Share Your Beautiful Journey: Investigating User Generated Content (UGC) and Webrooming Among Malaysian Online Shoppers

Abstract

The electric commerce (e-commerce) platform in Malaysia has been growing exponentially since the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many local businesses were badly affected when the first phase of Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented for several weeks. The increasing number of social media platform users stems from wide internet accessibility and smartphone ownership. As such, this study investigated online purchasing behaviour in Malaysia by linking webrooming and user generated content (UGC) with brand experience and brand engagement. Essentially, this study unravelled consumer purchasing behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored the effects of UGC and webrooming on brand experience and brand engagement among Malaysian online consumers who purchased beauty product. As a result, UGC and webrooming displayed positive correlation with brand experience. However, brand experience was insignificant for brand engagement. Additionally, brand experience was unsuitable to function as a mediator. Thus, the impact of social influencers and shoppertainment on brand engagement should be assessed. Future studies may look into webrooming from the light of Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) Theory. Lastly, fake reviews, fake accounts, and bots that influence online purchasing behaviour among Malaysians should be investigated as well.