Owned media or earned media? The influence of social media types on impulse buying intention in internet celebrity restaurants

Abstract

Social media marketing is crucial to the development of internet celebrity restaurants. However, there is a research gap on the relationship between social media types and consumers’ buying intention in internet celebrity restaurants. Based on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), our research examines the heterogeneous effects of social media types (owned media vs. earned media) on impulse buying intention in three scenario-based experiments. The findings reveal that compared to owned media, earned media can trigger a stronger impulse buying intention. Moreover, the awakening of interest and brand trust play mediating roles in this process. However, high brand familiarity weakens the effect of earned media on customers’ impulse buying intention, awakening of interest, and brand trust. Our findings improve the understanding of the functions of social media types and provide management implications for developing marketing strategies.