Factors influencing TikTok-based user purchase intention: comparison between potential customers and repeat customers
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how different types of user experience in TikTok impact purchase intention via commitment to the influencer and commitment to the platform, with customer type included to determine moderating effects. Three types of user experience are considered: information experience, entertainment experience and parasocial-relationship-based experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected 458 valid questionnaires from TikTok users, employing the structural equation modeling approach to examine the proposed research model.
Findings
Information experience, entertainment experience and parasocial-relationship-based experience are found to critically stimulate user commitment to the influencer and commitment to the platform, in turn driving TikTok-based purchase intention. Tests incorporating customer type reveal that commitment to the influencer more strongly influences the purchase intention of repeat customers, with commitment to the platform more likely to stimulate purchase intention among potential customers.
Research limitations/implications
On a theoretical level, the paper is among the first to examine TikTok-based user purchase intention with customer type as a moderator. On a practical level, the results can guide marketers to effectively promote products using TikTok and inspire TikTok managers to develop customized strategies to stimulate initial and repeat sales.
Originality/value
TikTok is moving to the stage of commercialization and monetization by introducing e-commerce features. Although this move should cultivate particularly fertile ground for companies to sell products, TikTok user purchase behavior has yet to receive sufficient research attention, with little currently known about their purchase motivations. The current study uncovers the significant antecedents of users' purchase intention through TikTok, and further reveals the motivational differences among potential and repeat customers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This manuscript is not derived from any conference proceedings or journal paper.
Since submission of this article, the following author have updated their affiliations: Christian Wagner is at the Center for Information Systems and Technology, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, USA.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 72304057) and Centre for Applied Computing and Interactive Media, City University of Hong Kong (Project number: 9610535 and 9678312). The funding agencies had no direct role in the conduct of the study; the collection, management, analyses or interpretation of the data; or preparation or approval of the manuscript.
Citation
Zhao, H. and Wagner, C. (2023), "Factors influencing TikTok-based user purchase intention: comparison between potential customers and repeat customers", Internet Research, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-07-2022-0542
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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