A global pandemic’s influence on consumer behaviour: A quantitative study on how the social constraints due to COVID-19 has affected the engagement in post-purchase behaviour

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Bachelor Thesis

A quantitative study on how the social constraints due to COVID-19 has affected the engagement in post-purchase behaviour

“A global pandemic’s influence on consumer behaviour”

Authors:

Damsjö, Evelina Mattsson, Fanni Olsson, Amanda

Supervisor: MaxMikael Wilde Björling

Examiner: Clarinda Rodrigues Term: VT21

Subject: Business Administration III – Degree Project

Level: Degree of Bachelor

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Abstract

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, countless studies have been conducted about the pandemic regarding people's physical and mental health, but there is a significant gap on the persistent effects on consumer behaviour. Hence, this thesis aimed to investigate if there is a

relationship between the social constraints as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential increased engagement of post-purchase behaviour. The research focused

exclusively on Swedish female millennials who are active social media users.

The research used a deductive approach by formulating hypotheses based on already existing theories. The explanatory design was used when aiming to investigate a causal relationship between two variables, i.e., prior to the pandemic compared to today. Further, a quantitative strategy was used by collecting primary data through a questionnaire, which thereafter was analysed through SPSS, using the paired sample t-test. To target the desired sample a

convenience sampling method was used which collected a total of 226 respondents, with 197 valid participants. The sample was collected through several Facebook groups, combined with the utilizing of the authors own social media channels. Since this study aimed to measure engagement, the key concepts were converted in the survey questions to more specific terms, by a modified existing scale. Indicators were established to be able to measure the engagement under controlled conditions.

Furthermore, the results from the statistical tests resulted in a p-value to confirm or reject the null hypothesis, followed by a correlation coefficient value to determine the strength of the relationship. The empirical findings combined indicated significant evidence that because of the social constraints since the COVID-19 outbreak, there has been an increased engagement in the post-purchase behaviour on social media for Swedish female millennials. This was confirmed through a p-value of 0.000 in the t-tests for all seven hypotheses. Furthermore, all tests show correlation values between 0.449 and 0.617, which means that all the existing relationships are positive.

This means that during the period when COVID-19 has been an active societal problem with all its effects, the new living conditions have entailed an increased involvement in post- purchase behaviour on social media for Swedish female millennials. If corporations take these changed behaviours in consideration and adapt the marketing strategy accordingly, it

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can contribute to increased sales as the credibility of the brand gets strengthened through the transparency that the customer base values.

Key words

Consumer behaviour, COVID-19, Decision-making process, Post-purchase behaviour, Post- purchase engagement, EKB-model, Social technographic ladder, Social distancing,

Millennials, Social media, Social shopping, Collective intelligence

Acknowledgments

We would like to start by taking the opportunity to thank all of the people that have helped make this research possible. Firstly, we would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to all of the participants who have taken the time to answer the questionnaire which was handed out with the purpose to collect data for our research. We would on the same notice like to send the warmest thanks to the several opponents contributing to valuable insights and constructive criticism which have helped increase the quality of the final results.

Further, we would like to send the warmest thanks and appreciation to our supervisor MaxMikael Wilde Björling who have guided us through the semester and helped with overcoming problems that have occurred along the way. We would also like to thank our examinator Clarinda Rodrigues for all the valuable feedback during the seminars which have helped improve the project.

Lastly, we would like to thank Linnæus University and School of Business and Economics for the opportunity to contribute to research through your institution.

Linnæus University Kalmar, 26 May 2021

_________________ _________________ _________________

Damsjö, Evelina Mattsson, Fanni Olsson, Amanda

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Table of contents

1. Introduction ... 1

1.1. Background ... 2

1.2. Problem discussion ... 4

1.2.1. Theoretical Problematization ... 4

1.2.2. Managerial Problematization ... 5

1.3. Research question ... 7

1.4. Purpose ... 7

1.5. Delimitations ... 7

2. Literature review ... 8

2.1. Development of the decision-making process ... 8

2.2. Social media’s effect on society ... 12

2.3. Female millennials as consumers and their relationship to social media ... 15

2.4. COVID-19’s effect on consumer behaviour ... 18

2.5. Research gap ... 19

2.6. Conceptual framework ... 20

2.7. Hypotheses ... 21

3. Methodology ... 24

3.1. Research approach ... 24

3.2. Research strategy ... 25

3.3. Research design ... 27

3.4. Type of data ... 27

3.5. Research method ... 28

3.6. Operationalization ... 29

3.7. Sampling ... 32

3.8. Data analysis ... 35

3.8.1 Paired sample t-test ... 35

3.9. Quality of research ... 36

3.9.1 Validity ... 37

3.9.2 Reliability ... 38

3.10. Ethical considerations ... 39

3.11. Sustainable considerations ... 39

4. Empirical findings ... 40

4.1 Descriptive statistics ... 41

4.2 Hypothesis testing ... 42

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4.2.1. Hypothesis 1 ... 42

4.2.2. Hypothesis 2 ... 43

4.2.3. Hypothesis 3 ... 44

4.2.4. Hypothesis 4 ... 45

4.2.5. Hypothesis 5 ... 46

4.2.6. Hypothesis 6 ... 47

4.2.7. Hypothesis 7 ... 48

5. Analysis ... 49

5.1. Descriptive analysis ... 50

5.2. Contribution ... 50

5.2.1. Hypothesis 1 ... 50

5.2.2. Hypothesis 2 ... 51

5.2.3. Hypothesis 3 ... 52

5.2.4. Hypothesis 4 ... 52

5.2.5. Hypothesis 5 ... 53

5.3. Creation ... 54

5.3.1. Hypothesis 6 ... 54

5.3.2. Hypothesis 7 ... 54

5.4. Summary ... 55

6. Conclusions ... 56

6.1. Answering the research question ... 56

6.2. Implications ... 59

6.2.1. Theoretical implications ... 59

6.2.2. Managerial implications ... 61

6.2.3. Social, ethical and sustainable implications ... 62

6.3. Limitations ... 62

6.4. Recommendations for further research ... 63

References ... i

Appendices ... vii

List of Tables Table 1: Operationalization table ... 32

Table 2: Paired sample test for hypothesis 1 ... 43

Table 3: Paired samples correlation for hypothesis 1 ... 43

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List of Figures Figure 1: A modified model of online consumer behaviour and decision making. (Darley, Blankson and Luethge, 2010, p.96) ... 9

Figure 2: Decision-making process in viral marketing. (Reichstein and Brusch, 2019, p.1066) ... 11

Figure 3: Conceptual framework ... 21

Figure 4: Research model ... 22

Figure 5: Civil status spread & Figure 6: Occupation spread ... 41

Figure 7: Increased post-purchase engagement due to COVID-19 ... 42

Appendix

Appendix A: Table of contribution Appendix B: SPSS statistics Appendix C: Figures

Appendix D: Compilation of statistics

Appendix E: Questionnaire design and questions - English version Appendix F: Questionnaire design and questions - Swedish version

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1. Introduction

Since late December 2019 the world has been suffering from the COVID-19 virus that has affected people's health and has stolen lives from this world. Apart from the severe health effects, the global pandemic has forced people to change their lifestyles by working from home, keeping social distance and avoiding physical social activities. These factors combined entails a whole new behaviour where people are socializing online instead of physically (Nguyen et al., 2020). As this pandemic still is ongoing when this research is conducted, and at this point has been ravaging for over one year, people have adapted to living their lives in a different way. People might start to get comfortable with the new way of living.

Due to the spread of the pandemic, people have grown accustomed to socializing and shopping online, which have led to an increased usage of social media by 51% in the ages between 16-34 (GWI, 2021). Therefore, this study is to investigate whether the social constraints as a consequence of COVID-19 has affected the online consumer decision-

making or not. The research will be focusing on Swedish citizens, since Sweden, according to Spash (2020), has handled this pandemic in a different way compared to the majority of other countries. It will also be specified to females in the generation of millennials since this group of people, according to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015), are active social media users and have a characterized way of using social media in their purchasing process, which will be explained further in this thesis.

The authors of this thesis have chosen to specify this research to the last step of the EKB- model, the post-purchase sequence. As mentioned by GWI (2021), the social media usage has increased during the global pandemic and it will therefore be an interesting aspect to investigate, thus it can be assumed that the engagement in post-purchasing support systems has risen equally. However, focusing mainly on the post-purchase behaviour does not exclude effects in other steps of the process. Klieb and Voramontri (2019) states that the post-

purchase phase is a crucial component of a circular system within the decision-making process. For instance, by being engaged in the online opportunities for post-purchase behaviour, the consumer may have a great influence on another person's evaluation of

alternatives. The general hypothesis examined in this research is that the increased time spent on social media since the COVID-19 outbreak and its social consequences has led to a higher engagement in the post-purchase behaviour. In order to measure the concept of engagement,

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the authors of this thesis will utilize a scale, originally developed by Christodoulides and Schivinski (2016), who are using brand-related actions as indicators of engagement.

1.1. Background

Consumer behaviour and the decision-making process have been examined for many years, and the first model developed within the subject was published 1910 by John Dewey in his book “How we think”. The model was called the five-stage problem-solving process and was based on five different stages that a consumer is experiencing when making a purchase (Dewey, 1910). The five stages are problem recognition, search, alternative evaluation, purchase and outcomes and are still the backdrop for models that have been developed during the last century. One of the most used models that has derived from the foundation of

Dewey's model is the EKB-model developed by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1978). It is based on the original five stages extended with external factors to be able to apply it to the online environment as well (Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, 1978). The authors of this thesis have chosen to apply this model in this study since it is based on the stages that have laid the foundation for the theoretical aspects of decision-making. In addition to this native

background, the added external factors make it applicable to today's dynamic society with an everyday usage of internet and social media.

Further, social media is a crucial part of people's everyday lives since everything from

socializing to shopping can be accomplished by participating in the online culture. According to GWI (2021), the average of active social media users is 51% of the global population, including children. Furthermore, Sweden has an average of 72% active social media users, which results in a 9th place worldwide, hence far above the global average (GWI, 2021). Due to the extensive usage of social media, research on how the decision-making process within the online context could be of great interest for marketers since there is a wide market of potential online consumers.

In addition to this, in late December 2019 a virus started to spread in Wuhan in China, and on the 4th of January 2020 the first case was confirmed. The disease continued to spread, and the first case of death was confirmed on 11th of January. The virus was to be called COVID-19 and was declared as a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Today, at the Spring of 2021, about 160 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed

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and approximately 3,3 million individuals have died of complications from the virus (World health organisation, 2021).

In Sweden, the first case was confirmed on the 31st of January 2020, according to

Folkhälsomyndigheten (2021). However, the Swedish health authority did not until 13th of March decline the pandemic to be on the highest step on the scale of risk for the spread of the virus in Sweden. At that time, other countries around the world had already taken severe actions to decrease the spread. Sweden, however, did not and has still not, at the Spring of 2021, taken actions such as forcing people to quarantine and lockdown as other countries have. Sweden has instead tried to decrease the spread by declaring recommended restrictions for the population to follow (Folkhälsomyndigheten, 2021). According to Spash (2020), the outcome from this is that Swedish retail has not been affected to the same extent as other countries around the world. Even though the death per capita is high in Sweden, the retail industry has not suffered the same way since people have still gotten the opportunity to visit physical stores, however restrained by guidelines of keeping social distance and avoiding physical interaction and public locations (Spash, 2020).

Furthermore, the pandemic has had an extreme effect on consumer behaviour and people have had to change their way of living and especially the way of purchasing. According to GWI (2021) the digital growth of active social media users has increased with 10,5 % which is a total of 376 million users from July 2019 to July 2020. GWI has also forecasted that these new behaviours can be expected to continue after the pandemic is over and that 18% of the world's population is expected to continue to spend more time on social media than before COVID-19 (GWI, 2021).

Finally, regardless of the Swedish government's lenient way to handle the global pandemic, the Swedish e-commerce has increased remarkably during this time according to Postnord (n.d.), as well as an increased usage of social media, according to Internetstiftelsen (2020).

Thus, the authors of this thesis consider that there is an interest in knowing how this has affected the decision-making process. The Swedish government's distinguishing actions to handle the global pandemic, combined with the statistics of the increased usage of social media and online shopping, strengthens the interest in the potential effects on the decision- making process even further. It has been proven that the consumer behaviour during

lockdowns has made an impact and led to changes in the buying behaviour in the US (Platon,

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2020).If this research can provide evidence that Swedish citizens still have changed their decision-making process, it can be assumed that these changes have occurred to an even greater extent in other countries who have implemented more radical prohibitions, like lockdowns and closed stores. Therefore, the potential results of this research may be useful to stakeholders in other parts of the world as well.

1.2. Problem discussion

1.2.1. Theoretical Problematization

The topics of consumer behaviour, the decision-making process and social media, has been widely researched (e.g., Reichstein, and Brusch 2019; Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015;

Carter and Yeo, 2018; Kapferer Michaut, 2019). As previously mentioned, the first model within the decision-making process was published by Dewey (1910). The fast-changing society and the development of technology required the models to constantly be modified to be able to keep relevance (Darley, Blankson and Luethge, 2010).

Furthermore, a more recent study conducted by Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) have shown that the consumer has gained power of the market as a consequence of social media usage. Social networking has also affected the pace of e-commerce success. This behaviour has contributed to a demand for a rapid development of technology to be able to meet the customer's needs and thereby give maximum benefits (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

According to Kapferer and Michaut (2019) millennials have reshaped the market by their different values, motivational factors and distinguishing purchasing behaviour. As previously mentioned, social media has been seen as a driving factor of e-commerce. Likewise, the millennials have, according to Smith (2011), been able to contribute to e-commerce development.

In addition to the previously mentioned societal developments, even further changes have emerged due to the global pandemic. The potential consequences, which could derive from this type of comprehensive crisis, could be a parable to the economic crisis in 2010 that Darley, Blankson and Luethge (2010) discusses in their article. The worldwide economic crisis and the accompanying unemployment during 2010 resulted in people starting to consider other ways of purchasing, like e-commerce (Darley, Blankson and Luethge, 2010).

At that time, the economy could be seen as a crisis affecting a huge part of the world and is something that could be connected to the present pandemic. In 2010, people started to change

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their behaviour just like people have done during COVID-19. Due to the pandemic, people are figuring out other ways of purchasing when the ability to go to a physical store is limited or impossible, and companies have to adapt to be able to meet the customer needs. The outcomes that emerged from the economic crisis continued and are today a natural habit. The future will show us if the effects given by COVID-19 will result in similar consequences.

Furthermore, a study conducted in the US by Mason, Narcum Mason (2021) takes similar variables as the research conducted in this thesis into account. The study was conducted in the beginning of the pandemic by a survey answered by consumers in the US and examined how the decision-making process has changed in social media marketing after the COVID-19 outbreak. The result shows that social media marketing has been more relevant and important after the virus outbreak due to consumers' increased use of social media during quarantine (Mason, Narcum Mason, 2021). However, the authors of this thesis consider that there is an absence of studies to determine what changes COVID-19 has provided to Swedish online consumer behaviour, even less within a certain step of the process. Therefore, the study that will be conducted in this thesis will be focusing on the new online behaviours due to COVID- 19 and how it influences the decision-making process, the post-purchase step in particular, in the social media context.

1.2.2. Managerial Problematization

Due to the rise of the internet and the emergence of e-commerce, consumers have started to use supplementary ways to purchase in contrast to exclusively visiting physical stores (Darley, Blankson, and Luethge, 2010). The internet culture has, according to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) contributed to an increased transparency of the market as well as made the consumers more informed and more influenced by other social media users. These factors have enabled a shift of power in the marketplace and thereby given the consumer a greater ability to control the market (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

Furthermore, the society and technology are constantly changing (Rainie and Wellman, 2012). Due to the technological revolution which the millennial generation are raised with, they have developed a distinguishing way to interact with the internet, where social media is used on a daily basis to for instance enable global shopping (Kapferer and Michaut, 2019;

Williams and page, 2011). Since the internet has enabled consumers to gain power over the market, millennial’s differentiated shopping behaviour contributes to millennials having an

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even greater impact on e-commerce consumption in comparison to other generations

(Kapferer and Michaut, 2019). William and Page (2011) does also emphasize that millennials are the second largest purchasing segment, which indicates the importance of marketers focusing on this generation when looking into managerial problems regarding online consumer behaviour.

Moreover, since the COVID-19 outbreak the overall social media usage in Sweden has increased even more (GWI, 2021). According to Internetstiftelsen (2020) internet users in Sweden have increased their usage of social media by 7 percentage points between 2019 and 2020. Companies need, because of this, to have updated research within the customer

decision-making process to be able to reach their customers the right way and to give them the suitable content to interact with. Since the pandemic at the time of writing this thesis is still present, few studies have been conducted in the field of how the pandemic has affected the business and marketing environment. Thus, it is of great importance for companies to know how customers have reacted to new ways of living and how the purchasing behaviour has changed. According to Spash (2020) the retail industry has been severely affected all over the world by this pandemic and retailers are fully aware of the impact that the pandemic has made, but few companies know how to manage the changes (Spash, 2020). The lack of research conducted in the field of consumer behaviour, in relation to COVID-19, has created a demand for wider knowledge of the consequences to be able to manage the major societal changes that have emerged.

As mentioned in the background section, Sweden has handled the pandemic differently, by for instance, not addressing any lockdowns. This could have a distinguishing impact on the Swedish population in comparison to other countries, due to the fact that the citizens still have the opportunity to make purchases in physical stores. Thus, the companies operating in Sweden cannot exclusively rely on research conducted in other countries.

The research that is to be conducted in this thesis can facilitate strategies for companies aiming towards Swedish customers and contribute to a better understanding of how the female millennials function in a consumer behaviour context due to the consequences of the pandemic. As mentioned, there are according to GWI (2021) forecasts that predict that some of the new behaviours that have occurred will remain. Approximately 50% of women in the

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age between 16-34 claim that they will continue frequent online shopping after the pandemic is over which confirms the validity of conducting this research (GWI, 2021).

1.3. Research question

When formulating the research question, there is a predicted research gap on how the

consumer behaviour and the decision-making process has changed on social media due to the global pandemic, COVID-19. The foundation of this study is based on the broad topic of consumer behaviour and specifically chosen to focus on the last sequence of the decision- making process, post-purchase behaviour. The authors want to analyse how the social constraints, as a consequence of the pandemic, has affected the decision-making process on social media for Swedish female millennials. More specifically, the authors want to

investigate if there has been a change in the outcome stage of the EKB-process as an effect of COVID-19. To be able to analyse this the authors have chosen to use a relationship-based research question.

● Is there a relationship between the social constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential increased engagement of post-purchase behaviour for Swedish female millennials in the social media context?

1.4. Purpose

The aim of this report is to analyse the relationship between the social constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential increased engagement of post-purchase behaviour.

The research is conducted on Swedish female millennials in the online context of social media. The result of this thesis can be utilized by marketers to get an in-depth understanding of updated customers’ needs and changed consumer behaviours.

1.5. Delimitations

This thesis is solely limited to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus it is difficult to predict if it can be applicable for other world crises. Furthermore, the research is limited within Sweden where the country has handled the pandemic in a distinguished way. Hence, stakeholders and interests from other cultures and nations should take these shortcomings in consideration when interpreting the results.

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The targeted objects of this research are female millennials, since they have a distinguishing way of spending money and interacting with social media (Kapferer and Michaut, 2019;

Tevšić and Nanić, 2020). Therefore, the results of this study will have a limited generalizability across other age groups and genders.

Due to the increased online shopping during the global pandemic the conducted research is limited to changes of the decision-making related to online-purchases. More specifically, online-purchases within the health-, beauty-, interior- and clothing industry. These specific industries are chosen to narrow the research down to relevant purchases related to the purpose of this thesis. Furthermore, these retail branches are often considered to be a topic of interest for the targeted population of this research.

2. Literature review

Within this chapter, the authors present the already existing literature and conceptual frameworks within the field of research. The authors begin with an explanation of the development of consumer behaviour and more specifically the decision-making process.

Furthermore, social media's effect on society and millennials' relation to social media are presented, followed by COVID-19´s effect on consumer behaviour. Lastly, the authors finalize the chapter with a compilation of the existing literature and an identification of the research gap, followed by a presentation of the conceptual framework and the hypotheses.

2.1. Development of the decision-making process

Consumer behaviour is a heavy part of marketing in its entirety and is a topic that has been studied for many years. Consumer behaviour is explained as the study of how people buy;

how, why and what they buy (Kotler, 2012). Furthermore, Jagdish (2021) stated that the concept has been investigated in various factors, such as the focus on motivation and attitudes and the main factors of consumer behaviour today is experience and engagement.

Jagdish (2021) mentions consumption as a huge part of consumer behaviour. Within

consumption the decision-making process is found, a concept that has been studied for many years (Jagdish, 2021). Further, the model by Dewey has been developed and modified throughout the years. Engel, Kollat and Blackwell (1978) created the five-stage decision- making model (EKB-model) that is based on John Dewey's original model. The EKB-model has, according to Darley, Blankson, and Luethge (2010), been developed to a widely

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accepted model used in many consumer behaviour textbooks. The EKB-model has laid the foundation for consumer behaviour and extends the five stages of; Problem recognition, Search, Alternative evaluation, Purchase and Outcomes with external factors to be able to adapt it to the online consumer behaviour as well.

Figure 1: A modified model of online consumer behaviour and decision making. (Darley, Blankson and Luethge, 2010, p.96)

More in depth, Kotler and Armstrong (2014) describes the step of problem recognition as where customers realise that they need something. This could be accomplished by for

example advertisement or WOM, however, it is dependent on the individual characteristics of the customer. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). Furthermore, the search stage, also called information search, is explained by Kim and Lee (2008) as the step where the customer searches for information about the recognized problem. This could be accomplished

internally by searching through memories and already known knowledge about the subject, or externally by searching online or talking to personal sources (e.g., friends and family) (Kim and Lee, 2008). The third step of the process, alternative evaluation, also called evaluation of alternatives is by Abenyin and Osei (2016) explained as the step where the customer

conducts an evaluation of existing suitable alternatives as a result of the previous step of the model. Within this step, the customer uses its own preferences to decide which alternative

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that is to be found as most adequate (Abenyin and Osei, 2016). After evaluating the alternatives, the next phase is to determine the final purchase decision. This step

is where the customer makes the final decision including where to buy it and how to pay it (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014).

Finally, the last sequence of the decision-making process is the post-purchase step. This is where the customers evaluate the satisfaction about the product, based upon the earlier

personal expectations (Abenyin and Osei, 2016). Psychological phenomena that can appear in this step are cognitive dissonance, consumption, satisfaction/ dissatisfaction and

disinvestment (Darley, Blankson, and Luethge, 2010). There are several ways for a customer to express the level of satisfaction to others (e.g., WOM and ratings) (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). Christodoulides and Schivinski (2016) developed a scale for measuring engagement within brand-related social media content. The research was based upon the framework

“COBRA” (consumer’s online brand-related activities) and its three activities, consumption, contribution and creation. The empirical finding of this research is a scale which pointed out the different actions within these three activities. Within the activity of consumption, actions such as following, reading and watching brand-related content was highlighted. For the activity of contribution, actions such as commenting, linking and sharing brand-related content appear. Lastly, the activity of creation is based on activities such as creating, posting and writing brand-related content (Christodoulides and Schivinski. 2016).

Further research has been made within the decision-making process area. Skinner (1935) developed a model called the S-R model (stimulus - response) which later on was extended by Mehrabian and Russel (1974) to the S-O-R model (stimulus - organism - response).

Reichstein and Brusch (2019) have written an article about how viral marketing has affected the decision-making process and describes the S-O-R model as the cognitive consumer behaviour within the decision-making process. The same authors, however, indicate that the traditional S-O-R model developed by Mehrabian and Russel (1974) do not take the problems with algorithms that come with viral and social media marketing into consideration.

Reichstein and Brusch (2019) are therefore stating that many of the traditional models within decision-making and consumer behaviour are not applicable anymore due to the change and development of technology (Reichstein and Brusch, 2019). In addition to this, Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, (2015) claims that people today have similar needs but a whole other way to satisfy them. The mechanisms people use to achieve satisfaction are mainly based on

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the online context. Due to that, the different steps in the decision-making model can be

repeated and reconstructed as well as be transacted by different channels and media (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

In addition to previous models, Reichstein and Brusch (2019) states that there are many studies done within viral marketing and the decision-making process. However, there is criticism about the already existing models. Due to the change in technology the traditional models are too static and no longer sufficient for the new society. Social media has created a need for new dynamic models to implicate in the decision-making. Therefore, Reichstein and Brusch developed a new, more dynamic model that consists of two cognitive processes based on empirical findings presented in their research. The first is the process where the consumer decides whether to open the content or not. The second relates to if the consumer decides to interact with the content or not (Reichstein and Brusch 2019).

Figure 2: Decision-making process in viral marketing. (Reichstein and Brusch, 2019, p.1066)

Furthermore, Darley, Blankson, and Luethge (2010) conducted an empirical study in the field of consumer behaviour and decision-making where the authors compared a list of 52 peer- reviewed articles published between 2001 and 2008. Result shows that there are plenty of studies done on the link between the decision-making process and the external consumer behaviour factors by looking into the relationship between external factors and online environmental factors. Further, they discovered that there is a significantly large research

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gap, namely how the decision-making process is affected by problem recognition, internal search, consumption or disinvestment. Furthermore, there was only one single study who focused mainly on the decision process in relation to the online environment (Darley, Blankson, and Luethge, 2010).

Finally, the concept of WOM (word of mouth) has become global and is no longer limited to friends and family and anyone can be a source of information today (Jagdish, 2021). Yan et al. (2018) developed the WOM aspect in the decision-making process, using the earlier mentioned S-O-R model to specify a difference between WOM in social media and e- commerce. The same authors have split up the eWOM concept (electronic word of mouth) into EC-eWOM, which refers to WOM connected to e-commerce, such as traditional websites, and SM-eWOM which refers to WOM connected to social media. The results showed several differences in how these two types of WOM characterize online. For instance, there are differences in high- and low risk purchases, where consumers tend to prefer EC-eWOM when purchasing low-risk products due to that the perceived cognitive cost is lower. There were also shown differences regarding gender, where females perceive more credibility when the number of social cues is higher, as in social media where there is a profile of the publisher with age, name etc., while men perceive more credibility in a product when there is more tie strength in eWOM (Yan et al., 2018).

2.2. Social media’s effect on society

According to Zahay (2021) the subject of social media marketing is popular and the most growing trend within the marketing aspect. The author researched the roots of digital and social media marketing till how it is perceived today. Social media marketing is a

combination of several different aspects that has evolved over time and is therefore hard to define in a simple manner. The subject is crucial in modern marketing, and digital- and social marketing revolves around customization, internet marketing, mass customization,

personalization, engagement and co-creation. To be able to understand digital- and social marketing, the understanding of the evolution of the concept is necessary (Zahay, 2021).

Digital- and social marketing is not exclusively about using digital and technological tools to implement marketing, the concept goes beyond that. At first, digital marketing was not seen as a concept linked to technology. Previously, marketers worked with channels that included

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direct sales, direct mail and other direct communication forums until mass communication stopped fulfilling its purpose. To improve marketer’s communication, a useful way of working was developed. Customer data was saved, which enabled efficient segmentation, which in turn led to marketers developing the opportunity to no longer speak to all customers in the same manner. Following this development, digital- and social marketing focused on a more customized and personalized approach. Today, digital- and social marketing is about reaching interaction with customers and creating a commitment and engagement in the desired customer group. If marketers succeed in achieving this, it is an extremely powerful tool for the business. This new perspective of marketing has changed the previous views of this type of action (Zahay, 2021).

Due to this social media progression, Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) aimed to investigate if the decision-making model by Engel, Kollat and Blackwell is still relevant in the online culture. The authors of the article claim that the online culture has made a shift of power in the marketplace. The consumer has greater power than companies and industries due to social media and people's online behaviour. Darley, Blankson, and Luethge (2010) are mentioning that consumers were starting to consider other ways of purchasing rather than physical stores, such as e-commerce. In addition to that, Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) claims that there are signs that social networking online has made an impact on the pace of e-commerce progression. This indicates that there is a great possibility that the purchasing behaviour has changed even further since 2010, when the article by Darley, Blankson, and Luethge was published.

In addition, Bernoff and Li (2011, p.9) are describing the theory of groundswell similar to the way Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) are explaining the shift of power in the

marketplace. The concept of the groundswell is defined as “A social Trend in which people are using technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from

traditional institutions like corporations.” (Bernoff and Li, 2011, p.9). The same authors developed the social technographics ladder, which can be seen in appendix C, figure 8, that describes the different types of personas and its characteristics related to the online context.

The ladder and their specific groups of the groundswell creates an ecosystem. In the bottom of the ladder, the inactives are found. These are the types of persons who do not participate in the online environment. Secondly, there are the spectators who consume the content of what the others are producing, it requires less effort in relation to other groundswell activities.

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Thirdly, the joiners are found, who are maintaining profiles on social networking sites, but are not actively participating through contribution to the sites or by creating their own content. Fourthly, individuals who are organizing the content produced by those who are belonging higher up in the ladder are called collectors. Fifthly, the critics are participants that actively react to content provided in the online context. The critics will comment on online forums, give reviews or ratings. The next step of the ladder consists of the conversationalists where the members are frequently engaging in conversations online. Lastly, at the top of the ladder, there are the creators. Creators do, as the name implies, create the content that others consume (Bernoff and Li, 2011).

Further, Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) describes that the participatory culture, where people gained the possibility to integrate into a network consisting of like-minded

individuals, has created a new phenomenon called social shopping. Today's online culture and social media platforms connect people so that they can influence each other and thereby gain power on the market. The technology in the area has, because of this, developed rapidly to be able to give customers maximum benefits. The mechanisms of social shopping are product ratings, reviews, collaborative design competitions, style advice, affiliate programs, live outfit reviews, visual scrapbooking and crowd-sourced advice. This phenomenon has increased the transparency of the market (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

Due to the participatory culture that the online environment has created, Carter and Yeo (2018) conducted a study to explore and identify the four main elements of collective

intelligence. Bonabeau (2009) describes collective intelligence as actors solving problems by collaborating with each other. Carter and Yeo (2018) mentioned the importance of collective intelligence as a support system for the individual in the decision-making process where people collaborate by exchanging information amongst each other. This information could be perceived as similar to the groundswell theory which according to Bernoff and Li (2011) is a social trend where people are using technological tools to gain information from other users.

A big part of this is the user generated content online, as well as eWOM (Carter and Yeo, 2018). Thus, the participatory culture does, according to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015), give people the opportunity to educate and assist each other to make good purchasing choices by cooperating. At the same time this integration might lack individualism and that what appears as good choices might be a collective decision (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

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In addition to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015), Carter and Yeo (2018) and Bernoff and Li (2011), an article written by Goodrich and de Mooij (2014) states that there are significant differences regarding how different cultures and geographical areas around the world tend to handle decision-making in an online context. The result shows that Sweden tends to a more individualistic behaviour, which is a minority compared to most other cultures, since 70% of the countries in the study shows to be collectivistic cultures. The main difference between these two concepts is that people in individualistic cultures search for personal utility, while people in collectivistic cultures look at utility in sharing with others and spreading ideas and information (Goodrich and de Mooij, 2014). The previously mentioned studies (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015; Carter and Yeo, 2018; Bernoff and Li, 2011) and Goodrich and de Mooij’s (2014) results are indirectly in conflict. This contributes to an interest in

investigating how these contradictory studies can be set against each other in an online context for Swedish millennials.

2.3. Female millennials as consumers and their relationship to social media Millennials, also called generation Y, is a generation that has gained new powers over the market according to Kapferer and Michaut (2019). The same authors confirm that this generation has an impact on the market as well as power over consumption. Millennials are described as being completely different from previous generations. They reshape the market with completely new values and ways of being motivated, as well as generally distinctive behaviours (Kapferer and Michaut, 2019). Further, Smith (2011) describes that the generation is considered to be the driving factor for e-commerce. In general, almost all millennials own computers and mobile phones and consider these digital tools essential. Millennials use these tools to visit social media on a daily basis and use them to shop globally (Smith, 2011).

Additionally, Williams and Page (2011) claims that millennials break the traditional purchase decision mode as well as the typical socio-demographic product purchase model. They also state that millennials are the second largest purchasing segment and that the spending of millennials in the United States of America would be able to reach USD 3.39 trillion by the end of 2018 (Williams and Page 2011). Furthermore, women have a tendency to spend more money than planned and to buy products that were not intended at first (Tevšić and Nanić 2020). The female millennials are individuals who are obviously willing to spend money and

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are born in an era where great technological development and progress were made at a fast pace (Williams and page, 2011; Tevšić and Nanić, 2020)

Furthermore, Tevšić and Nanić (2020) compared the behavioural differences in the decision- making process between genders. The researchers came to the conclusion that female customers tend to go through a more complex decision-making process than males, since females think more and invest more time in buying products (Tevšić and Nanić 2020). In contrast, Ashman, Solomon, and Wolnys’ (2015) describes the shift of consumer behaviour due to the transformation of society by explaining the decision-making process by fictional vignettes where three different generations were aiming to purchase the same product and thereby highlighting the different approaches that have existed. The authors claim that the millennial’s approach conveyed clear differences to other generations, as the internet is considered to be a natural tool throughout their process (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

According to Ashman, Solomon, and Wolny (2015), millennials are exposed to the problem recognition step multiple times every day because of the online interactions that are ongoing constantly. In the online environment, where millennials spend a great amount of time, they are in different ways exposed to new types of demands. This is done through online social interactions, as well as through targeted marketing communication. A major part of this process is governed by collective participation, which also means that millennials are more likely to be affected by the social shopping phenomenon than by companies' marketers (Ashman, Solomon, and Wolny, 2015). In addition, females are going through a more psychological process when shopping in comparison to men, and some women use shopping as a belief that it has a relaxing effect and reduces stress (Tevšić and Nanić 2020).

Millennials' relation to the step of information search has a clear connection to the internet according to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015). The majority of the acquisition of information occurs through online searches. The internet also offers the ability to integrate information search with different platforms. Pinterest is a commonly used tool to gather inspiration in combination with being able to see what has inspired others in the social network (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015). Bernoff and Li (2011) describes this type of actions as a part of the collector characteristics of the social technographics ladder (Bernoff and Li, 2011). Furthermore, it can also be stated that the information available on the internet

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is extremely rich in content, which means that millennials often have good opportunities to get realistic information according to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015). This does not only contribute to a good condition for making good purchasing decisions. It also contributes to brand products losing value as information provides a sufficiently good image to be able to ensure good quality without a brand label. The internet has thus given millennials more opportunities than previous generations are experiencing in the same step of the decision- making model (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

When millennials are comparing their consideration set, in the evaluation of alternatives, they have the opportunity to narrow down the alternatives down from the global search by ratings in the social online network. Marketers have realised that millennials rely more on

recommendations from other individuals rather than guidance from commercial sources. In this step, technology development has a great impact. For example, augmented reality has the possibility to appear like a virtual dressing room, that could help millennials narrow down to a consideration set (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

According to Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) the phenomenon of social shopping is a big part of the purchase step for millennials. As previously mentioned, social shopping relies heavily on support systems that are very useful in this step. Through these systems, customers can find social validation that is of great importance to millennials. Lastly, the post-purchase step refers to how the customer handles the difference between expectation and the actual experience of the purchased service or product. In a participatory culture, which is familiar to millennials, it is common to share real-time events where they use themselves as content in their social networks. This contributes to recommendations and as a support to others at various stages in the decision-making process (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) basically show how millennials rely heavily on social media and confirmation from the online network. However, Tevšić and Nanić (2020) found that females are more likely to buy more and to make impulsive purchases, they are more willing to take a risk to try something that they have seen as a promotion in comparison to men (Tevšić and Nanić 2020). In addition to this, Ashman, Solomon and Wolny (2015) states that the post-purchase stage of the EKB-model for millennials online involves support

systems that social shopping contributes to (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015).

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2.4. COVID-19’s effect on consumer behaviour

During the early months in 2020 a pandemic spread worldwide, causing ground-breaking changes in people's everyday lives. Laato et al. (2020) conducted a study in Finland, investigating what factors have contributed to the unusual hoarding consumer behaviour, regarding for instance toilet-paper and canned food, that occurred in several countries when the virus outbreak was a fact. Since then, COVID-19 has been a part of people's everyday life, including forced lockdowns and self-quarantine, which could have had an effect in purchasing behaviour even in the long-term, but which differ in character from the studies made by Laato et al. (2020). Many studies have been conducted since the pandemic outbreak regarding people's physical and mental health connected to COVID-19, but there seems to be a significant gap on the persistent effects on consumer behaviour.

Furthermore, the earlier mentioned study by Mason, Narcum and Mason (2021) in the US used a survey to investigate if there had been a change in the population's use of social media and online shopping. The result showed a significant increase in online purchasing, making the authors of the article promote companies to increase their brand awareness in social media. More specifically, the results show changed effects on social media after the COVID- 19 declaration, in all of the stages in the consumer decision-making process except from the post-purchase stage, where there was no significant difference. However, they stress that the result of the post-purchase stage may have been affected by the formulation in the survey and that the respondents could have been confused by the formulation of the question. This emphasizes the importance in further research regarding this step. Additionally, the overall results in the study proves an increased importance of social media marketing for companies since the virus outbreak. This gives great indication of the need for an investigation

approximately one year after the outbreak, when the early reflexive behavioural changes have decreased (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021).

Furthermore, Kapur (2020) researched the post-COVID-19 consumer behaviour and brand strategy. This resulted in the conclusion that some of the changes that have magnified due to the pandemic such as working from home and social distancing are to continue after the pandemic is over as well. The same author does also claim that customers will have changed their purchase pattern to an increase in mobile commerce as well as more connected

customers. Hence, COVID-19 has given social media usage a rise (Kapur, 2020).

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2.5. Research gap

With all the mentioned literature combined, a research gap can be predicted which

intertwines these different aspects into a relatively limited examined research area. There are multiple studies regarding the decision-making process and the development of the model due to the social media revolution (Dewey, 1910; Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, 1978;

Reichstein and Brusch, 2019). There is also a lot of research regarding millennials

distinguishing relationships to social media (Kapferer and Michaut, 2019; Smith, 2011). On the contrary, there has not been a remarkable amount of research regarding COVID-19 in relation to consumer behaviour, probably due to the short time interval that has passed since it started. Most of the conducted research refers to physical and mental health connected to the virus, and there is therefore a significant gap regarding how consumer behaviour has been affected or changed due to the social constraints as a consequence to the pandemic.

As mentioned, Mason, Narcum and Mason (2021) did in the early stage of the pandemic conduct a study in the US to examine how the decision-making process had changed in social media after the COVID-19 outbreak. The article emphasizes the importance of further

research in the area, due to the limitations regarding the field and the general knowledge about the pandemic effects at the time frame when the study was conducted. The research was aimed exclusively towards consumers in the US and was conducted soon after the declaration of the world pandemic. The date of the study can make the results different from how it would be if the consumers answered the same questions today, since the knowledge of the magnitude of the virus at that time was limited. At the time, there was not much

knowledge regarding how long this would affect the general person's life (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021). This could suggest that a similar survey conducted just over one year later, with the population's knowledge of the virus's long-lasting impact in their lives, could generate significant new results that are of great importance for marketers and companies involved in social media marketing.

As mentioned, the cultural limitations in Mason, Narcum and Mason’s (2021) study creates a demand for future research. This is indirectly highlighted through the multicultural study by Goodrich and de Mooij (2014) on how online shopping behaviour can differ depending on cultural and geographical differences. Results in the study showed differences in both

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complaint behaviour and trust in eWOM, among other factors (Goodrich and de Mooij, 2014). This shows the importance of research in more fields due to the differences in consumer behaviour in each field, according to the characteristics listed in the article.

This indicates that even though a similar study as the research of this thesis is conducted in the US by Mason Narcum and Mason (2021), the cultural differences regarding COVID-19 and the decision-making process in social media makes this study relevant. Since this study will be conducted in Sweden it will cover a research gap that is not yet examined. To narrow it down to a specific research area, the authors of this thesis will, due to the combined results of Yan et al. (2018) and Mason, Narcum and Mason (2021), focus on females. The

combination of more time spent on social media after the virus outbreak and the result of females preferring and seeing more trust in SM-eWOM could indicate an important research gap. In tandem to this, the previously mentioned study by Mason, Narcum and Mason (2021) of how the decision-making process has been affected by the global pandemic, was

conducted on a macro level regarding the generation aspect. Therefore, Mason, Narcum and Mason encourage future researchers to further investigate the potential effects in a particular generation segment (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021). Due to the earlier mentioned distinguishing shopping-and online behaviour of female millennials, together with their participatory culture and their superior influence over the market (Ashman, Solomon and Wolny, 2015; Tevšić and Nanić, 2020) , the authors of this thesis consider the millennial generation to be an interesting segment to exclusively research further.

Finally, this research will also focus on the outcome stage of the decision-making process, since the increased time spent on social media could strengthen the hypothesis of increased engagement in online purchases. This step of the process is due to this hypothesis of major interest to do further research on. Not only because there are indications of changes in this part of the purchase process, but also because the possible changes in this step could affect several other stages in the process, such as the alternative evaluation step, where earlier customer’s WOM could affect the outcome of this stage for other consumers. Thus, changes in this step of the process could make changes in the whole online purchasing process.

2.6. Conceptual framework

When conducting research, it is important to provide a clear profile of the specific subjects, according to Jacobsen (2011). By establishing a conceptual framework the subjects are scaled

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down and presented as components which entails an overview of the phenomenon that is to be investigated (Jacobsen, 2011). Within the literature review, the authors of this thesis have presented the most relevant key concept for the research. On the basis of the literature review, the conceptual framework, which can be seen below in figure 3, is developed. The circle within the figure illustrates the social constraints due to COVID-19 and its effects of

increased usage of social media and online shopping. From the circle, lines are drawn to the dimensions that are used to measure the post-purchase engagement, contribution and creation. These activities are an excerpt from the research made by Christodoulides and Schivinski (2016) which developed a scale for measuring engagement with brand-related social media content, which is described further in the operationalization section. However, the authors of this thesis have selected two of the three activities which are found interesting to be able to measure the engagement within the post-purchase step solely.

Figure 3: Conceptual framework

2.7. Hypotheses

As seen in the research model (figure 4) below, seven different actions within the two dimensions of contribution and creation have been identified, based on the scale developed by Christodoulides and Schivinski (2016). Engagement as a concept is according to

Jacobssen (2011) complicated to measure, which is explained further in the operationalization section. The actions are developed as indicators for post-purchase engagement to enable statistical testing. Every hypothesis compares to which extent the respondent estimates their level of involvement in every action before the COVID-19 outbreak in contrast to today.

“Today” will throughout this thesis refer to the date when this research was conducted, approximately one and a half year after the declaration of the pandemic. The research model,