Abstract

Social media has permeated the everyday life of consumers and with that, its influence on consumer behavior has only grown. To better understand this growth a look into the different networks of influence is needed. This research looked at how the influence of personal networks and that of the general community impact online word of mouth and purchase behavior on facebook. We proposed that the endorsement of a marketing page from a user's own network and general community would both have positive impact on a consumer’s intent to engage in online word of mouth activities and purchase related behaviors. Furthermore, we propose that this relationship would be further moderated by the level of cognitive load consumers are exposed to. However, findings in this study suggest that while social media networks do have an influence on purchase behaviour and online word of mouth, there are different combinations of behaviors associated with different product types. Personal networks more heavily influence some Facebook pages, while others are more influenced by the general community, or by both types of networks or even by neither of the networks. This suggests that consumers react differently to the influence of networks based on the page category type.