eWOM in Social Networking Sites: An Empirical Study of Youth Purchase Behavior towards Laptop

The laptop Industry is growing at a fast pace because of changes in work life of consumers. As the need for "anytime anywhere" access to information is increasing, the sale of laptops is also increasing. Ease of use, longer battery life, mobility, ability to multi-task, instant on/off and substantial breadth of applications available have caused rapid growth and change in demand patterns. The ease of use and multi-task ability is driving enterprises to experience laptop in workplace rather than traditional PCs. The present study examines the role of online referrals in different stages of laptop purchase decision making and perceived impact of eWOM on purchase behavior, by conducting a survey of 300 respondents from Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab). The study concludes that respondents have high impact of social networking engagement on their laptop purchase decision. The study establishes the crucial role played by the four constructs namely: Tie Strength, Homophily, Trust and Inter-personal Influence in deciding about their engagement over Social Networking Sites. It further suggests that companies need to emphasize the use of relationship marketing to maximize the positive word of mouth about their products. Advertisers must take social relationship factors into account and develop personalized marketing communication strategies to fulfill SNS user's needs.