A STUDY OF THE KEY ELEMENTS IN VIRAL MARKETING TOWARDS CONSUMERS’ PURCHASE INTENTION IN KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA

Abstract

This study investigates the critical elements of viral marketing toward consumers' purchasing intention in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Five perceived viral marketing elements were identified and tested on their relationship to consumers' purchase intentions. The five key factors are perceived informativeness, entertainment, irritation, source credibility, and incentive. To gather and analyse the data related to this study, questionnaires were distributed through the online google platform to the consumers in Klang Valley. A total of 434 respondents contributed to the discussion and conclusion of this study. These respondents are frequent internet users who are familiar with viral marketing. Therefore, it increased the research's credibility. Findings obtained from this study indicated that four key elements of viral marketing, perceived informativeness, perceived entertainment, perceived source credibility, and perceived incentives, are significant and display a positive relationship to consumers' purchasing intention. In contrast, this study illustrated that perceived irritation is not significant for consumers' purchase intentions, indicating that the consumers in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, do not perceive the advertising messages targeted at them causes any annoyance but as helpful during their purchase intention.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0967/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>