Impact of social media on consumer behaviour

The goal of this paper is to research empirically the role of social media in consumers' decision-making process for complex purchases - those characterised by significant brand differences, high consumer involvement and risk, and which are expensive and infrequent. The model uses the information search, alternative evaluation, and purchase decision stages from the classical EBM model. A quantitative survey investigates up to what degree experiences are altered by the use of social media. Results show that social media usage influences consumer satisfaction in the stages of information search and alternative evaluation, with satisfaction getting amplified as the consumer moves along the process towards the final purchase decision and post-purchase evaluation. The research was done among internet-savvy consumers in South-East Asia, and only considered purchases that were actually made by consumers, not including searches that were abandoned.