Author: Cher, Chi Yuen Terence
Title: How Chinese elderly consumers respond to social media marketing
Advisors: Chan, Ricky (MM)
Gu, Flora (MM)
Degree: D.B.A.
Year: 2021
Subject: Social media
Internet marketing
Internet advertising
Older people -- China -- Attitudes
Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations
Department: Faculty of Business
Pages: vii, 113 pages : color illustrations
Language: English
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims at examining the relationship among social media marketing activities, brand equity (brand awareness and brand image) and online purchase intention in which whether there is a mediating effect of customer-based brand equity, as well as to test consumer trust propensity as a moderator in the relationship between social media marketing activities and online purchase intention, from the Chinese elderly consumer's perspective. In this paper, the interviewees were asked about their experience with the health-related product category. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey of 265 respondents in mainland China is adopted and analysed empirically by structural equation analysis (path analysis). Findings: Marketing activities associated in brand's social media accounts affect positively on customer-based brand equity and online purchase intention among elderly consumers in China, in health-related product category. Customer-based brand equity mediates on the social media marketing activities and online purchase intention relationship. However, there is no moderating effect exerted by consumer trust propensity on the relationship between social media marketing activities and online purchase intention. Implications: Social media marketing activities positively enhance brand equity (brand awareness and brand image) so that they may also be considered as brand-building tools, apart from the influence towards online purchase intention among Chinese elderly people. Limitations: This study is limited among those Chinese elderly people of high receptivity of online behaviour. Moreover, it mainly examines customer-based brand equity with brand awareness and brand image as the investigating properties only here. It is worth also following this study further to incorporate other dimensions like quality and associations so as to evaluate the creation of brand equity process. Furthermore, consumer trust propensity fails to be proven as a moderator in the relationship between social media marketing activities and online purchase intention. Neither do other demographic factors namely age, agender and education background in this study. Due to their highly heterogeneous in nature, this study may be considered to extend to analyse the Chinese elderly consumers with clusters of different consumer characteristics. Originality/value: My study tries to contribute to the extant evidence by further including the investigation on social media marketing in China and also provides practical managerial advice to health-related product marketers and e-commerce business managers on holistic social marketing strategy formulation towards Chinese elderly consumers.
Rights: All rights reserved
Access: restricted access

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/10804