Abstract
Technology has enabled consumers to gain product information from different online platforms such as social networks, online product reviews and other digital media. Large manufacturers and retailers can make use of this network information to forecast accurately, to manage the demand and thereby to improve profit margin, efficiency, etc. This paper proposes a novel framework to model and analyse consumers’ purchase decision for product choices based on information obtained from two different information networks. The model has also taken into account variables such as socio-economic and demographic characteristics. We develop a utility-based discrete choice model (DCM) to quantify the effect of consumers’ attitudinal factors from two different information networks, namely, social network and product information network. The network information modelling and analysis are discussed in detail taking into account the model complexity, heterogeneity and asymmetry due to the dimension, layer and scale of information in each type of network. The likelihood function, parameter estimation and inference procedures of the full model are also derived for the model. Finally, extensive numeric investigations were carried out to establish the model framework.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
F.R. Jiménez, N.A. Mendoza, Too popular to ignore: The influence of online reviews on purchase intentions of search and experience products. J. Int. Mark. 27(3), 226–235 (2013)
S. Prasad, A. Garg, S. Prasad, Purchase decision of generation Y in an online environment. Mark. Intell. Plan. 37(4), 372–385 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-02-2018-0070
PWC: They say they want a revolution, total retail 2016 (2016); PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) company technical reort – Published by PWC, USA
P. Kotler et al., Marketing management: The Millennium Edition, vol. 199 (Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, 1999)
V. Zwass, K. Kendall, Structure and macro-level impacts of electronic commerce, in Emerging Information Technologies: Improving Decisions, Cooperation, and Infrastructure (Sage, Beverly Hills, 1999), pp. 289–315
S. Holtzman, Intelligent Decision Systems (Addison Wesley, Reading, 1989)
V.A. Zeithaml, L.L. Berry, A. Parasuraman, The behavioral consequences of service quality. J. Mark. 60(2), 31–46 (1996)
V. Shankar, A.K. Smith, A. Rangaswamy, Customer satisfaction and loyalty in online and offline environments. Int. J. Res. Mark. 20(2), 153–175 (2003)
L.C. Wang, J. Baker, J.A. Wagner, K. Wakefield, Can a retail web site be social? J. Mark. 71(3), 143–157 (2007)
T. Hennig-Thurau, K.P. Gwinner, G. Walsh, D.D. Gremler, Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet? J. Int. Mark. 18(1), 38–52 (2004)
C.H. Ho, K.H. Chiu, H. Chen, A. Papazafeiropoulou, Can internet blogs be used as an effective advertising tool? The role of product blog type and brand awareness. J. Enterp. Inf. Manag. 28(3), 346–362 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-03-2014-0021
M. Kulmala, N. Mesiranta, P. Tuominen, Organic and amplified eWOM in consumer fashion blogs. J. Fash. Mark. Manag. 17(1), 20–37 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1108/13612021311305119
S. Sen, D. Lerman, Why are you telling me this? An examination into negative consumer reviews on the web. J. Int. Mark. 21(4), 76–94 (2007)
F. Zhu, X. Zhang, Impact of online consumer reviews on sales: The moderating role of product and consumer characteristics. J. Mark. 74(2), 133–148 (2010)
Chatterjee, Patrali, Online Reviews: Do Consumers Use Them?. ACR 2001 PROCEEDINGDS, M. C. Gilly, J. Myers-Levy, eds., pp. 129–134, Association for Consumer Research, 2001, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=900158
E. Ferrara, P. De Meo, G. Fiumara, R. Baumgartner, Web data extraction, applications and techniques: A survey. Knowl. Based Syst. 70, 301–323 (2014)
S. Hai-Jew, Social Media Data Extraction and Content Analysis (IGI Global, Hershey, 2016)
D. Gupta, S. Tripathi, A. Ekbal, P. Bhattacharyya, A hybrid approach for entity extraction in code-mixed social media data. Money 25, 66 (2016)
X. Wang, C. Yu, Y. Wei, Social media peer communication and impacts on purchase intentions: A consumer socialization framework. J. Int. Mark. 26(4), 198–208 (2012)
T. Powers, D. Advincula, M.S. Austin, S. Graiko, J. Snyder, Digital and social media in the purchase decision process: A special report from the advertising research foundation. J. Advert. Res. 52(4), 479–489 (2012)
K. Goodrich, M. De Mooij, How social are social media? a cross-cultural comparison of online and offline purchase decision influences. J. Mark. Commun. 20(1–2), 103–116 (2014)
C.M. Cheung, B.S. Xiao, I.L. Liu, Do actions speak louder than voices? The signaling role of social information cues in influencing consumer purchase decisions. Decis. Support. Syst. 65, 50–58 (2014)
Y. Chen, J. Xie, Third-party product review and firm marketing strategy. Mark. Sci. 24(2), 218–240 (2005)
J. Pickett-Baker, R. Ozaki, Pro-environmental products: marketing influence on consumer purchase decision. J. Consum. Mark. 25(5), 281–293 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760810890516
S. Jang, A. Prasad, B.T. Ratchford, How consumers use product reviews in the purchase decision process. Mark. Lett. 23(3), 825–838 (2012)
J. Engel, R.D. Blackwell, P. Miniard, Consumer behavior, Chicago. Dry Den 12, 251–264 (1995)
S. Karimi, K.N. Papamichail, C.P. Holland, The effect of prior knowledge and decision-making style on the online purchase decision-making process: A typology of consumer shopping behaviour. Decis. Support Syst. 77, 137–147 (2015)
J.B. Schmidt, R.A. Spreng, A proposed model of external consumer information search. J. Acad. Market Sci. 24(3), 246–256 (1996)
D. Gursoy, K.W. McCleary, Travelers prior knowledge and its impact on their information search behavior. J. Hosp. Tour. Res. 28(1), 66–94 (2004)
L.R. Klein, G.T. Ford, Consumer search for information in the digital age: An empirical study of prepurchase search for automobiles. J. Int. Mark. 17(3), 29–49 (2003)
T. Zhang, D. Zhang, Agent-based simulation of consumer purchase decision-making and the decoy effect. J. Bus. Res. 60(8), 912–922 (2007)
D.H. Furse, G.N. Punj, D.W. Stewart, A typology of individual search strategies among purchasers of new automobiles. J. Consum. Res. 10(4), 417–431 (1984)
S.E. Beatty, S.M. Smith, External search effort: An investigation across several product categories. J. Consum. Res. 14(1), 83–95 (1987)
S. Moorthy, B.T. Ratchford, D. Talukdar, Consumer information search revisited: Theory and empirical analysis. J. Consum. Res. 23(4), 263–277 (1997)
G. Foux, Consumer-generated media: Get your customers involved. Brand Strategy 8(202), 38–39 (2006)
A.M. Kaplan, M. Haenlein, Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Bus. Horiz. 53(1), 59–68 (2010)
M.J. Lovett, R. Staelin, The role of paid, earned, and owned media in building entertainment brands: Reminding, informing, and enhancing enjoyment. Mark. Sci. 35(1), 142–157 (2016)
Number of daily internet users in Great Britain from 2006 to 2019. https://www.statista.com/statistics/275786/daily-internet-users-in-great-britain/. Accessed 18 Mar 2020
Y.Y.Y. Chan, E.W.T. Ngai, Conceptualising electronic word of mouth activity. Mark. Intell. Plan. 29(5), 488–516 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1108/02634501111153692
M.R. Jalilvand, N. Samiei, The effect of electronic word of mouth on brand image and purchase intention. Mark. Intell. Plan. 30(4), 460–476 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1108/02634501211231946
D. Acemoglu, K. Bimpikis, A. Ozdaglar, Dynamics of information exchange in endogenous social networks. Theor. Econ. 9(1), 41–97 (2014)
M. Wang, W. Chen, Y. Huang, N.S. Contractor, Y. Fu, Modeling customer preferences using multidimensional network analysis in engineering design. Des. Sci. 2, 1–28 (2016)
O. Besbes, M. Scarsini, On information distortions in online ratings. Oper. Res. 66(3), 597–610 (2018)
B. Ifrach, C. Maglaras, M. Scarsini, A. Zseleva, Bayesian social learning from consumer reviews. Oper. Res. 67(5), 1209–1221 (2019)
W. Sierzchula, S. Bakker, K. Maat, B. Van Wee, The influence of financial incentives and other socio-economic factors on electric vehicle adoption. Energy Policy 68, 183–194 (2014)
J. Kim, S. Rasouli, H. Timmermans, A hybrid choice model with a nonlinear utility function and bounded distribution for latent variables: application to purchase intention decisions of electric cars. Transportmetrica A Transp. Sci. 12(10), 909–932 (2016)
B. Junquera, B. Moreno, R. Alvarez, Analyzing consumer attitudes towards electric vehicle purchasing intentions in Spain: technological limitations and vehicle confidence. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 109, 6–14 (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Asaduzzaman, M., Jayawickrama, U., Gallage, S. (2021). Modelling and Analysis of Network Information Data for Product Purchasing Decisions. In: Stahlbock, R., Weiss, G.M., Abou-Nasr, M., Yang, CY., Arabnia, H.R., Deligiannidis, L. (eds) Advances in Data Science and Information Engineering. Transactions on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71704-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71704-9_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71703-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71704-9
eBook Packages: Mathematics and StatisticsMathematics and Statistics (R0)