Halal Tourism and Social Media Marketing: The Moderating Effect of Religious Social Control in the Context of Stimulus Organism Response and Source-Credibility Theory

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of social media marketing activities on online impulse buying in halal tourism within the context of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) and source-credibility theories (SCT). Additionally, the moderating effect of religious social control on the relationship between social media marketing activities and the perception of the source as attractive, trustworthy, and expert is being tested. These relationships were analyzed within the framework of structural equation modeling. Amos and the SPSS Hayes Macro extension were utilized. A total of 512 valid surveys were collected from Turkish consumers who declared that they were Muslim and had a holiday within the scope of halal tourism and purchased this holiday online. The findings show that social media marketing activities are perceived as attractive, expert, and trustworthy in the context of halal tourism. Religious social control strengthens the relationship between social media activities and source credibility. In addition, social media content perceived as expert and trustworthy creates online impulse buying behavior toward halal tourism. The study differentiates itself by examining the relationship between social media activities and online impulse buying through the moderating effect of religious social control in the context of halal tourism.