Ascertaining the effectiveness of social media marketing activities on purchase intention and the moderation effect of consumer trust

This study investigates the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMA) on the purchase intention (PI) of online customers. Quality of content (QOC), entertainment (ENT), mode of interaction (MI), trendiness (TR) and customisation (CU) are the independent variables employed in the study. The study also deployed consumer trust (CTR) as the moderating variable. Data collected through Google Forms from the regular and active social media users yielded 489 valuable responses. To assess the validity of the questionnaire, content and construct validity were established, and reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha and found to be 0.811. Data collected were analysed using statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), moderating analysis and SEM. The study witnessed a statistically significant association between QOC, ET, MI, TR and CU with PI. CTR was found to moderate the relationship between SMAA and PI.