A FEAST FOR THE EYES: YOUNG ADULTS’ INSTAGRAM SHARING ABOUT THEIR DINING EXPERIENCES

Abstract

This paper examines the new media phenomenon of sharing dining experiences on Instagram. Comprising of food, dining ambience and other factors making up dining experiences, this study is guided by the Theory of Normative Social Behaviour (TNSB) to understand the relationship between descriptive norms and injunctive norms with social sharing intentions of dining experiences. The relationship between descriptive norms and social sharing intentions is also further observed for moderating effects from benefits to self, benefits to others, anticipatory socialization, and group identity. 170 participants aged 18 to 29 years old with experience of posting about their dining experiences on Instagram were recruited for an online survey and simple linear regression and two-way ANOVA tests were used to analyse the data. It was found that descriptive norms and injunctive norms were significantly positively correlated with social sharing intentions. Benefits to self also moderated the relationship between descriptive norms and social sharing intentions, but the rest of the proposed moderators did not exhibit moderating effects, but instead main effects with social sharing intentions. This research extends the use of TNSB to new research areas and sheds light on social media behaviour and phenomenon of Instagram sharing about dining experiences. The findings here can also be applied to real life marketing campaigns where marketers are encouraged to strengthen normative mechanisms for food and beverage brands to boost their marketing efforts.