Impact of Social Media Marketing on E-Brand Trust: with Special Reference to E-Commerce Websites in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The development of web 2.0 technology resulted in companies expanding the businesses into the online platform. They use the development of the world wide web to promote their brands in the online environment. Thus, organizations will invest significantly in social media marketing to make more straightforward, quicker, and progressively customized customer encounters. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of social media marketing on the E-brand trust of E- commerce websites in Sri Lanka. The present study is the first to examine the effect of social media marketing on E-brand trust with special reference to e-commerce websites in the Sri Lankan context. Therefore, it measures the overall impact of social media marketing on E-brand trust. In this study, the researcher adopts a descriptive, quantitative research design with a deductive research approach, and the convenience sampling method has been used for the data collection. Multiple regression has been used for the hypothesis testing. Overall findings revealed that social media marketing positively affects E-brand trust. Further, the study revealed practical implications for e-commerce websites in Sri Lanka by exploring consumers’ behavior in the digital environment. Moreover, the research suggests the best practices for social media marketing.