Social Media Purchase Intention After Post-Pandemic Outbreak: An Empirical Study on Malaysian Customers

Abstract

Social media networks, like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, offer many channels for selling products and services. Consumers can use social media platforms to participate in discourse and acknowledge their needs. This study investigates the determinants affecting customers' buying intentions on social media platforms in Malaysia following the COVID-19 pandemic. We gathered primary data by disseminating a self-administered questionnaire to social media users in Malaysia, yielding 286 valid samples for analysis. We employed SPSS to evaluate the gathered data and assess the reliability of the constructs. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and multiple regression analysis were conducted, revealing that control, perceived risk, and price greatly impacted consumers' intentions for buying online products and services via social media platforms in Malaysia following the COVID-19 outbreak. The results of this study will assist social media marketers, entrepreneurs, stakeholders, and consumers in understanding the implications of online purchasing behaviours. We conducted the study solely through an online survey, which will allow future researchers to explore in-person data collection methods. The results of this research could help digital marketing learners and researchers regarding social media buying practices.