Seniors' loyalty to social network sites: Effects of social capital and attachment

• Bonding social capital affects interpersonal and group attachment to SNSs.
• Bridging social capital highly influences interpersonal and group attachment.
• Group attachment is significantly influenced by interpersonal attachment to SNSs.
• Group attachment has a strong effect on site attachment to SNSs for tourism.
• Seniors’ loyalty to SNSs is highly influenced by site attachment to the SNSs.

The populations of seniors in developed countries around the world are increasing rapidly, resulting in changes in social dynamics and purchasing behaviors, specifically in information technology and tourism. This study analyzes relationships among bonding and bridging social capital (SC), interpersonal, group, and site attachments, and loyalty to identify what makes seniors loyal to social network sites (SNSs) for tourism. Results show that bonding SC affects interpersonal and group attachment and that bridging SC highly influences interpersonal and group attachment. Also, interpersonal attachment has a positive effect on group attachment, which, in turn, is highly influential on site attachment. In particular, group attachment has a strong effect on site attachment, but interpersonal attachment is not shown to affect site attachment. It is also notable that loyalty to SNSs is greatly influenced by site attachment. The findings contribute to the academic literature and provide useful information for practitioners maintaining SNSs.