Exploring the Impact of Social Media Marketing Features on Purchase Intention in the Fast-Food Industry

Abstract

This study was directed towards testing the effect of four social media marketing activities on purchase intention in the fast-food industry. The required data was obtained from several customers of different fast-food restaurants in the United Arab Emirates via a survey method. During data analysis, the partial least squares structural equation modelling was used for checking the reliability as well as validity of research instrument and then verify the proposed hypotheses. The results confirmed the significance of selected social media marketing activities in affecting purchase intention. Particularly, the results showed that interactivity, entertainment, informativeness, and perceived relevance have significant positive effects on consumer purchase intention. These outcomes suggest that marketing practitioners should be regularly engaged in social media advertising activities to create value for customers and influence their purchase behaviours. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the existing literature by testing the role of selected social media marketing features and consumer purchase intention with new insights from a Middle East country owing to the lack of empirical studies on this topic in this region.

Keywords

Consumer purchase intention fast-food industry social media marketing

Introduction

Purchase intention is one of the common topics in marketing that received a noteworthy attention in previous research. It was conceptualized by Spears and Singh,¹ as “an individual’s conscious plan to make an effort to purchase a brand” (p. 56). Prentice et al.² also referred purchase intention to the willingness of customers to buy a firm’s offerings after the general assessment of their worth. It is a result of consumers’ perceptions that influence them to react towards a certain object. That is, a consumer’s purchase intention tends to be formed based on his/her prior experience in using a company’s products or services and evaluating their abilities in fulfilling his/her needs. It can also be established through designing effective advertisements that can produce positive consumer response. According to Dodds et al.,³ the purchase intention of consumer simply means the tendency to purchase a firm’s offerings. Similarly, Blackwell et al.⁴ regarded purchase intention as the subjective judgement of future purchase behaviour. Nowadays, there are several marketing communication channels that received high attentions from business practitioners for promoting their products and services and influencing consumers’ purchase behaviours.

Marketing communications can be defined as the use of various marketing channels and tools to reach a firm’s target market and convey specific messages in a unique and creative way.⁵ There are different marketing communication tools that have long been used by organizations to achieve their marketing objectives. In the earlier decades, traditional media advertisements (e.g., newspapers, television, radio, magazines, and billboards) were the dominant approaches for marketing communication. However, in the recent years, consumers’ needs and preferences have changed vividly and organizations realized the power of a two-way communication in shaping brand experiences and consumer behaviour.⁶ The emergence of Internet technologies contributed to the significant changes in the communication landscape. Nowadays, consumers can search for products and services online and interact with the service providers easily.⁷ In this perspective, social media channels have been considered as the most powerful tools of marketing communication for disseminating brand information to a larger pool of customers and achieving business objectives.

Prior researches that focused on social media marketing stated that connecting with customers through online channels represents a new approach for promoting a firm’s offerings and can affect purchase intention.^8–10 The quick growth in emerging technologies and different social media networks have enabled marketers to take the opportunity for relying on multiple means to communicate, collaborate, and interact with their target market easily anytime and at minimal expenses.¹¹ These quick developments in the information and digital technologies have forced service providers to exploit social media channels for promoting and strengthening their brands. The networks of social media consist of diverse web-based tools which permit their account users to circulate and disseminate original ideas and essential information interactively via virtual groups.^12–13 In the earlier literature, different terms were used to describe social media, for example, “Web 2.0, social networking communications, social networking tools, social networking sites, and blogs”.¹⁴, p. 60

Social media marketing communications provide organizations with diverse opportunities as the purchase decisions of consumers are highly influenced by their regular interactions with others online.¹⁵ Currently, consumers largely rely on the networks of social media to find important brand information before buying. In fact, social media networks have nowadays been recognized as the foremost popular source for finding several goods or services, especially in the fast-food context. They also represent as important platforms for collecting consumer data and communicating brand values. Due to these benefits, companies have invested their times and monetary resources, along with other capabilities, for promoting their brands on different social media channels and inducing the purchase behaviours of customers. However, despite the enormous emphasis of several researchers on social media marketing, empirical studies that testified its impact on purchase intention are limited.^8,16 As stated by Moslehpour et al.,¹⁷ the channels of social media can be used by service providers to stimulate consumers’ purchase intentions. The authors further stated that there is inadequate empirical research regarding their impact on purchase intention.

Different aspects of social media advertising were examined in former studies by several scholars in different contexts. Kim and Ko¹⁸ used different factors to measure social media marketing for luxury brands. They include trendiness, entertainment, word-of-mouth, interaction, and customization. On the other hand, Sano¹⁹ relied on perceived risk, interaction, customization, and trendiness for examining social media marketing with a key focus on the insurance sector. Similarly, Jo²⁰ categorized social media marketing activities into ads, events, and information. Sohail et al.²¹ also used four elements to measure social media marketing effectiveness: brand communities, entertainment, interaction, and customization. Other scholars relied on entertainment, customization, interaction, perceived risk, and trendiness for examining social media marketing features.²² However, this study aims to provide a significant contribution to the literature by integrating four social media marketing activities (perceived relevance, entertainment, informativeness, and interactivity) to test their impact on purchase intention in the fast-food sector. Therefore, the outcomes of this research would contribute the theory and literature on this topic. The finding will also upsurge our knowledge about the significance of social media advertising activities in shaping consumer’s purchase intention, particularly, in the fast-food context. In addition to that, there is a large number of social media account holders in UAE along with the increased interests among different businesses in the country for cultivating social media advertising features. For example, according to global media insights, 98.98% of the population in UAE remain active on social media platforms. Hence, the businesses in UAE face a growing challenge in effectively using and designing social media marketing campaigns. The subsequent sections begin by the literature review for the present study, then research method, results, and discussion are presented. Lastly, this article ends by the implication along with limitations and future research.

Literature Review

Purchase Intention

In the prior literature, purchase intention was defined as the individual’s willingness to purchase a particular product or service offered by a brand.²³ These days, consumers can access different types of products from anywhere; and due to that, marketers began to face some challenges with regards to attracting and maintaining enduring relationships with their customers in order to safeguard their long-term growth and survival. As the habits of consumers have moved towards using social media networks for interacting with others, the majority of brands have established distinct pages for themselves to virtually reach their target market and influence consumers’ perceptions towards their offerings.²⁴ As soon as customers get exposed to the advertisements of a brand, their tendency towards searching for further information about it and evaluating the value of its offerings prior to reaching at a purchase decision will increase. For that reason, social media networks have appeared as an economical means of marketing communication for connecting with customers. The advantages of social media sites are represented by greater consumer engagement, quick dissemination of brand information, and ability to share essential information with others virtually.^25,26 Consumers will also have the chance to talk about their prior experiences with others and express their opinions by means of online reviews and electronic word-of-mouth.²⁷

This study is built upon the Theory of Reasoned Action. This theory was proposed in the last decades by Fishbein²⁸ who suggested that the perception of a person towards a specific object besides subjective norm has a main role in influencing his/her intention towards acting in a particular manner. This tends to be largely affected by his perception and the prominent beliefs about the company or brand. McClure and Seock⁸ outlined that brands should continuously interact with and engage their customers via social media platforms in an attempt to stimulate their buying intentions. Earlier literature also reported that consumers’ attitudes concerning the online activities of a firm have a significant impact on online buying behaviour. Likewise, Alalwan²⁹ demonstrated that firms which communicate and share related brand information with their customers through social media tend to have better brand images. Through effective communication, the intentions of consumers to buy from such brands are likely to be maximized, and this ultimately encourage them to be more involved on their social media pages. Furthermore, McClure and Seock⁸ verified the significance of brand interactions via social media channels in creating strong relationships with customers and shaping their buying behaviour.

Hypotheses Development

Different scholars relied on different aspects of social media marketing to determine their effects on the purchase behaviour and attitudes of consumers.^10,29 However, this study emphasizes on four distinct features of social media marketing for examining their roles in shaping purchase intention. They are comprised of entertainment, interactivity, informativeness, and perceived relevance. The key contribution in the present study appears via the integration of these social media marketing elements and investigating their effects on purchase intention in one model with a particular focus on fast-food industry in UAE. By looking at prior empirical researches, it is clear that only few of them were conducted on this topic in Middle East region. Accordingly, this study aims to address prevailing gaps in the documented literature by testing the role of selected social media marketing features in shaping consumer purchase intention.

Interactivity

Interactivity has been considered as a primary social media marketing feature that attracted the attentions of marketing scholars and practitioners. A simple definition of interactivity was proposed by Jensen³⁰ as the exchange of information between a company and its clients. It was further described by Kiousis³¹ as the ability of marketers to connect with customers and provide them with important brand information. Assuming that social media provides opportunities to consumers for discussing and exchanging different ideas, the interactions via these channels provide them with valuable insights about different products or services.³² Such interactions are profoundly shifting the marketing communication dynamics among customers and brands and encourage the creation of consumer-generated marketing content on social media pages.

Previous studies confirmed the significance of social media interactions in maximizing customers’ purchase intentions. According to Lee,³³ interactivity plays a vital role in determining consumers’ intentions towards using mobile commerce. Furthermore, Liu et al.³⁴ reported that social media interactivity is associated positively with purchase intention. Liao et al.³⁵ also showed that purchase intention could be indirectly influenced by a website’s interactivity. In general, social media networks are considered as effective platforms for reinforcing the interactions between service providers and their customers, thus enabling them to influence future buying behaviour. Similarly, De Vries et al.³⁶ verified that social media posts that are interactive have positive influence on the purchase intention. Therefore, the subsequent hypothesis is proposed.

H₁: Interactivity has a positive impact on purchase intention.

Entertainment

Entertainment is another important social media marketing feature that obtained high emphasis in earlier research. Cheung et al.³⁷ stated that entertainment occurs when companies provide their customers with remarkable experiences through designing playful and fun content on social media networks. Entertainment exists when marketers provide customers with fun and playful content on social media channels.³⁸ Pertierra³⁹ viewed entertainment as a key reason for using social media channels. This was supported by Park et al.⁴⁰ who stated that an individual’s involvement in social networks is driven by sharing entertaining content. Muntinga et al.³² added that the users of social media seek for brand-related content in order to enjoy, relax, and pass their times. Moreover, Courtois et al.⁴¹ stated that individuals load social media contents for the purpose of escapism and relaxation, which represent the key motives for seeking entertainment. Bazi et al.⁴² also indicated that entertainment in the social media setting is an important element that prompts positive consumers’ emotions, upsurges involvement behaviour, and creates intention to purchase regularly. Accordingly, different activities of entertainment which take place on social media channels—for example, participating in contests, games, and online videos—upsurge consumers’ gratification, thus stimulating them to be involved in brand conversations online.^43,44

In the prior literature, Mustafi and Hosain⁴⁵ established that entertainment was positively related to the purchase intentions of consumers and their brand attitude. In view of that, social media entertainment can be fostered by marketing practitioners by sharing interesting, funny, and exciting information to their targeted group of customers.⁴⁶ Such actions tend to improve brand engagement and encourage customers to participate in generating and sharing valuable brand messages. Van Noort and Van Reijmersdal⁴⁷ also reported that a brand’s marketing communications which are considered as fun and have an element of entertainment could stimulate consumers towards putting greater cognitive efforts for learning more about the brand. From the above literature, it is evident that consumers tend to prefer brands that design social media advertisements which emphasize on entertainment and providing them with memorable experiences. Thus, the second hypothesis is projected.

H₂: Entertainment has a positive impact on purchase intention.

Perceived Relevance

Another important social media marketing feature that was discussed in the literature is known as perceived relevance. Earlier, Zhu and Chang⁴⁸ conceptualized it as “the degree to which consumers perceive a personalized advertisement to be self-related or in some way instrumental in achieving their personal goals and values” (p. 443). Perceived relevance in the social media setting refers to the targeted audience of a firm’s posts. Through personalizing a brand’s website, firms can customize their offerings, foster individuality, and have better abilities to create robust relationships with customers. According to Zhu and Chen,⁴⁹ social media posts consist of two types, according to the degree of messages customization: a broadcast and a customized message. A broadcast involves deigning marketing messages that target everyone, whereas customized messages are tailored to a specific individuals or niche market. For example, Gucci and Burberry brands effectively utilize their online presence by tailoring marketing messages to their individual users in order to allow them to design and customize their own products-based specific preferences.⁵⁰ In this article, perceived relevance refers to the degree to which the networks of social media enable customers to get customized services and brand messages.

It was stated by Pechmann and Stewart⁵¹ that when buyers feel that a company’s advertisements are appropriate to their specific preferences, they will have greater interests towards them. Furthermore, Zhu and Chang⁴⁸ verified that perceived relevance plays a significant role in shaping the purchase intentions of consumer through self-awareness as a mediator. They further added that customers are likely to favour brands that create value for them, especially if they disseminate such marketing information on the networks of social media; and this ultimately increases their willingness to buy. Similarly, Thaker et al.⁵² confirmed that customized brand messages that have high degree of relevance to the interests and needs of consumers have significant impact on brand trust and purchase intention. Accordingly, the next hypothesis is proposed.

H₃: Perceived relevance has a positive impact on purchase intention.

Informativeness

Finally, social media informativeness was viewed in the literature as an important marketing feature for influencing consumer behaviour. It was described by Rotzoll and Haefner⁵³ as the ability of service providers to share important brand information with their customers using diverse social media platforms for the purpose of influencing their purchase decisions. According to Lee and Hong,⁵⁴ informativeness is fostered through the abilities of marketers in rationally designing effective brand content that can attract customers and influence their responses towards advertising messages. Through social media networks, firms can update their customers about the latest news and information, thus making it an effective platform for searching about desired products or services.⁵⁵ Compared to advertisements and sales promotion activities, consumers are more likely to trust the information shared through social media channels. Accordingly, trust is likely to be existent for different social media marketing forms which expose customers to the latest information and news.^56,57

Gao and Koufaris⁵⁸ discussed the significance of social media informativeness in shaping brand attitude and consumer behaviour. This is in line with Blanco et al.⁵⁹ who concluded that informativeness had a positive impact on consumer perception and purchase behaviour. Lee and Hong⁵⁴ also confirmed the positive influence of informativeness as well as creative ads on the expressions of consumers. They added that the information shared on a firm’s website affect their intentions to purchase. Thus, it can be said that informativeness represents a significant marketing feature for determining consumers’ purchase intentions and strengthening their brand loyalty. As such, creating and sharing brand advertisements via Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other media sites can improve consumers’ interaction and their purchase intentions.⁶⁰ Accordingly, the subsequent hypothesis is proposed.

H₄: Informativeness has a positive impact on purchase intention.

Methodology

The objective of this research was centred towards examining the extent to which consumer purchase intention can be affected by four social media marketing features; thus, a quantitative survey was used for data collection. The respondents are comprised of 258 visitors of fast-food restaurants in UAE. As selecting the correct sampling method represents a major concern in survey research for ensuring effective data collection process, this study relied on convenience sampling for obtaining the desired responses from the targeted population. The selection of convenience sampling method can be justified due to its high relevance for collecting consumer data and reaching larger number of samples at minimal cost. In addition to that, it is one of the non-probability sampling methods that can be easily administered to the respondents; and therefore, it has been regarded as the preferred choice in many previous studies. Moreover, it has also been used by many researchers for collecting consumer data in different contexts.^61–63

The survey for this study was designed based on a set of questions being validated in previous researches. The first section comprised of the demographic data, while the second section dealt with the measurement items of variables. For instance, purchase intention was basically measured using four items taken from Alalwan.²⁹ Moreover, the measurement items of social media marketing features which included 19 items were taken from the studies of Cheung et al.³⁷ and Alalwan.² Specifically, four items were employed for measuring interactivity, four items were used to measure entertainment, six items were used to measure perceived relevance, and finally, five items were employed to measure informativeness. All of the responses for survey questions are based on a Likert scale that ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Generally, the statistical analysis revealed that 63.2% of the entire participants are males, while females are represented by 36.8%. Most of the participants in the survey came in the age group of 26 to 35 years.

Analysis of Results

The test of common method bias (CMB) has been regarded as the main concern in researches which rely on survey method for data collection, particularly, when using a self-reported tool for obtaining the required responses.⁶⁴ This study relied on the recommendations of Podsakoff et al.⁶⁴ for verifying the CMB. The authors pointed out that getting honest responses from the participants requires researchers to provide them with a positive assurance that their answers will be kept confidential. Thus, the respondents were informed during data collection that their responses will be anonymous. Furthermore, the test of Harman’s⁶⁵ single factor was conducted in which all of the measurement items could be subjected to a single factor extraction while running the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The analysis of EFA indicated that unrotated single factor explains about 34.6% of the variance, which is lower than 50%. Accordingly, it can be said that the collected data does not have any issue related to CMB as there is no single factor mixed with other factors, and one factor has not accounted for most of the variation.

To verify that the obtained data does not have any major multicollinearity issue, the variable inflation factor (VIF) was calculated. This is because it is one of the foremost used indicators for measuring the multicollinearity and correlations among a set of items in the measurement model. According to Vu et al.,⁶⁶ the data can be considered free from a multicollinearity issue when the VIF value for each measurement item does not exceed 5. As it be seen in Table 1, all VIF values fall in the acceptable range (below 5), which indicates that the collected data is suitable for further analysis.⁶⁴

Table 1.

Multicollinearity Test

Construct	Item	VIF	Construct	Item	VIF
Interactivity	INT1	1.321	Purchase intention	PI1	1.823
	INT2	1.351	–	PI2	2.657
	INT3	1.411	–	PI3	1.622
	INT4	1.218	–	PI4	3.167
Entertainment	ENT1	1.313	–	–	–
	ENT2	1.257	–	–	–
	ENT3	1.158	–	–	–
Informativeness	INF1	2.264	–	–	–
	INF2	2.592	–	–	–
	INF3	2.147	–	–	–
	INF4	1.538	–	–	–
Perceived relevance	PR1	1.910	–	–	–
	PR2	2.124	–	–	–
	PR3	2.446	–	–	–
	PR4	2.207	–	–	–
	PR5	1.299	–	–	–

Source: The author.

After ensuring that the multicollinearity issue across all research data is not existent, the next step was to verify the reliability as well as validity of the measurement scales using CFA analysis. First, factor loadings of items for each construct were calculated based on the measurement model. As stated by Hair et al.,⁶⁷ the acceptable factor loading value of measurement items should fall between 0.5 and 1. The analysis as shown in Figure 1 and Table A.1 reveals that 3 items were removed from the model due to lower loading (less than 0.5) before proceeding for further analysis. Moreover, reliability analysis was conducted across the measurement scales using the procedures of composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha. Hair et al.⁶⁷ reported that the minimum tolerable value for both Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability is 0.6, while the highest is 1. The purpose of these tests is to ensure the existence of internal consistency amongst the measurement items of a construct. Overall, the results as displayed in Table 2 confirm that the reliability assumptions are met. Additionally, this study relied on the average variance extracted (AVE) for evaluating convergent validity. As it can be seen in Table 2, all AVE values surpassed 0.5, which means that the assumptions of convergent validity according to Hair et al.⁶⁷ are also achieved.

Figure 1.

Source: The author.

Table 2.

Factor Loadings, Reliability Analysis and AVE

Construct	Item	Factor Loadings	Cronbach’s Alpha	Composite Reliability	AVE
Interactivity	INT1	0.749	0.693	0.811	0.518
	INT2	0.694	–	–	–
	INT3	0.753	–	–	–
	INT4	0.679	–	–	–
Informativeness	INF1	0.861	0.821	0.882	0.652
	INF2	0.852	–	–	–
	INF3	0.819	–	–	–
	INF4	0.687	–	–	–
Entertainment	EN1	0.846	0.617	0.783	0.550
	EN2	0.601	–	–	–
	EN3	0.757	–	–	–
Perceived relevance	PR1	0.690	0.828	0.877	0.591
	PR2	0.636	–	–	–
	PR3	0.861	–	–	–
	PR4	0.830	–	–	–
	PR5	0.803	–	–	–
Purchase intention	PI1	0.777	0.849	0.899	0.691
	PI2	0.867	–	–	–
	PI3	0.777	–	–	–
	PI4	0.897	–	–	–

Source: The author.

Discriminant validity is another important criterion that was used in this study for confirming the validity of measurement scales. It was calculated based on the recommendations of Fornell and Larcker.⁶⁸ The authors suggested that discriminant validity can be checked via the comparison of the interrelationships between the constructs in the proposed model with the square root (SQRT) of the AVE. The statistical analysis presented in Table 3 exhibit that the SQRT of AVE values are higher than the correlation values in the same column and row of each construct, and this means that the discriminant validity assumptions are fulfilled.

Table 3.

Test of Discriminant Validity

	Entertainment	Informativeness	Interactivity	Perceived Relevance	Purchase Intention
Entertainment	0.742	–	–	–	–
Informativeness	0.593	0.808	–	–	–
Interactivity	0.191	0.194	0.720	–	–
Perceived relevance	0.415	0.560	0.248	0.769	–
Purchase intention	0.583	0.627	0.405	0.640	0.831

Source: The author.

Note: The boldface values are the square root of AVE of the latent variables and indicate the highest in any column or row. Off-diagonals are correlations. Discriminant validity was estimated based on Fornell and Larcker criterion. It exists when the square root of AVE is more than the correlations among the variables in the same columns and rows.

After ensuring that the measurement model attained adequate fit for the data based on reliability and validity analysis, the structural model was used for verifying the proposed hypotheses. Table 4 exhibits that the first hypothesis (H₁) which dealt with examining the impact of interactivity on purchase intention (β = 0.225, t-value = 2.278, p < .05) was supported; therefore, H₁ is accepted. The results also proved that entertainment has a positive impact on purchase intention (β = 0.256, t-value = 1.767, p < .10). This finding was supported at 10% significance level; consequently, H₂ is confirmed. Similarly, the analysis confirmed that perceived relevance is positively associated with purchase intention (β = 0.343, t-value = 3.441, p < .05); thus, H₃ is supported. Lastly, the results supported the positive impact of informativeness on purchase intention (β = 0.239, t-value = 2.011, p < .05); hence, H₄ is accepted. Overall, all of the selected social media marketing features explain about 61% of total variance in the purchase intention.

Table 4.

Results of Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis			Original Sample	Sample Mean	Std Dev.	T-value	P-value
Interactivity	→	Purchase intention	0.225	0.238	0.099	2.278	.023
Entertainment	→	Purchase intention	0.256	0.263	0.145	1.767	.078
Perceived relevance	→	Purchase intention	0.343	0.344	0.100	3.441	.001
Informativeness	→	Purchase intention	0.239	0.223	0.119	2.011	.045

Source: The author.

Discussion and Conclusion

The key purpose of this study was to examine and determine the impact of social media marketing features on the purchase intentions of consumers in the fast-food sector. The outcomes exhibited that interactivity plays a noteworthy role in affecting purchase intention. This result was confirmed by past studies which found that interactivity was positively associated with purchase intention.^29,35,69 According to Cheung et al.,⁷⁰ firms that use social media networks for interacting with their target market and engage them are likely be considered in future purchase decisions. Furthermore, the majority of consumers in UAE consider social media networks as a valuable source for searching about the products and services of different brands and communicating with each other. They prefer to look for desired products or services virtually before buying them. Therefore, the result suggests that marketing practitioners in fast-food industry can improve their conversations with customers via social media channels and giving them the opportunities to express their opinions and perceptions virtually. For example, obtaining feedback from consumers regarding their brand satisfaction and continuously updating them about new promotions tend to be important for inducing buying intentions.

The findings also showed that consistent with past studies,^71,72 entertainment has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intentions. This means that marketing messages that are shared by fast-food restaurants via social media pages and have entertainment features play a key role in nurturing consumer purchase intention. Hollebeek and Macky⁷³ stated that designing social media advertisements for increasing consumers’ entertainment improve brand interactions, thus, reinforcing consumers’ purchase intentions, especially when they develop greater cognitive efforts in order to learn more about the brand. Certain scholars also regarded entertainment as the main determinant of consumers-generating marketing on social media networks⁷⁴ and brand involvement.⁸ Furthermore, Cheung et al.³⁷ stated that consumers tend to spread brand messages via social media channels more quickly with their peers and friends when they perceived them as fun and have interesting content. Accordingly, it is suggested that marketing professionals in the fast-food context should lay their emphasis on designing entraining advertisements at different social media platforms in order to enhance consumers purchase intentions and brand image.

The findings of this research have further established the positive impact of perceived relevance on purchase intention. This result was supported by Alalwan²⁹ who established that perceived relevance of the marketing messages via social media networks have positive effect on consumers’ purchase intentions. Lacey et al.⁷⁵ also reported that customized brand messages that are posted on social media shape brand commitment and consumer behaviour. Hewett et al.⁷⁶ added that sharing customized marketing messages with target market via social media channels and replying to customers individually are likely to be more effective than mass marketing. Furthermore, customers in the Middle East region favour private interaction with service providers on social media networks rather than sharing sensitive information with the general audience. Therefore, personalized brand information have greater influence on purchase intention. Lastly, the results proved that social media marketing informativeness positively affect consumer purchase intention. This was supported earlier by Alawan²⁹ who concluded that the informativeness of social media advertising is positively correlated with purchase intention. According to Dhanesh and Duthler,⁷⁷ the usage of social media is very popular in Gulf countries and the majority of Internet users in this region are young (aged below 30 years). Thus, it is suggested that fast-food restaurants should emphasize on designing personalized marketing messages for individual customers and share them via Internet sites and social media platforms in an attempt to enhance consumers’ engagement and improve their purchase intentions.

Practical Implications

The primary focus of this article was to explore the impact of social media marketing features on purchase intention in the UAE fast-food industry. The statistical analysis showed that perceived relevance has the greatest effect on consumers’ purchase intention. It was also verified that interactivity, entertainment, and informativeness are important mechanisms that contribute to purchase intention. Thus, marketing practitioners in fast-food industry are recommended to pay an adequate attention for controlling the content of their marketing messages as well as publication frequency and timing on social media channels in an attempt to reach their marketing goals. It is also important to manage the online community in order to foster brand engagement and influence consumer purchase behaviour. Marketing practitioners should also focus on designing advertisements that can evoke consumers’ feelings and encourage them to become highly engaged with posts over social media channels. In addition to that, they should be mainly concerned about the quality and features of the advertisements that are shared on their pages at social media networks as this may create more involvement with customers, and ultimately affect their purchase intention. Since firms have the abilities to control the publication of their contents on their identified social media pages, marketers should clearly comprehend what sort of information customers wish to find on social media sites; and they also should understand which content can improve brand interactions. Marketing managers who monitor the flow of information via their established social media platforms are advised to use Google analytics or other softwares to detect the most viewed, shared, and liked items. Based on these practices, firms can define the features of marketing content that tend to receive high attention from customers to improve their purchase behaviour.

Theoretical Implications

This article focused on providing a significant theoretical contribution to the literature on social media marketing aspects and purchase intention. Initially, this study extracted three factors (interactivity, perceived relevance, and informativeness) from Alalwan’s (2018) model which was tested in Jordan. Other studies also used entertainment as one of the key social marketing features that could shape consumer behaviour. However, it is rare to find a study that integrated all of these four social media marketing features and examined their impact on purchase intention collectively in one model. This study also responds to prior studies which suggested to examine other social media marketing features with purchase intention. Another contribution of the study appears through the confirmation of the relationships among the selected constructs with empirical data from the Middle East region due to perceived cultural and social differences. Further, this research has verified the empirical relationship between perceived relevance and informativeness with purchase intention. These associations were approved previously, but there are limited empirical studies about them in fast-food industry setting. Finally, this article aimed to contribute to the underpinning theory and improve our understandings about the key features of social media marketing and learn how such features could influence consumers’ perceptions and intentions.

Limitations and Future Research

This study has few limitations that can be considered in the future researches. First, the data was collected through a quantitative approach; thus, forthcoming researches can adopt qualitative methods and follow the longitudinal type. Second, this study focused only on the fast-food sector; accordingly, upcoming researches can re-examine the selected variables in different contexts to verify the findings. Third, the main focus of the study was on consumers in UAE; consequently, future studies can re-examine the research framework across other countries. Fourth, only purchase intention rather than actual purchase decision was measured in this article; hence, it is suggested for forthcoming studies to test the impact of social media marketing features on purchase decision in order to get better insights on the linkages between them. Moreover, non-random sampling technique was employed throughout the process of data collection; therefore, forthcoming researches are recommended to adopt random sampling methods to increase the likelihood of findings’ generalizability. Last but not least, only four features of social media marketing were examined in this article to verify their effects on consumer purchase intention. Accordingly, it is suggested for future studies to incorporate other features, such as trendiness and electronic word-of-mouth.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Appendix

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