Date of Award

5-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Committee Chair/Advisor

Linvill, Darren

Committee Member

Kendall , Brenden

Committee Member

Norman , William

Abstract

This thesis examines the extent to which the accommodation sector uses social media, specifically Facebook, to communicate dialogically with its consumers. Using Kent and Taylor's (1998) five principles of dialogic communication, a content analysis of 34 different hotels' Facebook pages were reviewed. Twenty-four posts and comments on each organizations' Facebook page were examined over a 12 month span to determine if dialogic communication was occurring between the organization and its consumers.
The study asked two questions. How is the accommodation sector of the hospitality industry employing the principles of dialogic communication through their Facebook posts? Is there is a relationship between market class and likeliness to use the dialogic principles within Facebook posts?
The study found that the accommodation sector employed the principles of dialogic communication in 97.9 % of the Facebook posts. The results showed frequent occurrences of three of the dialogic principles. These three principles, dialogic loop, conservation of visitors and usefulness of information appeared in over 50% of total posts analyzed. The dialogic principle, generation of return visitors was the only principle to occur in less than 50% of the posts (29.3%). Only 2.1% of posts did not use any of the dialogic principles, with the mean falling at 2.29 principles used. Two statistically significant relationships were discussed between the market class and their likelihood to use the principles of dialogic communication within Facebook posts.

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Communication Commons

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