Understanding a consumer's path to purchase jeans in a social media context

Consumers are increasingly depending on online and social platforms to find product and brand information while fashion brands seek to further engage with consumers online. This study proposes a five-construct structural model to measure the influence of product involvement, fashion brand involvement, altruistic involvement, and online brand engagement on purchase intention in a social media context. Through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), a sample of 799 shoppers in North America were empirically tested to validate the findings drawn from the model. From the six hypotheses presented, all were accepted; including three hypotheses which were an extension of previous research. The findings confirm a consumer’s journey is prevalent and future testing of the model in new applications will help to enhance and progress social media studies around involvement and engagement. Keywords: Social Media, Product Involvement, Fashion Brand Involvement, Altruistic Involvement, Online Brand Engagement, Purchase Intention, PLS-SEM