The impact of social media on consumers do age and gender moderate the effect of social media on trust

Độclập–Tựdo–Hạnhphúc ---o0o---BẢN CAMĐOAN Họtênhọc viên: NguyễnThịĐoanThanh Ngày sinh:30/08/1988 Nơisinh:Vĩnh LongNgày trúng tuyểnđầuvàonăm:2016 Làtácgiảcủađềtài luậnvăn:Theimpactofsoci

6 Home address:276/105/23 ThongNhat, Ward16,Go Vap,Ho ChiMinh

7 Occupation: Sales Manager Position:

8 Officename:UPMRaflatac

9 Officelocation:Lot

1Pa4,BinhAnTextile&GarmentIndustrialZone,BinhThangWard,DiAnDistrict,BinhDuongProvince

10 HowhaveIchangedaftertwoyears studyingat ISB?

ISBprovidesme chancetostudyrelevant issuesand intelligentinsighton

businesstrends,issues andtheeconomyfromalarger

perspective.Programsaredesignedtoutilizecasestudiesfromavariety ofsectors: human resource, supplychain,financefromVietnamtosome well-known multinationalcompanies to solidifybusiness knowledge Morethanthat,Ihave verygoodfriendshipwithmyteammates.Our groupof4peoplelooks likeafamily,wesupportandsharethegoodandbadtimesinlife

11 WhatIwanttosharewith thejuniors is:

Don’ttryto meettraditionalexpectations of whatyour careerand livesought to

looklikeaftergraduation You shouldn’t think that your MBA like an obligation but you

Độclập–Tựdo–Hạnhphúc

-o0o -BẢN CAMĐOAN

Họtênhọc viên: NguyễnThịĐoanThanh

Ngày sinh:30/08/1988 Nơisinh:Vĩnh

LongNgày trúng tuyểnđầuvàonăm:2016

Làtácgiảcủađềtài luậnvăn:Theimpactofsocialmediaonconsumers.Doageandgender

moderate the effect of social media on trust?

Giáo viênhướng dẫn:Đoàn Anh Tuấn

luậnvăn( K ý vàghirõhọtên) (Ký và ghi rõhọtên)

Nguyễn ThịĐoanThanh

Hộiđồng chấm luậnvăn05(năm)thànhviêngồm:

Chủtịch:

……… Phảnbiện1:……… Phảnbiện 2:

……….Thưký:

………Ủ yViên:

………

1 Check the grammar of the title

ofthe thesis The impact of social media onconsumers.Doageandgendermoderate the effect of

social media on trust?

1and2

2 In the introduction session,

theauthorshoulddiscusshowcoul

dthe research objectives/goals

hadbeen set The research

objectives(onpage12)weregiven

butdonotstronglylinktotheprevio

usparagraphs

Add3more sentences to support the reason andresearch objectives 12

3 Why does the author

investigatethe moderating effect

of age andgender? Does the

investigationfillaresearchgap?

Thisshouldbe more in the

introductionsection

Addmore5sentencestoexplainwhy the author investigate

themoderating effect of age andgender 12

I’m not sure what

owcanwe check the legitimacy

of thesample?

Add more4sentences to supporthow to check legitimacy of

thesample (9 rows)

33

6 The sample and results

ofqualitative pilot study

isabitvague It should be stated

clearertheopinionsof30responde

nts(office staff, students,

household,manager)

Remove office staff,students,householdand manager

Duringinterview in person with respondents, the author also upload

the linkin Facebook Withinshorttime(12hours)morerespondentsinFacebook answered questionsthan interview directly

3 social media is defined basedapplicationssocialmediaaredefined

asainternet-4 ConstantinidesandFountain(2008) recommend classifyingsocial media into five categories “(i) blogs, (ii) socialnetwork sites (for instance, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter andGoogle+), (iii) content communities (for example, YouTubeandWikipedia),(iv)e-forums, and (v) contentaggregators”incorrectcitationremove“”

5 Whilstsocialmedia isoffer pullmarketingWhilstsocialmediaareofferingpullmarketing

6 Moreover,trustis consideras thesourceMoreover,trustisconsidering as the source

7 “higher means for group-in-self and entertainment

Negativecollectiveself-esteemlinkswith social compensation,propound that those who felt negatively about their socialgroup used SNS as an alternative to

communicating withothergroupmembers.Malesaremorepossiblythanfemalest

o commentate negative collective self-esteemand use SNSsforsocialcompensation”incorrectcitationremove“”

8 “has been socialized to believe we live inamaterialisticorientation society”incorrectcitationremove“”

9 “N>50+8m(whereNis the number of sample size andmisnumberofindependentvariables)”incorrectcitation

remove“”

10 “Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Cronbach’s Alpha andConfirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA)”, “significant impact onthe influence of the dependent variables towards

theindependentvariable”,“ranging from0.70 to

10

16

1616

171921

2332

36,37,3 8 , 41,42,43,52

constructs”, “if this correlation

wasequal0.40orabovetheitemwould be probably correlated with mostof the otheritemsand makeagood element of this summated ratingscale If the item–total correlation was negative or too low(less than 0.30)”, it was compulsory to pay more attention on“theitemforwording

problemsandconceptualfitbymodifyingordeletingsuchitems”,

“in terms of its fit to thehypothesized population

model”;itsindicescouldbecreatedto “help with model

interpretation”,“insight into therelationships among

independentvariables in their predictionofthedependent measurement”,“linearrelationshipbetweeneach of the

predictor variables”, the “suggested cutoff for thetolerance value was 10 (or equivalent to VIF of 10.0),

effects the initial decisionwithregardto“whether to

purchase on the internet, but not the subsequent behavior shoppers, such as the number of transactions or the amountspent”,“status of experienced e-shoppers, their behavior isindistinguishable, independently of their age, gender

ofe-orincomelevel”(Hernándezet al,2011)incorrectcitation

HỌCVIÊN

(Ký, ghi rõhọtên)

NTRUST?

MASTEROFBUSINESS (HONOURS)

HoChiMinhCity–Year 2018

Contents

Listoffigure 5

Listoftable 6

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 7

ABSTRACT 8

1 Introduction 9

2 Literaturereviewandhypothesis 14

2.1 Technologyacceptancemodel(TAM)andtheoryofplannedbehavior(TPB) 15

2.2 Socialmediaandtrust 16

2.3 Ageandgender 20

2.4 Effectoftrustonintentiontobuyandperceivedusefulness 23

2.5 Perceivedusefulnessandintentiontobuy 26

2.6 Hypotheses 27

3 Researchmethodology 28

3.1 Researchprocedure 29

3.2 Measurementoftheconstructs 34

3.3 Dataanalysisandmethod 36

Measurevalidation 36

Cronbach’salpha 36

Exploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA) 37

Multipleregressionanalysis 38

4 Dataanalysisandresults 39

4.1 Samplecharacteristic 40

4.2 Thereliabilitytest 41

4.3 Exploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA) 41

4.4 ConfirmatoryFactorAnalysis(CFA)result 44

4.5 Researchhypothesestest 45

4.6 ResultsofMulti-groupanalysis 47

5 Discussionandimplications,limitationsanddirectionsforfutureresearch 51

5.1 Discussion 51

5.2 Themainresults 53

Resultcontributionstotheory 53

Resultcontributionstomanagementpractices 55

5.3 Limitationsanddirectionsforfutureresearch 57

5.4 Conclusion 58

Appendix1:Primarilyquestionnaire 72

Appendix2:Cronbach’sAlphaReliability 77

Appendix3:CFAresultsandregression 79

Appendix4:SEMresult 83

Appendix5:Moderatingroleofgender 87

Appendix6:Moderatingroleofage 89

Figure1:Conceptualmodel 28

Figure2:SEMforsuggestionmodel 46

Figure3:Multi-groupresultforfemale 48

Figure4:Multi-groupresultformale 48

Figure5:Multi-groupresultforGenerationX 50

Figure6:Multi-groupresultforGenerationY 50

Table1:Guidelinesforidentifyingsignificantfactorloadingsbasedonsamplesize 38

Table2:Characteristicsofdifferentfitindicesdemonstratinggoodness-of-fitacrossd i f f e r e n t modelsituations 39

Table3:Samplecharacteristic 40

Table4:KMOandBarllett’stestresult 42

Table5:Totalvarianceexplained 43

Table6:Communalities 43

Table7:Rotatedcomponentmatrix 44

Table8:Assumingmodelunconstrainedtobe correct_gender 47

Table9:Assuming modelunconstrainedtobecorrect_age 49

Firstly,Isendmysincerethankstoallrespondentswhohelpedmefinishquestionnaires.Especially,IamgratefultohavechancetoworkonmythesisunderthedirectionofDr.D o a n AnhTuan.Hisguidanceandintensivesupportwere instrumental inmyresearchjourney.Moreover,hiss u p e r v i s o r a n d j o y f u l s p i r i t h e l p e d m e c o n t i n u e t o w r i t e

a n d r e s e ar c h evenduringthemoststressfulmoments

Besides,I w o u l d l i k e tot h a n k t h e t h e s i s d e f e n s e committee:D r T r a n H a M

i n h Q u a n , Dr.Ng uye n Phong Nguyen foraskingquestionstogivep o s i t i v e argumentsandconstructivecontributionformythesis

activities(See-T h e r e s u l t s o f t h e s t u d y e m p h a s i z e thats o c i a l m e d i a p o si ti v el y affectsconsumers’socialinteraction;consequentlyitimprovestrustandintentiontobuy.Furthermore,t h

e o u t c o m e s a l s o h i g h l i g h t t h a t t r u s t a t t a i n s n o t i c e a b l e impactonbuyingintention.Likewise,theperceivedusefulness(PU)ofnetworkingsitesi s i n d i c a t e d a s a c o n t r i b

u t e d f e a t u r e A c c o r d i n g t o t h e s e f i n d i n g s , t h i s t h e s i s p r o p o s e s somer e a l i s

t i c t a c t i c s f o r p r a c t i t i o n e r s tou t i l i z e s o c i a l mediaa s

a n o m n i p o t e n t a n d influential marketingtoolofsalesandservices

1 Introduction

Ab r a n d i s c o m m o n l y k n o w n a s a namea n d a symbolb u t i t i s a c r i t i c a l meansf

o r o r g a n i z a t i o n s todifferentiatewithrivalsandhelpcreatepositiveimagesoncustomers Managersrecognizeakeyintangibleassetoftheirbusinessisbrandname(Aaker,2009)t h a t brandcancreatepositiveandprominentidentityincustomers’mind.Productsandservicest ha tmaintainbrandp o p u l a r i t y andb r a n d loyaltyarel i k e l y togen er

a teh ig her salesrevenue,gainadditionalmarketshareandbringprofitaswellashelpthefirmsgro

Latterlythesocialmediaevolutionhasalteredtheonlinecommercelandscapefornotonlycompaniesbutalsoconsumers.Especiallyintheeraofsocialmediaplatforms,forinstanceFacebook,TwitterorYouTube,etc.theseplatformshaveexpandedimpressivelya n d e n a b l e d

m i l l i o n s o f u s e r s o f a l l a g e s tod e v e l o p b o t h p e r s o n a l a n d p r o f e s s i o n

a l r elationships Remarkably,everydayFacebookaloneachieves1.45billionactiveusersa n d 2.2billionactiveusersinamonthlybasisinMarch2018(Facebook,2018).Hence,engagementthroughsocialmediaisb e c o m i n g af u n d a m e n t a l e l e m e n t o fanyo r g a n i z a t i o n ’ s marketingstrategy.Consumerseasilyviewandinteractwithsocialmedia

postsandupdatesaswellascanabletoconnectthecompanies’websitetorespondtheirr e v i e

w s thenthefirmscaninstantlyofferasolutiontothecustomers’problems.Itisthef a c t thatthemoreconsumersresonatewiththespecificbrand,themorelikelytheywillpurchase

w i t h t h a t b r a n d a g a i n S o c i a l mediai s a n e f f e c t i v e m a r k e t i n g c h a n n e l

t h a t e m p o w e r s companiestoleapfrogtraditionalmediaandbuildrelationshipsdirectlywithconsumers(Holt,2016)aswellasoffersgoodcommunicationgroundstocompanies

Ifcompaniestakeadvantageofsocialmediatosharegreatstoriesandatthesametimec o n n e c twithcustomersinrealtime,theirbrandswouldbecomeanimportantcentreforconsumersi

n t e r a c t ins o c i a l c o m m u n i t y A d d i t i o n a l l y , c o m p a n i e s c o u l d g e n e r a t emeaning fu l consumerinterestonline(Holt,2016)

Incontrast,ZhuandChen(2015)showaGallupsurveythatadvertisementsinsocialmedia

d o n o t motivatet h e m a j o r i t y o f c o n s u m e r s i n U S A t o makebuyingd e c i s i o n s G

a l l u p alsoalertsthefirmsthatsocialmediaarenotthecompellingmarketingforceandconsumersadeptlytuneoutbrandswhicharerelatedtoFacebookandTwittercontent.Inaddition,peoplehavetendencytoignoreandneglectadvertisementsinsocialmediabys i m p l y changingtoanothertopic.Additionally,FournierandAvery(2011)conveythats o c i a lmediaa r e f o r p e o p l e c o n n e c t i o n n o t a n e w mediac h a n n e l f o r b r a n d i n g c o m m

u n i c a t i o n s

Althoughthehighadoptionrateofsocialmediacancreatenewpotentsocialn et w o r

k s, thereareveryfew exploration empiricalstudies resolved these issues(e.g.,Hsuan d

T so u, 2011).Thus,thereisa needtoexplorehowmarketerstakeadvantageofsocial

mediaforbrandbuildingactivities.RegardingtoLaroche etal.(2013),almostresearchesc o n c e r n i n g marketinga n d b r a n d i n g i n s o c i a l mediad e s c

r i b e t h e d e f i n i t i o n , c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , prosandconsofsocialmediaaswellasrecommendadvicesandstrategiesformarketersandbusinesses,forinstancestudiesfromEdelmanetal.(2010)orKietzmannetal

(2011).Hence,itisfundamentalforbrandownerstoconcentrateontheoutcomeo f s o c i a l mediamarketingt o f o s t e r t h e i r p r o d u c t s a n d s e r v i c e o r s t r e n g t h e n r e l a t i o n s

h i p withcustomersthroughonlinesocialchannels.Thecontextofthisresearchis i n a t

r a n s i t i o n a l c o u n t r y l i k e V i e t n a m a s V i e t n a m t h i s c o u n t r y h a s a c h i e

v e d 5 3 % I n t e r n e t penetrationrate(Statista,2018).Moreinterestingly,Vietnamhasalmosthalfof9 5 millioncitizensusesocialmediaandanticipatesachieving56millionFacebookusersby2021(Bloomberg,2017)

Thefirmslikelyusesocialmediatodesignmarketingprogramsthroughtrust-buildingm e c h a n i s m s andimpactconsumers’intenttopurchaseonline(M.N.Hajli,2014)

H o w e v e r , manyVietnamesecompanieshavenotrealizedtheimportantroleofbrandingandbrandpromotionprogram(Nguyenetal.,2011)andthereisalittlebrandingresearchi n Vietnamhasbeenacceded(Nguyen,2003).Therefore,understandingtheimportanceo f socialfactorsontrustleadstomotivatecustomers’purchaseintentionwillultimatelyh e l p marketersexecutemarketingstrategiesanddesignattractiveadvertisingcampaigntop r o a c t i v e l

y i n t e r ac t w i t h t a r g e t c o n s u m e r s onane f f i c i e n t a n d a p p e a l i n g l e v e l t h r o u g h s

o c i a l media

Importantly,genderisconsideredasacrucialvariableonconsumer’sbehavior( B e n d a

l l & P o w e r s , 2 0 0 2 ) V e n k a t e s h e t a l

( 2 0 0 0 ) i n d i c a t e t h e d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n malesa n d f e m a l e s ’ d e c i s i o n

m a k i n g p r o c e s s w h i c h i s r e l a t e d top e r s o n a l t e c h n o l o g y adoption.Theystronglystate th at men’sde cis io ns are f i r m l y affectedbytheira tt it ude t o w a r d usingadvancedtechnology,whilstwomenrelyonsubjectivenormandperceivedb e h a v i o r control.Inaddition,youngusersfrom18to34yearsoldutilizesocialmediaforinformation exchangewiththeiraccompaniesandfamilythanolderages(Boltonetal.,2013).L i k e w i s e , u s

e r s o f t h i s a g e g r o u p a l s o u s u a l l y c o n s i d e r o t h e r s ’ e x p e r i e n c e a n d f e ed b a c kaboutproductsandservicesfromspecificbrand.Therehaveagreatnumberofp a p e r s examinetheroleofdemographicfactorsonconsumers’orientationtowardcommercialactivities,however,thisrelationshipisnotobviousasresearchfindingshaveb e e n foundtobecontroversial(MaiandZhao,2004;MitchellandWalsh,2004).Witht h e purposetoverifythemoderatingroleofkeydemographicvariables:ageandgenderin ane m e r g i n g m a r k e

t , i t i s com pu ls or y toi n v e s t i ga t e t h e m o d e r a t i n g r o l e o f a g e a n d gendertoproposeappropriatemarketingstrategy

Ina d d i t i o n , a s s o c i a l mediah e l p o r g a n i z a t i o n tod i f f e r e n t i a t e company’sp r o d u c t , servicesa n d v a l u e f r o m o t h e r r i v a l s i f t h e c o m p a n y c a n e x e c u

t e e f f e c t i v e marketingstrategies.Therefore,themainintentthisresearchconcentratesonexaminingtheroleofsocialfactorsontrust,whichcanimpactanindividual’sbuyingintention.Adeepu n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h i s i s s u e c a n f o s t e r ino b s e r v i n g f a c t o r s t h a t for

mt r u s t a n d s o c i a l commerceintentionthroughsocialnetworkingsites(SNSs).Inordertores

olvetheaboveissue,thisthesishasfivespecificgoals.Firstly,itreviewshowsocialmediacanmotivate

trustinelectroniccommerce.Secondly,ittestsageandgendercanmoderatetheimpacto f s

o c i a l mediao ntrust Thirdly,th eco rr el at io n between t ru sta nd consumer’sbuying intentionisexamined Fourthly,the linkagebetween trustandperceived usefulness onintention tobuyisalsodiscussed.Finally,itchecks the direct andindirecteffectofsocialmediaontrustandpurchaseintent.Onthesebases,thethesisanswersbelowinquiries:

( 1 ) D o s o c i a l mediai n s o c i a l n e t w o r k i n g s i t e s i n f l u e n c e c o n s u m e

r s ’ t r u s t ? ( 2 ) D o perceived usefulnessandtrustdetermineusers’buyingintent?(3)WhetherPUortrustisd e c i s i o n f a c t o r g r i p t h e u s e r ’ s b u y i n g i n t e n t i o n ?( 4 ) D o a g e a n d g e n d e r influencet h e connectionbetweensocialmediaandtrust?

Inordertoaccomplishtheseobjectives,thet h e s i s usesperceivedusefulnessfromtechnologyacceptancemodelconstructs,togetherw i t h othervariablessuchassocialmedia,trustandintentiontobuyaswellasageandgend erdatatobuildaninterdisciplinaryresearchmodel.Ourspecificpurposes,therefore,a r e t o e v a l u a t e t h e r o l e o f s o c i a l mediat o

p u r c h a s e i n t e n t i o n inV i e t n a m a s w e l l a s examinethemoderatorroleofageandgender

Theresearchisconductedonvariouspeoplefromteachertostudents, officestafft

oh o u s e h o l d , managertoworkerinthecontextofHoChiMinhCitywhichisthebiggestcityinVietnam.Theprimarycontentionofthisthesisconcentratesontestingtheroleofsocialmediaelementsontrust,whichcanimpactcustomer’sbuyingintent.C o m p r e h e n d i n

g ofthisissuecanbenefitinrecognizingfeaturesthatinauguratetrustandsocialcommerceintentthroughsocialnetworkingsites

ThisresearchstudyexecutesTAMconstructsandpropoundsamodelwhichvalidatesthattrusta n d p e r c e i v e d u s e f u l n e s s p o s s i b l y i n f l u e n c e c o n s u m e r ’sbuyingi n t e

n t T h e

studya l s o c a n v a s s e s h o w t r u s t c a n becomea majorc h a l l e n g e i n a s o c i a l c o m

m e r c e en v i r o nm e n t byusings o c i a l m e d ia n e t w o r k i n g sites The v a l u a b l e c o n

t r i b u t i o n o f t h i s studyistoreiteratetheroleofsocialmediaanditsimpactontrustinelectronicmarkets

Thisp a p e r p r o c e e d s a s f o l l o w s t a g e s : S e c t i o n 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n p r e s e n t s t

h e r e s e a r c h backg ro un d,researchproblem,researchobjectives,researchquestionsandtheresearchc o n t r i b u t i o n a s w e l l ast h e r e s e a r c h g a p S e c t i o n 2 L i t e r a t

u r e R e v i e w a n d H y p o t h e s e s revealsprevioustheoreticalbasisofthesocialmedia,trust,intentiontobuyandrelatedstudiesaboutageandgender.Basedonthat,theauthorproposesaresearchmodel.Then e x t sectionisResearchMethodology,inthisunitauthorwillcoverthedevelopmentofscales,sampleselection,datacollectiontools,howthedatacollectionprocessisc o n d u c t e d , andstatisticaldata analysistechniques usedintheresearch.Section4Data AnalysisandResults analyzesandinterpretstheresultsofdataanalysis,thelimitationsisa l s o d i s c u s s e d i n t h i s p a r t F r o m t h a t r e s u l t , t h e a u t

2.1 Technologyacceptancemodel(TAM)andtheoryofplannedbehavior(TPB)

Theoryo f t e c h n o l o g y a c c e p t a n c e (TAM)i s m a i n l y d e s i g n e d f o r modelingu s e

r a c c e p t a n c e ofinformationtechnology(Davisetal.,1989)andTAMhasastrongbaseintheory andtherearemanyempiricalresearchesaboutthis(LucasJrandSpitler,1999).F u r t h e r m o r e , thetwoprimeconstructsofTAM,perceivedusefulnessandperceivedeaseofu s e , w h i c h h a v e hypothesizedt o b e v i t a l d e t e r m i n a n t s o f u s e r ’sacceptance,c a n b

e b r o a d l y adopted(Adametal.,1992)

Thetheoryofplannedbehaviorhasbeenappliedandvalidatedinagreaternumberofresearches(Chang,1998)asthisisanextensionofthetheoryofreasonedaction(TRA).T h e TRAshowsthatbehaviorintentionorpurchaseintentinthisstudyisanantecedentt o forecastactualvolitionalbehavior(purchasecompletion)

(Razak&Marimuthu,2012).Firstly,VandenPoelandLeunis(1999)mentionsthatconsumers’perceivedriskwhenshoppingonlinemaybehigherthanwhenshoppingoffline.Insearchingwaystominimizet h i s r i s k , customermaye x c h a n g e a n d verifyinformationw i t

h o t h e r e x p e r i e n c e d consumers togain normative r ec o m m e n d a t i o n ( H a n s

e n etal , 2004) Moreover,recentresearch comesupthatconsumers perceive obstacles anddifficulties ( P B C ) i n p e r f o r m i n g o n l i n e s h o p p i n g b e h a v i o r H

e n c e , theyh a v e e x p e c t a n c y tou s e cognitivesourcesinordertoformbeliefstowardtherelatedattributeswhichmayresultinthematurationofanoverallattitudetowardthebehavior(Rossiter&Percy,1987)

Th e

2.2 Socialmediaandtrust

Associalmediadeveloprapidlyanditdiversifiesinmanydeliveryplatforms,thereisashortageo f a n of fi ci al co n s e ns u s onwha ts o c ia l mediaare.So ci al mediaa r e i n c l u d e d activities,practices,andbehaviors amongcommunitiesof people whogatheronlinet

knowledgeaswellasunlimitedchoice,justmoveyourmouseandclickuponabutton

ConstantinidesandFountain(2008).Actually,thereisnoofficialclassificationofI n t e r n

e t

-b a s e d applicationstypesofsocialmedia.Nevertheless,ConstantinidesandFountain(2008) rec om me nd classifying socialmediaintofive categories(i) blogs,

(ii)socialnetworksites(forinstance,MySpace,Facebook,TwitterandGoogle+),

(iii)co nt en t c o m m u n i t i e s (forexample,Y o u T u b e a n d Wikipedia),(iv)e

-f o r u m s , a n d ( v ) contenta g g r e g a t o r s Amongstt h e s e -f i v e c a t e g o r i e s o -f I

n t e r n e t b a s e d a p p l i c a t i o n s i n s o c i a l mediaabove,socialnetworksites(SNSs)a

rethemostcommonapplicationnowadays.A l l o f t h e m h a v e p e r m i t u s e r s s h a r e i

n f o r m a t i o n a s w e l l a s r e c o m m e n d ,

reviewandrateproductsandservicesonlinewiththeirpeers(Mangold&Faulds,2009).Theseconversationsprovidethefirmsagainfulmethodtomovecustomersfroma w a r e n e s stoengagement,boostbrandrecognition,considerationandraisebrandloyalty,ad v o c acy ( G u

n e l i u s , 2010) Actually,socialmediaprofferapullmarketingchanceb e c a u s e c u s t o m e r s p r o a c t i v e l y engage p r o d u c t s a n d s e r v

i c e s a n d t h e n p u l l morei n f o r m a t i o n thatcatalyzebusiness,buildingbrand.Whilstsocialmediaareofferingpullmarketing,traditionalmarketingispushmarketingtacticsthatmustprovideinformationa n d motivatec u s t o m e r s e n g a g e w i t h t h e i r p r o d u c t s a n

d s e r v i c e s ( G u n e l i u s , 2 0 1 0 ) I n addition,inthebookTheNewInfluencers,Gillinem

phasizesinhisbookthatinthepasto n e u n s a t i s f i e d customerc a n t e l l t e n p e o p l e b u t n

o w a d a y s i n t h e s o c i a l m e d i a e p o c h , customerhashismanytoolstoupdatewitheventenmillionpeoplevirtuallyovernight( G i l l i n , 2009).Thus,firmsshouldconsidersocialmediaaspowerfulintegratedmarketings t r a t e g y whichcanb ri ng consumersex pe ri enc

es toth ef or ef ro nt I n fact, ifcompaniest a k e a d v a n t a g e o f s o c i a l mediap l a t f o r

m s tos h a r e g r e a t s t o r i e s a n d a t t h e sametimeco n n ect withcustomersintheactualtime,theirbrandswillbecomeacentreforasocialcommunity.Additionally,companiescouldgeneratemeaningfulconsumerinterestonline( H o l t , 2016)

Itisimplyingthatcreatebrand relationship v ia social mediaismo re complicatedthanstimulatemoreinteractions.

Itisnodoubtthatsocialmediamarketingdiffersfromtraditionalmethodsofmarketingasitcreatesbothnewchallengesandopportunities.Intheageofsocialmediamarketing,customershavedemandofamoreupstandinganddirectrelationshipwiththefirmstheya r e d o i n g b u

s i n e s s w i t h H e n c e , b r a n d managersa r e tryingt o s h o w t h e i r transparentwelcomeandhonestsidetoforgeaheadrelationshipswithconsumers.Nowadays,t h e r e i s a t r e

n d y t h a t v a r i o u s w e l l

-k n o w n c o m p a n i e s f o r instanceP e p s i , U n i l e v e r , etce ng agec ons um er s bygivingcustomersa rea lo pp or tu ni ty tot ake par ti n theiradvertisingprogramsbecauseconsumers’interactionsresultintheinaugurationofemotionalbonds

andincreasescommitmentandcertitudebetweenbrandsandconsumers( S a s h i , 2012).Interestingly,theessenceisthatonlineuserscontrolsocialmediausing,individualscanusethesemediawithlittleorwithoutcostatgreatconvenience.Moreover,socialmediaallowc

o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d c o l l a b o r a t i o n t h a t g o b e y o n d g eo g rap h i cal barriers(Lai&Turban,2008).I t canbeconcludedthatfirmscanco mmu ni cat e withtheircustomersatamuchlowercostthaneverbeforebyusingsocialn et w o r k (Hainla,2017).Moreover,th

e firmscan alsogenerateonlinecontentwidelyande c o n o m i c a l l y totriggerbrandpresence.Associalmediamarketingplayscrucialroleincompany’sstrategysocompaniesandmanag

inidentifyingandtrackingkeyperformanceindicatorstoe v a l u a t e t h e p e r f o r m a n c e o f t

h e i r p r o j e c t s O n e o f t h e s e i n d i c a t o r s i s t r u s t A s o n l i n e

o u s e o n l i n e applicationsf o r p u r c h a s i n g purpose(Gefenetal,2003;Hoffmanetal.1999;Kim,2012;McKnightandChervany,2 0 0 1 ) T a k i n g s o c i a l commercea s atypicale x a m p l e , individualshavea t e n d e n c y toheedrecommendation fr om onlinecommunities andex pe ri ence d membersw h o theycantrusttoprovidecorrectadvicewithregardtotheirpurchasingexperienceofaspecificproductoronlineservice(Chen&Shen,2015).Trustisdefinedisanattitudeofconfidentexpectationinanonlineenvironmentthatriskofindividual’svulnerabilitiesshallnotbeexploited(Corritoreetal.,2003).

Lackingoftrustwillbeaseriousbarrierofelectronic-commerceadoption(Changetal , 2013).Withouttrust,itisbelievedthataoperative,interactiveon-

lineenvironmentw o u l d beimpossible(Corritoreetal.,2003).Moreover,trustisconsideringasthesourcet o stimulatethe implementationofinformationandcommunicationtechnologiesovertheboun daries (KirsandBagchi,2012)

Therefore,oneeffectivemethodthatbrandscaninfluencetheirconsumersandmaket r

u s t i s t o g i v e t h e s u f f i c i e n t k n o w l e d g e o f theb r a n d a n d p r o d u c t s ( C h i u e t a l , 2 0

1 0 ) Socialmediasuppliesabundantcommunicationcontextforconsumersandenablesc

ompaniest o c r e a t e a n d r e t a i n t h e i r r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h m a n y e s s e n t i a l f e a t u

r e s o f t h e

brand.Consequently, consumers canproactively communicateandexchange theire x p e r i e n c e s oftheirfavoriteproductsandbrandswithotherfriendsaswellasmarketers(Habibi,2014).Thenetworksofindividualsthroughsocialmedialeadtopositiveimpacto ntrust(Wuetal,2010).Thus,itishypothesizedthat:

h a v e notdiscovereddeeplygenderdifferencesinmanipulation.ResearchadvancesthatteenagegirlsandboysnowrepresenttoutilizetheInternetequally,buttypeofusingisdiff er ent (Joiner etal.,2005).Boysconcentrateonfeaturesand entertainmentwhilstgirlsseemmorefocusontherelationalaspects ofsocialmedia.(Rainie,2003)showsthatgirls

aremorefrequentlythanboystotalkwithpeersontheInternetaboutromanticr e l a t i o

n s h i p s , secretthings,anddeepfeelings.Moreoverrecentresearchfindsthatwhilegirlsuse SNSstokeepintouchwith theirpeers,boyshavea tendencytousetheirsitestomakenewfriends(Barker,2009)

Inaddition,Barkeremphasizestheresultinhisresearchthatfemalesaremorep r o b a b l y toshowhighpositivecollectiveself-

confident,higheroverallusage,andutilizeSNSstoexchangeinformationwithfriends.Femalesalsoposthighermeansforgroup-in-selfand entertainment.Ne ga ti ve collective self-

esteemlinkswithsocialcompensation, p r o p o u n d thatthosewhofeltnegativelyabouttheirsocialgroupusedSNSasanalternativetocommunicatingwithothergroupmembers.Malesaremorepossiblythanfemalestocommentate negative collective sel f-

es teem anduseSNSs f o r socialc o m p e n s a t i o n whichisexplainedasindividualsputtheireffortsonacollectivetasktogetr e m i t t a n c e w h e n t h e o u t c o m e s o f t h e g r o u p performancea r e n o t g o o d a s w e l l asf o r socialidentitygratificationpurpose(Barker,2009).Inaddition,maleusersareusingtheI n t e r n e t f o r d i v e r s i o n , r e c r e a t i o n a n d f u n c t i o

n a l intents,w h i l e f e m a l e u s e r s a r e m o r e p ro b ab ly tobrowseInternetforfacilitatingcommunicationandinteractingwithfriends(Weiser,2000).Itrecommendsthatco nce rn in g attitudetowardsocial networking advertising,perceivedinformativenessandpursuitvalueofadvertisinghavemorep rofo un dimpactsonmen’sattitudesthanwomen’s(Tayloretal.,2011)

Likewise,womenarelikelyengagedindetailsofspecificmessagecontentincomparisonwithman.Womensometimesfeelhighlysensitivetothefindingsofrelatedi n f o r m a

t i o n whenformingjudgmentsthanmen(Meyers-LevyandMaheswaran,1991)

Hertere t a l ( 2 0 1 4 )

( M a u r e r H e r t e r e t a l , 2 0 1 4 ) h i g h l i g h t t h e d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e shoppingbehaviorofwomenandmenc u s t o m e r s A c c o r d i n g t o B u t t l e ( 1 9 9 2 )

( B u t t l e , 1 9 9 2 ) , shoppingisconsideredasatypicalfemininehobby.Likewise,Chouetal

(2015)a l s o indicatethatwomenaremoredynamicandlikelytopurchasethegoodsonlinethanmales.H o w e ve r , B u t t l e (1992)i n d i c a t e s t h a t somea u t h o r s a r g u e t h i s t r e n d i s s t

e a d i l y d e c r e a s i n g a s malesa r e morea n d moree n g a g e d i n s h o p p i n g a c t i v i

t i e s I n a d d i t i o n , F a c e b o o k a n d Twitter areselectedbywomenastheprimaryinformationsourceto

obtainthepurchasingbehaviorforsuchagroupoffemales.Therefore,itishypothesizedthat:

H2a:Relationshipbetweensocialmediaandtrustwillbeaffectedbyage

Regardingagefactor,thegenerationsarecategorizedbyselectingthebirthdatesforeverycohortasbelow:theSilentGenerationwhosebirthdatesfrom1925to1945,theBabyBoomerswasbornfrom1946to1960,GenerationXisthegenerationthatpeople

w er e b o r n from1 9 6 1 to1981 whileGeneration Y “bornafter1981”(Brosdahl&Carpenter,2011).Previousstudiesmentionthatagingandadoptionoftechnologyhavea n oppositelinkageinmanytechnologycircumstances.Theoldpeoplehaveatendencyt o expressmorenegativeviewpoint oftechnologiesandhavedisinclinationtoimplementthem(Gilly&Zeithaml,1985).MaddenandSavage(2000)indicatesthatInternetuseisn e g a t i v e l y associatedwithage

BrosdahlandCarpenter(2011)alsoindicatethatGenerationY isinitiallyandoftene x p o s u r e tointernationaltechnology,itincludesbothprosandconsintermsofcognition,e m

o t i o n

andsocialconsequences(Immordino-Yangetal.,2012).Forinstance,theytendt o utilizetechnologyandsocialmedianetworkingforentertainment,interactandmake

friendswithotherpeople.Similarly,GenerationYconsumershaveverygoodeducationb a c

k g r o u n d ( W o l b u r g & P o k r y w c z y n s k i , 2 0 0 1 ) a n d theypaya t t e n t i o n o n marketingtacticsmorethanpreviouscohorts( L a z a r e v i c , 20 12 ) w h o hav e n o t g ro wn up w

i t h t he internet.Theyresearchanddistributeinformationwiththeirpeersquickly(Berkowitz&

S c h e w e , 2011)

Ina d d i t i o n , G e n e r a t i o n Y

h a s b e e n s o c i a l i z e d t o b e l i e v e w e l i v e i n a materialistico r i e n t a t i o n society(Bakewell&Mitchell,2003)andhencetheyhavemoreconsumptiveo r i e n t a t i o n t h a n p r i o r g

r o u p o f p e o p l e ( O ’ D o n n e l l , 2 0 0 6 ) I n a similarway,t h e youthwhosea g e s f r o m19to2 4 yearso l d h a v e morec e r t a i n a t t i t u d e s t o w a r d s o c i a l mediaadvertising( D u

r l a k e t a l , 2 0 1 1 ) G e n e r a t i o n Y p r o a c t i v e l y s u p p o r t s , exchanges,a n d searches,a d o p t s c o n t e n t bys o c i a l mediap l a t f o r m s P r a c t i t i o n e r s a n d a c a

d e m i c r e s e ar c h e r s arepayingmuchattentiononGenerationY’ssocialmediausagebecauseitmaybecomeaharbingerofhowindividualswillreactinfuture(Boltonetal.,2013).Thisg e n e r a t i o n developsdifferentshoppingstyleandbehaviorscomparewithpreviou

sg e n e r a t i o n s ( B a k e w e l l andMitchell, 2003).Therefore,ifthemarketingcontentsfromtheb r a n d ownersarenotconsistentandtheessenceidentityofthebrandlookshazard,theng e n e r a t i o n Ycustomerswillnothaverecognizethebrandandconsiderthatbrandasfake(Merrill,1999).Thus,itisproposedthat:

H2b:Relationshipbetweensocialmediaandtrustwillbeaffectedbygender

2.4 Effectoftrustonintentiontobuyandperceivedusefulness

Inreality,themorepositivecommentsandhappyfeedbacksreceivefromcustomers,t h

e h i g h e r f e e l i n g o f t r u s t a b r a n d o r v e n d o r w i l l b e n e f i t ( B a & P a v l o u , 2

0 0 2 ) F o r example,w h e n a t r u s t w o r t h y a n d r e p u t a b l e u s e r o f a n o n l i n e s

o c i e t y r e c o m m e n d s a v e n d o r bygivingpositiveratings,theothermembershaveatendencytohaveahighlevelo f trustintheonlineshoppingprocess(Luand,2010).Basedonthetheoryofreasoneda c t i o n , trustinauguratespositiveattitudestowardWebretailersthatarelikely

attenuatef e a r s ofWebselleropportunismandreduceinfrastructureconcernsabouttheutilizationo f theassociatedInternet(Pavlou,2003)

Actually,t r u s t i s t h e mainr e a s o n whyb r a n d i n g i s e x t r e m e l y c r u c i a l t o a l l

o r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d n o matterw h a t i n d u s t r y o f t h e b u s i n e s s i s , t r u s t i s alwaysa prerequ isi te Generally,trusthasapositiveoutcomeonbusinessrelationshipsinthelongterm.Itadjudicatesthenatureofthesocialandbusinessorderandbusinessrelationshipsquality(

G e f e n , 2 0 0 0 ) Withoutt r u s t , t h e brandwillp l a t e a u a n d c a n n o t g r o w b e c a u s

e consumershighlyvaluetheirtime,moneyandresourcesandtheywillonlygivethemtot h o s

e brandsthatcangiveandprovetheirtrustworthiness.Lackingoftrustisaobstaclefor commerce,t h u s , i t i s g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d t h a t a missingo f physicals e l l e r s a n

e-d u n c e r t a i n t i e s inth e Internetenvironment maketrustanecessary elementforappealing a n d r e t a i n i n g c o n s u m e r s ( S h i a u & L u o , 2 0 1 2 ) Buildingtrust

a n d maintainingsolidr e l a t i o n s h i p withcustomersarecriticaltoabrand’ssuccessintoday

’sfiercecompetitiong l o b a l market

Companycanbuildemotionaltrusteffectivelyiftheycanproveconsumersthatth

eb r a n d isfocusingoncustomers’expectationandmakeconsumersfeelconfidenceinane x c h a n g e partner'sreliabilityandintegrity(Morgan&Rego,2006).Thecompanieswille x i s t anddevelopsustainablybyretainingcurrentcustomersandmakingthembecomeloyalusersofthebrand(Dekimpeetal.,1997)aswellasencouragingcustomersrepeatp u r c h a s e order.Trustincommercialtransactionandthe connectionsystemswilleffecto n l i n e consumers(McColeetal.,2010)aswellasboostintentiontobuy(Shin,2010).Furthermore, t h e m o r e a c o n s u m e r t r u s t s t h e v e n d o r , t h e l e s s t h e

p e r s o n w i l l p e r c e i v e ri s k s associatedwithonlineshopping(VanderHeijdenetal.,2003)

Importantly,ithasbeenacceptedthattrusthasavitalroleinboostingintentiontobuy(Lue t a l , 2 0 1 0 ; S h i n , 2 0 1 0 ) Gettingc o n f i d e n c e a n d h a v i n g l e s s p e r c e i v e d r i s k

a r e c r u c i a l e l e m e n t s w h e n f i n d i n g n e w p r o d u c t s a n d servicesinanonlineenvironment( H a s san e i n &Head,2007;Shin,2010)

Lastb u t n o t l e a s t , previousr e s e a r c h p r o v e s t h a t t h e l i n k of trusta n d

p e r c e i v e d usefulness iscompletelycertain.Trustraisesperceivedusefulness’selements(Gefeneta l , 2003).T h u s , thisthesispostulatesbelowhypothesis:

H3:Individuals’trustinsocialnetworkingsitespositivelyinfluenceintentiontobuyH 4 : Trusti nfluencesprofoundlytoperceivedusefulness.

2.5 Perceivedusefulnessandintentiontobuy

Perceivedusefulness(PU)isoneoftheprimaryantecedentsofthetechnologyacceptancemodel(TAM).D a v i s (1989)delineatesperceived usefulnessas t h e degree towh ich ap e r s

o n believesthatusingaspecificsystemwouldboosthisorherjobperformance.Itiso n e o f k e

y m o t i v a t i o n s e x p l a i n whyus ers h a v e a n o p e n mindt o a d v a n c e t e c h n o l o g y T h

e r e aremanydefinitionsofPUinelectroniccommerceenvironment.Forexample,theweb sit equalityintermsofwell-

builtsystem,customerserviceandinformationsharingstandardwillhavepositiveinfluenceonPUwhichcanstimulatecustomerstopurchase( A h n etal.,2007)

Intentiontobuyisafundamentalconstructoftechnologyacceptancemodel(TAM),t

h i s

theoryisoneofthemostwell-knowntheoriesinforeknowledgeindividual’sintentiontouseasystem(Pavlou,2003).TAMisa essencetheoryine-commercestudies

(Martinse t a l , 2 0 1 4 ) a n d m a n y a c a d e m i c s a n d p r a c t i t i o n e r s a l r e a d y r e s e a r c h

e d T A M model(HsiaoandYang,2011).Intentiontobuyinthisstudyissetforthasacustomer’sintentiontoengageinonlinebuyinginsocialnetworkingsites

commerce(Gefen&Straub,2000).Inaddition,perceivedusefulnesscanbeappliedtof o r e c a s t intentiontouseandtheITapplicationusage(Nguyen,2007).Therefore,companiesc a n f o c u s o n s o c i a l mediai n t e r a c t i o n s , s e r v i c e a n d s y s t e m

Researchpresentsthatperceivedusefulnessimpactintentiontouseelectronic-q u a l i t y i m p r o v e m e n t t o e n h a n c e c o n s u m e r s ’ p e r c e i v e d u s e f u l n e

s s ( M N H a j l i , 2 0 1 4 ) Cha(2009)i n d i c a t e s i n hiss t u d y t h a t t h e morecustomersperceivetob e h e l p f u l w h e n p u r c h a s i n g o n l i n e v i a S N S s , t h e morep

u r c h a s e i n t e n t i o n theyh a v e i n S N S s Accordingly,thehypothesisisofferedasfollowing:

H5:Perceivedusefulnessrelatespositivelytointentiontobuy

2.6 Hypotheses

Insum,thisstudyproposestotallyfivehypotheseswiththemainattemptsaretoe m p i r i c a l

l y testtheimpactofsocialmediaonconsumeraswellasevaluatethemoderatingroleofdemographicfactorsageandgender

H1:ThereisapositiverelationshipbetweensocialmediamarketingandtrustH2a:Relati onshipbetweensocialmediaandtrustwillbeaffectedbyage.

H2b:RelationshipbetweensocialmediaandtrustwillbeaffectedbygenderH3:Individu als’trustinSNSspositivelyinfluenceintentiontobuy

3 Researchmethodology