I share therefore I am: how and when Social Identity shapes SNS photo-sharing behavior among Gen Z Festivalgoers

Festivals, which are regarded as a cultural phenomenon, play an important part in the development of tourism and travel destinations. Given the significance of social media for Generation Z, this study employed social identity theory to investigate how their cognitive and affective social identities are integrated into the factors influencing photo-sharing behavior among festival attendees. We collected data from 340 participants at the ZhuHai Shark festival in China. We tested our hypotheses using a structural equation model that included mediation and moderation effects, employing the R packages lavaan and robmed. Our findings largely supported our hypotheses, except for the paths involving cognitive social identity and perceived enjoyment. Furthermore, the results showed that self-congruity moderates the relationship between affective social identity and photo sharing behavior, while social media audience size moderates the relationship between cognitive social identity and photo sharing. Theoretical and managerial implications for festival destination marketing and management are discussed.