Impacts of Social Networking on Shopping Behaviors - Example

Impacts of Social Networking on Shopping Behaviors Name: Course: Professor: Institution: City & State: Date: Executive summary Aim: The main aim of this research paper is to assess how social networking impacts shopping behaviors. The research therefore seeks to understand if there is any difference between perception of real and virtual products on the part of consumers with regard to social networking. Background information: Social networking is a recent trend in the history and most investors especially advertisers have been on the forefront in making use of social networks because of the large number of people that they attract. Research Problem: Social networking has completely changed the way in which business is being done in most parts of the world. This research seeks therefore to understand how social networking has impacted on shopping behavior of most consumers especially towards virtual products. Research Question: The main research question is: are there differences between real and virtual items with respect to which factors affect attitudes toward shopping on social networking sites? How different or similar are the factors? Methodology: This research involves a survey carried out with students of University of California as sample participants. The main research method is a structured questionnaire that involves questions concerning a social network site that the participant is familiar with. Results: The results indicate that there are several factors that affect shopping for products on social networking sites. Discussion: Discusses the implications of findings of this research. Limitations: Outlines the main limitations of this study Recommendations and conclusion: A summary of the whole study together with recommendations. Abstract Social networking sites have become major phenomena in the 21st century. This has worked to change the landscape of business and the manner in which business is carried thus changing shopping behaviors for consumers. However, depending on the nature of products that are advertised on social networking sites, there are several factors that influence whether online shoppers purchase such products or not. The main purpose of this study is to find out factors that affect shopper’s attitude towards buying products online through social networking sites. Keywords: Online shopping, Social networking Web sites, virtual, real, technology acceptance model. Impacts of Social Networking on Shopping Behaviors Introduction In a common man’s language, a social network refers to a network of friends, colleagues and other persons who share on a frequent basis. Research has shown that strong social networks can lead to a healthy behavior and personality development. With advancement of new technologies, computers and other devices have completely changed the meaning of a social network. Internet technology has made it possible for development of websites which unite people of common interests to communicate with each other and share information. The long term result of this has been a complete change in various aspects of human life especially in commerce and education. Business oriented networks have sprung up to change the traditional view of business. The main focus of this research paper is on how social networking has impacted on shopping behavior. This study will involve a survey carried out on a selected section of students at university of California who are perceived as frequent users of social networks and potential consumers of online products, analysis and presentation of data in form of tables, charts and percentages. Problem Definition Recent years have seen rapid changes in technological advancement especially in terms of communication and information delivery. The manner in which people communicate and interact with each other has changed over time to ensure efficiency and accuracy of information delivered. The development of social networking sites has had a significant role in changing the way business and especially in terms of shopping behavior. The main focus is therefore exploration of how social networking has impacted shopping behavior. In understanding and describing how this has changed shopping behavior, the information will be relevant to other marketers when coming up with policies that ensure they reach their consumers through social sites. Background to the problem Social media marketing is one of the recent marketing strategies that have been employed by corporation as they struggle to reach a wider field of consumers of their products. Research question The main research question is: Main research question: How does social networking impact on shopping behavior? Specific Research Question: Are there differences between real and virtual items with respect to which factors affect attitudes toward shopping on social networking sites? How different or similar are the factors? Literature Review As Kaplan & Michael (2010) argue, traditional advertising techniques include print and television advertising. Recent years have seen the Internet overtake television as the largest advertising market. A common phenomena are whereby websites include banners or pop-up ads of a particular product and which determines its marketability and products have entire pages where are able to interact with users. Unlike television commercials which often end with a spokesperson asking viewers to check out the product website for more information, advertising has taken a new beginning to move shoppers from this tradition outlet to the electronic ones through social networking. Internet and social networking leaks are one of the issues that have led to gradual face out of traditional advertising (Kaplan & Michael, 2010). Social networking sites allow advertisements to go viral, and be seen by many potential shoppers more quickly thereby facing out the problem of time difference which is a setback that faces traditional advertising. In his example, Freeman (2004) argues that whenever a social event occurs and is broadcast on television, there is often a time delay between airings on the east coast and west coast of the United States. On the other hand, the author argues that social networking sites have become a hub of comment and interaction concerning the event and this allows individuals watching the event on the west coast (time-delayed) to know the outcome before it airs. The author cites an example of the 2011 Grammy Awards which clearly highlighted this problem. Promotions and advertisements for the event were lost due to lack of reason by viewers to watch them. Freeman (2004) explains that Social networking websites allow individuals to interact with one another and therefore build relationships. Users experience personal interactions as a result of their prior experience with social networking. Social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs allow individuals to follow a product that is being promoted. All users of the connection are able to see messages or adverts therefore reaching more people. In his description, the author adds that social networking sites act like a word of mouth and this is because the information about the product is repeated every now and then thereby generating more traffic to the product or company. Through social networking sites, products/companies are able to have conversations and interactions with individual followers and this kind of interaction goes a step higher in instilling a feeling of loyality into followers and potential customers. Freeman (2004) writes that most social networking websites based in the United States have relatively short histories but adds that their growth has been exponential. According tot he author, MySpace ranked second in visitor page views behind Yahoo by May 2006. However, by August 2007, six social networking Web sites were ranked among the top 20 of U.S. Web site traffic lists. These websites included MySpace ranked 6th, Orcut 8th, Facebook 10 th, Hi5 11th, and Friendster 18th (Alexa.com, 2007). Most U.S. social networking Web sites have witnessed a steady increase in the numbers of registered users. For example, by May 2009, Facebook and MySpace had more than 307 million and 123 million users worldwide, respectively. Reuven and Shlomo (2010) note that Social networking Web sites have succeeded in attracting not only users but investors too. Many companies have been on the forefront in trying to acquire or invest in social networks. However, there have been doubts about the stable revenue structures of social networks in their nascent business stage. In real examples, Yahoo and Viacom both offered $1 billion to buy Facebook in 2006. Several venture capitalists have also invested from $1 million to $10 million in Friendster. The authors note that despite the success of social networking sites with respect to attracting users and investors, academics and industry observers are concerned about their potentially vulnerable business models. Previous research indicates that consumers rely on two different sets of values in making their shopping decisions. Hedonic shopping value reflects the value received from the multisensory, fantasy-related, and emotive feeling a consumer receives from a particular product, whereas utilitarian shopping value focuses on the acquisition of products and/or information in an efficient manner, which reflects a more task-oriented, cognitive, unemotional outcome. Therefore, cognitive aspects of attitudes, such as economic benefit, are associated with utilitarian value. Reuven and Shlomo (2010) argue that most online shoppers tend to seek utilitarian values rather than hedonic values, because online shopping services lack multisensory attributes. The primary utilitarian values that online shoppers seek include the convenience of locating and comparing merchants, evaluating price and quality ratios. The authors note that adding virtual items to social networking sites can greatly expand the value of online shopping in one. Shopping for virtual items also is more relevant to hedonic than to utilitarian values, because consumers do not purchase virtual items out of necessity. Therefore, consumers' attitudes towards shopping at a site are determined by whether the social networking site sells real or virtual items. Due to the differences in nature of virtual and real items in a shopping situation, this study therefore explores the similarities and differences between factors that affect shopping for virtual and real items on social networking sites. Methodology Sample and Procedures The data for this study will come from a survey carried out under stipulated guidelines. The research will involve a main test that will be preceded by two pretests using two samples of 38 and 40 college students. Basing on the two pretests, questions and wordings for the questionnaire will be carefully refined. For the main survey, a total of 167 students at University of California in United will take part in the survey. Although the use of University students can be perceived as being convenient, this sample is appropriate if their population group is of interest to the topic under survey. A college student sample is reasonable to study shopping services on social networking sites, because college students are the primary users of social networks and represent a significant portion of consumer age group that social networking sites and related retailers are interested in for the purpose of marketing. The sample for this survey comprises of students enrolled in two large introductory mass communication courses at the University of California. The survey will be open to all of the majors across campus so as to ensure that participants are heterogeneous. The sample distribution can be summarized as follows. 78% women (n = 129) 23% men (n = 38) 6% first-year students (n = 10), 13.8% second year (n = 23), 17.4% junior (n = 29) 62.9% senior (n = 105). Participants in this survey will be first asked to indicate the social networking site with which they are most familiar with. The subsequent questions will be answered on the questionnaire with respect to that social networking site. This approach will be taken because their perceptions and familiarity with several social networks vary. in addition, this survey considers 10 products or services namely computers and computer accessories, DVDs, video games, books, tickets, clothes and accessories, profile layouts, avatars, virtual gifts, and playable music. The selection of these items was based on the assumption that they are products purchased most by college students. A principal component factor analysis was conducted first to examine whether attitude toward shopping for individual items differs according to product type. Measures and theoretical framework The following are hypotheses that will be tested out during the pretest and the main test in this survey. H1. Attitude towards shopping for real (virtual) items on social networking Web sites is positively related to ease of use, perceived usefulness, and enjoyment of shopping services on the social networking sites. H2. There is a positive correlation between real (virtual) items sold on social networking Web sites and the attitude towards shopping for the real (virtual) items on the Web sites.  H3.There is a positive correlation between perceived security of social networking Web sites and the attitude toward shopping for real (virtual) items on the social networking Web sites. H4. Attitude towards shopping for real (virtual) items on social networking sites is positively related to experience with the social networking sites. H5. Attitude towards shopping for real (virtual) items on social networking sites is positively related to online shopping experience. H6. Attitude towards shopping for real (virtual) items on social networking sites is positively related to the female gender of consumers. H7. Attitude towards shopping for real (virtual) items on social networking sites is negatively associated with age. Results Table 1 gives a summary which indicates that factor analysis successfully yields two factors: real items (α = .89) and virtual items (α = .81). The first factor which is attitude towards shopping for real items in this case refers to six items: computers and accessories, tickets, clothes and accessories, books, DVDs, and video games. The second factor attitude toward shopping for virtual items includes four items: profile layouts, music that can be played on social networks, virtual gifts, and avatars. The real and virtual items account for 53.08% and 12.87% of the total variance, respectively. The means of attitude toward shopping for real items (M = 4.16, SD = 1.37) and virtual items (M = 4.10, SD = 1.41) are similar (Doreian, Vladimir, and Anuška, 2005). Table 1. Factor analysis results for attitude toward shopping on social networks Attitude toward Shopping for Items Real Items Virtual Items Book .84 .09 Ticket .82 .17 DVD .81 .31 Clothing and accessories .71 .26 Computers and accessories .68 .44 Video game .61 .52 Profile layouts .10 .84 Virtual gifts .18 .77 Avatars .42 .69 Music played on profile .28 .69   Notes. The first factor (real items) achieves an eigen value of 5.31. The second factor (virtual items) reaches an eigen value of 1.29. Two separate multiple regressions assess the research question and hypotheses. Tables 2 and 3 show the results from the regressions. The conceptual models explain 76.4% (adjusted R² = .75) and 58.0% (adjusted R² = .55) of the variance for the attitude toward shopping for real items and virtual items, respectively. Neither model suffers from multi-collinearity problems. The variance inflation factor (VIF) values range from 1.07 to 3.25. Table 2. Multiple regressions for attitude toward shopping for real items on social networking Web sites   B SE Β Perceived usefulness .15 .06 .16** Perceive ease of use .27 .05 .26*** Perceive enjoyment -.12 .07 -.12* Perceived security .07 .04 .07* Perceived fit between social   networks and real items .67 .05 .66*** Experience with social networks  -.09 .06 -.07 Internet purchasing experience .05 .05 .04 Age -.10 .04 -.11** Female .23 .14 .07   Notes: R = .87; R² = .76. * p < .05. ** p  Read More