Social media
The continuous exponential increase in internet and social media usage has made them major sources of business-related information, particularly with regard to products and brands (Buzzetto-More 2013). According to the international telecommunication union (ITU), half of the world’s entire population, i.e. 4.4 billion persons, use the internet, and of them, 3.5 billion persons are social media users (Statista 2019). However, the percentage of young people aged 15–24 using the internet (71%) is much higher than the percentage of the total population using the internet (48%) (ITU 2017). Although the percentage of the total number of active internet users in developed countries is higher than that of developing countries, the gap decreases rapidly, with a specific increase in the number of active internet users in developing countries like China and India. Similarly, in Pakistan, at the end of 2016, 16% of the population, i.e. 30 million persons, had access to the internet, which was almost double the total number of internet users in 2010, i.e. 16 million persons.
Internet and social media users can access product or brand-related sustainability information, which individuals, NGOs, and other consumer groups make available, in the form of blogs, discussion forums, cooperative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), content communities (e.g., YouTube), product rating or ranking websites (e.g., rankabrand.org), and other social networking websites (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010; Men and Tsai 2013; Reilly and Weirup 2012). Likewise, internet and social media offer organizations new opportunities to interact with a large pool of customers and influence consumers’ purchase decisions (Buzzetto-More 2013; Dei Worldwide 2008). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) defined social media as “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”
Social media users create, share, and consume the product or brand-related content with the intention of educating each other about a company’s sustainable practices and its supply chain (Ngai et al. 2015; Xiang and Gretzel 2010). These consumers’ opinions, comments, and sharing of personal, product sustainability-related experiences on social media lead to an increase in the perceived word of mouth (WOM) (Buzzetto-More 2013; Xiang and Gretzel 2010). Consumers consider this WOM more trustworthy and reliable than information from traditional sources of mass communication, such as advertisements and company-initiated communications in newspapers and magazines (Brown et al. 2007). Due to these characteristics, social media-generated WOM has enormous potential to go viral and might influence many receivers (Brown et al. 2007; Buzzetto-More 2013). Satisfied customers may act as brand ambassadors and spread positive WOM, and unsatisfied customers may turn against a product or brand and spread negative WOM. Consequently, negative and positive social media-initiated WOM can potentially impact the customers’ intention with regard to purchasing products or brands (Buzzetto-More 2013; Gáti and Markos-Kujbus 2012; Grégoire et al. 2015) and holding businesses accountable for promises they made.
Media system dependency theory
Recent developments and outreach have introduced social media as an instance of mass media (Kheiravar 2018). In order to identify how the use of social media as an information medium can influence consumers’ cognitive and affective beliefs pertaining to sustainable product purchase, the authors select the well-established media system dependency theory (MSD) as a theoretical framework in this research work. MSD builds on the distinguishing and pivotal conceptualization of media dependency relations, which provides a solid theoretical understanding of individuals’ motivations for using media, and its consequences (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015; Kheiravar 2018). Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur (1976) defined dependency as “a relationship in which the satisfaction of needs or the attainment of goals by one party is contingent upon the resources of another party.”
The core premise of MSD is that media can only exert powerful influence if consumers develop a dependency relationship to seek information through it (Jung and Moro 2012; Kheiravar 2018), whereas the amount of time the audience spends on the medium explains the audience dependency on the medium (Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur 1976). Higher dependency on the medium is also considered as a result of meeting an individual’s needs via the medium (Kheiravar 2018). In the MSD view, media has two levels of dependency relations, i.e. with individuals (micro-level) and with other systems (macro-level), such as economic and political systems (Jung and Moro 2012). The micro-level dependency relations, also known as individual media system dependency, focus on the relationship between media and individuals (Kheiravar 2018). Micro-level dependency is the evaluation of the individuals’ motivation to seek information via the media (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015), whereas the macro-level dependency explains the interdependencies among the audience, media, and society. At the macro-level, analyzing the macro origins of dependencies explains the effects of individual media dependency relations (Kheiravar 2018).
However, in the case of social media, its characteristics enable it to move across levels. At the micro-level, users generate content, which they can share publicly at the macro-level (Jung and Moro 2012). As MSD postulates that media may cause cognitive, affective, and behavioral changes in individuals who are exposed to them (Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur 1976), this research article investigates how a dependency on social media for sustainability-related information can influence consumers’ purchase intention.
Theoretical relationships and hypotheses development
The global focus of manufacturing and service industries has shifted to devise strategies for reducing the undesirable environmental and societal impacts of these industries’ product development processes (Ribeiro and Kruglianskas 2013). Organizations are considered to be more responsible and expected to go beyond the boundary of traditional profit-seeking thinking toward more ecological and socially responsible businesses. Furthermore, regulatory requirements and a multitude of stakeholder and consumer expectations force companies to take sustainability initiatives in order to overcome the sustainability-related issues their operations cause (Carter and Easton 2011; Saeed and Kersten 2019). In their research, Chen and Chang (2012) identified that green sustainability-related performance leads to purchase intention.
Although previous research empirically supported the media dependency’s positive effects on purchase intention, consumers are reluctant to buy products if they perceive themselves lacking sufficient information to make the right purchase decisions (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015). Traditional offline communication channels either do not offer such information or information retrieval is far more difficult, which leads to consumer confusion (Mitchell and Papavassiliou 1999). However, online social media platforms provide more enriched and easier to retrieve user-generated information, which can have a substantial impact on consumers’ purchase behavior. In accordance with this article’s research objective, i.e. to investigate how sustainability-related information on social media influences consumers’ intention to purchase, the authors develop the following hypotheses.
Willingness to seek sustainability-related information and dependency on social media
The consumers’ willingness to seek sustainability-related information depends on the consumers’ willingness to change their state of sustainability knowledge. As stated, social media provides detailed and enriched sustainability-related information and it is very likely that consumers who are willing to seek this kind of information become dependent on social media. Owing to consumers’ increased social media usage, marketers also expand their social media presence to attract users and to build long-term relationships with them through various channels (Jaiswal and Singh 2018).
Furthermore, social media users’ interaction with other group members enables them to shape their perception of buying sustainable products. According to Ben Abdelaziz et al. (2015), motivated consumers who consider online resources (e.g., social media) useful, will very likely become dependent on them. The discussion on social media platforms allows consumers to inadvertently start approving, as well as disapproving, a product or a brand, which enables the consumers to trust the source of the information and make them dependent on social media for obtaining guidance with regard to their sustainable product purchase decisions (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015). Hence, the authors formulate the first hypothesis as follows –
Dependency on social media for sustainability-related information and intention to purchase
The consumers’ lack of knowledge regarding a particular product in order to make the right purchase decision, prevents them from engaging in purchasing. This, in turn, might influence the consumers’ product choice and result in postponing, as well as halting, the purchase in order to avoid cognitive strain (Mitchell and Papavassiliou 1999). Furthermore, according to the literature, detailed verbal information regarding environmentally friendly products helps educate consumers, which, in turn, positively influences consumers’ intention to purchase sustainable products (Gleim et al. 2013). The information usefulness of online user-generated content is considered to be more effective than traditional marketer-generated content (Buzzetto-More 2013).
Social media comprises communication websites that facilitate the development of relationships between internet users who have diverse backgrounds. The consumer-generated, product-related information on social media helps other potential consumers in their decisions to buy or not buy a product (Carillo et al. 2017). Ben Abdelaziz et al. (2015) defined dependency on social media for sustainability-related information as “individuals’ contingency upon social media information resources in order to attain their objectives of making the right decisions when it comes to purchasing sustainable products or brands.” Relating to the previous arguments, social media offer a favorable situation for consumers by providing comprehensive information from multiple sources, whereby consumers might very likely become reliant on social media (Wang et al. 2017). Hence, the authors formulate the second hypothesis as follows –
Social media information dependency and sustainability trust and risk on social media
Social media has become vital in today’s business world, as it allows consumers more freedom in sharing their opinion regarding products. The construct of sustainability trust is the tendency for and inclination toward a product that presumably receives affirmative statements with respect to sustainability features from former, actual, or potential consumers via social media on the basis of a belief in or expectation of the product’s sustainability-related performance (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015). On the other hand, Ben Abdelaziz et al. (2015) define the construct of sustainability risk on social media as “the expectation of negative consequences affecting sustainability as a result of purchasing products or brands that have been exposed to negative statements by former, actual, or potential consumers on social media, concerning their sustainability features.”
Academicians emphasized that the trust antecedents vary according to the communication type that occurs on social media (Chang et al. 2013; Laroche et al. 2012). They have also suggested that perceived information usefulness and information credibility create a tendency in social media users to adopt both positive and negative WOM (Cheung and Thadani 2012). Hence, it is possible to postulate that consumers who are dependent on social media are very likely to adopt affirmations and build a higher perceived trust in products that other social media users mention or discuss as sustainable. Likewise, consumers who are dependent on social media are more prone to negative statements regarding a product’s sustainability performance and very likely to perceive products that received negative comments on social media as risky and relatively less sustainable. Hence, the authors formulate the third and fourth hypotheses as follows –
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H3: Dependency on social media for sustainability-related information positively influences sustainability trust on social media.
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H4: Dependency on social media for sustainability-related information positively influences sustainability risk on social media.
Sustainability risk on social media and intention to purchase
The notion that perceived risk has a negative impact on the intention to purchase, is well established in the literature (Chang and Chen 2008; Grégoire et al. 2015; Kim et al. 2008; Mitchell and Papavassiliou 1999). Moreover, Chen and Chang (2012) showed that the perceived risk of harmful damage to the environment has a negative impact on the intention to purchase products. Social media users who perceive products with negative comments on social media as harmful, are presumably more aware of products or brands-related sustainability issues, and adopt other users’ negative WOM about products’ sustainability performance (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015).
Hence, it is possible to postulate that consumers are very likely to refrain from buying products or brands if they become aware of the product’s or brand’s negative sustainability performance; as a result, these consumers will rather purchase relatively more sustainable products or brands. Accordingly, the authors formulate the fifth hypothesis formulated as follows –
Sustainability trust on social media and intention to purchase
In scientific literature, several authors think that perceived trust is a key driver of the intention to purchase (Chang and Chen 2008; Kim et al. 2008). Chen and Chang (2012) have also identified that perceived trust in better performing, environmentally sustainable products has a positive impact on the intention to purchase these products. Therefore, consumers are less likely to follow a product or brand when people do not predominantly like it, because consumers tend to follow a product or brand that is linked to positive WOM (Gáti and Markos-Kujbus 2012; Ladhari and Michaud 2015). Social media users who perceive products with positive recommendations on social media as sustainable, are presumably more aware of sustainability-related issues and adopt other users’ positive WOM about the products’ sustainability performance (Ben Abdelaziz et al. 2015). Hence, it is possible to postulate that consumers are very likely to buy products or brands if they become aware of the products’ positive sustainability performance and that consumers will, in all likelihood, consider buying these products or brands to support sustainability practices. Hence, the authors formulate the sixth hypothesis as follows –
Based on theoretical relationships and developed hypotheses, the theoretical framework shown in Fig. 1 consists of five constructs, i.e. sustainability-related information seeking (WSS), dependency on social media for sustainability-related information (DSM), sustainability trust (ST), sustainability risk (SR), and intention to purchase (IP).