Introduction
Advertisers and marketers in the recent years have exploited social media as an increasing platform for product and service advertising. This is because of the capacity of the social media to go beyond the limits of a company’s web pages, the ability of social media to enhance awareness of a product through attraction, as opposed to interruption, and the advantage of reaching a wider target market that would be difficult and expensive to reach using other models of advertising.
A considerable amount of academic research has been conducted into the Impact of social media on consumer behavior. Such research has found a number of variables, which moderate the effectiveness of social media in product and service image and consumer awareness enhancement.
Statement of the Problem and Research Objectives
Despite availability of considerable amount of academic research on the impacts of social media on consumer behavior, very little efforts have been directed towards examining its impacts on consumers within the electronic sector.
As such, the implications of social media on consumer behavior in the electronic sector remain unclear. This study aims at examining the impact of social media on consumer behavior in the electronic sector and thereby, bridging this gap in literature.
This study will also seek to examine the following objectives
- To investigate the impact of social media on electronics’ brand perceptions and intentions to purchase
- To critique literature on e-consumer behaviour, focusing on its five major dimensions: functional attributes, social factors, experiential aspects, situational factors, and consumer traits in electronics sector.
- To present the results from this primary research and discuss the implications of social media on consumer behavior in the electronic sector.
List of Literatures
A comprehensive review of both theoretical and empirical literature will constitute the literature review. This will draw an analysis of recent research articles on consumer behavior, consumer psychology and brand management.
Brief Outline and Research plan
The research paper will have a detailed outline that will seek to examine this research topic. It will comprise of an introduction, purpose of the study and problem background that will seek to provide background, significance of the study, scope of the study and limitations. The second chapter will provide an analysis of relevant literatures in the field.
In the research methodology, data will be collected first and theories developed after data analysis is carried out. The research conducted will be a clear case of a case study strategy, where a questionnaire will be replicated and the items in the questionnaire measured (Ozgener & Iraz, 2005). Case study methodology includes both single and multiple or collective case studies (Stake, 1994; Yin, 2003).
According to Stake (1994), the latter may result in a fuller picture of the phenomenon of interest. In order to provide an enhanced understanding of the experiences of consumers in electronic sector, this research examined multiple case studies.
The analytic strategy will be adopted in the analysis of data that will include strategies for exploratory qualitative studies. Data generated will be analyzed qualitatively.
To carry out a comparative analysis on measure the differences in quality between these two radiology programs, a measure of correlation and dependence will be employed. The conclusion will summarize the main points addressed by the research paper, provide recommendations and future research.
References
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Keller, K.L. 2008. Strategic Brand Management. Pearson Education. NJ: Upper Saddle River.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. Newbury Park: Sage.
Stake, R. E. (1994). Case studies: Handbook of qualitative research. London: Sage.
Ozgener, B and Iraz, N. (2005). Research methods for business students. Prentice Hall: London