Instagram users’ information acceptance process for food-content

Taking pictures of food and sharing them on social networking services has now become a general consumer trend. In particular, many companies are interested in Instagram marketing due to the increase in users and word-of-mouth effect generated by using hashtags. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate Instagram users’ food-content acceptance processes by applying the information adoption model. Sample data for this study was collected by an online survey company and a total of 333 valid responses were analyzed. The study found significant relationships between food-content quality—accuracy, relevance, and conciseness—and information usefulness. Among the factors constituting source credibility, source trustworthiness and hashtag scalability were found to have a significant relationship with information usefulness. Information adoption mediated the relationship between information usefulness and continued use of food-content Instagram/information sharing intentions. The theoretical and managerial implications based on these findings can contribute to designing marketing strategies.