The Impact of Social Media on High Involvement Purchase Processes- An Extant Literature Review

Abstract

In terms of usage and acceptability, social media is a roaring success. Social media platforms affect individual’s communication and interaction with each other, how they voice and exchange thoughts, and how they connect with products, and corporations. Moreover, social media platforms have advanced to important knowledge-sharing platforms for consumers. The influence of social media on high involvement products has already been described as tremendous as purchases are seen as risky, and hence decision-making processes is data-heavy. The concept of consumer engagement in an online setting has also begun to gain prominence in marketing literature. Customers participate in several behaviors on social networks, like browsing, interacting, sharing and seeking information, which educate them about company offerings and, as a consequence, affect their brand awareness and purchase intentions. When making a major buying decision, customers believe social networks to be a critical source of information. They utilize social media to not only discuss their good and bad experiences but also gain knowledge about various company offerings. A sufficient number of research have attempted to uncover the function and impact of social media on aspects of customer behavior pre, during, and post the purchase process. Most research take a micro approach, stressing on a specific type of social medium (e.g., consumer review websites), a particular application (e.g., Facebook), a specific stage of the decision-making process (e.g., information search), or a specific phase of the buying process (e.g., information search) (e.g., after purchase). In spite of the benefits of such micro perspectives, the entire scenario of how consumers utilize social media and their influence at all phases of the purchase process and decision making is still imprecise. This research attempts to add to our existing understanding in a number of ways. Initially, to consumer behavior theory, by suggesting exchange of information as a multi-component consumer behavior construct. Secondly, study on social media in the context of high-involvement products. Thirdly, by providing the social media enabled buying process prototype as a framework for analyzing the function and influence of social media on a high-involvement products buying process.