Building social capital in cruise travel via social network sites

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate what type of Facebook posts help cruise lines build bridging and bonding social capital. The study applies the Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) method to identify which types of posts establish bridging and bonding social capital. The analysis is conducted on an international cruise line’s official Facebook posts posted between 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. The results highlight that media type, embedding passenger motivation, and a ship image help establish both bridging and bonding social capital, while content type helps establish bridging social capital. The paper is original because it helps understand how cruise lines can improve bonding and bridging social capital via social media. The paper also enhances understanding of social capital theory in the travel industry by investigating the relationship between Facebook post types and social capital in cruise shipping.