Do Millennials Believe in Food Vlogger Reviews? A Study of Food Vlogs as a Source of Information

Abstract

Objective – Developments in communication technology and social media have enabled business to enter the digital world. This can come in the form of ‘vlogs’ or ‘video blogs’ designed by ‘vloggers’ or ‘video bloggers’ to present interesting content and concepts. Food vlogs provide detailed information or explanations about the food vloggers have tried and evaluated, in an interesting video format that shows how the seller prepares the food and serves it up, and how it is consumed. The completed video is uploaded to an online channel. Many Indonesian vloggers make use of YouTube to feature their culinary activities. Their vlogs have attracted a huge audience of people looking to enjoy the latest trends in cuisine. To research the determinants of intention to use food vlogger reviews in purchase decisions, the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used to investigate the post-adoption behaviour of Indonesian Millennials in relation to online food vlogger reviews. The existence of links among the perceived benefit of online food vlogger reviews, the usefulness of mobile apps and perceived enjoyment has not been a topic of research to date. Methodology/Technique – This research uses a purposive sampling technique to select 330 Millennials who have a YouTube application, subscribers to food vlogger channels, and had bought local street food at least once after seeing a food vlogger review. The data of this study employs a path analysis with SPSS 25.0 and Smart-PLS 3. Findings – The results indicate strong positive effects of the perceived benefit of online food vlogger reviews towards purchase intentions, mobile app usefulness and perceived enjoyment in descending order of effect. Novelty - Our study has several contributions, including adding insight into the process from before consumers make a purchase; when they find all the information about street food from YouTube; then their interest in buying is generated; and finally, they purchase the food and drinks they have chosen. They can also be reassured that, despite this all happening amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, they need not worry because the seller is adhering to the procedures established by the Government. Type of Paper: Empirical. JEL Classification: M31, M37, M9. Keywords: Perceived Benefit; Mobile App Usefulness; Perceived Enjoyment; Attitude; Intention to Use Food Vlogger Reviews; YouTube; Millennial. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Briliana, V; Ruswidiono, W; Deitiana, T. 2020. Do Millennials believe in food vlogger reviews? A study of food vlogs as a source of information, J. Mgt. Mkt. Review 5(3) 170 – 178. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2020.5.3(5)