Social media marketing: understanding cognitive biases in consumer purchase intentions

Purpose This study investigates how Confirmation, Halo, Authority and Scarcity biases influence purchase behavior by shaping consumer attitudes and perceptions as mediators. It further examines whether social media usage intensity moderates the relationship between marketing strategies and final purchasing decisions. Design/methodology/approach The research collected data from 531 users across three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The data analysis was conducted using the structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, with SPSS and AMOS as the primary data processing tools to analyze both inner and outer models. Findings The findings of this study disclosed that the hypotheses, such as Security Bias, Authority Bias, Halo effect and Confirmation bias, positively influence customer buying behavior, whereas Usage intensity significantly strengthens the relationship between cognitive biases in SMM and consumer buying behavior. Originality/value This research empirically confirms that social media marketing's cognitive biases, notably scarcity and authority, positively influence consumer buying behavior. It uniquely demonstrates how usage intensity significantly moderates this relationship. This provides a new framework for understanding the ethical dimensions of consumer psychology in the digital realm.