The Effect Of Social Media On Consumer Purchase Decisions In The Beverage Industries In Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

The researcher was motivated into conducting this research study by the need to know and

understand the effects of social media on customer purchase decisions. The objectives of the

study were to establish the influence of digital consumer interaction on need recognition, to

investigate the effect of electronic word of mouth on information search, to investigate the effect

of product attributes on evaluation of alternatives and to assess the extent to which brand online

communities can enhance purchase decisions and post purchase behaviour. The researcher

adopted a quantitative methodology and used a case study design. The researcher constructed

questionnaires and administered them to a sample of 380 respondents. The collected data was

analysed through SPSS version 16. The findings of the data were presented in tables. The

researcher tested the reliability of the data using Cronbach‟s Alpha. The researcher used

descriptive statistics to describe social media and customer purchase decisions. Multiple

regression analysis was performed to determine the impact of social media on customer purchase

decisions. The probability values were also used to test the hypotheses. The researcher found out

that there is a positive impact of digital consumer interaction on need recognition, there is a

positive relationship between electronic word of mouth on information search, there is a positive

impact of product attributes on evaluation of alternatives and also that there is a positive

relationship between brand online communities and customer purchase decisions. The researcher

concluded that social media has a positive and significant effect on customer purchase decisions.

The researcher recommended that beverage companies should use social media since it has a

positive and significant influence on customer purchase decisions. The sample size used by the

researcher was relatively small and the researcher could not generalise the findings to the whole

beverage industry. The researcher proposed that future studies should replicate the same and

employ large sample size to enhance generalisation of findings.