Influence of brand related user-generated content through Facebook on consumer behaviour: a stimulus-organism-response framework

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate the impact of brand related user-generated content (UGC) through Facebook on consumer behavior. The research model was designed on the basis of Stimulus-Organism-Respone (S-OR) framework which was proposed by Mehrabian & Russell (1974). The core objective of the study was to identify whether UGC (Stimulus) triggers consumer response related to the clothing industry of Pakistan. In the SO -R model, UGC was taken as the stimulus while emotional appeal, attitude towards online shopping and pleasure served as organism, and information pass-along, impulse buying, future-purchase intention and brand engagement were considered as the response. A 5-point likert scale based questionnaire was adapted to collect data from 572 Pakistani consumers who used Facebook for an average of about 6 hours a day. PLS Smart 2.0 was used to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that UGC influences the responses and triggers the customers to pass the information regarding the brand, impulsively purchase the product, intend to purchase the product in the future, and remain engaged with the brand for the latest updates.