AI Technology, Social Media Engagement, and Reuse Intention in Online Travel Platforms: The Mediating Roles of Enthused Participation and Customer Satisfaction Experience

This study examines how AI technology shapes reuse intention in online travel platforms (OTPs) through a Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) framework, in which AI is the stimulus, social media engagement, enthused participation, and customer satisfaction experience are organism states, and reuse intention is the behavioural response. Prior research has predominantly assumed a direct relationship between AI and behavioural outcomes, overlooking the mediating roles of customer experience and emotional engagement. Using a cross-sectional survey of 101 valid respondents (screened from 134) in the Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek) area who had used OTPs such as Traveloka, Tiket.com, or Agoda within the past year, data were analysed via Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The results show that AI technology significantly predicts social media engagement (H1: β = 0.774, p < 0.001) and enthused participation (H2: β = 0.512, p < 0.001); social media engagement predicts enthused participation (H3: β = 0.274, p < 0.001); enthused participation predicts customer satisfaction experience (H4: β = 0.703, p < 0.001); and customer satisfaction experience predicts reuse intention (H5: β = 0.711, p < 0.001). Neither AI technology (H6: β = 0.058, p = 0.641) nor social media engagement (H7: β = 0.100, p = 0.324) exerts a significant direct association with reuse intention. These findings contribute to the SOR literature by demonstrating that organism-level states are necessary mediators between digital stimuli and behavioural responses in OTP contexts, and suggest that AI investment alone is insufficient to drive platform loyalty without delivering satisfying experiential outcomes.