Understanding consumers’ social networking site usage

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine consumer motivations to use social networking sites (SNSs) for three distinct activities: (1) general SNS usage, (2) the joining of a business’s SNS page and (3) clicking on an advertisement on a SNS. To assist with this exploration we draw upon the decomposed theory of planned behaviour as a theoretical lens and conduct a mixed-method study that utilises both an empirical investigation as well as qualitative focus group interviews in order to delve deeper into specific reasons why individuals engage in SNS activities. Results show that a number of antecedents such as attitude, compatibility, relative advantage, complexity, normative influences and self-efficacy come into play when determining SNS usage activities. However, specific antecedents may vary according to the explicit activity under investigation. This study’s main contribution involves advancing our understanding of consumer behaviour as it relates to SNS activities by examining not only antecedents to intention but also attitude, subjective norms and behavioural control. Other contributions include additional development of the SNS literature, integrating SNSs into a classical theoretical framework and providing valuable insights and implications for both practitioners and researchers alike.

Keywords:

• social networking sites
• social media
• internet marketing
• interactive marketing
• decomposed theory of planned behaviour
• theory of reasoned action
• structural equation modelling

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the editor and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions throughout the review process and Dr Tamara Mangleburg and Dr Maria Petrescu for their valuable feedback on previous drafts of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John T. Gironda

John T. Gironda is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Nova Southeastern University and a marketing Doctoral Candidate at Florida Atlantic University. He received his B.A. and M.B.A. from East Carolina University. His teaching and research interests include E-Commerce, Internet Marketing and Advertising, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Strategy, and Services Marketing. He has presented papers at a number of academic conferences including the American Marketing Association Summer Educator’s Conference, the Academy of Marketing Science World Marketing Congress and the International Colloquium on Consumer Brand Relationships.

Pradeep K. Korgaonkar

Pradeep K. Korgaonkar is a Professor of Marketing at Florida Atlantic University. He received his Ph.D. from Georgia State University. His teaching interests include Marketing Management, Marketing Strategy, Direct Marketing and Services Marketing. His research has been published in the Journal of Marketing Research, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business and Psychology and Journal of Direct Marketing. He has presented papers at academic conferences including the national meetings of the American Marketing Association, Winter Educator’s Conference of AMA, TIMS/ORSA and Decision Science National Conference.

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