The study objects to how the pre-purchase of plurals is influenced by social media. Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as the integrated social media platform were considered to examine social media usage and assess their impact on three dimensions of the pre-purchase stage including identification of needs, search information and evaluation of alternatives. A conceptual model for this study was developed using the previous literature. The study contains 250 plurals users as respondents; selected by adopting stratified sampling and snowball sampling. The empirical evidence was collected by surveying through a structured questionnaire. The dataset was analyzed using structure equational modeling in Smart PLS 3.0. Positive results have been found for social media influence on pre-purchase of consumer decision making process of plurals. Moreover, need recognition was highly influenced (H1), followed by search of information (H2) and evaluation of alternatives (H3). Among all social media platforms, Instagram was mostly used by plurals. This research was confined to the Punjab state of India only, though other areas can take this research further. Additionally, only plurals as generation cohort were chosen; however, millennials and alpha generations can be considered for future empirical testing. This study provides ample scope to marketers in understanding the pre-purchasing behavior of plurals and their social media usage, which could be beneficial for them in developing digital marketing strategies for targeting this age group through social media.
Ali TahaV., PencarelliT., SkerhakovaV., FedorkoR., & KosikovaM. (2021). The use of social media and its impact on shopping behavior of slovak and italian consumers during Covid-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041710
2.
AlyahyaM. (2021). Exploring the relationship between social media and customers’ contingency buying behaviour during COVID-19: A thematic qualitative approach. Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica, 30(1), 596–609. https://doi.org/10.24205/03276716.2020.2056
3.
AppelG., GrewalL., HadiR., & StephenA. (2019). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1
4.
AragoncilloL., & OrusC. (2018). Impulse buying behaviour: An online-offline comparative and the impact of social media. Spanish Journal of Marketing, 22(1), 42–62. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-03-2018-007
5.
ArliD. (2017). Does social media matter? Investigating the effect of social media features on consumer attitudes. Journal of Promotion Management, 23(4), 521–539. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2017.1297974
6.
AydinG., UrayN., & SilahtarogluG. (2021). How to engage consumers through effective social media use—Guidelines for consumer goods companies from an emerging market. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research, 16(4), 768–790. https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer16040044
7.
Candace DeansP., & Miller TretolaB. J. (2018). The evolution of social media and its impact on organizations and leaders. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 28(3), 173–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/10919392.2018.1484597
8.
ChatterjeeS., & KarA. K. (2020, August). Why do small and medium enterprises use social media marketing and what is the impact: Empirical insights from India. International Journal of Information Management, 53, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102103
9.
ChenS. C., & LinC. P. (2019). Understanding the effect of social media marketing activities: The mediation of social identification, perceived value, and satisfaction. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 140, 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.11.025
10.
DabbousA., & BarakatK. A. (2020). Bridging the online offline gap: assessing the impact of brands’ social network content quality on brand awareness and purchase intention. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101966
11.
DavidavicieneV., Meidute-KavaliauskieneI., & PaliulisR. (2019). Research on the influence of social media on generation y consumer purchase decisions. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 4, 39–49. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2019.4-04
12.
DimitriouC. K., & AbouElgheitE. (2019). Understanding generation Z’s travel social decision-making. Tourism and Hospitality Management, 25(2), 311–334. https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.2.4
13.
DjafarovaE., & RushworthC. (2017). Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female user. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.009
14.
DuffettR. G. (2017). Influence of social media marketing communications on young consumers’ attitudes. Young Consumers, 18, 19–39. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-07-2016-00622
15.
ErtemelA. V., & AmmouraA. (2016). The role of social media advertising in consumer buying behavior. International Journal of Commerce and Finance, 2(1), 81–89.
16.
Fondevila-GascónJ. F., Polo-LópezM., Rom-RodríguezJ., & Mir-BernalP. (2020). Social media influence on consumer behavior: The case of mobile telephony manufacturers. Sustainability, 12(4), 1506. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12041506
17.
GentinaE., ChenR., & YangZ. (2021). Development of theory of mind on online social networks: Evidence from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Journal of Business Research, 124, 652–666.
18.
HarriganP., DalyT. M., CoussementK., LeeJ. A., SoutarG. N., & EversU. (2021). Identifying influencers on social media. International Journal of Information Management, 56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102246
19.
HenselerJ., RingleC. M., & SarstedtM. (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
20.
HuangO., & CopelandL. (2020). Gen z, Instagram influencers, and hashtags’ influence on purchase intention of apparel. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 24(3), 1–14.
21.
HuangZ., & BenyoucefM. (2017). The effects of social commerce design on consumer purchase decision-making: An empirical study. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 25, 40–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eelerap.2017.08.003
22.
HussainS., FangweiZ., SiddiqiA. F., AliZ., & ShabbirM. S. (2018). Structural equation model for evaluating factors affecting quality of social infrastructure projects. Sustainability, 10(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051415
23.
JacobsonJ., GruzdbA., & Hernández-GarcíacÁ. (2020). Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.03.001
24.
KotlerP., & KellerK. L. (2016). Marketing management. Pearson.
25.
LiF., LarimoJ., & LeonidouL. C. (2021). Social media marketing strategy: definition, conceptualization, taxonomy, validation, and future agenda. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 49(1), 51–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00733-3
26.
MakudzaF., MugarisanwaC., & SizibaS. (2020). The effect of social media on consumer purchase behaviour in the mobile telephony industry in zimbabwe. Dutch Journal of Finance and Management, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.29333/djfm/9299
27.
MasonA. N., NarcumJ., & MasonK. (2021). Social media marketing gains importance after Covid-19. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1870797
28.
MelumadS., HadiR., HildebrandC., & WardA. F. (2021). Technology-augmented choice: how digital innovations are transforming consumer decision processes. Customer Needs and Solutions, 7, 90–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40547-020-00107-4
29.
MontagueI. B., GazalK. A., & WiedenbeckJ. K. (2019). Social media use in the wood products industry: Impact on the consumer purchasing process. BioProducts Business, 4(3), 27–40.
30.
OumaymaB. (2020). Social media made me buy it: the impact of social media on consumer purchasing behavior and on the purchase decision-making process. In The proceedings of the Third International Conference on Smart City Applications (pp. 230–243). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37629-1_18
31.
PentecostR., & AndrewsL. (2010). Fashion retailing and the bottom line: The effects of generational cohorts, gender, fashion fanship, attitudes and impulse buying on fashion expenditure. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 17(1), 43–52.
32.
PoturakM., & SofticS. (2019). Influence of social media content on consumer purchase intention: Mediation effect of brand equity. Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 12(23), 17–43. https://doi.org/10.17015/ejbe.2019.023.02
33.
SainiR., & SidhuL. S. (2020). Role of persuasion: investigating the impact of social media on buying decision process of digital natives. Pacific Business Review International, 13(3), 48–56.
34.
SallehM. M., NazuhaN. M., & BaharudinN. S. (2017). Overview of Generation Z behavioural characteristics and its effect towards hostel faciclity. International Journal of Real Estate Studies, 11(2), 59–67.
35.
SchuberthF. (2021). Confirmatory composite analysis using partial least squares: setting the record straight. Review of Managerial Science, 15, 1311–1345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-020-00405-0
36.
SebastianA. T., LalB., AnupamaJ., VargheseJ., TomA. A., RajkumarE., GeorgeA. J., JeyavelS., PandeyV.WajidM., & JohnR. (2021). Exploring the opinions of the YouTube visitors towards advertisements and its influence on purchase intention among viewers. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2021.1876545
37.
SidhuL. S., & SainiR. (2021). Influence of Instagram advertising on decision making process of Indian echo boomers. Empirical Economics Letters (Special Issue), 20(4).
38.
SlijepcevicM., RadojevicI., & PericN. (2020). Considering modern trends in digital marketing. Marketing, 51(1), 34–42. https://doi.org/10.5937/markt2001034S
39.
SongS., & YooM. (2016). The role of social media during the pre-purchasing stage. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 7(1), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-11-2014-0067
40.
SokolovaK., & KefiH. (2020, March). Instagram and youtube bloggers promote it, why should i buy? how credibility and parasocial interaction influence purchase intentions. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.01.011
41.
Statista. (2021). Social media—Statistics & facts. https://www.statista.com/topics/1164/social-networks/
42.
SudirjoF. (2021). Social media, consumer motivation, and consumer purchase decision for fashion consumers in semarang district. Jurnal Manajemen (Edisi Elektronik), 12(1), 78–92. https://doi.org/10.32832/jm-uika.v12i1.3985
43.
TashtoushL. (2021). The effect of social media on consumer buying behavior in commercial banks. Saudi Journal of Business and Management Studies, 6(2), 28–38. https://doi.org/10.36348/sjbms.2021.v06i02.001
44.
TsimonisG., & DimitriadisS. (2014). Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), 328–344. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-04-2013-0056
45.
VoorveldH. A. (2019). Brand communication in social media: A research agenda. Journal of Advertising, 48(1), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2019.1588808
46.
VoramontriD., & KliebL. (2019). Impact of social media on consumer behaviour. International Journal of Information and Decision Sciences, 11(3), 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJIDS.2019.10014191
47.
WangT., & LeeF.-Y. (2020, January). Examining customer engagement and brand intimacy in social media context. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 54, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102035
48.
WibowoA., ChenS. C., WianginU., MaY., & RuangkanjanasesA. (2021). Customer behavior as an outcome of social media marketing: the role of social media marketing activity and customer experience. Sustainability, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010189
49.
ZhangH., LiangX., & QiC. (2020, February). Investigating the impact of interpersonal closeness and social status on electronicword-of-mouth effectiveness. Journal of Business Research, 130(3) 453–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.020
