dimensions of the TCV were manifested through four different themes: destination planning and activities information, accessibility to real time information and source credibility. This aligns with the study conducted by Kotut et al. (2020), which showed that hikers often use social platforms to prepare for hikes before going on them. Extending this line of work, our findings suggest that park visitors use social media groups to access information that is practical and usable. The functional value that can be gleaned from social media groups allows for accessible information in real time. Specifically, social media community groups allow park visitors to access more accurate and precise information on destinations and activities, services, accessibility and safety.

The findings also highlight the applicability of conditional value in the context of accessing park-related information from social media community groups. Conditional value aligns with themes that fall under functional value, and it is in accordance with the theory that there are specific conditions that make a product or the utility of a product functional. This is in line with previous observations showing that users share videos or pictures at geolocations that spur discussions among users (Kummer et al., 2018). Our findings extend this by demonstrating that this behavior may allow individual park visitors to assess up-to-date weather conditions and plan travel accordingly. For example, the results of this study show that individuals use social media community groups to access information, such as knowing what gear and clothing to wear in relation to the weather conditions before going to the parks. However, we also note here that there can be issues with the accuracy and precision of the type of information that is being disseminated within social media community groups. Especially with fast-changing conditions within parks, such as the weather, the conditions of information seeking by visitors may be subjective. As such, there needs to be caution when considering the information that is being consumed/utilised by these groups to avoid any negative outcomes.

Additionally, we found emotional value to be applicable in the access to park-related information on social media community groups. Emotional value aligns with Theme 5 (i.e. entertainment) in which the factor/theme can evoke affective and emotive reactions from users of social media groups. Previous research on social media use in a general context (e.g. Kim et al., 2011) found emotional value to be one of the main motivators for social media usage, which usually comes in the form of enjoyment and entertainment. In line with this, our findings show that participants engage with social media community groups as a form of entertainment. Participants found that the browsing of group posts within these community groups allowed them to release stress and be entertained.

Based on Crompton’s motivation theory, our research identifies significant push factors that motivate individuals to use social media community groups for park and park-related information. We also identify pull factors based on TCV that attract an individual to utilize social media community groups for park and park-related information. Despite the clear distinction made here between the push and pull factors, it is evident that certain factors can act as both push and pull factors. For instance, a learning motive can act as a motivator for individuals, while the incentive to learn new things might be an attraction to engage with social media community groups. The process of adopting the two theories has helped the analysis and interpretation of the data. The use of the two theories allowed researchers to adopt a theoretical lens while approaching the dataset. In doing so, while analyzing and interpreting the data, there was an emphasis on associating relevant data and findings to the theories that were being used, particularly push and pull factors toward social media community use for park-related information.

Theoretical implications

The current study contributes to the literature on TCV, park safety and social media engagement by providing insight into how the push and pull factors help explain the motivators of social media group engagement for park-related and safety information. Adding to previous research that primarily identified only entertainment as the emotional value derived from general social media usage, the current study demonstrates that trust is also an essential emotional value that drives the use of social media community groups for park-related information. This occurs because users of social media community groups often trust the information shared on community groups over official channels, such as official government or park agency websites, due to its reliability, accessibility and relevance. This aligns with findings from other studies whereby participants/social media users are likely to find information from these platforms credible and trustworthy especially when their expectations are fulfilled (Kim & Song, 2016; Shareef et al., 2020).

Previous studies on social media usage and engagement have shown that the TCV is applicable for information consumption on social media; our research not only replicates these findings but also extends these results to consumption and engagement toward park-related information. For example, prior studies have highlighted the use of social media platforms as a source of entertainment to satisfy hedonic desires (e.g. Hallikainen, 2015; Kaur et al., 2018). Wang et al. (2021) also showed that functional value may drive the adoption of technologies such as social media. The findings of this study further affirm these previous findings by demonstrating that emotional value (e.g. entertainment and trust) and functional value (e.g. destination information and product information) are significant drivers of social media engagement toward park-related information.

Kummer et al. (2018) and Pop et al. (2021) findings align with ours when there are situational contexts in which individuals utilize check-in technology to share time-specific conditions on park trails. These findings not only highlight the applicability of examining conditional value but also demonstrate that there are particular contexts in which visitors seek park and park safety information from social media community groups.

Managerial implications

Aside from the theoretical implications, there are a number of managerial implications that can be drawn from the findings. Our findings suggest that information surrounding parks and park safety information on social community groups should be monitored by governmental agencies and park management because consumers do engage with these posts. In monitoring these posts, agencies will be keeping up with the different posts by community members so they are updated on the different information being disseminated; this could be complaints, reviews and feedback for parks, which will allow for better service to be catered to visitors even from an informational standpoint. In doing so, agencies can also prevent misinformation regarding parks from being shared and allow accurate and credible information to be shared. Furthermore, this stream of information is at times preferable to official channels of information due to the different value manifestations. For example, the manifestation of functional and conditional value shows that park visitors may use social media community groups to obtain updated and accurate park-related information, as they perceive official websites to fall short of updating details regarding opening hours, road conditions and more. This is especially the case during public holidays when government agencies may be difficult to reach. Thus, it is paramount for government agencies and park management to not only monitor park-related social media community groups but also enhance the functional and conditional value of official information.

Additionally, park visitors often suggest that the information found on official park websites is not as accurate and reliable as that found on social media sites because the information is not in real-time (i.e. functional). This leads to a reduction of trust in official park information, which prompts users to turn to alternative sources of information such as social media community groups. This is especially the case for information related to destinations, activities, services, weather and holiday planning. Clearer communication is needed between park authorities and visitors to better understand how visitors perceive park authorities and the ways in which they have fallen short in information delivery, which will facilitate better communication and information spread. Thus, park authorities may consider implementing a community collaboration initiative to ensure park information is updated in real-time by visitors, with appropriate moderation from park authorities. Another suggestion is to monitor the effectiveness of this information through a co-design approach with the visitor community. An example would be the National Park Service in America (NPS, 2022), which conducts over 400 programmes a year across the country in relation to national parks and public health that openly invite community members to collaborate with government agencies to promote these programmes and properly disseminate safety information to the public. These programmes focus on improving engagement between the park agencies and the public about the parks themselves, partners of the parks and communities. There could be similar efforts within Western Australia where there are widespread efforts like the NPS to engage with the public and communities regarding parks that will foster better engagement with park authorities.

The current findings also allow park authorities to reposition the way they relay park-related or park-safety information. Specifically, information should align with the manifested values that participants have highlighted in this study to ensure that users actually see the value in these marketing strategies or messages. For instance, users often join social media community groups for park information based on the recommendations of friends or peers, which might lead to park authorities emphasizing the social appeal of their messaging. For example, the Be Crocwise campaign in Australia conducted by the Northern Territory Government (2023) was focused on pushing out accurate sources of information on their social media accounts while working together with traditional owners and local governments to educate visitors and locals about the dangers and risks of proximity to crocodiles when visiting nature parks. This programme highlights a more relevant campaign that is within a similar context to the population of the current study. More efforts should be invested in building a community that provides effective word-of-mouth and advocacy for accurate park and park safety information. This could include similar efforts in advocacy work through social media and local governance to ensure that there is adequate equipping of knowledge and education for the public and park visitors.

Limitations and future research

The current research is not without its limits. Participants in this study were collected based only on a Western Australian sample. As such, the current findings may not be translatable to the wider population. Future research could employ a similar study design with a more heterogeneous sample size to enhance the external validity of the findings. Moreover, the majority of the participants in the study identified as females, as recruitment was conducted using convenience sampling. This may not be an accurate representation of the general population due to skewed gender proportions. Future research could also consider looking into how information-seeking behavior might differ between genders and different consumer segments (e.g. people who do extreme sports vs. less extreme sports).

Furthermore, the exploratory and qualitative nature of the study focuses on exploring the value dimensions grounded in the TCV. A qualitative design might inform in-depth and lived experiences of participants, but it might not translate well when trying to predict certain behaviors prior, during and after a park visit. Future research could conduct a quantitative or mixed-methods approach that allows for the quantification of park visitors’ perceptions, perceived values and behaviors. There is also a lack of a wider focus on other forms of social media platforms as our study only focused on Facebook. For instance, Hughes et al. (2012) suggested differences in information-seeking behavior for individuals on Facebook and Twitter. This will likely apply to the context of park-related information on social media community group sites. Hence, future research should consider investigating the same phenomenon but on a different social media platform.

Additionally, future research could build on the findings of this study by empirically examining how specific values influence park visitor information-seeking behaviors. For instance, the different value dimensions can be manipulated in different park information (e.g. official park websites) to examine whether these value dimensions can enhance the communication effectiveness of park information. There could also be a focus on the factors that appeal to the emotions of individuals to see if this might allow consumers to pay more attention to certain park-related information or messages, especially on park safety. This can be translated to practical terms with park signages and warning signs by including elements that will attract the attention of park visitors, as studies have suggested that visitors often ignore safety signs and messages on-site and engage in dangerous activities that might cause harm.

Research can also focus on the information-seeking behaviors of individuals/park visitors themselves. This will allow better insights into the expectations and perceptions of visitors pertaining to information seeking. This will also provide context for the types of information that visitors are and are not accessing, as it will allow park officials to effectively manage expectations and make information dissemination more effective. For instance, Sung et al. (2023) conducted a study focused on touchpoints to see the types of information with which park visitors engage and provided valuable insights into how park information, especially safety information, can be more effectively disseminated. Lastly, future research can also investigate the credibility of information disseminated on social media community groups in relation to the experience of park visitors or users engaging with the information being shared. There can be instances of information not reflecting the actual conditions of the park, where the complete opposite might be the case.

Conclusion

We applied the push–pull theory and the TCV in our research to understand park visitors’ active information-seeking behavior within a social media community to obtain park information. Our findings show that park visitors do engage in social media community groups to obtain and provide park-related information. Findings from this study identified specific push-pull factors that attract and motivate park visitors to engage with social media community groups for park-related information in preparation, during and post park visitations.

Acknowledgement

We thank the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions, Western Australia for their in-kind support of this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).