Factors Driving Indonesian Travel Agencies' Sales Performance

This study examines the influence of social media adoption, social media marketing, and sales experience on the sales performance of Indonesian travel agencies. As digital platforms become increasingly central to global business operations, this study offers a timely perspective on how these factors contribute to competitive advantage in the travel industry. A quantitative method was applied using a Likert-scale questionnaire distributed to 111 respondents selected through purposive sampling, with participants holding managerial, supervisory, or ownership positions in travel agencies in Indonesia, who manage and obtain information regarding their business's marketing program from their company's social media platforms. Data were analysed using SmartPLS to test the direct relationships between variables. The results reveal that social media adoption and social media marketing significantly impact sales performance, underlining the critical role of digital engagement in reaching and converting customers to purchase. In contrast, sales experience does not have a significant effect, suggesting that traditional experience alone may not directly contribute to improved sales outcomes in today’s digitally driven environment. These findings encourage travel agencies to focus on optimizing their digital presence and marketing strategies to enhance their performance in a competitive tourism market.

Social Media Adoption, Social Media Marketing

1. Agnihotri, R. (2020). Social media, customer engagement, and sales organizations: A research agenda. Industrial Marketing Management, 90, 291–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.07.017. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Ancillai, C. (2019). Advancing social media driven sales research: Establishing conceptual foundations for b-to-b social selling. Industrial Marketing Management, 82, 293–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.01.002. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Asnawati, Nadir, M., Wardhani, W., & Setini, M. (2022). The effects of perceived ease of use, electronic word of mouth and content marketing on purchase decision. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 6(1), 81–90. https://doi.org/10.5267/J.IJDNS.2021.10.001. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Ayuni, Q., Cangara, H., & Arianto, A. (2019). The influence of digital media use on sales level of culinary package product among female entrepreneur. Jurnal Penelitian Komunikasi Dan Opini Publik, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.33299/jpkop.23.2.2382. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Banerjee, B., & Bag, S. (2022). Relationship between creativity, adaptive selling, and sales performance: The moderating role of job satisfaction. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 27(2), 83–105. https://doi.org/10.21315/aamj2022.27.2.5. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Bowen, M. (2021). Social media in B2B sales: Why and when does salesperson social media usage affect salesperson performance? Industrial Marketing Management, 96, 166–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.05.007. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Bunghez, C. L. (2020). Marketing strategies of travel agencies: A quantitative approach. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(24), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410660. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Cartwright, S. (2021). Strategic use of social media within business-to-business (b2b) marketing: A systematic literature review. Industrial Marketing Management, 97, 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.06.005. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Chatterjee, S., Chaudhuri, R., Sakka, G., Grandhi, B., Galati, A., Siachou, E., & Vrontis, D. (2021). Adoption of social media marketing for sustainable business growth of smes in emerging economies: The moderating role of leadership support. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/su132112134. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Cuandra, F., & Candy, C. (2024). Strategies and innovations for enhancing sustainable performance in smes during the 4.0 digital business era. Jurnal Organisasi Dan Manajemen, 20(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.33830/jom.v20i1.6449.2024. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. DaMonte, T., &Vaden, A. G. (1987). Career decision in hospitality management.Hospitality Education and Research Journal, 11(2), 51–63. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Dan, C., & Minh Hai, D. (2023). Sales performance assessment: A theoretical overview. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Research and Studies, 3(6), 1274–1281. www.multiresearchjournal.com. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Dolega, L., Rowe, F., & Branagan, E. (2021). Going digital? the impact of social media marketing on retail website traffic, orders and sales. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 60(February), 102501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102501. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Dr. Duryadi, M. S. (2021). Metode penelitian ilmiah metode penelitian empiris model path analysis dan analisis menggunakan smartpls. In Penerbit Yayasan Prima Agus Teknik (Vol. 7, Issue 1). [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Enyinda, C. I., Opute, A. P., Fadahunsi, A., & Mbah, C. H. (2020). Marketing-sales-service interface and social media marketing influence on b2b sales process. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 36(6), 990–1009. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-01-2019-0053. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. F., Murshed, V., S. (2018). Marketing management. Marketing Management Journal, 28(1), 1–87. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. Gao, R. (Chuang R., Murphy, W. H., & Anderson, R. E. (2020). Transformational leadership effects on salespeople’s attitudes, striving, and performance. Journal of Business Research, 110(January), 237–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.023. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. Gavina, B., & Silva, S. (2022). The portuguese’s behavior towards travel agencies. Cuadernos de Turismo, 49, 149–171. https://doi.org/10.6018/turismo.521831. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Geng, R. (2020). Content marketing in e-commerce platforms in the internet celebrity economy. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 120(3), 464–485. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-05-2019-0270. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Guenzi, P. (2020). Studying the antecedents and outcome of social media use by salespeople using a moa framework. Industrial Marketing Management, 90, 346–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.08.005. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Gunarto, W. S., & Susanto Pranoto, H. (2023). Pengaruh social media marketing, e-commerce, dan kualitas produk terhadap peningkatan penjualan toko offline pada family business universitas ciputra angkatan 9. Performa, 8(2), 169–177. https://doi.org/10.37715/jp.v8i2.3051. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Hadiyati, R. (2024). From content to commerce: Investigating the role of content marketing in driving sales and brand engagement. Management Studies and Business Journal (Productivity), 1(3), 355–368. https://doi.org/10.62207/sntdc635. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2017). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) - Joseph F. Hair, Jr., G. Tomas M. Hult, Christian Ringle, Marko Sarstedt. In Sage. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). Pls-sem:Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). The results of pls-sem article information. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Hernanto, Y., Hidayat, N. K., & Basbeth, F. (2022). The influence of sales training and sales experience through adaptive selling behavior on salesperson performance. Budapest International Research and Insttute-Journal (BIRCI-Journal), 5(3), 28169–28183. https://bircu-journal.com/index.php/birci/article/view/6896. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Indrawati, S. (2021). Effect of ability on salesperson performance through adaptive selling behaviour as an intervening variable. Jurnal Bisnis dan Manajemen, 5(1), 31-37. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Jang, S., Chung, J., & Rao, V. R. (2021). The importance of functional and emotional content in online consumer reviews for product sales: Evidence from the mobile gaming market. Journal of Business Research, 130(October 2018), 583–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.027. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

30. Liadeli, G. (2023). A meta-analysis of the effects of brands’ owned social media on social media engagement and sales. Journal of Marketing, 87(3), 406–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429221123250. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

31. Lim, D., & Kesumahati, E. (2023). Study of msmes performance: Factors affecting msmes performance through marketing adoption with social media. Jurnal Administrasi Dan Manajemen, 13(1), 29–44. https://doi.org/10.52643/jam.v13i1.2618. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

32. Memon, M. A., Thurasamy, R., Ting, H., & Cheah, J. H. (2025). Purposive sampling: A review and guidelines for quantitative research. Journal of Applied Structural Equation Modeling, 9(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.47263/JASEM.9(1)01. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

33. Purwantini, S., Rusdianti, E., Wardoyo, P., Magister, P., & Universitas, M. (2020). The role of selling experience in increasing salesforce performance. International Journal of Economic, Business and Accounting Research, 2020(4), 1111–1120. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

34. Sentoso, A., Sibarani, T. P., & Muchsinati, E. S. (2024). Business performance of msmes : An analysis of the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and technology orientation. Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen, 15(2), 318–333. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

35. Silva, P. M., Santos, J. F., & Moutinho, V. F. (2023). Salespeople’s performance and digital technologies in real estate: Evidence from the portuguese retail real estate sector. Journal of General Management, 49(1), 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063070221117265. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

36. Sondakh, D., Lumingkewas, V., Laoh, L. C., & Sandag, G. A. (2022). Pengaruh sosial media marketing terhadap penjualan usaha mikro kecil dan menengah (umkm). Klabat Journal of Management, 3(1), 67. https://doi.org/10.60090/kjm.v3i1.823.67-82. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

37. Sutariningsih, N. M. A., & Widagda K, I. G. N. J. A. (2021). Peran brand awareness memediasi pengaruh social media marketing terhadap purchase intention. E-Jurnal Manajemen Universitas Udayana, 10(2), 145. https://doi.org/10.24843/ejmunud.2021.v10.i02.p03. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

38. Teddlie, C., & Yu, F. (2007). Mixed methods sampling. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(1), 77–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689806292430. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

39. Utomo, E. P. (2019). Identifikasi faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi sales performance pada perusahaan media periklanan : Studi empirik pada tenaga penjual di rcti. Jurnal Ekonomi Bisnis Dan Kewirausahaan, 8(1), 81. https://doi.org/10.26418/jebik.v8i1.31549. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

40. Wetzels, M., Odekerken-Schröder, G., & Van Oppen, C. (2009). Using pls path modeling for assessing hierarchical construct models: Guidelines and empirical illustration. MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, 33(1), 177–196. https://doi.org/10.2307/20650284. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

41. Zhou, Q., Shankar, A., Dixit, A., Bhatia, M., & Mehrotra, A. (2024). Current dynamics and future growth of online travel agencies. Journal of Global Information Management, 32(1), 1–28. https://doi.org/10.4018/JGIM.341797. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• A Study on Utilisation on Vidiyal Payanam with Special Reference to Udumalpet
• Influence of Sales Promotional Strategies on Water Purifier Purchase: A Study
• Voluptatem exercitat
• Beatae voluptatum eanfjnjfnjnj
• Analysis of Marketing Strategies in Newbridge College During Covid-19 Pandemic