A cross-cultural study of consumer connection with social networking sites

Abstract

This research investigates consumer connection with online social networking sites (SNS) in cross-cultural contexts. The effects of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (CSII), sociable trait, perceived risk of social media, and gender on consumer self-SNS connection are examined. CSII and sociable trait reflect an inherent tendency of consumers who desire to use an SNS. Perceived risk of using SNS reflects consumers' trust of social media and determines their willingness to be involved in interpersonal communication behaviours (eg sharing information). A survey was conducted to collect data from college students in the USA and France respectively. The results show that CSII and sociable trait are significant predictors of consumer connection with SNS, but the perceived risk of social media is not significantly related to consumer connection with SNS. There are significant gender and cross-cultural differences in the effects of sociable trait and perceived risk on consumer connection with SNS. As this is the first research study that examines consumer self-SNS connection, these results provide valuable insights into the factors affecting consumer connection with SNS. Implications for marketing and social media are discussed.