Abstract
Social media and the facilities provided by it have become an integrated part of human life. For a developing country such as India, the use of the latest technology for advertisement would help an organisation to present itself as an enterprise that is well equipped for performing business in the nation. The use of social media for advertisement and influencing the purchasing intention of potential customers requires extensive research and recognises the components which combine to develop the purchasing intention of an individual. The particular research focuses on understanding the hardship faced by Bharat Electronics Limited while considering the use of social media advertising as a promotional strategy. The main objective of the research is to analyse the impact of social media advertising on the consumer purchasing intention for Bharat Electronics Limited function in the industry of electronic goods in India. The components such as attitude, subjective norm and perceived control behaviour are considered while understanding the consumer purchasing intention.
Table of Contents
2.2 Research objective and overview 10
2.3 Theoretical framework and hypothesis 10
Sampling and sampling technique 15
1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction
Social media has been in the limelight for the last few decades and have extensively become a part of daily life. It is necessary to understand the way in which it can be used for upgrading business industries such as the industry of electronic goods. The impact of social media is continuously increasing in the global industry along with the broad uses of technology in advertising, promoting and marketing strategy has led the path of profitability for any organization (Alnsour,Ghannam & Alzeidat, 2018). For influencing the purchasing behaviour of the consumers, the strategy of advertisement and promotion is now focused on the emotional, psychological, social factors. The organizations have more variety in technological advances by which they can easily enhance the interest of customers and in this subject social media is one of the biggest platforms to showcasing the values of the organization. Therefore, the organizations are now targeted most frequently on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. In these platforms, the companies are integrating their knowledge and inventing more options to increase the popularity of their brand image along with the appeal for the products. In recent times, the marketing strategy is developed with the promotional strategy in social media platforms (Erkan & Evans,2018). As a result, the companies are launching their new products and services in social media and increasing the awareness of the brand image they make in the shape of their customer’s expectations as well as collecting feedback for their product uses.
Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is a defence and aerospace company owned by the Indian Government and running with its nine factories along with various regional offices situated in India. This company was established in 1954 in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Their current market share 103.30 and their revenue is 8825 Crores INR with the nine factories they are providing many products across India along with many government sectors(BEL, 2020). The services include telecommunications, networks and terminals are provided to the telecommunication department, paramilitary forces, railway, defence and DRDO. The broadcasting system and Satcom products are distributed in All India Radio (AIR), Indian Space Research Center (ISRO) and Doordarshan (DD). BEL produces the electronic Voting machine which is used for the election commission of India and their solar products and systems are manufactured for police and government sectors. It is also available for some private organizations and individual uses. Their manufactured components are variously used in AIR and DD, instrumentation industry, switching industry, the entertainment industry and telephone industry. The company produces the product which is used by different users in many sectors and that is why their marketing strategy needs to develop within the promotional strategy of social media. The uses of social media can increase their market share and revenue collection by properly implementing ideas and developing technological advancement, the company can improve its profitability. The current pandemic has restricted people from visiting the stores physically and shifted the interest of the potential consumer of electronic items in India towards the online platform. The sudden increase has created an opportunity to increase the customer base. However, the use of social media for the BEL company is limited. It is necessary to perform the research about the use of social media advertising by the company and indicate the positive aspect and benefit of using the technology.
Problem Statement: It aims to understand the hardship faced by BEL while using social media advertisement and learn the impact on the consumer purchasing intention while allowing BEL to increase its customer base in the industry electronic industry. Since the company works on the government sector, it is facing issues while using the opportunity of social media and increase business preferences.
The main research question is
What is the impact of social media advertising on the consumer purchasing intention for Bharat Electronics Limited function in the industry of electronic goods in India?
1.2 Research Objective
The research objectives are:
To understand the connection between attitude and purchasing intention of the Indian consumer and the social media advertisement.
To understand the concept of perceived control behaviour and its impact on customer purchasing intention.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Theories and Concepts
Theory of Planned Behaviour
The theory of planned behaviour is the specific theory which helps in satisfying the intention of performing a particular behaviour by an individual which is planned in advance. The theory explains that the intention of an individual is one of the best predictors of the attitude and behaviour of the individual (Steinmetz, et al., 2016). TPB provides a platform for generating theoretical framework which can be further used for understanding the changes in the behaviour of an individual for the perspective of further investigation. The use of the particular theory would be allowed to understand that the intention of the Indian consumers can be considered as one of the important indicators while implementing social media advertising by Bharat electronics limited. Moreover, the TPB focuses on only the intention of an individual rather than considering other variables which includes moral obligations and persuasive usefulness (Goh, Ritchie and Wang, 2017). Hence the following research focuses on connecting the purchasing intention of Indian customers with their attitude, perceived behavioural control and the subjective norm while focusing on the gender difference of Indian customers.
The components of planned behaviour would allow the company to understand the categories that help in performing an efficient analysis of the customer behaviour and its influence on the purchasing intention, specially from the perspective of electronic industry of India(Goh, Ritchie and Wang, 2017). The framework provided below describe the component and the framework used in literature pieces and concluded the positive influence of social media advertising on the purchasing intention of the potential customers within the electronic industry of India.
Fig: 1Components of purchase intention of customer
(Source: Kumar, et al., 2020)
Attitude Towards Social Media
According to Kumar, et al., (2020), the attitude of a human influence the purchase intention and the behaviour of the customers. It is the degree of an individual towards favourable evaluation of a product and considers purchasing the product. The attitude of an individual towards social media is based on the connection with the convenience, affordable, easy access ability and option for white selection (Reuter, Ludwig, Kaufhold & Spielhofer, 2016). The use of social media as a platform for interaction with the customers allows the business organisations to use the particular platform for showcasing the internal aspects of the business as well as marketing of the product (Yang & Che, 2020). The use of technology and social media have widely increased over the last few decades and have become a significant influencer which influences the attitude of an individual irrespective of intention behind the purchase of a product. It can be observed that the analysis of the attitude of an individual towards the social media provides a concrete answer to a company such as BEL regarding the positive impact of social media advertisement upon the purchasing intention of customers, specifically in electronic industry in India.
Subjective Norms
Subjective norm is the personal belief and perception of an individual to perform an activity which includes purchasing products without including any given behaviour. It is the reflection of the effect of other's interest on the choice of an individual (Minton, Spielmann, Kahle & Kim, 2018). In simpler words, it is the feeling of an individual to follow the trend and choices made by a group of people without understanding the proper reason for the intention of choosing the particular element. The subjective norms influencing the purchasing intention of customers in the Indian electronics market mainly include demographic factors such as age, gender and marital status (Singh, 2019). The social network provides the platform to learn about the choices of a majority irrespective of the different intention behind the purchase. The subjective norms can be considered as a component of consumer purchasing intention which is influenced by social media advertising because the particular platform provides access to the opinion of communities.
Perceived Behaviour Control
Perceived behavioural control is the capacity of an individual to control behaviour over the circumstances. It is the perception of an individual over the ability to perform a certain behaviour (Godey, et al., 2016). The purchasing intention of an individual can be linked with the perceived behaviour control from the perspective of financial capability. In other words, factors such as security, accessibility and the cost (Johe & Bhullar, 2016). The components of perceived behaviour control ensure that an individual focus on the perception of comfort and the obstructions related to money along with the practicality of the purchasing behaviour. The particular aspects of an individual motivate them to develop a personal understanding about an organisation having existence on social media platform rather than blindly following other communities without focusing on natural constants such as financial matters. It is the ability of an individual to have a control over the behaviour and the purchasing intention while focusing on the facilities provided by an organisation along with factors used by an organisation to earn trust and develop a relationship with the customers. It can be observed that the personal belief of an individual towards the social media advertisement informs the company such as BEL regarding the strong influence of social media advertisement upon the purchasing intention of customers, specifically in electronic industry in India.
2.2 Research Objective and Overview
The research objective is to understand the impact of social media advertising used by the popular Indian organisation, Bharat Electronics Limited working in the industry of electronic goods in India.
MRQ: What is the impact of social media advertising on the consumer purchasing intention for Bharat electronics limited function in the industry of electronic goods in India?
The following sub-questions have been developed by distributing the components of the main research question.
SRQ1. What is the link between the attitude and purchasing intention of the Indian consumer and the social media advertisement?
SRQ2. What is the link between the subjective norm and consumer purchasing in intention for organisation functioning in the industry of electronic goods in India?
SRQ3. What is the influence of perceived control behaviour over the purchasing intention of the Indian customers?
SRQ4. What is the impact of social media on the advertising strategies used for reaching potential customers by Indian organisations such as Bharat Electronics Limited dealing in the electronic goods industry?
2.3 Theoretical Framework and Hypothesis
Framework
Customer intention
Attitude from media
Subjective Norms
Perceived behaviour control
Fig: 2: Framework of customer purchasing intention
(Source: Created by author)
The above framework is prepared based on an extended theory that has been used for studying the planned behaviour and receive information regarding the impact of social media advertising on the purchasing intention of the Indian consumers from the perspective of the electronic goods industry.
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses have been generated for having a clear understanding of the purchasing intention of the Indian consumers towards the BEL company of India.
H1: there exists a positive link between the attitude along with the purchasing intention of the Indian customer and the social media advertisement.
H2: there exists a link between the subjective norm and the consumer purchasing in intention for organisation functioning in the industry of electronic goods in India.
H3: the perceived control behaviour of the customers has a positive influence on the purchase intention of Indian consumers.
H4: there is a positive impact of social media on the advertising strategy used by Indian popular organisations such as Bharat Electronics Limited function in the electronics goods industry for reaching more potential customers.
3. Methodology
Research Design
For gathering all the primary data, the research design will be the quantitative method along with a deductive approach to continue the particular study of the research. Therefore, for generating the intuition of the purchasing intention of the customer regarding Bharat Electronics Limited in India, it is best to adopt the conclusive design for research along with the deductive approach for testing the validity of the assumptions and the stated hypotheses. The quantitative research design is mainly targeted to discover the actions or thinking of the respondents in a particular way (Schoonenboom & Johnson, 2017). The design mainly focused on involving the big size of samples and effectively concentrated on the number of responses that were gathered.
The adopted research design of conclusive research is mainly focused on the information by which the researchers can reach the stage where the making of a decision or conclusion will be possible. It leans to be quantitative by nature because the overall process of the research will be continued by quantification and evaluate all the summarised responses. The approach of the deductive process is working with a method followed in the initial stage required to select a theory and then develop the hypotheses within the theory (Rahi, 2017). Then it needs to collect and analyse all the collected data to check the reliability of those hypotheses.
Research Type
Regarding the utility or purpose, it is required to decide the research type either applied or basic. This particular research is normally based on real-life problems and issues. That is why the applied type of research will be conducted in the study and analysis to solve the issues. Various types of studies and journals are helped to solve those issues which are leaving an impact in the life of human beings (Fukuda,2019). This research is conducted for evaluating the influence of social media in the purchasing intention of electronic consumers in India and this topic defines the reliability of real-life problems and that is why it is considered the applied research type.
Considered to be the applied research type in this particular study for focusing on implementing some practical solutions to particular issues. It is the style of inspection which leads to the solution- regraded inquiries into a specific situation. It is the research type which involves investigating the outcomes of the study and validating all the findings for applying those into the creative solutions to the specific innovative problems (Benavente, 2016). In contrast to selecting the applied research over the basic research is the process of applied research is mainly targeted to provide a real-life solution for a specific problem and the basic research is the target to expand the learnings. Moreover, applied research is all about the practical thing and basic research is all about the theory-based practices.
Participants
The target population is that serves a specific section of the respondents for the research study. There are some reasons to select these respondents as the target people for the research questionnaire. This research is conducted within the population of 7 urban cities of India and the population is amongst all the professionals to the business owners. For selecting the 7 cities of India, the reason has lied in the outreach of social media users and the internet users along with the electronic consumers in India. These populations may share their personal reflective experience in some similar way but all the responses have to be different from the other responses.
The size of India’s population is 1.366 Billion and the particular research is regarded with 7 urban cities that are most populated along with more various work profiles providing cities (World bank Data, 2020). There are near about 500 Million people who are utilized as participants in the research and in recent times where the use of electronic tools is highly increasing and the numbers of electronic consumers in India is near about 234.76 Million of people (Statista Market Forecast, 2020). So, it defines that this huge range of participants will be associated with this research and all the data will be regarded as computing their actions.
Sampling and Sampling Technique
The data collection needs to be high quality and to ensure that it conducts to present a quota sampling method. Selecting these sampling techniques offers the researchers to regulate the members of the group with a particular benchmark and the research will aim to gather data into the closet to maintain the equality in the number of data by gender (Etikan & Bala, 2017). The results can be divided into gender and it depicts the interesting subjects in the result while concerning the behaviour of the customer within the sample and will minimize the arrow of the sampling.
The quota sampling method is used for taking the tailored sample which is in proportion to some attributes of the populations. The population can be divided into the state wise, where they are lived in and education level or income level or by sex. The population in this method is split into the groups and the samples are taken in a manner that can be organized by an individual group for meeting the quota. The advantage of using this method in the research is that it is easy to execute. The population of India is immensely dense that would complicate the sampling process and the use of quota sampling would allow the researcher to focus on a specific consumer who would be potential customer of BEL. 50 participants would be chosen who have knowledge about the special type of services of BEL and have the interest in participant such a research that focus on promoting the social media advertisement.
Data Collection
The data collection process will be targeted on the 7 largest urban cities in India because of the wide range of outreach for social media along with the e-commerce platforms. Data will be gathered within a time limit of one month and after the time, no other responses will be approved. Whether the collection of data is not sufficient for not reaching the focused samples, the research questionnaire will be changed into SurveyMonkey or google forms and will be provided to the respondents by e-mails, WhatsApp and on other social media platforms.
After collecting all the data, it is required to transfer in the excel sheet and the whole raw data required to process in SPSS v25 to achieve the result and then the hypothesis needs to be tested (Pallant, 2020). To test the reliability of the data, Cronbach’s Alpha will also be examined. A set of 5 potential question has been added in the appendix out of which 2 question will be taken from pilot test question.
Data Analysis
To analyze and process the collected data, SPSS Statistics Version 24 will be utilized. SPSS is one of the popular and stable software developed by IBM and which is implemented to analyse the data information and run the test of those statistical data. The collection of data from the research questionnaire will be transformed into numeric data, appointed into the variables (Yang & Zhou, 2016). The analyzed data will be performing the reliability test for checking reliability and validity. For the literature review and their hypotheses another data analysis method has to be conducted. To satisfy the hypotheses, the descriptive data analysis process needs to conduct. Moreover, the Pearson analysing will be developed to assure interaction in variables and finally, one -way Anova will be organized to test the important difference in means of various groups.
Reliability and Validity
The questions will be developed from the number of variables regarding the previous research based on the main question of the research. These variables are followed by education level, income level, the capability to use social media as well as the internet. The measurement will be utilized by using the 5-point Likert Scale for the response of the participants (Mohajan, 2017). The questions which are adapted regarding the research objectives and research questions.
The research questionnaire will be tested in the pilot for 10 participants by checking the reliability of the research questions. More other loopholes, misunderstandings and the error in the process of data collection will be assessed so that the issues can be ignored when the research questionnaire is provided to the population. A sample set of 5 questions added in the appendix.
More reliability and validity of the research questionnaire will be settled by evaluating the results using Cronbach’s Alpha with a confidence percentage of 95%. The research questionnaires are considered from existing journals and research (Dįnçer, 2018).
Ethical Consideration
For organizing the quantitative research, the research questionnaire will be uniformly distributed amongst the age group, genders along with various classes of working participants from professionals to the business owners (Fleming & Zegwaard,2018). Any of the information will be leaked anywhere or any other platform rather than the results for this research and the data analysis. Therefore, all the information is kept secure and will be confidential. Colleagues reviews will be helped to maintain the flexibility in the reliability of the particular research and eliminate all the faults and errors from the research.
References
Alnsour, M., Ghannam, M., & Alzeidat, Y. (2018). Social media effect on purchase intention: Jordanian airline industry. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 23(2), 1-1.http://www.icommercecentral.com/open-access/social-media-effect-on-purchase-intention-jordanian-airline-industry.php?aid=87134
BEL (2020).| Indian Market. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://bel-india.in/ContentPage.aspx?MId=5&CId=1226&LId=1&link=1226
Benavente, S. B. T. (2016). Are there Some Types Scientific Researches More Important than Others. J Perioper Crit Intensive Care Nurs, 2, e111.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonia_Ticona_Benavente/publication/312254694_Are_there_Some_Types_Scientific_Researches_More_Important_than_Others/links/587cb6bb08ae9a860ff07f2b/Are-there-Some-Types-Scientific-Researches-More-Important-than-Others.pdf
Dįnçer, S. (2018). Content analysis in for educational science research: Meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, and descriptive content analysis. Bartin Üniversitesi Egitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 7(1), 176-190.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Serkan_Dincer/publication/323446863_Content_analysis_in_for_educational_science_research_Meta-analysis_meta-synthesis_and_descriptive_content_analysis/links/5a9699dda6fdccecff09bf56/Content-analysis-in-for-educational-science-research-Meta-analysis-meta-synthesis-and-descriptive-content-analysis.pdf
Erkan, I., & Evans, C. (2018). Social media or shopping websites? The influence of eWOM on consumers’ online purchase intentions. Journal of Marketing Communications, 24(6), 617-632.https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1499864/1/Erkan%20and%20Evans%202016%20Social%20media%20or%20shopping%20websites.pdf
Etikan, I., & Bala, K. (2017). Sampling and sampling methods. Biometrics & Biostatistics International Journal, 5(6)
Fleming, J., & Zegwaard, K. E. (2018). Methodologies, Methods and Ethical Considerations for Conducting Research in Work-Integrated Learning. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 19(3), 205-213.https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1196755.pdf
Fukuda, K. (2019). Effects of trade liberalization on growth and welfare through basic and applied researches. Journal of Macroeconomics, 62, 103058.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164070417305852
Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. (2016). Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), 5833-5841. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joonas_Rokka2/publication/304493675_Social_media_marketing_efforts_of_luxury_brands_Influence_on_brand_equity_and_consumer_behavior/links/577a4ba508aec3b743356345/Social-media-marketing-efforts-of-luxury-brands-Influence-on-brand-equity-and-consumer-behavior.pdf
Johe, M. H., & Bhullar, N. (2016). To buy or not to buy: The roles of self-identity, attitudes, perceived behavioral control and norms in organic consumerism. Ecological Economics, 128, 99-105.
Kumar, V., Varma, M., Sangvikar, B., & Pawar, A. (2020). Realising the Transformation of Customer Purchase Behaviour: Assessment of impact of Social Media on Purchasing Behavior of Consumers in India.
Minton, E. A., Spielmann, N., Kahle, L. R., & Kim, C. H. (2018). The subjective norms of sustainable consumption: A cross-cultural exploration. Journal of Business Research, 82, 400-408.
Mohajan, H. K. (2017). Two criteria for good measurements in research: Validity and reliability. Annals of Spiru Haret University. Economic Series, 17(4), 59-82.https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/83458/1/MPRA_paper_83458.pdf
Pallant, J. (2020). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using IBM SPSS.
Rahi, S. (2017). Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues and instruments development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 6(2)
Reuter, C., Ludwig, T., Kaufhold, M. A., & Spielhofer, T. (2016). Emergency services׳ attitudes towards social media: A quantitative and qualitative survey across Europe. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 95, 96-111. https://www.wineme.uni-siegen.de/paper/2016/2016_reuteretal_emergencyservicesattiudessurveysocialmedia_ijhcs.pdf
Schoonenboom, J., & Johnson, R. B. (2017). How to construct a mixed methods research design. KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 69(2), 107-131.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11577-017-0454-1
Singh, V. (2019). IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SOCIAL LIFE OF TEENAGERS IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY. Journal of Academic Perspective on Social Studies, (1), 13-24. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/683176
Statista Market Forecast. (2020). Consumer Electronics - India. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://www.statista.com/outlook/251/119/consumer-electronics/india#market-users
Steinmetz, H., Knappstein, M., Ajzen, I., Schmidt, P., & Kabst, R. (2016). How effective are behavior change interventions based on the theory of planned behavior?. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 224(3), 216–233. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Icek_Ajzen/publication/309539555_How_Effective_are_Behavior_Change_Interventions_Based_on_the_Theory_of_Planned_Behavior_A_Three-Level_Meta-Analysis/links/5834e62908ae004f74c88a41/How-Effective-are-Behavior-Change-Interventions-Based-on-the-Theory-of-Planned-Behavior-A-Three-Level-Meta-Analysis.pdf
World bank Data. (2020). Population, total - India | Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=IN
Yang, R., & Che, T. (2020). Do social ties matter for purchase frequency? The role of buyers’ attitude towards social media marketing. Computers in Human Behavior, 106376. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340592067_Do_social_ties_matter_for_purchase_frequency_The_role_of_buyers%27_attitude_towards_social_media_marketing
Yang, X. J., & Zhou, S. Y. (2016). Application of SPSS in EIQ Analysis. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management 2015 (pp. 717-723). Atlantis Press, Paris.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonia_Kherbachi3/publication/301363488_Predicting_Technical_Communication_Between_Teams_in_GPD_Project_Related_Redesign_Components/links/5b16d23d0f7e9b1912b3516c/Predicting-Technical-Communication-Between-Teams-in-GPD-Project-Related-Redesign-Components.pdf#page=698
Goh, E., Ritchie, B. and Wang, J., 2017. Non-compliance in national parks: An extension of the theory of planned behaviour model with pro-environmental values. Tourism Management, 59, pp.123-127.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dr_Edmund_Goh/publication/305853101_Non-compliance_in_national_parks_An_extension_of_the_theory_of_planned_behaviour_model_with_pro-environmental_values/links/5dc915e045851514350080f4/Non-compliance-in-national-parks-An-extension-of-the-theory-of-planned-behaviour-model-with-pro-environmental-values.pdf
Appendix
Sample question for Pilot
Q1. Age range
15-18 years
18-25 years
25-45 years
45-60 years
Above 60 years
Q2. Education level
Higher secondary
Diploma/ Graduate
Higher Graduate
Post-graduate
PhD
Q3. How much time you spend on social media?
0-1 hour
1-3 hours
3-5 hours
5-8 hours
More than 8 hours
Q4. What do you prefer on social media?
Pictures
Videos
Articles
Advertisements
Blogs
Q5. What interests you more in social media
Products
Services
General information
support groups
promotions and offers
Sample question for questionnaire
Q1. What do you prefer on social media?
Pictures
Videos
Articles
Advertisements
Blogs
Q2. What interests you more in social media
Products
Services
General information
support groups
promotions and offers
Q3. Do you agree that a company advertising is social media is more reliable compared to those who do not?
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Q4. Do you agree that it is safe to purchase product from a company that advertises in social media?
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Q5. Do you agree that BEL would be able to increase its reach to the potential consumer by learning about the customer purchasing intention which is influenced by social media marketing?
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree