Social Media and Consumer Buying Behavior Decision: What Entrepreneurs Should Know?

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the relationship between social media influence, entrepreneurial dynamics and consumer buying behavior. A sample of N=200 adults (n=100 men, n=100 women; 20–40 years old) who were actively engaged on online purchasing were selected through convenient randomized sampling technique. The entrepreneurial intentions were assessed using a 5 point Likert scale, secondly a 22 item scale was chosen to measure social media influence (Khan & Jan, 2019), whereas a 15 item scale Yadav and Rahman (2017) was used to measure consumer behavior. The results proved that social media, entrepreneurship and consumer decision-making are associated with each other, which supported Hypothesis 1. Furthermore, social media and entrepreneurial influence significantly influenced consumer buying decision (Hypothesis 2 has been validated). Moreover, it was found that there was evidence for gender differences (H 3), which explained that women more heavily influenced by social media in purchasing behavior than men. The study highlighted the importance of the role of social media as a consumer behavior trigger and the role of entrepreneurial action in leveraging on that effect. Moreover, the study underscores the imperative for gender sensitive marketing. This research encouraged future research to longitudinally explore and examine how emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and augmented reality, strengthen those relationships.