Evaluation of factors influencing consumer decision-making process in social media

Abstract

Many factors influence the consumer decision-making process. When the user decides to purchase a product/service, he looks for information about it in different sources. One of the most common sources these days is social media. This source of information gathering is easily accessible as most users have social media on their phones. In social media, the user can look at the reviews left by other users about the product/service, which helps to make a decision whether it is worth buying a certain product/service. There are many factors in social media that can influence the decision-making process. Thus, the main goal of this study is to find out what factors most influence the decision-making process of users in social media. During the analysis of the scientific literature, the most important concepts were reviewed. An expert survey was conducted to collect data (7 experts participated). Kendall’s concordance coefficient and expert competence coefficient were calculated to assess the compatibility of experts’ opinions. The results of the study showed that the decision-making process of users in social media is most influenced by the recommendations published by opinion makers and the least influenced by the available social media skills. In practice, these results can be applied in companies, when planning communication strategies, this would help to distribute the available funds more efficiently.