Social Media Engagement: Reshaping the Consumption Patterns of Generation Y Caribbean and Latin American Consumers

Chapter Structure

The structure of this chapter focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean. With AMI (2014) reporting that this market will grow to nearly 700 million consumers and over ten percent of the world’s population by 2020, it is important for professionals to understand the motivations of the individuals who were worth over billions of dollars in revenue to multinational corporations (Forbes, 2015). The nationals of this region consume many local and international products ranging from FMCG to luxury apparel and vehicles to reflect a standard of living that matches the developed world (Pfeiffer et al, 2014; Andrews & Bianchi, 2013). However, there is little research to understand their consumption patterns especially as it relates to social media engagement. Therefore this chapter will discuss the aspects of the consumer decision process and how this is influenced by social media, Generation Y involvement and Latin American and Caribbean characteristics in helping to formulate a way forward for academic research into social media and consumer behaviour within this lucrative and populous region. The chapter covers the following topics:

• •

  Theoretical Focus on Social Media Engagement and the Consumer Decision-Making Process.

• •

  Research Directions on Generation Y - Their Social Media Engagement Behaviours and How This Influences Their Consumption Behaviours.

• •

  The Literature on Latin America and the Caribbean Consumer and Social Media engagement.

• •

  Suggestions for Future Research Directions.

• •

  Conclusion.