RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT

( RESEARCH METHODOLOGY )

SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACTS ON PURCHASE INTENTION AMONG YOUTH:

 A CASE STUDY IN SABAH

1.0 RESEARCH PROBLEM STATEMENT

In view of the growing number of internet users, the factors of social media
that influence the purchase intention of customers need to be explored.
Among those customers, youth is the one that using social media
frequently than other categories. From that point of view, social media are
being considered as important elements in marketing tools as the function
and demand is increasing. Social media obviously can affect the customer
buying decisions, however there are little studies about its impacts to the
customer buying decisions especially in Malaysia.

When it comes to business success, customer loyalty is everything. Every

company out there dreams of having dedicated clients who also share
positive reviews with other potential consumers. Hence, social media can
provides the perfect platform to create these lasting relationships between
customers and brands. The questions need to answer is how the presence
of social media can transform online fans and followers especially
teenagers into brand enthusiasts.

It seems clear that we are currently living in the midst of the boom
of the use of social media. Social networks such as Facebook with some
400 million active members represent a larger community than most
individual countries. But research is somewhat lagging behind this rapid
development, and it is difficult to find relevant up to date studies on how
social media are to be part of the branding process, how this relates to the
strategy that companies have with the use of social media.

The question is wheter social media can be used to strengthen the

brand, increase sales, find new customers, recruit more competent staff, to
improve the support-function, to be part of the product development
and/or to improve the internal communication (Carlsson, 2010). Brand
awareness is about the strength the brands presence has in consumers
minds (Aaker 1996).

Brand engagement in traditional Media is the willing of consumers

to invest time, money, energy and other resources in the brand beyond
those expended during the purchase or consumption of the brand
 (Pruppers, 2011). For instance, engaged consumers choose to join a
brands fan club or receive updates and information about a brands news.
Marketers seek to engage consumers and presently they interpret social
media as a way to achieve it. Marketing in social media desires to engage
consumers in on line locations where they spend much time per day.

Brand awareness is to be measured not in brand recall but by

dynamic measures such as customer word-of-mouth (Weber 2009). These
are the contents that will be looked into in this research. With regard to
this, the research problem of this study can be formulated as:

To increase the understanding of the role of social media for the

creation of
brand awareness

Nowadays, purchase intention is more complicated and more

significant for consumers than in the past. Customers are encompassed by
reports, advertisements, articles and direct mailings that provide large
amount of information. Moreover, different kinds of products, supplies,
super markets and shopping malls have complex and difficult decision
making.

The purchase behavior of young consumers especially teenagers,

continues to attract attention from researchers in the field of marketing.
Marketers are interested in teenagers because they are a distinct
consumer group. According to Martin and Bush (2000a) teenagers
influence each other in adopting specific latest fashion styles, developing
loyal buying patterns that continue with them throughout their adult lives
and have relatively greater spending power. Teenagers also exert a great
deal of influence on purchase decisions that are made in the family
(Belleau etal., 2007; LaFerle and Chan,2008; North and Kotze,2001).
Furthermore, teenagers are still learning and searching for their own
identity (Bush etal.,2004) and are less rooted inconventional social morals
and ethics (Mangleburg etal.,2004).

2.0 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

This study focuses on the young generation in Malaysia because of

some reasons. Firstly, immature customer segment is known as special
segment for some special products. Secondly, at the period of evolution
from youth to early maturity, these customer segments have their unique
consumer behaviors and attitudes (Safiek, 2009a). Thirdly, juveniles effect
on their families and shape familys consumer behavior; finally, young
consumers can change and influence culture as well as society (Safiek,
2009a).
Factors

In addition, according to the previous studies, investigators argued that the

external factors (demographic, geographic and group) influence PI. Besides, there
are some difficulties in applying these factors and measuring their effects on PI.
The effect of demographic on PI is complicated and confusing that needs to be
examined. For instance, consumers 18 to 24-year-old are more likely than other
consumers to buy a product on the spur of the moment and change brands if the
mood strikes (Abdol Razak & Kamarulzaman, 2009). Apart from that, there are
still some studies that indicate the males and females behave and make PI in
different ways. Teenage boys were more utilitarian, whereas teenage girls are
more social/conspicuous conscious (Cathy & Vincent, 2006). Furthermore,
different races have different behaviors, which can significantly affect PI; for
example, the Malays are more patriotic to the local brands compared to two other
Malaysian races. Likewise, group influence significantly affects PI. Group (social
networks, television, influential, books) influences on young generation in
Malaysia and changes their culture, behavior and purchase intention because
they have adapted with other cultures (Fon, Ata & Philip, 2008).

Brand Loyalty of Teenagers

Purchase Intention of Teenagers

Purchase intention means a consumer prefers to buy a product or service

because he/she finds that he/she needs a

particular product or service, or even attitude towards a product and perception

of product. In other words,

purchase intention means consumer will buy a product once again after she or he
evaluates a product and finds

out that the product worth buying. While consumers select one particular
product, the final decision on accepting a product to buy or rejecting it depends
on consumers intention. Also, a large number of external factors have

been recognized, which can affect PI (Keller, 2001).

Why Teenagers ?

This study focuses on the young generation in Malaysia because of some

reasons. Firstly, immature customer segment is known as special segment for
some special products. Secondly, at the period of evolution from youth to early
maturity, these customer segments have their unique consumer behaviors and
attitudes (Safiek, 2009a). Thirdly, juveniles effect on their families and shape
familys consumer behavior; finally, young consumers can change and influence
culture as well as society (Safiek, 2009a).

Brand Loyalty & Intent to Purchase

The uses and gratifications theory is built around the idea that audiences are
active and goal oriented, not just passive recipients of information. The need to
link gratification and media choice rests with the individual who ultimately has a
variety of alternative options of need satisfaction available. Gratification can be
described as a positive emotional response to having ones desires or goals
fulfilled. Using gratification as measure of success while researching online
communities it is possible to identify how members use of online communities
can influence their brand loyalty and intent to purchase. Gratification can be
difficult to measure because it is in large part an emotion in which each user will
experience at different levels (Sangwan, 2005). Community engagement refers to
the positive influences of identifying with the brand community, which are
defined as the consumers intrinsic motivation to interact and cooperate with
community members. Community engagement suggests that members are
interested in helping other members, participating in joint activities, and
otherwise acting in ways that the community endorses and that enhance its
value for themselves and others. Social Interaction/User-Participation is referred
to as Taking part, one participates when one has contributed to something
either directly or indirectly to the community (Vroom and Jago, 1988).

Thompson & Sinha (2008) examined the effects brand community

participation and membership has on the adoption of competing brands. In their
research they found that that members of a brand community avoid engaging in
discourse about the strengths and weaknesses of competing brands in favor of
products from the preferred brand. Alternately, members of brand communities
focus on products and services from the preferred brand and tend to highlight
negative information about competing brands. This result in members being
receiving less exposure about the positive traits a competing product may
present over the preferred brand (p.67). Muniz and OGuinn (2001) find that
long-term members tend to enjoy higher status within the brand community and
that their claims to membership are regarded as more legitimate. Therefore,
longer-term membership in a brand community should lead to a stronger social
identification with that brand community.

Hagel and Armstrong (1997) stated that, "those businesses that capitalize
on organizing virtual communities will be richly rewarded with both peerless
customer loyalty and impressive economic returns" (p. 2). A site that supports an
active "critical mass" of involved consumers can be a valuable information
resource (Hanson, 2000). Holland & Baker (2001) discovered that site users who
became community members increased the length of time spent on the site,
returned more often, and generated more activity (as measured by community
postings) compared to users who were not community members. A survey of site
users indicated that community members were more likely to visit the site daily
and refer others to it. Additionally, Holland & Baker (2001) refer to a Yankee
Group Report in which a survey of companies implementing a community
strategy showed an increase in brand loyalty. In addition to brand loyalty the
survey indicated that across a variety of websites, online shoppers who are
community members buy at a much higher rate than non-members (p. 43).

Luo (2002) examined the influences of information, entertainment, and

irritation against online consumer behavior. Results indicated that the uses and
gratification theory explains consumers attitudes toward the Internet. Findings
from the study showed that users who viewed the Internet as both informational
and entertaining showed a positive attitude, whereas those users who were
irritated with the Internet reported negative attitudes. This research further
suggests that a more satisfied user is more likely to become a repeat visitor and
have a higher click-through rates than less satisfied users (pp. 38-39).

Using the uses and gratification theory Sangwan (2005) explored the
success of online communities. This research focused on identifying what factors
motivate members to participate in an online community. Using an online
community of knowledge Sangwan proposed five categories of uses gratifications
cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative and tension release
needs. Sangwan identified that, For virtual community users, spatial convenience
of information gathering and sharing, reducing time in receiving information by
choice, increased pleasure by ownership of actions and improved decision
making, and by being part of a larger knowledgeable community can be seen as
critical needs gratifications outputs. (p. 4)

With the help of community organizers Sangwan (2005) administered a

survey to a randomly selected sample of 2000 members of an online community,
with a total of 216 responses. Offering a selection of investment books as an
incentive Sanwan achieved a response rate of 10.8 percent. Of the respondents
who completed the online questionnaire, 87.2 percent were male and 12.8
percent were female. Sangwans (2005) research ultimately identified three key
motivating factors for participation in online communities: Functional, Emotive,
and Contextual. Table 2 represents results of ANOVA regression analysis.
Sangwans (2005) research though focused on communities of knowledge, whose
operating principles tend to be different than online brand communities where
the community is based upon consumption of a brands product or service. This
has led to the development of following research questions:

RQ2: Does membership of an online brand community influence brand loyalty?

RQ3: Does membership of an online brand community influence consumers

intent to purchase?

Brand Loyalty

Feelings towards online brand community

Brand loyalty perception
 Obligation to brand
Recommendation to others

Intent to purchase

Influence on intent to purchase

Influence on purchase
Likelihood to repurchase
Direct impact on purchase decision
Third-person perception
Influence of member suggestions

2.1 Does engagement in social media means that the user has the intention to
purchase

the brand ?

2.2 Why do teenagers involve with brand engagement social media activities ?

2.3 What is the role of brand loyalty on consumers engagement with purchase
intention

related social media activities ?

2.4 Insufficient research and development (R & D)

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