Published Paper Details:

The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the role of social media in the decisionmaking process of consumers for complex purchases, which are characterised by significant brand differences, high consumer involvement and risk, and are costly and uncommon.The gradual developments in technology indicates that s-commerce will become the marketing mainstream, and a literature survey shows that there have not been many studies in this field. Findings demonstrate that in the stages of data search and alternative evaluation, the use of social media influences consumer satisfaction, with satisfaction being magnified as the consumer moves along the process towards the final purchase decision and post-purchase assessment. In the last few years, the enhanced acknowledgement of social media has given rise to social commerce (s-commerce) and the use of s-commerce is increasing gradually. Studies indicated that social media use significant influence on customer satisfaction throughout the levels of knowledge quest and alternative assessment, with engagement concrete performance as the customer progresses through the path towards the final purchasing decision and post-purchase evaluation.