Is it a new "Facebook revolution" in the Arab World? Exploring Young Jordanians' E-Purchasing Behavior.

• Author: Ganideh, Saeb Farhan Al

INTRODUCTION

Internet has significantly reshaped marketing context. The advancement of social media has been considered as an opportunity and a challenge simultaneously for global and local marketers. Internet and social media have significantly changed marketing environment. According to Leong et al. (2018), "the emergence of social networking sites or SNSs as well as Web 2.0 has created a novel genre of electronic commerce (e-commerce) identified as Facebook-commerce" (f-commerce). More than 2.1 billion people use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger every day on average (Facebook, 2019). In fact, social media has changed drastically the way businesses communicate with their customers as a result of the direct connection over the internet between people and companies. Specifically, Facebook is assumed as the most important platform of the social networking sites (Hampton, 2011.

Approximately, there are on average 1.6 billion daily active users on Facebook (Facebook, 2019). Arab countries' e-commerce markets appear to be one of the outstanding opportunities for online retailers in the Arab region and the world. In Jordan, e-commerce grew rapidly in recent years, reaching more than $310 million (Aljazeera, 2019). Overall, Jordanians are good representative for most of Arab countries' consumers (Al Ganideh, 2010; Al Ganideh & Al Taee, 2012). The Arab spring motivated many global researchers to study the purchasing behavior for Arabs (i.e., Al Ganideh & Good, 2015; Al Ganideh & Good, 2016). Internet penetration in Jordan reached almost 80% by the end of 2017 and almost 75% of Internet users in Jordan use social networking sites (Pew Research Center, 2018). Rapid growth of Internet usage in Jordan, evolutionary digital social media, and then e-WOM, indicates the importance of viral marketing, and e-marketing through Facebook. According to McDaniel and Parks (2019), companies on Facebook are more likely to export than companies in general.

The current research investigates the effect of usage, informativeness, entertainment and credibility of Facebook on persuasion of Jordanian consumers. In addition, the research examines the impact of persuasive knowledge of Facebook on Jordanian consumers' intention to buy.

LITERATURE REVIEW

One widely accepted theory on the actual usage behavior of a new technology has been the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1986, 1989). In addition to TAM, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) could also represent suitable theoretical background for the current study. While TRA was theorized to explain general human behavior (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), TAM specifically explained the determinants of computer acceptance that are general and capable of explaining user behavior across a broad range of end-user computing technologies and the user population (Davis, 1989). One important and well-received revision of TAM has been the inclusion of social influence processes in predicting the usage behavior of a new technology by its users (Venktatesh & Davis, 2000).

The goal for marketers is persuasion (Braun-Latour & Zaltman 2006). Generally, persuasion knowledge entails "consumers' knowledge and beliefs about various advertising related issues, such as the goals and tactics marketers use to persuade them, the extent to which consumers find these techniques effective and appropriate, but also personal beliefs about how to cope with these persuasion tactics and goals" (Boerman et al., 2017). Due to their massive fan basis on social media such as Facebook, and their ability to create a personal attraction to sponsored content, celebrities are main influencers for Facebook and other social media channels' advertisements (Boerman et al., 2017). Persuasiveness is a mechanism through which individual's attitude influences purchase intention (Prendergast et al., 2010). The attitude towards using Facebook will positively affect Facebook users' persuasion and intentions to use Facebook as a source for online buying from Facebook's brand page (Kumar et al., 2014). Purchase intentions offer central insights into the effectiveness of marketing (Wang and Chang, 2013). Purchase intention refers to the likelihood of consumers' future purchase (Choe et al., 2009). Consumers' purchase intention "may be aroused because of a product's esthetic appeal or the number of likes" (Chang et al., 2019).

The research model (figure 1) illustrates four determinant factors namely, Facebook usage, informativeness, credibility, and entertainment that are expected to affect consumers' persuasion. Persuasion is included in the model as mediator variable and is expected to impact Jordanian consumers' intention to buy. The model suggests that the effect of, Facebook usage, informativeness, credibility, and entertainment is mediated by their persuasion knowledge.

Facebook Usage

The rapid advancements in social media and Web 2.0 have led to the emerge of Facebook commerce (Leong et al., 2018). Facebook offer brands the opportunity to reach the right segment of customers in a less obtrusive way compared to traditional marketing channels (Boerman et al., 2017). Facebook impacts consumer purchasing decisions as it raises people awareness, allows consumers interactions (Darban & Li, 2012) and facilitates products' exchange (Lehmkuhl, 2014). It is vital for companies to have a business model adapted to social commerce by utilizing digital platforms where consumers have social interaction and providing a possible source of trust which greatly influences users' intention to buy (Hajli, 2013). Facebook posts that are sent by companies and brands can activate customers' conceptual persuasion knowledge (Boerman et al., 2017). Based upon the above considered literature we can hypothesize that:

H1: Facebook usage positively and significantly affects consumers' persuasion.

Informativeness

Information content, design, security, and privacy are key website factors that have significant effect on online consumers' satisfaction and purchase intention (Ranganathan & Ganapathy, 2002). Consumers, in fact, "evaluate the information provided by the post and also the post's appearance, after which they form impressions and develop attitudes. Consequently, their reactions toward the post will be formed and lead to their purchase behavior" (Chang et al., 2019).

Informativeness entails the ability of companies to inform consumers of product alternatives and to create greatest possible satisfaction (Ducoffe, 1996). Informativeness can be defined as the ability of social media to successfully give useful information and to inform consumers of product brand alternatives in order to satisfy the consumer's needs (Khasawneh & Shuhaiber, 2013). Ducoffe (1996) concluded that for successful Internet, messages should be informative. The best strategy for social media advertising is to be informative and to show qualitative features, such as accuracy and timeliness, and to explore innovative ways of integrating visual and verbal media formats for eliciting an effective consumer response (Siau & Shen, 2003; Reinhard et al., 2006). Informative content is central for successful Internet advertising as consumers perceive Internet as an information source rather than as an environment source (Shavitt et al., 1998). The impact of e-WOM on decision-making is affected by the volume of information obtained. The more opinions the consumer has accessed about a product or service, the more influence e-WOM has on decision-making (Lopez & Sicilia, 2014). The informativeness of advertisements is crucial to the effectiveness of Web advertising (Wang et al., 2009). Although advertising on the social media is more informative than in other media such as TV, there is a vital "need for better mechanisms to audit ads and advertisers in social media and provides an overview of the platform usage that can help move towards such mechanisms" (Andreou et al., 2019). Overall, informativeness of social media would play vital role in the ability of Facebook to affect intention to buy and persuasion. Hence, we hypothesize:

H2: Facebook informativeness positively and significantly affects consumers' persuasion.

Entertainment

Entertainment can be defined as the ability to satisfy an audience's needs for escapism, enjoyment, or emotional enjoyment and it can enhance online visitors' experiences (Ducoffe, 1996). Likable and entertaining messages affect consumers' attitudes positively (Gao, 2004). Individuals visit websites for entertainment and information needs. A more positive perception of the entertainment value of a website leads to more satisfied customers who are more likely to purchase the product (Holzwarth et al., 2006). Hedonic and entertaining connects motivate positive and likable attitude among target consumers (Petrovici et al., 2007).

According to Chang et al. (2019), "Consumers expressing favorable attitudes toward an advertisement are more likely to regard the advertisement as entertaining, informative, and acceptable. Entertainment is one of the experiences of advertisements, and the advertisement can touch on consumers' sentiment as well as nice to look at (Ling et al., 2010). Consumers prefer to see advertisements that have more entertainment and pleasurable elements (Aziz et al., 2008). A number of scholars indicated that the hedonic factor creates significant favorable attitude of consumers towards advertising (Munusamy & Wong, 2007; Petrovici et al., 2007; Exe & Lee, 2012; Zabadi et al., 2012; Chang et al., 2019). Overall, motives such as entertainment motivates social usage and enhances the behavior of consumer towards the advertisement, therefore we proposed the below hypothesis:

H3: Facebook entertainment positively and significantly affects consumers' persuasion.

Credibility

Adler and Rodman (2000) defined credibility as the believability of the addressor and its perception in the listener's mind. MacKenzie and Lutz...