Browsing by Author "Thundeniya, L. G. D. T. B."
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Item Impact of Social Media Experience on Offline Purchasing Decisions: The Case of Luxurious Cafeterias in Western Province, Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2025) Athukorala, A. I. U. K.; Patabendige, S. S. J.; Thundeniya, L. G. D. T. B.Social media has dramatically improved connectivity between businesses and consumers across industries. In today's Sri Lankan context, the online audience is actively engaged with the social media experience through different social media platforms, making it an important venue for marketing, communication, and brand interaction. More than 70% of social media users will refer social media platforms to review information on products and services before purchasing them offline. That may reduce the perceived risk of making a wrong purchasing decision in physical channels. In the luxurious cafeteria context, the customers are more likely to search online and make offline purchasing decisions because their purpose is to get a higher satisfactory value for their expenditure with a better experience in a physical environment due to the high cost of products and brand offers. For instance, luxury customers rely on cross channels, which help them in purchasing high-involvement products. Therefore, marketers of luxury brands are adopting to use of social media as a key marketing tool to interact with their target audience by publishing their content via social media platforms to drive consumers to offline purchasing decisions with their emerging social media experience practices. Furthermore, the combination of online and offline strategies enhances consumers’ knowledge, attitude and purchase intentions towards the products. It appears that the online experience may have a significant influence on offline purchasing decisions. The most of previous studies have investigated the impact of social media experience on purchasing decisions by mediating different factors in the luxury brand contexts. However, past studies often failed to explicitly address the direct connection between social media experience and offline purchasing decisions as part of the online-to-offline strategy in the luxury brand context. The luxurious cafeteria concept is relatively novel in Sri Lanka which can be seen rarely in Western province, with the growing influence of social and cultural factors involving coffee culture. The luxurious cafeteria brands in Sri Lanka communicate their unified image through their social media pages, aligning with cultural preferences and promoting modernized café experience due to the wide spread of using smartphones, Internet and relying on social media platforms. This remains a noticeable gap in empirical studies exploring the impact of social media experience on offline purchasing decisions within the luxurious cafeteria sector in Sri Lanka. To address this gap, this study investigates how social media experience delivers luxury cafe brand information using various activities with promising to provide a seamless experience in physical stores. Thus, this study underscores the impact of social media experience on offline purchasing decisions by paying special attention to the luxurious cafeteria sector in Western province, Sri Lanka. This study used the quantitative research technique to collect primary data from the sample using a structured questionnaire with 22 questions. The luxurious cafeteria culture is boomed in the Western province, Sri Lanka today. Therefore, this study selected Western province as the target population to collect data. The target population consisted of 18 – 55 age category people who follow the luxurious cafeteria brand’s social media pages. The study was effective in collecting 424 responses using a convenience sample method, which is a subset of nonprobability sampling. After checking missing values and outliers, this study analyzed data by proceeding with 408 usable data. Based on the findings, this study presented that there has a significant and positive impact of social media experience on offline purchasing decisions in the luxurious cafeteria sector. The primary data collection method restricts this study to a small population size for investigation. Therefore, the data collection has been limited to 424 responses due to time restrictions. Also, the authors faced the challenge of finding supportive literature to investigate this study because there is a dearth of empirical studies. The practical implications were created for marketers of luxurious cafeteria brands in Sri Lanka, emphasizing the significance of providing useful and relevant social media experience to effectively attract and maintain their targeted online audience while driving offline purchasing decisions. Future studies can explore a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to find a better outcome into the impact of social media experience on offline purchasing decisions in the luxurious cafeteria sector.Item Influence of Facebook Content Marketing on E- Brand Loyalty: Examine the Mediating Effect of Online Consumer Engagement with Special Reference to Telecommunication Industry in Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya Sri Lanka, 2022) Thundeniya, L. G. D. T. B.; Dissanayake, D. M. R.The continuous advancement in digital technology enables audiences to access updated information through various digital platforms. In the current context, Sri Lankan online audiences are highly engaged with Facebook. Consequently, telecommunication service providers disseminate their content via Facebook to attract and retain their online audiences. This study aims to examine the influence of Facebook content marketing on e-brand loyalty, with a particular focus on the mediating effect of online consumer engagement. The research model was developed based on a systematic literature review. A quantitative research strategy was employed, utilizing a structured questionnaire to collect primary data from the sample. A total of 395 responses were gathered through a convenience sampling method, which is a non-probability sampling technique. The study's findings indicate that Facebook content marketing has a positive and significant impact on e-brand loyalty, and that online consumer engagement positively and significantly mediates the effect of Facebook content marketing on e-brand loyalty. The managerial implications highlight the importance for the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka to recognize the value of relevant and engaging Facebook content in attracting and retaining their target online audiences.Item The Impact of Brand Equity on Purchase Intention in BOP Market, Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2025) Madhushan, R. A. C.; Patabendige, S. S. J.; Thundeniya, L. G. D. T. B.One of the vital issues in brand building is customer-based brand equity (CBBE). Any brand can measure its equity based on proportions like salience, performance, imagination, judgment, feelings, and resonance. Brand equity has emerged as one of the critical drivers affecting consumer behaviour and purchase decisions in many markets, more so within Bottom of the Pyramid divisions constrained by poor economic resources. The BOP market in Sri Lanka forms a large chunk of its population distinguished by specific buying behaviors based on cultural, social, and economic factors. Brand equity components drive important Customer trust, loyalty, and purchase intention. Most of the studies related to brand equity have targeted either premium or middle-income markets, and hence, the specific effects of these characteristics on bottom of the pyramid customers remain unobserved, thereby presenting a significant research gap. Sri Lankan BOP customers focus on the cost and practical value of their purchases but have shown significant brand awareness and loyalty when trust and perceived quality are established. For brands looking to enter this category, challenges include overcoming obstacles such as price sensitivity, infrastructural limitations, and informal economies, while also satisfying the need for reliability and emotional involvement. Brands that focus on trust and functional excellence tend to perform better at engaging customers in BOP markets. The current literature has discussed the relation of brand equity with purchase intention in various industries as luxury products, technology, and hotels. However, very few studies evaluate the interplay of components of brand equity in bottom-of-pyramid markets. The Sri Lankan BOP market is influenced by unique socio-cultural factors and economic processes. This necessitates a localized understanding of such interrelationships. Given the context, this paper has investigated the influence of dimensions of brand equity on purchase intention in the Sri Lankan BOP market and offers strategic branding implications for enterprises that target this particular market segment. This underlines the vital role of branding strategies that will be in tune with beliefs and preferences, with high need for community involvement, trust building, and functional superiority. The study contributes to theoretical understanding and provides practical suggestions for marketers in promoting sustainable development at the bottom of the pyramid market in Sri Lanka, where the existing literature has some lacunae.This research follows a quantitative approach based on the positivist paradigm. Primary data from 390 respondents spread across Sri Lanka, belonging to various socioeconomic backgrounds, have been collected through a structured questionnaire. Data analysis has been performed by using SPSS, where the reliability analysis, regression analysis, and testing of hypotheses were done to assess the effect of brand equity dimensions on purchase intention. The findings indicate that the dimensions of brand performance, judgments, and resonance drive purchase intentions in BOP consumers, while brand salience, imagery, and feelings show no statistical significance. The insights suggest that driving purchase intention in this segment requires an effort on functional excellence, emotional trust, and community involvement. Drawbacks include a small convenience sample of 390 respondents focused on individuals with monthly earnings under Rs.60,000, limiting generalizability. Recollection and social desirability bias might reduce response accuracy. Due to a lack of empirical research linking Keller's brand equity concept to purchase intention, quantifying indicators was problematic. Quantitative methods were utilised, although qualitative ones may have shown customer behaviour better. The findings have significant implications for both marketers and policymakers. Marketers can leverage these insights to design branding strategies that prioritize trust and emotional engagement while fostering long-term consumer relationships. Policymakers may also utilize these findings to promote sustainable consumer behavior and market inclusivity.Item The Impact of VR Technology in Enhancing the Customer Experience of the Paint and Coating Industry in Sri Lanka(Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2025) Jayathilaka, S. A. M. R. S.; Patabendige, S. S. J.; Thundeniya, L. G. D. T. B.This study looks at how virtual reality (VR) technology is revolutionizing the paint and coatings sector in Sri Lanka by enhancing the consumer experience. The study tackles the ongoing difficulties consumers encounter when choosing paint colors and finishes, including discontent with results and little interest in conventional selection techniques. This study examines how VR features—immersion, imagination, and multi-sensory interaction—can change customer decision-making and improve satisfaction, trust, and loyalty. It is situated within the larger body of literature on VR applications. The results help close the knowledge gap about how VR technology may meet the requirements of Sri Lankan customers and companies operating in this sector. A structured quantitative research approach was used to accomplish these goals. A poll including 384 respondents who were all at least 18 years old and represented a wide range of demographics was used to gather data. The associations between VR technological features and important consumer experience KPIs were examined using statistical methods. Customers with different degrees of VR technology awareness and engagement were included in the study environment, offering a comprehensive picture of its possible effects. The results show that by offering real-time paint application visuals, virtual reality technology greatly improves consumer decision-making. Customers can experiment with color schemes and finish in simulated settings through immersive virtual reality experiences, which increases consumer happiness and lowers uncertainty. In contrast to other research, this study emphasizes the infrastructure and cultural obstacles to VR integration in Sri Lanka. Limitations including high implementation costs and low consumer awareness continue to prevent widespread adoption despite its transformative potential. The study certain limitation of the study includes the geographically limited nature of the sample, which could only be generated from the western province of Sri Lanka and so would not cut across the diverse groups of consumer tastes in the entire country. Furthermore, the findings generalizability is constrained by the very small sample size and the possible biases introduced by the dependence on self-reported data. These elements emphasize the necessity of more study to confirm the results in larger contexts and environments. The study's theoretical ramifications highlight how crucial it is to include VR technology into customer experience frameworks to improve customer pleasure and loyalty. From a practical standpoint, the results highlight how VR may help paint and coating companies stand out in a crowded market. Future studies should examine how cultural and regional differences impact VR adoption as well as the scalability of VR applications in related industries.