INSTAGRAM AS A MODERN TOURIST AGENCY - DIVA

Bachelor’s thesis

Instagram as a modern tourist
agency
- A case study of influencers impact on the tourists of Bali

 Authors:
 Dilek Kilic
 Sriaarthy Stephani Selvaduri
 Supervisor: Selcen Özturkcan
 Examiner: Helén Andersson
 Term: VT20
 Subject: International Business
 Level: Bachelor
 Course code: 2FE51E

Abstract

Instagram is a phenomenon which has the recent years gotten significance within the
marketing field. Traditional marketing is being replaced by online-marketing. A
concept of marketing that is still evolving within the research field is Instagram
influencer marketing. To understand influencer marketing, first and foremost it is
crucial to understand the relation between an influencer and an Instagram user. To
understand the relation, the study was conducted as a case study focusing on tourists.
Furthermore, the research aimed to study a specific location and since its high number
of Instagram attention received, the Indonesian island, Bali, was chosen. Thereby,
this case study examined the impact influencers had on tourists of Bali. The research
was implemented through a mixed methodology approach to content analysis. The
data was collected directly from Instagram and contained findings such as
engagement rates, favored destinations and motivations for travel. The findings
showed that Instagram gains a lot of focus upon choosing a travel destination and
upon visiting locations in Bali during the trip. The study concluded that influencers
are being viewed as information sources by travelers. Furthermore, influencers impact
Instagram user’s perception and create visit intention. They also implement norms on
how the Instagram posts should look to be found attracting, which the users follow to
make their feed look captivating.

Key words
Tourism; Instagram; Influencers; Perception; Marketing; Motivations: Travel

Acknowledgments

First of all, we wish to show our appreciation to Linnaeus University for providing
us with valuable education to conduct this research and for giving us the opportunity
to implement the study.

We also wish to express our sincere gratitude to our research supervisor, Associate
Professor Selcen Özturkcan for providing us with guidance, knowledge and
valuable suggestions.

Furthermore, we want to thank our opponents and our examiner, Professor Helén
Andersson, who have contributed with percipient and constructive feedback
throughout this research.

Kalmar, May 27th, 2020.

 Sriaarthy Stephani Selvaduri Dilek Kilic

Table of contents
1 Introduction 1
 1.1 Background 1
 1.1.1 Social Media and Instagram 1
 1.1.2 Tourism 3
 1.1.3 Tourism in Bali 4
 1.2 Problem Discussion 5
 1.3 Research Question 7
 1.4 Purpose of study 7
 1.5 Delimitations 7
2 Literature Review 8
 2.1 Instagram and Travelling 8
 2.1.1 Hashtag and Geotag 9
 2.2 Instagram Influencer 10
 2.2.1 Influencer Endorsement 10
 2.2.2 Influencer Marketing and Travel – EWOM 11
 2.3 Perception 11
 2.4 Travel Motivations 12
 2.5 S-O-R Paradigm 13
 2.5.1 S-O-R-C Paradigm 14
 2.5.2 The Conceptual Model 15
3 Methodology 17
 3.1 Research approach and method 17
 3.2 Research Design 17
 3.2.1 Case Study 18
 3.2.2 Content Analysis 19
 3.2.3 Purposive Sampling 20
 3.2.4 Data Collection 21
 3.3 Reliability and Validity 22
 3.4 Method Criticism 23
 3.5 Ethical Considerations 24
 3.6 Authors Contribution 25
4 Empirical Findings 26
 4.1 Engagement 26
 4.1.1 Likes 26
 4.1.2 Comments 28
 4.1.3 Total Engagement 31
 4.2 Travel related comments 33
 4.3 Locations 34
 4.3.1 Sceneries 35
 4.4 Posts made by Non-influencers 35
5 Analysis 39
 5.1 Perception of a post 39
 5.2 Bali’s Engagement Rate 41

5.3 Influencing vs. Influenced 42
6 Conclusion 44
 6.1 Answering the research question 44
 6.2 Theoretical Implications 45
 6.3 Practical Implications 46
 6.4 Social Implications 46
 6.5 Limitations 47
 6.6 Suggestions for further research 48
7 References 50
 Figure references 55

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Codebook 1
Appendix 2 – Codebook 2
Appendix 3 – Data Collection Quantitative Analysis
Appendix 4 – Data Collection Qualitative Analysis

Figure and table index

Figure 1 How to keep up with rapid tourism growth in Indonesia. (Source: OECD, 2018) _ 4
Figure 2: S-O-R Model according to Mehrabian and Russel (1974) __________________ 14
Figure 3 S-O-R-C model by Gebert and Von Rosenstiel (1996) _____________________ 15
Figure 4 Conceptual Model, S-O-R-C Model applied to Instagram posts by Influencers __ 15
Figure 5 Engaging audience. (Source: Instagram, 2020) __________________________ 30
Figure 6 Engaging audience. (Source: Instagram, 2020) __________________________ 30
Figure 7 Circle Diagram showing number of posts containing travel related comments. __ 33
Figure 8 Mirror reflecting posts from Lempuyang temple. (Source: Instagram, 2020) ____ 38
Figure 9 Revised conceptual framework _______________________________________ 47

Table 1 Foreign tourist Visit to Bali. (Source: Central Bureau of Indonesia Statistic, 2020) 5
Table 2 Engagement in form of likes. __________________________________________ 27
Table 3 Engagement in form of Comments. _____________________________________ 28
Table 4 Calculation of engagement rate (ER). ___________________________________ 32

 List of abbreviations

ER Engagement Rate

Instagram related words

Follower Instagram user who follows another individual, e.g. an influencer
 because the find the posted content interesting. This allows the
 follower to see everything what the individual they are following is
 posting on their feed.
Like Showing appreciation of a post.
Comment Sharing thoughts or feedback of a post.
Hashtag Specifying key words in a post making it easier for other users to find
 the post.
Geotag Specifying the location of the post, both to inform the users about the
 location and to enable users to find the posts.
Feed A flow where posts are being presented. There are three types of
 feeds: A follower feed, where all the posts of the ones the user
 follows will be visible, a user feed, where the user’s own posts will
 be visible and a explorer feed where randomized posts will be visible.

1 Introduction
This chapter intends to give the reader an insight of why this thesis is needed and
the problems that lay the ground for this research. The background is followed by
discussion which motivates why the research is essential both academically as for
businesses. Furthermore, the chapter introduces the research question and conducts
a brief description of the purpose behind the research.

1.1 Background

 “A picture is worth more than a thousand words” – Unknown Author

We have all, at one point come across this phrase in our lives. The idiom defines how
a picture can show more than what words can describe. A picture grants the viewer
to perceive it from their own individual perspectives. It can evoke positive feelings as
well as be expressed resentfully.

As from the marketing aspect, the phrase has some great significance, regarding the
fact that a consumer is more likely to purchase a product after perceiving it (Solomon,
2012). This may be the reason why visual merchandising has been a successful
marketing strategy for years. Visual merchandising helps businesses to boost the
sales, and in many cases, the products that are visualized tend to sell themselves.
Society has been exposed to marketing for decades, e.g. in form of visual
merchandising in store windows, commercials on television, advertisement in the
newspaper etc. (Bastow-Shoop et al., 1991). Although, the past decade, a new
marketing strategy was discovered. A marketing strategy that enhances individuals
with commercials as soon as they enter an online social platform on a smart device
and is defined as “Social Media Marketing” (Gilan & Hammarberg, 2016).

1.1.1 Social Media and Instagram

Soon after the invention of the Internet we were introduced to different platforms that
would allow individuals to connect with each other worldwide. Already in the
beginning of 2000s, it was possible to chat with each other, share similar interests

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within areas such as music, movies, art etc. Today, these platforms are defined as
Social Media and it has become a major part of an individual’s daily life and is mostly
used as a tool for interaction (Edosomwan et al., 2011). According to Statista
(Clement, 2019) an individual spends on average 2 hours and 24 minutes every day
on social media. This phenomenon has enabled the possibilities of staying in touch
with your loved ones despite any distance. Furthermore, social media has encouraged
individuals to get familiar with new people, creating new connections between people
(Edosomwan et al., 2011).

Even if Social Media is mainly used for interaction between individuals, it allows
businesses to interact with customers. Edosomwan et al. (2011) presented Social
Media as the key tool for businesses to grow faster. Through Social Media, businesses
are given the opportunity to strengthen the customer relationship and to build up a
decent reputation among existing and potential customers (Edosomwan et al., 2011).
The popularity of social media has also resulted in a new and popular way of online
marketing, the influencer marketing. Nowadays, more businesses turn to influencers
to market their products and service offerings. Influencers thereby act as
intermediaries between the companies and their potential customers. This allows
companies to reach out to people via social media platforms (Ranga and Sharma,
2014). Additionally, Edosomwan et al. (2011) argue that companies with a strong
brand name and good reputation are more likely to attract not only customers, but
even stakeholders. By being accessible on Social Media, businesses make themselves
remarkable and can infiltrate consumer’s memories. The consumer, in turn, will chose
to purchase products from the company that they have memorized rather than a new
company they did not come across previously (Edosomwan et al., 2011).

One of the leading Social Media platforms today is Instagram. This digital platform
was established by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom in year 2011. Unlike many other
social media platforms, Instagram was not web based when introduced and was only
available on Apple’s App store. Although, it did not take long before the app was
approached by a wide range of users and in turn was available on Googles Play Store,
and as a web-based platform (Musonera, 2018). This digital platform allows people
to edit and share photographs and short-videos that they have captured (Instagram,
2020a). It is common for individuals to share moments from their lives on Instagram,

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whether they celebrate a specific occasion or even if they are having just a simple
meal (Musonera, 2018). According to a survey created by Instagram, 48% of users
used Instagram for inspirations upon deciding their travel destinations (Cohen, 2015),
which shows the multifunctionality of aims with the platform.

1.1.2 Tourism

Tourism is the act of people spending time away from their homes with the purpose
of relaxing and entertaining oneself, as well as making use of the leisure services that
are offered. Tourism can be divided into different segments depending on the purpose
of the travel, like business-or sports tourism as well as recreational tourism amongst
others. There lies a history behind the modern tourism we experience today, which is
highly commercially organized and consists of business-oriented sets of activities
(Walton, 2020). International tourism has grown significantly during the 21st century
due to the rapid growth of information technology, where people have access to all
kinds of information about different tourist destinations and attractions. Online Media
facilitate access to online media communications as well as reviews made by other
tourists and have a great impact on people's decision making or when searching for a
travel destination (Arisandi et al., 2016).

Transport innovation over the years has been a great contribution that enabled the
growth of the tourist industries worldwide, since cheaper and quicker travels
combined with comfort are what makes travels more attractive. This has resulted in
tourism being one of the world’s most important economic sector, as modern tourism
is what opened up the way for both local and global enterprises in different fields of
the markets to benefit from economic activity by advertising their products and
services online. Such companies are travel agencies, airline enterprises, hotels, and
restaurants as well as different event enterprises. If used in the right way, online media
can benefit those sectors and help them grow their financial gains by offering great
travel experiences for tourists (Walton, 2012).

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1.1.3 Tourism in Bali

The growth of tourism worldwide has also affected Indonesia, especially during the
last ten years. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of international visitors to
Indonesia increased from 6,3 Million visitors to 13,4 million visitors, implying that
the number of visitors increased with 112 % (UNWTO, 2020). However, almost 40%
of the tourism in Indonesia accounts for the visitors of Bali (OECD, 2018).

Bali has lately attracted many tourists. According to OECD Economic Department
(2018), tourism in Bali increased from approximately 2 million visitors to an amount
of around 8 million visitors between 2010 and 2017 (See Figure 1).

Figure 1 How to keep up with rapid tourism growth in Indonesia. (Source: OECD, 2018)

The table on the next page, shows that in comparison to year 2014, in 2019 Bali
reached a 69% increase in number of foreign visitors (Central Bureau of Indonesia
Statistics, 2020). The number of Europeans, Americans and Africans visiting Bali
increased dramatically over the past five year, in fact the number of visitors from
these continents more than doubled in 2019 compared to 2014.

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Table 1 Foreign tourist Visit to Bali. (Source: Central Bureau of Indonesia Statistic, 2020)

1.2 Problem Discussion
We have today almost replaced traditional marketing with a modern marketing style
with the help of Social Media Platforms, notably Instagram, with its great global
influence on individuals. The traditional marketing as we have referred to earlier,
consisted of advertisement on tv, radio, newspaper and even by mail. It was very
“product-oriented” and served the purpose of informing consumers about the product
as well as attracting customers (Gilan & Hammarberg, 2016). However, regarding the
circumstances today, traditional marketing has been developed. Some argue that it is
being replaced by internet-based marketing meanwhile others are determined that the
traditional marketing is dead (Zyman, 1999).

The great advantage of online marketing is that businesses have the opportunity to
gather significant information, which can contribute to better marketing strategies.
They are also entitled to track the behavior of consumers. The past decade, a new
market was created, which enabled businesses to reach and connect with new
customers (Gilan & Hammerberg, 2016). This market had significance in many

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industries and especially the tourist industry. Through this market, bloggers and
influencers were given the advantage of becoming the core of marketing since they
unexpectedly became the significant link between the businesses and the final
customer (Musonera, 2018).

According to Musonera (2018), billions of photos and short videos have been
uploaded on Instagram over the years. Some of those photos have received more
reactions in form of comments and likes meanwhile others have failed to attract
attention from an audience. Functions that affect the chances of a photo or a video
becoming popular on Instagram are “photo locations” and “hashtags”. Evidently, the
quality of the photo and the filters that are applied to it, do also have some significance
in attracting attention. Photos and videos that have received many reactions will
subsequently reach the “explore feed” where they will be accessible for more
Instagram users. In other terms, the more reactions a post receives, the more viewers
it will attract (Musonera, 2018). This function is nowadays frequently used by
Instagram Influencers and Bloggers in order to market products or services. There is
a great amount of travel influencers who travel the world and make profits from
marketing businesses in touristic areas, such as touristic spots, hotels, restaurants and
spas amongst other businesses in the leisure sector (Wörndl & Neidhart, 2020).

One of the frequently viewed travel destinations on Instagram is Indonesia, or more
specifically the Indonesian tourist spot island, Bali. On Instagram, there are more
than 60 million posts tagged with #Bali. Furthermore, Bali has gotten the reputation
of being a very “instagrammable” location. The term instagrammable refers to an
object or location that is visually appealing, which can be photographed and later
posted on Instagram (Lexico, 2020). Bali has been acknowledged as the most
Instagrammed island in the world (Jakarta Post; a, 2020). Additionally, the island
made it to the “Top 10 Instagrammed Places in the world” - list, where it was stated
that Bali was the 8th most instagrammed place in the entire world (Jakarta Post; b,
2020). The most instagrammed locations of Bali were Kelingking Beach, the gates of
Lempuyang temple, The Bali Swing and Tegalalang Rice Terraces providing
beautiful pictures of nature and history to the tourists of Bali (Wonderful Indonesia,
2019). It has therefore attracted attention from people who are searching for their next

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travel destination However, there are none, or only a very limited amount of research
to our knowledge defining how much tourists value Instagram posts before visiting
different spots in Bali nor how Instagram can impact tourists. Many factors need to
be taken into consideration when studying the growth of Bali’s tourism, but there is
a possibility that Instagram has some significance when an individual decides upon
their travel to Bali.

1.3 Research Question

RQ: How have Influencers impacted the Instagram using tourists of Bali?

1.4 Purpose of study

The purpose of the study is to analyze and understand if Instagram Influencers can
impact how individuals perceive a location pre-trip and during the trip. As this case
study only analyzes tourists and especially, the tourists in Bali, the interest is to find
out whether Influencers on Instagram can contribute for visit intentions and if there
are any specific traits that tourists follow which are similar to Influencers. The
research aims to allow businesses in the tourist sector to obtain an insight on how they
can be benefitted by Instagram.

1.5 Delimitations
The study is limited to Instagram and will therefore not contain any research made
on other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat etc. The reason behind this
choice is the limited time frame that was allowed for this thesis. Along with the time
frame, some previous studies have shown that Instagram is the best platform for
social media marketing. Additionally, the researchers have decided to only study the
tourists in the province of Bali. As the Penida islands belong to the province of Bali,
the peninsula will also be included in the research.

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2 Literature Review
The literature review aims to give the reader an insight on the theoretical
perspectives that will be considered in this research. It addresses facts from
previous researches and other literatures that supports the research and finishes
with a theoretical framework which will be used to finalize the thesis.

2.1 Instagram and Travelling

For a greater time, visual communication has been a successful strategy in marketing.
Pictures tend to awaken different emotions within an individual, such as attraction to
the visualized object, as in a commercial would be the product, or a desire to
experience the same environment as shown in the image. Images are even very
informative, since humans collect more information by perception than anything else.
This can be stated by fact that over 90% of the information that individuals process,
comes from our visual receptors (Manic, 2015).

Today, we are exposed to photography almost every day of our lives, it can for
instance be in form of ads in our mail, photography in magazines and even in our
Social Media Platforms, especially Instagram. Photographs can be used to capture
memorable moments and relieve them in our memories. It is even a fast a way to share
moments with our closed ones. However, thanks to social media, nowadays it is
possible to share these moments online with anyone in the world, whether it is a close
relative or a stranger across the world who seems to share interest in your pictures.
Since it is possible for a post to attain a larger audience, there is also more reactions
and emotions arising among individuals. There are studies showing that Social Media
is used to review products as to find reviews about products. This can lead to
purchases of a product or as in the case of this thesis, planning a voyage (Sema, 2015).

Hayhurst (2017) states that according to a survey implemented by Instagram, over
40% valued how their vacation will appear to their friends and family and 40% chose
their destination based on if it was “instagrammable”. Instagram is claimed to have
replaced the traditional travel brochure. Travelers are more eager on choosing a travel
destination based on Social Media rather than by the help of a travel agent. According
to a survey made by easyJet, 30% of the participants acknowledged that they chose a

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destination depending on how pictures taken in that location would fit their feed on
Instagram (Wright, 2019).

In a study made by Fotis, Buhalis & Rossides (2012) it was stated that a travel
contains of a three-stages travel process. Accordingly, these are before the trip, during
the trip and after the trip stages, whereas social media is used before the trip to explore
locations and during or after the trip to post pictures and receive reactions in form of
likes and comments.

Instagram users also have the alternative to add a caption to their images and videos.
Additionally, there are filters that can be applied to the posts if a user desire to change
the color, brightness, or any other photographic setting to make the post more
appealing for other users. Furthermore, users can also add tags, in form of geotags
and hashtags. These tags are used to inform the viewers about different information,
such as the settings of the photo or other categories that the post is related to. It can
also attract new potential viewers or followers to the post. This will allow the viewers
of the post to leave a comment with their thoughts and questions regarding the picture.
Instagram posts inspire people to visit new places (Miller, 2017).

2.1.1 Hashtag and Geotag

Hashtags are essential for a post in order to reach more viewers of the post.
Barnhardt (2020) claimed in an article that a post with as little as one hashtag gains
on average 12,6% more engagement than a post with no hashtags. It is also very
informative and can lead a viewer to similar posts. In other words, users can search
for different hashtags to find posts about different topics, whether it is a specific
travel location or anything that interests the user. This function enables travelers to
find the perfect post that they want to recreate and post in their own feed (Instagram,
2020b). Another alternative of attracting viewers to your post is by using the geotag.
Geotag means tagging the location of the picture. It is another way for users to seek
for posts tagged on a specific location and be inspired. A photo with a geotag is
likely to gain more engagement than a post without (York, 2020).

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2.2 Instagram Influencer

According to Merriam-Webster (2020), the term influencer means an individual with
the ability of inspiring or guiding the actions of others. However, in social media
terms, an influencer is referred to someone who can generate interest in something,
e.g. a location, by posting about it on social media (Merriam-Webster, 2020). Karobka
(2015), argues that companies believe that photos of an Instagram Influencer with
more than 100.000 followers can reach more consumers than any other advertisement
campaign. Influencer marketing can be described as a marketing strategy
implemented by companies to build their own brand image through influencers
(Veriman et al., 2017).

2.2.1 Influencer Endorsement

The influencer marketing is closely related to the endorsement marketing.
According to Schouten et al. (2020), previous studies have identified two processes
that are significant for brand endorsement: identification with the endorser (Basil,
1996) and perceived endorser credibility (Ohanian, 1991). More detailed, to achieve
a product endorsement, the endorser should share information about themselves to
make the audience feel connected to the endorser. The revealed information should
create the audience to perceive the endorser as credible and trustworthy. The
audience needs to know that the promoted product is valuable for the endorser and
is not only promoted to profit from it (Schouten, et al., 2020).

Influencers engage their followers by showing them details about their every day,
whether it is which products they use, where they live or other experiences. Details
that are otherwise left out on social media. Besides, influencers mix their normal
content with the content that they are marketing, which creates a blend of interesting
content and commercial contents for the followers. This allows consumer to relate
with the influencers and feel like they know them. In turn, this evolves to trust and
make consumers feel that influencers are reliable (Veirman et al., 2017). A study
made by Schouten et al. (2020) revealed that celebrity endorsement is slowly being

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replaced by influencer endorsement. As the results show, participants identify
themselves more with influencers than celebrities and since they are engaged in an
influencer’s everyday life, they also perceive the influencer with more credibility
(Schouten, et al., 2020).

2.2.2 Influencer Marketing and Travel – EWOM

In travel context, influencer marketing builds its importance on word-of-mouth. Word
of mouth (WOM) communication involves consumers interacting with each other and
exchanging personal thoughts and opinions about a product or an experience. Litvin
et al. (2008) argues that in the digital era, WOM has developed to “Electronic word
of mouth”. Electronic word of mouth (EWOM) involves communication through e-
mails, websites, blogs and social media (Litvin et al., 2008). In turn, marketers in the
tourism sector have started to work with bloggers (Lin & Huang, 2006) whom share
their different opinions about locations to influence the travel decision maker via
EWOM. The result of Social Media made marketers turn their attention towards
Social Media influencers.

2.3 Perception

According to John and Saks (2001), the definition of perception is the process of
creating meaning and an explanatory image by the different expressions that an
individual receives from what they see. An individual’s perception can be concluded
as mental images created by interpretations of products, environments, or themselves
(Rahman, 2012).

John and Saks (2001), further explain that the creation of perception contains three
core elements, the perceiver, the situation and the target of perception e.g. a scenery.
A consumer’s research process is very structured. The process involves gathering
information from the image and transforming it into a mental image. Generally,
perception is the result of different marketing signals received by a consumer. Every
individual study an image differently, consequently perceptions of images vary from
individual to individual. Previous experience, motivations and emotions are factors
that affect an individual’s perception (John and Saks, 2001). The decision making in

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the buying process is based on the mental image a consumer have of a product rather
than the product itself (Stern, et al., 2001).

Stern et al., (2001) explains perception as reality based and psychological. In business
terms perception is reality and reputation based. The psychological perspective of
perception describes understanding, choosing and organizing the acquired
information. An already established perception is difficult to change and therefore it
is very important, in business terms to promote a product that will give a positive
“first impression” product or a service. First impressions are generally the outcoming
perception of a product or service (Evans et al., 2012).

Conclusions in a buying process are influenced by impressions that consumers
receive globally from marketers and companies. Significantly, in e-commerce, the
base of a purchase decision is expressions of a brand, psychological perspectives and
subtle qualities (Stern, et al., 2001).

Perception is a key factor in Influencer marketing. When an influencer market
products or locations, they put effort in making the post look desirable. In turn, their
followers will according with their own experience and their trust in the influencer,
create a perception of the product which is determining in the buying process (Brewer,
2011).

2.4 Travel Motivations

The main purpose of travel motivation theory is to find out why people travel and is
a crucial aspect in the understanding of tourist behavior (Woodside & Martin, 2008).
The tourist is the central element in the travel motivation theory, followed up by
motivation in its different forms. Motivation can simply be explained by being the
driving force within a person that induces their actions (Gong & Tung, 2016) and
there are some identified motivational factors that affects the destination selection
process of tourists. A tourist’s image of a destination is essential in the decision-
making process, and whether it is positive or negative affects the travel decision itself.
Although people can have different motivations for visiting the same place, their

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perceptions of the destination can also differ from one another (Woodside & Martin,
2008).

Different aspects of tourist attractions can be motivational factors for people to pursue
their needs and desires. Maybe an opportunity for relaxation and escape from
everyday life full of stress and obligations or experiencing new cultures and meeting
new people could be the aim of the travel. Such qualities in tourism destinations can
be associated with beaches, village sightseeing and other tourist attractions and
activities that makes us happy. Travel interests like these can be passed on to people
in different ways, nevertheless pictures that evokes interest of satisfying their needs
in a specific destination that they could not otherwise have experienced (Woodside &
Martin, 2008).

A study made by Lee and Pearce (2003) has shown that people rank novelty,
relaxation and self-actualization as the top three motivation factors for traveling
(Woodside & Martin, 2008). This study has its origins in Maslow's hierarchy of needs
where every human’s needs are ranked in five different categories. It starts with vital
physiological needs such as hunger and thirst, and then arises to the needs of
belongingness, love and self-actualization once the basic needs are covered. The
motivation behind travels to tourist destinations is thereby considered to be the
fulfillment of those needs in tourists lives (Woodside & Martin, 2008).

2.5 S-O-R Paradigm

The S-O-R Paradigm was developed by Mehrabian and Russel (1974), to elucidate
how effects of an individual’s surroundings can affect their behavior. The S-O-R are
abbreviations for the conceptions, Stimulus (S), Organism (O) and Response (R). The
paradigm intends to analyze the connections between the physical stimulus (S) and
the individuals, or organisms as stated above, evoked emotions (O) which results in
responses (R) (Spangenberg et al., 1996).

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Figure 2: S-O-R Model according to Mehrabian and Russel (1974)

 The physical stimulus refers to the five senses a human has, smell, sight, hear, taste
 and touch. However, according to Lindgren and Nordstrom (2009), the visual
 stimulus is the dominating stimulus. They further argue that the sense of sight is the
 first stimulus a newborn child use to gather information, whereof it is the first stimulus
 the humankind explores. The sight involves visual factors, such as brightness, colors,
 contrasts etc. which allows individuals to evoke emotions and perceive it from
 different perspectives (Nordfalt, 2007). Since Instagram provides the feature to edit
 the visual factors mentioned above on a post to make it look more appealing, it
 provides its users to adjust their pictures. This can affect the individual by evoking
 negative or positive emotions. Although in some cases, no emotions are evoked
 (Musonera, 2018). A previous study in the field researched and compared “visual,
 vocal and celebrity effects in motion pictures” to see if tourism motivation was
 affected. The study showed that visual effects did play a great role in the consumers
 decision making process while looking for a tourism destination to visit.

 The S-O-R model is appropriate for this research because the paradigm studies
 behavior and effects of environment. Instagram will be represented as the
 environment, the sight of posts will represent the stimulus and finally the viewers
 engagement, in form of likes and comments will embody the responses. However, the
 research aims to provide what the consequences are.

 2.5.1 S-O-R-C Paradigm

 In the Psychology of Marketing, Raab et al. (2010) mentions the S-O-R-C model
 created by Gebert and von Rosenstiel. They further imply that according to Gebert
 and Von Rosenstiel (1996), an individual’s surroundings consists of all kind of

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perceived signals. They indicate that the sight, or other senses, can be described as a
stimulus firstly when they are behaviorally relevant for a person. To further explain,
they believe that when an individual sees something, it is a signal, but when the
signals have some value to trigger a behavior, they are considered a stimulus.
Additionally, Gebert and Von Rosenstiel (1996), argue that there is a fourth
conception to this model, consequence. Consequence (C) defines the occurring
consequences by an individual’s response of the organism and stimuli (Raab et al.,
2010).

Figure 3 S-O-R-C model by Gebert and Von Rosenstiel (1996)

2.5.2 The Conceptual Model

The conceptual model was created by combining factors of the S-O-R model and the
S-O-R-C model. The model aims to determine the theoretical approach of this study
and will be the centerpiece when analyzing the empirical findings in the later chapters.

Figure 4 Conceptual Model, S-O-R-C Model applied to Instagram posts by Influencers

Instagram posts made by influencers are observed as the physical stimuli of an
individual. The stimuli later transfers to engagement, in form of likes and comments.
Likes are valued as pleasurable while the response indicates that this is an act of
satisfaction. Meanwhile, comments are recognized as arousing and are representing

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approach behavior. The combination of these conceptions results consequently in
visit intentions.

The suggested conceptual framework is applicable for both the behavior before
visiting Bali and when visiting Bali. Before visiting Bali, the conceptual framework
demonstrates the behavioral path creating visit intentions of Bali as a destination.
However, when actualizing the visit, the same conceptual model can be used to
demonstrate behavior upon selecting a location within Bali.

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3 Methodology
The methodology chapter provides an outline for the methodological framework of
the observation. This includes the appropriate approach, the methods that are used
and the type of data that will be considered. Additionally, this chapter will present
arguments for the chosen methods.

3.1 Research approach and method

A research approach is crucial when conducting a research. Bryman (2016) explains
that the suitability of the three different research approaches, deductive, inductive,
and abductive, varies in accordance to the research questions and the thesis purposes.
As this research is determined to be a case study, we believe that the appropriate
approach is the abductive approach. The abductive approach is generally considered
to be a mix out of the inductive and deductive approaches and can simplified be
explained as an approach that bases the theoretical understanding of individuals
(Bryman, 2016).

The purpose of the research can be defined as to analyze how travel posts are
attracting Instagram users. This can be conducted by both quantitative and qualitative
methods. According to Murray (2017), a research gains more consistency if it
contains both methods. Murray (2017) further argues that what one method may lack,
the other method will contain, therefore the methods will complete each other’s
deficiencies. Hence, a mixed methodology has been selected. By using two methods,
the researchers can analyze both statistical data gathered from Instagram and are
entitled to make an in depth-observation of the users (Bryman & Bell, 2017).

3.2 Research Design

In order to observe the effect of Instagram on travelers, the thesis will focus on a
specific focus group and conduct a case study about Bali’s tourists. The common
approach applied to case studies are the exploratory approach (Simons, 2009). An
exploratory research is conducted when there is not significant amount of studies
about a phenomenon. Moreover, an exploratory research aims to answer problems

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that have not yet been defined (Boru, 2007). Currently, only a few defining studies
have been made on Instagram. The amount of studies that signifies the impacts
Instagram has on individuals, especially on tourists, is even further limited. Thereof,
the thesis will be conducted with an exploratory approach.

3.2.1 Case Study

Instagram is a phenomenon which has not been deeply researched upon. The
application has not been around for more than 10 years (Blystone, 2019) and
currently, the amount of research made upon Instagram is limited, especially the
research analyzing the application through a travel context (Musonera, 2018).
Furthermore, the study will research how the phenomenon impacts Instagram users.
To elucidate, the study will on some level analyze behavior. According to Bryman
(2016) and Murray (2017), behaviors are best analyzed through observation.
Moreover, to get implicated in how users are affected by Instagram, the research will
be conducted through observational and quantified data collection.

A case study is generally conducted when the research targets a certain focus group.
According to Zainal (2007) the case study method “…enables a researcher to closely
examine the data within a specific context”. A case study is mostly conducted by
selecting a limited number of individuals to study. For instance, when researching a
company, the research may be limited to a specific department of this firm. In the
context of this research for example, a specific geographical area has been selected
for the research (Yin, 1984). Referring to the research question, this thesis will
predominately analyze Instagram using tourists of Bali. Zainal (2007) further states
that “… case studies in their essence, explore and investigate contemporary real-life
phenomenon, through detailed contextual analysis of a limited number of events or
conditions and their relationships”. To further explain, a case study aims to research
a modern phenomenon by data collected through in-depth observations. Observations
can vary in different research. Some researchers do their observation through
interviews meanwhile other may observe individuals in e.g. public or online (Bryman,
2016).

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A case study will be beneficial for the research because of two major reasons; firstly,
a case study aims to investigate a contemporary phenomenon (Zainal, 2007) which is
a condition that Instagram classifies for. Secondly, case studies are generally carried
out through observation (Bryman, 2016; Zainal, 2007) and as earlier mentioned, in
order to conduct this research an observation will be required of the users of
Instagram.

3.2.2 Content Analysis

The study will be carried out through a mix-method approach to content analysis. As
the name of the method already reveals, content analysis is used to analyze contents.
To further elucidate, the analysis aims to analyze contents such as documentations,
texts, or images. The analysis is approached by quantifying content in terms and
preset categories. Moreover, the data must be collected in a systematical approach
and should be unchallenging to replicate (Bryman, 2016). The research will be
conducted with both a qualitative content analysis and a quantitative analysis. By
involving a mix-method approach to the content analysis, the research will obtain an
in depth-understanding of the research objectives (Frankel et al., 2012). The
preeminent argument for the choice of method is that through a content analysis
approaches and behaviors with similar pattern can be analyzed. This can be simplified
as an observational approach of behavior traits on Instagram. But the results can both
be qualitative and quantitative. Data on Instagram, in form of “likes” and “comments”
left on posts can be quantified, meanwhile the content can be analyzed through a
qualitative approach. We believe that this is a suitable approach to this research
because it somehow analyzes the relationship between an Instagram user and an
influencer and behaviors are best analyzed through observation. (Bryman, 2016)
However, since we are not able to implement a participant behavior, we decided to
analyze the online behavior.

The first part of this research will be carried out through a quantitative content
analysis. According to Berelson (1952) quantitative content analysis is “a research
technique for the systematic, objective and quantitative description of the manifest
content of communication”. Through a quantitative content analysis, communication
on Instagram can be quantified. In other words, the analysis in this study will aim to

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calculate how much interaction a post gets in form of likes, views, and comments and
to define if there are traits of approach behavior revealing (Berelson, 1952).

According to Mayring (2007) a qualitative analysis is defined as an approach with the
purpose to analyze communication materials in a systematic way. In the second part
of the study, Instagram posts are being studied as the communication materials,
revealing hidden communication between an Influencer and a follower. In other
words, the researchers aim to see coercive patterns between Influencers post and the
tourists posts.

3.2.3 Purposive Sampling

Purposive sampling, also known as judgement sampling, is a non-probability
sampling technique where researchers rely on their own judgements when selecting
the participants of the study based on some criteria's. This technique is suitable for
researchers who believe that they can select good representatives of samples in the
aim of the research (Saunders et al.,2012).

In this research, thirteen influencers were selected, and in order to fit the research they
had to fulfill the following criteria:

- They must have more than 100.000 followers.

- They must have visited Bali.

- They must have minimum 10 pictures of Bali.

The selection of influencers included a process of creating a new account on
Instagram. The reason behind this was to avoid that the selection of the posts would
be biased by Instagram’s algorithm. Secondly, we entered Bali’s geotag feed and
looked through the posts to get a random sample. The first ones that fulfilled the
requirements was selected. There were some cases where the posts were not directly
posted by the influencer. Instead they were reposted by others, but as the original
influencer was mentioned it was easy to identify them, and if they fitted the criteria,
they were still selected. This explains the reason why some of the Influencers who do
not have any recent photos from Bali but still is a part of the research.

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For the qualitative phase of the study we aim to select the first ten posts appearing
under the tags of a certain location. But since any type of posts can end up among
those ten, including the influencers we have implemented a criterion for the posts that
are being analyzed in the second phase of this study

The requirements for a post to be considered in our study is:

- Cannot have received more than 500 likes

- The user who posted this should not have more than 2 000 followers.

- The picture or video should represent the location.

3.2.4 Primary Data Collection

The collection of data will be gathered directly from Instagram. There is an
unavoidable uncertainty whether Instagram data can be assumed as a primary data or
secondary data. Saunders (2016) define primary data as data gathered by the
researcher directly and further states that primary data can be collected from different
sources. Secondary data is on the other hand described as collected through other
researchers and already implemented studies and statistics. In this case, we will gather
the required quantitative data directly from Instagram and create our own statistical
tables to obtain an understanding. Furthermore, the qualitative data will be obtained
through our observations and codes. The data will not be collected from other
researchers or from already implemented statistics which is the case of secondary
data. Therefore, we want to express the data collection as primary data.

The quantitative data collection will be commenced by assembling a codebook. A
codebook serves the purpose of defining different patterns within a text or pictures. It
is a good way of identifying statements or objects that are being repeatedly presented.
Every component that has a significance for the study will be given a code number.
Through this, the data collection will be easy to use in calculations. (Lavrakas, 2008).
The construction of the codebook involves a brief research about the top influencers
within the travel field. After selecting 13 influencers with content to analyze, the
upcoming step will be to select the top objectives in a content that would make it
among “the top posts” on Bali’s geotag feed. This will be implemented by observing

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the top feed during a specific time frame. Since the time frame was limited, the
researchers were not allowed a time more than fourteen days to observe and define
the top objectives. After detecting, the two main components, Influencers and favored
sceneries of Bali, the codebook will be constructed with an initiate aim to illustrate
how users react to travel posts in Bali. Number of likes, comments and in the case of
video-posts, the number of views were coded. Additionally, geotags, hashtags,
locations and type of comments were noted.

The secondary phase of data collection will analyze different posts of locations in
Bali which are “Instagrammable” and influenced by Influencers. The collection of
data in phase I intends, among many factors, to present different locations that have
received most attention from the analyzed Influencers. Out of this, the six most
apparent locations will be analyzed. From observing the posts taken at these locations,
a new codebook will be created with significant symbol of the posts. With symbols,
we intend to analyze objects that are apparent in the pictures, significant positions
such as if the influencer faces the camera or the view etc. Through the created
codebook, we will later analyze 20 posts from each location posted by regular tourists
to identify patterns and similar characteristics between posts by influencers and
tourists. The aim is to observe whether the touristic posts are impacted by the
influencer’s posts. In total, 120 touristic posts will be analyzed.

3.3 Reliability and Validity

Collection of data is the core of a research in order to understand and discuss a
concept. To provide a truthful result, the researchers needs to be certain that the
collected data is controlled for possible distortion effects and that the same thing is
applicable for everyone using the data (Krippendorf, 2004). Krippendorf (2004),
explains that through the given data, the research should be able to be replicated.

In the context of this research, it is important to acknowledge the potential conditions
that could be affecting the data into generating the wrong result. Conditions that
should be considered are for instance, the posts on geotagged locations might not
come from tourists but instead from residents. Therefore, the analyst should observe
the background of the post and eliminate the posts that are not qualified for this

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research. Other conditions that may distort the result would be the change in
comments and likes of the post. Accounts can be deleted, decreasing the amount of
likes or comments of a post. However, since the data collection will contain thousands
of comments and likes, a few decreases cannot affect the result of the research.

Content analysis is well suited for this study, predominantly because it is referred an
unobtrusive method (Webb et al., 1966). This means that the participants in this study
did not have to take the study into account while “creating” the data. The influencers
whose posts contributed to this research were not informed of this study meaning they
did not have the chance to influence it, and a non-reactive effect was created in order
to increase the reliability of this thesis (Bryman, 2016).

Validity is another significantly important tool beside reliability to ensure the
credibility of the data that has been collected in a research (Noble & Smith, 2015).
The collected data needs to be validated in order to detect, to what extent, the scores
from the measurements represents the variables they are intended to (Chiang et al.,
2015).

This case study contains data in the form of Instagram posts, likes and comments
among others to see if they share common traits to later be analyzed. We consider
these variables to be highly relevant to fulfill the purpose of this study. Furthermore ,
by looking for the characteristics in pictures such as specific places in Bali and
examine the amount of likes and comments, we will be provided with the appropriate
basis to examine the subject and answer the research question.

3.4 Method Criticism
This study uses the triangulation method by mixing qualitative and quantitative
content analysis in order to increase the reliability and validity of this case study
(Oleinik, 2010). The criticism of those are however crucial in order to reach an
analytic value in this aim, where pros and cons of this method needs to be taken into
consideration. Content analysis is in one hand an objective method where data
collections such as sampling procedures and coding schemes are clearly set out. This
provides opportunities for follow-up studies to use the exact same replication of data
and implementation of it in further studies, which gives content analysis studies an

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advantage when it comes to transparency. On the other hand, content analysis just as
any other method suffers from some limitations such as the interpretation factor. It is
nearly impossible for the coding person to devise the coding manuals without any
personal interpretation, since coding material must be drawn upon the coder everyday
knowledge as a participant of a certain culture. Coders interpretation certainly
influences the outcome to some extent, although this study aims to keep these factors
to a minimum while executing the coding (Bryman, 2016).

3.5 Ethical Considerations

As the numbers of people engaging in social media has risen during the last years, the
amount of “naturally-accrued” data has undoubtedly increased, providing researchers
to collect data that would otherwise take enormous efforts to obtain (Townsend &
Wallace, 2020). It is however important to consider the ethical aspects of the data
collection, where the study has to be implemented with good ethical approaches.

Social media refers to any social online data, with the exception of email. All social
media platforms have in common that communication is a key element, which in turn
provides a great ground of human attitudes and behavior that can be used in researches
like this one. There is nevertheless a thin line between what is considered to be private
and public data. Most social media platforms, such as Instagram requires their users
to agree on a set of terms that clarifies how their data may be used by a third party. It
does however not necessarily make it ethical for us to use this public data, even if it
is legal. The collected data in this study consists of influencer posts that are open
public profiles, and the comments underneath those posts are made with
consciousness of publicity. Given the limited timeframe of the study, acquiring
informed consent from every participant has not been an option due to the great
number of participants. Reaching out to every participant in order to ask for
permission is practically impossible in such a short time (Townsend & Wallace,
2020).

Another aspect of ethical considerations is the risk of harm of the participants. Since
no social media users' privacy has been intruded and the subject that we are dealing
with is not sensitive, we see no unethical actions of data collection from the

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participants' part of view. Posts that are published by the influencers are in firsthand
intended to reach out to as many people as possible in a travel context. For this reason,
we did not anonymize them, and the transparency of the research was thereby kept at
a high level as well.

3.6 Authors Contribution

This thesis has been conducted by two authors who have had equal contributions to
the work. The workload has been equally distributed between the two authors and
communication has been a key element during the process, in order to make sure that
both were on the same page about everything that the thesis contains. We as the
authors therefore take complete responsibility of our work.

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4 Empirical Findings
This chapter will give the reader an insight on the qualitative and quantitative data
that was gathered to conduct the research. The purpose is to properly present the
empirical findings that are relevant for this study and that will be used to discuss
and analyze in the later chapters.

The data collection has both a qualitative and quantitative phase. In the first phase, a
codebook was constructed. The purpose is to, through the codebook, collect data
concerning the amount of comments and likes that influencer’s posts receives.
Additionally, the purpose is to detect what type of comments that are being posted,
their relation to travel and finally which type of tags that are being used to notify the
follower of locations. The second phase contained a second codebook suitable to
observe the posts from a qualitative perspective.

4.1 Engagement

The term engagement in social media accounts for the interaction between individuals
on Social Media platforms. This can involve messages, reposts, likes, comments or
anything that allow communication between social media users (Smith & Gallicano,
2015). In terms of Instagram, the engagement tools are comments, likes, reactions to
stories and direct messages (Instagram, 2020c). Engagement is important to
determine whether an Instagram user’s, or as in this case the Influencers posts are
found alluring by followers or other users (Mee, 2020). However, since we are not
analyzing Instagram stories and do not have access to the direct messages sent in
between individuals and influencers, this study will measure the engagement in form
of likes and comments.

4.1.1 Likes

With the help of the codebook, the total engagement was analyzed. The table below
(see table 2) reveals the minimum, maximum and mean likes that posts of Bali has
received from the participating influencers. To add, the table aims to inform the reader
of how many followers that the influencer had in order make a relative understanding.

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The table is sorted by the number of followers that an influencer has. Meaning that
the influencer with least followers is at the top and the influencer with most followers
are at the bottom of the table. However, through this table, it is discovered that the
mean number of likes are related to the amount of follower. As visible, the mean
number of likes is increasing with every follower. Posts made by JuliaLobasheva,
who has the least followers have in average the least number of likes. Meanwhile,
posts made by MuradOsmann, who has over 4 million followers on Instagram, has an
average of 163 876 likes per post.

Table 2 Engagement in form of likes.

When calculating how much mean likes a post in Bali receives in relation to the
amount of the followers that the Influencer has, it is revealed that on average, 4%, of
an influencer’s followers show engagement in form of likes. However, there is one
factor that must be taken into account and that is the fact that a public post can be
liked by any Instagram user and the option of liking is not limited to only followers
(Instagram, 2020). To conclude, this means that on average, 4% or less of the
followers showed engagement in form of likes to Bali related posts.

Furthermore, nine out of the thirteen accounts that were analyzed received a higher
mean amount of likes on the Bali related posts than the mean amount of likes the

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