The Impact of Purchase Type on Customer Happiness in the Presence of Social Media as a Mediating Variable: A Student Perspective in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the impact of purchase type (material and experiential products) on customer happiness in the presence of social media as a mediating variable. The population of the study consisted of the students of Umm Al-Qura University. A convenience sample of this study consists of students who have interacting through social media and have the ability and the authority to make purchasing power.  A questionnaire was developed based on a review of marketing literature and distributed online to collect data from the participants. The final number of responses was 311 students. The results pointed out that material products as well as experiential products have significant effects on customer happiness. It was noted experiential products only are positively related to social media. However, the results revealed that social media, which played no significant role in the effect of material products on customer happiness, mediated the effect of experiential products on customer happiness. Based on these unique results, researchers are called to reexamine the hypotheses of the current study using larger samples to conduct longitudinal studies, and organizations are requested to consider experiential consumption in their marketing efforts.