The role of social media in travel efficacy development and travel constraint negotiation among Egyptian women

Mekhail, Engy Magdy Helmy and Hogg, Margaret and Gadalla, Eman (2026) The role of social media in travel efficacy development and travel constraint negotiation among Egyptian women. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

Most existing research about self-efficacy primarily focuses on internal belief systems, while studies about leisure constraints and constraint negotiation address barriers to participation. This research explores how young Egyptian women use social media, particularly Facebook travel groups, to negotiate different travel constraintssimultaneously, develop multiple forms of efficacy, and pursue independent travel within a restrictive socio-cultural context. Drawing on the leisureconstraints theory, constraint negotiation theory, and self-efficacy theory as the theoretical lens, the study examines how intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints intersect, and how digital communities enable women to overcome these constraints in a non-Western, patriarchal setting. Employing an interpretivist qualitative design, the research integrates netnography of 201 Facebook posts with 13 semi-structured interviews of young Egyptian women who faced travel constraints to pursue independent travel. Findings reveal multi-layered constraints; intrapersonal (fears, self-doubt), interpersonal (familial/communal control), and structural (cultural norms, religious interpretations, gendered roles, geography, finances) that are overlapping and interacting dynamically rather than hierarchically. Social media emerges as transformative, offering emotional support, practical advice, peer modelling, and vicarious learning that support the development of self-efficacy and negotiation (Bandura, 1997; Amer et al., 2021). Women share strategies to be used in overcoming the travel constraints like persistent dialogue, strategic timing, selective disclosure, adaptive planning, and financial independence, supported by online communities across the different stages of travel. A core contribution of this research lies in the development of a grounded, social mediadriven model of travel efficacy; which refers to women’s belief in their confidence to plan, negotiate, and execute travel amid the different constraints across the different stages of travel integrating the theories into a cyclical framework linking individual, negotiation, collective, and travel efficacy.