The Influence of Social Media on Lebanese Students’ Buying Decisions
Chukri Akhras
Chukri Akhras, Department of Management Information Systems, Lebanese International University.
Manuscript received on 11 May 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 19 May 2019 | Manuscript Published on 23 May 2019 | PP: 1669-1674 | Volume-7 Issue-6S5 April 2019 | Retrieval Number: F12960476S519/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Basically, social media is an “open media for intuitive correspondence driven by ordinary individuals.” (Goyette, Ricard, Bergeron & Marticotte, 2010). Dissimilar to the restricted creation and exchange of news, data, and entertainment from principle media outlets by means of the broad communication methods, social media enables anyone to connect directly to the creator of such material, and convey the material through different communication channels. Social media presence on the web continues to grow both in popularity and in application use. Nowadays, social media users come from different demographic backgrounds such as gender and age. Moreover, utilization of the web and online networking services, portable applications, and other computerized correspondence advancements have progressed towards becoming a major activity in billions of individuals’ everyday lives (Coulter & Roggeveen, 2012). This paper sheds a light on the importance of social media and the usage of social networking among Lebanese students in a private university. The paper will explain how social media has an impact on university students’ buying decisions and behavior, and how university students are increasingly dependent on social media in their lives. A random sample of business students was selected, and a structured self-administered survey was distributed to the students. Their answers reveal first, the type of social media the students most frequently use, the pattern and purpose of using the social media, and finally the level and type of dependency on the social media when the students are making purchasing decisions. In this paper, we identified the attributes that drive students to use online social networks such as Facebook. Particularly, we conceptualized that social media is used intentionally as a social interaction tool and we assessed relatively the impact of social influence on students’ buying decisions (Brown & Broderick, 2007). Statistical empirical tests were used to study the users, and those tests revealed that there is a strong relationship between the students’ use of social media and the decision they make when purchasing products. In the light of these findings, conclusions are drawn, recommendations are formulated, and future research is recommended.
Keywords: Social Media, Social Network, Buying Behavior, Brand Awareness, Virtual Community.
Scope of the Article: Social Networks