Role of use of Social Media on Effective Buying Decision Process: A Study of Consumer buying Behavior in the Context of Bangladesh Market

Abstract

Buyer behavior has always been an important and interesting area for research. This study focuses on measuring the influence of use of social media during different stages of buying decision process with effective buying decision process in the context of Bangladesh market. This study is based on empirical findings of a quantitative research in which primary data is collected by using survey method with the help of a self-completion questionnaire and by applying personal interview technique. The study reveals that out of five stages of consumer buying decision processes, uses of social media during problem recognition, purchase and post-purchase decision stages have small but positive and statistically significant associations with effective buying decision process. Overall, use of social media has weak but statistically significant association with effective buying decision process. Use of social media during problem recognition stage followed by use of social media during post-purchase decision made the strongest unique contribution to explain effective consumer buying decision process and are statistically significant. The study extends a direction for new researchers and concludes with suggestions for further research and suggests marketers to use social media to generate demand and to focus on offering superior value products to provide customer satisfaction so that buyers spread positive word-ofmouth which will in turn develop company/brand image and will bring more customers and will play significant role on the buying behavior of consumers.