Social Media Engagement Influencing Rural NCR Consumers’ Oral Care Product Purchase Intentions

Abstract

 Purpose

The aim of the current research was to investigate the impact of social media use on purchase intention of oral care products among the rural consumers in Delhi NCR. The research particularly examined how consumer purchase intention is influenced by cognitive, emotional and behavioral engagement dimensions using social media.

Methodology

The research design was quantitative research approach with descriptive and analytical research design. A structured questionnaire was used to gather primary data of 400 rural consumers on a five-point Likert scale. Cochran (1977) formula was used to determine the sample size and the respondents were chosen by the convenience sampling. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were used with the help of SPSS software.

Findings

The results showed that the social media engagement and purchase intention of rural consumers were moderate to high. The researchers found that there is a strong positive correlation between social media use and intention to buy oral care products. Regression analysis also established that the use of social media had a significant impact on purchase intention. Emotional engagement was the most significant predictor among the dimensions of engagement, with cognitive engagement and behavioral engagement coming in second and third place, respectively.

Practical Implications

The research offers important lessons to marketers and oral care products firms to develop emotionally appealing and informative social media campaigns to reach rural consumers. The results indicate that online platforms like YouTube, WhatsApp, and Facebook can be successfully used to promote product awareness and purchase intention in the rural markets.