The development of trust among the customers of the organization is a key objective and critical to obtaining a competitive advantage. Therefore, this study was examined to assess the effect of social media interaction, public relations, and electronic word of mouth on brand awareness and trust. This study also examined the mediating role of brand awareness as well. For this purpose, the data was collected from the customers of the retail sector in UAE. This study adopted a quantitative research approach and cross-sectional design. The data was collected in the form of a research questionnaire by adopting simple random sampling. The questionnaire was distributed among 512 respondents. The usable response rate was 69.72%. For the analysis of data, the SEM technique was adopted and the tool used for this purpose was Smart PLS. The findings of the study revealed that all proposed hypotheses are accepted. The findings of the study are helpful for the academicians for further research and development of policies.

Social networking sites are built to be user-friendly, easy to navigate, easily connect to new people, can be obtained for free, and make them open to everybody. This quantitative study was conducted to identify the influence of social media on sexual misconduct behavior among adolescents. A total of 191 secondary school students from the northern zone of Peninsular Malaysia were involved in this study by random sampling. Data were analyzed using SPSS-23. This study found that the use of social media among secondary school students is high, where the majority spend more than five hours a day. The purpose of dating among young Malays is more focused on discussing matters of love. The study also found that social media does not influence sexual misconduct, but a negative relationship exists between religiosity and sexual misconduct. The predictor of sexual misconduct purpose items contributes 30.6% (p < 0.01) of the variance change in religiosity. Also, sexual misconduct among males is much higher than in female adolescence. The more surprising finding is that there are samples of social media accounts for gays, and some Malay youth's interest in dating is meant to do evil or discuss sex. Therefore, social media users could partake in more risky sexual behaviors because of a larger peer network influencing their attitudes and social norms. The current findings are expected to signal parents, teachers, the community, and the Ministry of Education Malaysia to take proactive measures to address this issue.

One of the most used social media platforms is TikTok, which is widely and increasingly used due to the short-video interactive music. Very few studies about why people prefer to use TikTok applications were carried out. Therefore, the objective of the current research is to examine the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, sense of belonging, and user-generated content on the adoption of TikTok application, using the TAM model. Quantitative research has been applied as a methodological approach and was successfully carried out through an online survey, gathering a total of 255 filled surveys to test the applicability of the developed research model. The results show that the user-generated content has the highest significant positive influence on the intention to use TikTok. Followed by the perceived enjoyment, then the sense of belonging, the perceived ease of use, and the perceived usefulness, consequently. Also, results show that the independent variables explain 47.8% of the variance in the intention to use TikTok. Finally, to assure the generalizability of the study results the study recommends conducting further research in different countries and communities.

Social media is remarkably growing and shaping not only the lives of individuals but also the business domain by creating new paradigms of business. This study examines the interplay among some selected predicting organizational variables and the use of what are called Social Media Business Models (SMBMs). Furthermore, the study investigates the mediating role of e-readiness on the relationships among these organizational factors and the use of SMBMs. The study is a quantitative, descriptive and analytical study. Using a self-administered survey, primary data were collected from 150 employees from the Jordanian SMEs. Smart PLS 3 software was employed to validate the proposed study model using a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings confirmed that compatibility, innovativeness, cultural and management support, and e-readiness have a statistically significant direct impact on the use of SMBMs. Finally, the study confirms that e-readiness mediates the relationship between compatibility and innovativeness as predicting variables and the use of SMBMs.

Social media influencers have proved to be a major influence on customers’ purchasing decisions, especially with the increased usage of social media platforms. Social media influencers provide many opportunities for companies to increase their customer base and sales, and to enhance the attitude towards a brand. Despite the advantages of utilizing social media influencers, there are factors that social influencers need to take into consideration in order to engage customers and influence their decisions to purchase. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence customers’ intention to purchase based on social media influencers. An online questionnaire was used to collect data from 439 Instagram platform users. A partial least square-SEM (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyze and examine the proposed model. The results indicate that all constructs, namely Information Quality (IQ), Trustworthiness (TRU), Attractiveness (ATT), Meaning Transfer (TRA) and Expertise (EXP) significantly influence customers’ purchase intentions. This finding could provide insights for companies’ decision-makers when it comes to promoting their brands and increasing their sales. In addition, it could provide insights for social media influencers in terms of recognizing the important factors that encourage customers to engage and purchase.

Social media is becoming more and more popular as a medium for marketing and promotion. Banks, for example, have spent a substantial amount of time, efforts, as well as finances marketing their products. Nevertheless, figuring out how businesses may use social media marketing to reach customers and encourage them to remain loyal is really a challenge. Therefore, the study purpose is to identify as well as test the key sections of social media marketing that can anticipate improvements in customer experience. The conceptual framework was proposed using seven variables (performance expectancy, hedonic incentive, and habit) from the expanding Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2), as well as interactivity, information quality, perceived relevance and purchase intention. The research data was gathered through 437 questionnaires from banks customers. The validity of the existing model and the strong impact of performance expectancy, hedonic motivation, interactivity, information quality, and perceived relevance on customer experience were significantly supported by the primary results of structural equation modeling (SEM). This research should give marketers with a lot of theoretically and practically recommendations on how to organize and conduct social media marketing effectively.

The research is aimed to understand the influence of social media in marketing on brand awareness, which in the end influences purchase intention in the fashion industry. It uses a qualitative approach to study the three variables, namely social media marketing, purchase intention, and brand awareness. In this research, the needed number of samples are 270 respondents and data are processed using SPSS to conduct validity, reliability, normality, classic assumption, single, and multiple linear regression. Results from SPSS are also used in the Sobel Test. Complemented with secondary data from literature studies, the hypothesis is tested. From the test, every hypothesis has significant positive influences. In conclusion, a brand can influence purchase intention significantly by utilizing social media marketing. This works by stimulating brand awareness to consumers to influence purchase intention.

Social media technology as borderless media has made it easier for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to interact with their customers. The application of social media has impacted the operation and information sharing of SMEs, allowing them to develop innovation opportunities, to meet customer needs, and to improve firm performance. This study examined the influence of social media use on business networking quality and product innovativeness of SMEs. The data for this cross-sectional study were gathered from jewelry crafting SMEs in Bali, Indonesia using the survey method. The data were analyzed using the covariance-based statistical analysis technique with SPSS via AMOS 23. The results indicate that, while the direct link between social media adoption and firm performance is not significant, this path is fully mediated through business networking quality and product innovativeness. Hence, these SMEs should leverage their social media adoption due to strong business networking quality and product innovativeness enabling competitive advantage that heightens firm performance. Firm-level product innovation can harness the economic performance of the SMEs. The study limitations and future research endeavors are presented at the end of this paper.

The influence of social media in providing the information is undeniable in the current era. How the information is received is then processed as a helpful reference in deciding the purchase is always an exciting thing to discuss. Based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), in this study, we examined how motivation arises in the form of fear if left behind or not involved in an excellent condition when consuming a product—through quantitative. Data approach collected from 231 sample people, then processed with Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS 23 through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Model Fit Testing. The study results confirm that social media content can increase fear of missing out (FOMO), encouraging consumers to make purchases. The results of this study show that purchasing decisions influenced by FOMO can provide satisfaction for consumers. Situational Determinants, namely Perceived favorability and Self-relevance can significantly influence FOMO compared to personal traits (fears, worries, and anxieties). The results of this study are in line with Self Determination Theory, where the personal motivation of consumers in making purchases will encourage the creation of satisfaction.

Social media empowers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in engaging with their stakeholders economically and effectively. Social media use affects SMEs operation and knowledge sharing which creates innovation opportunities, speeds time to market, satisfies firm's customers, and improves business performance. Current research aims to explore the impact of social media use on the market entry agility, product innovativeness, reducing the market entry time for the SME and improving the firm performance. Cross-sectional survey-based data was collected from the jewelry crafting SMEs in Bali, Indonesia. The data was analyzed with the covariance-based statistical analysis technique with the SPSS based AMOS 23. The study results identify that social media use and market entry agility significantly impact firm performance. However, product innovativeness insignificantly influences firm performance. Furthermore, the market entry agility mediates for the firm performance so, SMEs need to leverage social media use, and market entry agility enables the dynamic capacity to enhance firm performance. Firms’ level innovativeness capability should be considered as a mediating role but should support another variable to leverage firm performance. The study limitation and future research options are reported at the end.