Social Media Communication and Consumers Decisions: Analysis of the Antecedents for Intended Apps Purchase

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer’s socialization could shed light on social commerce apps behavioral intention (SCABI). Social commerce communication, virtual community trust, post-usage usefulness, perceived enjoyment, subjective norm, attitude toward the apps, and behavioral control are proposed as the several antecedents of behavioral intention of social commerce purchase decisions. Drawn from the Theory of Planned Behavior and social exchange paradigm, a theoretical model was developed and a list of (17) hypotheses was tested empirically. The sample included 230 respondents; structured equation modeling (SEM) was employed for measurement and structural evaluation. Prior to the evaluation of the measurement model and structural relationships, the indices for evaluation of goodness of model fit were obtained and the results show satisfactory values. The statistical results imply a reliable and valid measurement scale and the direct relationships were mostly supported. However, the virtual community trust → post usage usefulness, perceived enjoyment → SCABI, social commerce communication → attitude, attitude → SCABI, and subjective norm → attitude relationships were not supported. Therefore, social media, which is a highly social-related communication platform, plays a pivotal role in consumer decision making for online product purchases. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• attitude toward apps
• purchase decisions
• social commerce apps
• social media communication