The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorBotha, Elsamariaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMowzer, Zeenaten_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-07-20T12:30:44Z
dc.date.available2016-07-20T12:30:44Z
dc.date.issued2016en_ZA
dc.description.abstractSouth Africa is home to a bourgeoning wedding industry valued at $3.25 billion. Much of the profit generated in this industry is from the sales of wedding dresses, with 57.1% of South African brides having purchased a new wedding dress from a bridal boutique in 2013. Previous research has looked at the effect of social media, in the form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), on purchase intention. However, few studies have analysed this effect for high-risk, "once-in-a-lifetime" products such as wedding dresses. In South Africa alone, social media users increased by 20% in 2014, with 29% of the population using social media applications. However, it is uncertain whether this widespread adoption of social media influences the purchase of high-risk, "once-in-alifetime" products like wedding dresses. The "eWOM in SNS's model" is applied to this context, where the influence of eWOM, trust and value co-creation, on the purchase intention of a wedding dress, is compared using an experimental design. One hundred and fifty-two (n=152) engaged South African females, between the age of 18 and 29 years, partook in an experiment. The experiment involved a control group and an experimental group, who viewed eWOM on the Facebook fan page of a wedding dress vendor. The study showed that while the "eWOM in SNS's model" was both valid and reliable in this context, the influence of eWOM on purchase intention was much diminished and fully mediated through value co-creation. The managerial implications of this study's findings, aimed at wedding dress vendors with Facebook fan pages, were all geared towards stimulating value co-creation, given its effect on the relationship between eWOM and purchase intention. The implications involved maximising visual content, appropriately responding to negative comments, publishing posts at suitable times and frequencies, observing the available Facebook reports and posting customer testimonials.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMowzer, Z. (2016). <i>The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Management Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20534en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMowzer, Zeenat. <i>"The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Management Studies, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20534en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMowzer, Z. 2016. The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Mowzer, Zeenat AB - South Africa is home to a bourgeoning wedding industry valued at $3.25 billion. Much of the profit generated in this industry is from the sales of wedding dresses, with 57.1% of South African brides having purchased a new wedding dress from a bridal boutique in 2013. Previous research has looked at the effect of social media, in the form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), on purchase intention. However, few studies have analysed this effect for high-risk, "once-in-a-lifetime" products such as wedding dresses. In South Africa alone, social media users increased by 20% in 2014, with 29% of the population using social media applications. However, it is uncertain whether this widespread adoption of social media influences the purchase of high-risk, "once-in-alifetime" products like wedding dresses. The "eWOM in SNS's model" is applied to this context, where the influence of eWOM, trust and value co-creation, on the purchase intention of a wedding dress, is compared using an experimental design. One hundred and fifty-two (n=152) engaged South African females, between the age of 18 and 29 years, partook in an experiment. The experiment involved a control group and an experimental group, who viewed eWOM on the Facebook fan page of a wedding dress vendor. The study showed that while the "eWOM in SNS's model" was both valid and reliable in this context, the influence of eWOM on purchase intention was much diminished and fully mediated through value co-creation. The managerial implications of this study's findings, aimed at wedding dress vendors with Facebook fan pages, were all geared towards stimulating value co-creation, given its effect on the relationship between eWOM and purchase intention. The implications involved maximising visual content, appropriately responding to negative comments, publishing posts at suitable times and frequencies, observing the available Facebook reports and posting customer testimonials. DA - 2016 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2016 T1 - The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress TI - The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20534 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/20534
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMowzer Z. The impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dress. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Management Studies, 2016 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20534en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Management Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherMarketingen_ZA
dc.titleThe impact of electronic word-of-mouth in social networking sites on a high-involvement purchase : an empirical study of South African brides' intention to purchase the "once-in-a-lifetime" wedding dressen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMBusScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
thesis_com_2016_mowzer_zeenat__.pdf
Size:
1.65 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Masters