Examining the influence of social media eWOM on consumers’ purchase intentions of commercialised indigenous fruits (IFs) products in FMCGs retailers

Abstract

Despite noteworthy advancement of theoretical and practical knowledge of social media eWord-of-Mouth with evidence from prior empirical research, the influences consumers’ purchase intentions of commercial- ised indigenous fruits products in fast moving consumer goods retailers remains unexplored in academic domain. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examining the role of social media word-of-mouth on con- sumers’ purchase intentions of commercialised indigenous fruits products in fast moving consumer goods retailers. It is based on a nomothetic quantitative methodology, where a survey was applied to collect responses from consumers of commercialized indigenous fruits products in selected fast moving consumer goods retailers in Marondera town, in Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe. The structural equation modelling validated results confirm that quality, source credibility, usefulness of information and informa- tion adoption have influence on social media electronic word-of-mouth on consumers’ purchase intentions of commercialised indigenous fruits products in fast moving consumer goods retailers. In line with the cur- rent research results, complementary cross-sectional studies using the same methodology in different geo- graphical areas in the same focus can be applied to check for relevancy, reliability and applicability. However, the current study, originally contributes to digital marketing, information communication technol- ogies or information systems and food marketing practice and theory building. Further to this, it provides researchers with an agenda for future research directions.