Is it social media or traditional media? That influence consumer decision-making in times of pandemic

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of social and traditional media on customer decision-making and to find out which of these two in times of pandemics affect more on customer decision-making. A survey was conducted using 250 respondents from Ampara District, Sri Lanka, aged between 20-30. The questionnaires were divided equally into three sets, the first part containing social media-related questions, the other part containing conventional media related questions, and the third aspect of customer decision-making. Results from a survey of 250 young people in Ampara, Sri Lanka show that in times of pandemic where both social and traditional media affect consumer decision-making but social media influence is much greater than the traditional media,. The findings show that advertisers need to carefully pick the media to communicate with target customers in order to achieve their marketing communication goals. In this research, the author acknowledges limitations. However, these limitations provide additional guidelines for future studies in the same field. Directions for future studies are given for the discussion of these constraints. Most significantly, this research has important theoretical and managerial consequences. Concerned with the social media sense, traditional media and decision-making by customers. When customer decisionmaking is concerned, this research delivers important suggestions for better planning of promotional mix strategy using social and traditional media. Present study also provides better understanding and extending the current literature on impact of social and traditional media on customer decision-making.