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Top1. Introduction
The increasing number of social media (e.g., blogs and social networking sites (SNS) users has become omnipresent. In recent years, SNS users have increased remarkably, and they consider part of their daily activities to connect socially with others. Social media provide individuals with the opportunity to connect with multiple people, express themselves, share information, and socialize. Various forms of social media, such as SNS, have enabled people to effectively and efficiently expand and manage their personal websites (Lin et al., 2014; Ho and Chen, 2014). Internet users in China have multiple features. Social media, such as SNS (e.g., WeChat, SinaWeibo, Renren, QQ, Pengyou, and Douban), have become increasingly popular among young Chinese Internet users. Users of social network sites in China have increased to 61.7%, and daily users of SNS have reached 57.9% (Zong-kuiZhou et al., 2017). Accordingly, SNS has become an important communication hub, through which consumers discuss, search information, and share consumption experiences. Moreover, SNS has allowed consumers to decide how and when information is distributed and shared (Siqueira Jr. et al., 2019).
SNS users are increasing rapidly to discuss and share consumption experience, which generates electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). At present, eWOM has become a strong platform for building consumer online purchasing decision (Israeli et al., 2019). In general, eWOM is generated through blogs, personal websites, videos, and shopping center electronic bulletin boards; however, eWOM has been recently generated around multiple SNS, thereby playing a vital role in online activities (Park & Lee, 2014). Consumers trust eWOM, and information from other online users is more trusted and considered more important than company-generated information (Hayes, Shan, & King, 2018). In SNS, eWOM information can appear in multiple styles. Consumers can intentionally share information on products, services, and firms. They can also show their attraction to their media by becoming supporters of products, showing product preference through posts, and liking or sharing product contents without advertising purposes. Professional marketers may also generate opinions on SNS through their personal/company accounts (Alboqami et al., 2015; Erkan and Evans, 2016).
Marketing studies have revealed the importance of the young generation as consumers. An extensive literature is available on understanding young consumers’ consumption and marketplace attitudes when engaging in consumer socialization (Moschis and Churchill, 1978; Youn, 2008). Marketing research on consumer socialization has developed and reflected environmental changes, such as technology innovation. Social media and the Internet were eventually recommended as the newest agents of socialization (Braojos-Gomez, J, et. al., 2015; Barber, 2013; Wang et al., 2012). However, marketing research on applicability theory of consumer socialization in evolving economies is limited. For example, the young generation in China is influenced by the consumption information shared on SNS. Socio- and concept-oriented people show differences in opinions, feelings, and sharing of commercials with relatives and children (Chan & McNeal, 2003). Therefore, the socialization process is influenced by the online and offline behaviors of young consumers. The current study attempts to provide valuable understanding of the elements that influence the eWOM attitudes of young consumers.
The technology acceptance model (TAM) introduced by Davis (1985) has been applied in academic research to explain consumer behavior. TAM is an initial attempt to apply psychological factors and delivers the basis of tracking the influence of internal views on technology acceptance. This model has identified the perceived ease of use (PEU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of a method, which evaluates the factors that influence people’s behaviors, actual use, and user acceptance. TAM was initially developed in the fields of computer science and information system (IS) but has successfully expanded to other domains, such as social media, e-commerce, marketing, and tourism (Ayeh, Au, & Law, 2013b; Doong, Wang, & Foxall, 2011).