International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442

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International Journal of Information Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt

Engaging consumers online through websites and social media:

A gender study of Italian Generation Y clothing consumers
Waqar Nadeem a,∗ , Daniela Andreini b , Jari Salo a , Tommi Laukkanen c
a
Oulu Business School, Department of Marketing, P.O. Box 4600, University of Oulu, Finland
b
Department of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of Bergamo, Italy
c
University of Eastern Finland Business School, P.O. Box 111, FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Consumers increasingly search for, evaluate, and buy items via social media and websites, but little
Received 15 January 2015 is known about how these activities affect their level of trust, attitudes toward online retailing, and
Received in revised form 24 March 2015 online shopping behaviors. Therefore, this study focuses on how online shopping via Facebook, peer
Accepted 14 April 2015
recommendations, and website service quality affect consumer trust, attitudes and loyalty intentions
in e-tailing. An online survey was conducted with Generation Y Italian consumers who used Facebook
Keywords:
searches of various websites to shop for clothing online. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate
Facebook
the constructs, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings
Online shopping
Peer recommendations
confirm that website service quality and consumers’ predispositions to use Facebook for online shopping
Trust directly and positively affect consumer trust toward an e-tailer. In contrast, peer recommendations
Gender affect attitude directly rather than indirectly via trust. The results further indicate that peer recom-
mendations have a significantly stronger influence on attitudes of females than they do on attitudes of
males.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Moreover, empirical research on Generation Y (Bolton et al., 2013),

Given the prominence of social networks effects on consumer
behavior (Goh, Heng, & Lin, 2013; Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal, &
Hughes, 2013; Zhu & Zhang, 2010), it becomes vital for e-tailers
to understand how social media activities interact with e-tailers’
websites in order to engage consumers. Among different social
media, Facebook, with its more than 1 billion users, is the most
popular social networking platform, not only among consumers
but also among e-tailers. Facebook is favored by e-tailers over other
social media sites (Google+, Instagram, Vkontakte, Renren, Pinter-
est) because it is a popular marketing channel that permits direct
interaction with potential consumers (Dekay, 2012) and provides
an unparalleled platform for consumers to publicly share evalua-
tions of products (Chen, Fay, & Wang, 2011).
Prior research has not considered how interactive forms of
online communication such as social media and peer recommen-
dations interplay with e-tailers’ websites in the creation of trust.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 449627891.
E-mail addresses: waqar.nadeem@oulu.fi (W. Nadeem),
daniela.andreini@unibg.it (D. Andreini), jari.salo@oulu.fi (J. Salo),
tommi.laukkanen@uef.fi (T. Laukkanen).
which tends to be an ideal group to focus on in online settings,
seems to be scarce. Therefore, it is vital to study the online and
social networking patterns of Generation Y, because these behav-
iors are likely to vary in different contexts, and also across genders.
Thus, even though prior research has demonstrated that in the e-
commerce context females and males may behave in different ways
(Garbarino & Strahilevitz, 2004; Rodgers & Harris, 2003; Ruane &
Wallace, 2013; Yeh, Hsiao, & Yang, 2012), this finding is yet to be
tested with Generation Y online consumers.
Hence, the objective of this research is to identify how perceived
website quality, consumers’ predispositions to use Facebook for
shopping, and peer recommendations contribute to online engage-
ment – i.e., trust, attitudes, and loyalty toward an e-tailer – in the
context of Generation Y female and male consumers. To reach our
research objective, we studied the fashion industry and Generation
Y Italian consumers. The fashion industry is a suitable context for
social media research because clothing e-tailers are very active on
Facebook. For instance, Gap, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, and H&M each
have more than 10 million Facebook followers. We chose Italian
consumers because major new fashion industry players often orig-
inate in Italy (Turker & Altuntas, 2014). Moreover, we focused on
Generation Y, which is broadly referred to as “all the people who
were born between the years of 1981–1991 irrespective of their

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.04.008
0268-4012/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
circumstances” (Bolton et al., 2013). The members of Generation
Y have spent their whole lives in a digital environment, and their
lives and work have been profoundly affected by information tech-
nology (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008). Moreover, Generation Y
actively uses social media platforms to share, contribute to, and
search for consumer content, as well as for work and play (Bolton
et al., 2013). Indeed, Generation Y represents the future potential
of the clothing industry.
This study makes a three-fold contribution: First, we highlight
consumer engagement both on e-tailers’ websites and social media,
i.e., Facebook, as the antecedents to a variable of uncertainty of
behavior (trust) that ultimately impacts consumer attitudes and
loyalty intention toward e-tailers. Few studies determine con-
sumers’ engagement on both websites and social media, so this
research addresses a very important phenomenon and adds to
the existing theoretical knowledge. Second, we have empirically
tested the conceptual model with Generation Y consumers on
Facebook, and our findings can be applied to other social media
(Google+, Twitter, YouTube), which is relevant for academic pur-
suits. Third, we have tested the conceptual model considering
gender differences among Generation Y consumers. The rest of the
paper proceeds as follows. We recap earlier literature related to
the key concepts of the study. Thereafter we develop hypotheses,
describe the method, and validate the measurement constructs.
Finally, we present the results and draw conclusions and theoreti-
cal/managerial implications.
2. Consumer engagement: loyalty, attitude, and trust in
E-tailing
2.1. Consumer engagement
Consumer engagement refers to “Co-creative and interactive
consumer experiences with the focal agent/object that lead to a par-
ticular psychological state” (Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric, & Ilic, 2011).
This is one of the main concerns of companies dealing with interac-
tive websites and social media. In particular, e-tailers are concerned
about how consumer engagement affects trust, attitudes, and loy-
alty (Bowden, 2009; Leventhal, Hollebeek, & Chen, 2014). Because
a product cannot be directly experienced in online settings (Alba
et al., 1997), the role of online media such as e-tailers’ websites,
intermediaries, and social networking sites becomes crucial. In a
recent study, Lim, Hwang, Kim, and Biocca (2015) highlight the
relationship between loyalty and engagement in the social media
context.
2.2. Loyalty
Loyalty in particular has been widely studied in online market-
ing literature and later in social media (Hawkins & Vel, 2013). In this
regard, loyalty in online settings has been defined as “the favor-
able attitude of consumers toward product/website/brand along
with repeat purchase behavior” (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003). In
the same vein, attitude, which includes the affective responses and
feelings toward the behavior or object, has been previously investi-
gated as one of the most important antecedents of loyalty intention
(Ajzen, 1991; Robinson & Smith, 2002). Moreover, Gruen, Summers,
& Acito, 2000 have agreed that continuous loyalty with a service
provider is explained by a positive consumer attitude.
2.3. Attitude
“Attitude is referred to as the tendency to evaluate a behavior in
a favorable or unfavorable manner” (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). Also,
Limbu, Wolf, and Lunsford (2012) concluded that attitude toward
a website is positively affected by trust, which eventually leads to a
433
repeat visit. In consumer studies, attitude comprises the central role
because it influences feelings, thoughts and, above all, the process of
consumer decision-making (Bagozzi & Warshaw, 1990). The foun-
dations of consumer decision-making influenced by attitudes come
from studies (Ajzen, 1991; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) that determine
attitude is a direct predictor of behavioral intention. Moreover,
attitude toward behavior has a direct influence on behavioral inten-
tion (Zhang & Kim, 2013). Specifically, in social media settings, the
behaviors and attitudes of consumers are learned from the written
text or messages sent by peers (i.e., peer recommendations) (Wang,
Yu, & Wei, 2012).
2.4. Trust
Online trust is a key issue for e-tailers willing to estab-
lish long-term online relationships with consumers (Ruiz-Mafe,
Martí-Parreño, & Sanz-Blas, 2014). However, in digital environ-
ments, trust is undermined by the uncertain/risky nature of online
mediums (for example, privacy and security issues), and by the
countless sources of information that can disorient or distract
consumers such as the considerable number of Facebook fan
pages. Moreover, studies related to user behavior and social media
have highlighted the crucial role of trust in stimulating favor-
able responses for any medium to be used in the future (Casaló,
Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2010; Ruiz-Mafe et al., 2014). Researchers
have shown that online peer recommendations influence trust
in e-tailing and affect consumers’ purchase intentions (Kim &
Prabhakar, 2000). Accordingly, Dabholkar and Sheng (2012) found
that people are more likely to trust information from other con-
sumers than from the companies. Thus, e-tailers focus not only on
enhancing websites, but also on understanding the phenomenon of
peer recommendations (Fikir, Yaz, & Ozyer, 2010; Massa & Avesani,
2004; Sinha & Swearingen, 2001) especially through social media
in the context of fashion clothing (Kim & Ko, 2012). In this envi-
ronment, a new form of commerce is developing online: social
commerce or S-commerce (Kim & Park, 2013; Marsden, 2010;
Stephen & Toubia, 2010), which uses social network features to
enhance consumers’ shopping experience (Marsden, 2010; Cecere,
2010). Recent research has demonstrated how S-commerce affects
online trust (Kim & Park, 2013). However, little attention has been
given to how the antecedents evolve in the creation of trust, espe-
cially considering more interactive forms of online communication
such as social media and peer recommendations. To the best of
our knowledge, the effects of consumers’ social network propen-
sity and online peer recommendations and their influence on online
trust have not been investigated yet. This paper contributes to this
research gap.
3. Hypotheses development
Website service quality is defined as “service that is help-
ful, responsive, and offered willingly, and in which consumers’
inquiries are responded to promptly” (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2003).
The service quality efforts made by the organization are to be clearly
reflected in the website, as it is a gateway to ensure consumer
satisfaction, develop trust, and induce a repeated purchase (Shin,
Chung, Oh, & Lee, 2013). Previous research has shown that service
quality is the major factor influencing consumer trust and loy-
alty intention toward e-tailers (Agustin & Singh, 2005; Fassnacht
& Köse, 2007), and, in turn, the engagement online (Song, Baker,
Lee, & Wetherbe, 2012). In our research context, i.e., e-tailing, we
have particularly targeted website service quality that previous
literature found directly affecting trust (Fassnacht & Köse, 2007;
Hwang & Kim, 2007; McKnight, Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002). More-
over, the risks associated with fashion clothing websites have been
434 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
recently studied in relation to trust (Chui, Chow, & Choi, 2014;
Naoui & Zaiem, 2014). Thus we hypothesize:
H1. Website service quality has a significant positive effect on
trust toward an e-tailer.
The recent increasing importance of social media supported
by growing consumer interest in interacting and sharing expe-
riences with other consumers has provided e-tailers with new
tools to engage consumers online. In this regard, consumer con-
sumption culture (Beer & Burrows, 2010) and the process of
creating knowledge through recommendations to websites are
greatly impacted by social media (Chai & Kim, 2012). Previous
studies demonstrate that consumers rely more on recommenda-
tions from other consumers than from the company or service
provider itself (Dellarocas, Zhang, & Awad, 2007; Smith, Menon, &
Sivakumar, 2005). Also, opinions from consumers outside the indi-
vidual’s immediate social circles are considered, and social media
provides instant access to these opinions (Dhar & Chang, 2009).
Recently, a theoretical model has been provided by See-To and Ho
(2014) for the role of peer recommendations in building trust in
social media settings. We aim to address this role empirically with
Generation Y consumers by examining how peer recommendations
can play a vital and positive role in building trust with e-tailers. We
hypothesize:
H2. Peer recommendations have a significant positive effect on
trust toward an e-tailer.
Dennis, Morgan, Wright, and Jayawardhena (2010) have argued
about the idea of social networking along with shopping, as more
consumers are spending time on social media. Harris and Dennis
(2011) further argued that young adults particularly welcome the
idea of combining their shopping experience with Facebook. Social
media users often share style or fashion-related information with
their peers in order to receive some kind of feedback from them
(Lin, Lu, & Wu, 2012; Wolny & Mueller, 2013). Most consumers rely
on social networking platforms for search purposes, brand inspec-
tions, and shopping (Bilgihan, Peng, & Kandampully, 2014). Content
in the form of comments and likes is generated by other consumers;
it is more likely that consumers will trust this advice than the infor-
mation and content produced by the company itself. Jin (2012) first
introduced the concept “online shopping via Facebook” by defining
it as “involvement expressed by consumers’ willingness to follow
brands, browse for information, and purchase items on Facebook”.
In line with the studies above, we hypothesize:
H3. Online shopping via Facebook has a significant positive effect
on trust toward an e-tailer.
Wu and Chen (2005) have revealed that the relationship
between trust and use intentions is mediated by attitude. Moreover,
Pavlou and Fygenson (2006) have strengthened the phenomenon
that trust has a direct influence on attitude because expectations
are formed during the process of online shopping. The main aim
of including trust in our conceptual model is that it is an impor-
tant factor in unsafe online environments, specifically in social
media where myriad Facebook clothing e-tailer fan pages are avail-
able and the pages are not face-to-face. Therefore, it is vital to
study the role of trust in social media settings (Hajli, 2015). Recent
studies have also harnessed the role of trust as a predictor of atti-
tude toward social media use pertaining to security and privacy
issues (Casaló et al., 2010; Ruiz-Mafe et al., 2014). In addition,
Wu, Chu, and Fang (2008) demonstrated that online consumers’
trust toward a specific website can influence their decision about
whether to adopt the website for their shopping. Researchers have
also demonstrated that trust affects consumers’ attitudes toward
online markets (Jarvenpaa, Tractinsky, & Saarinen, 1999; Schlosser,
White, & Lloyd, 2006; Yoon, 2002). In addition, Flavián, Guinalíu,
and Gurrea (2006) have shown that a greater level of consumer
trust increases consumer loyalty. Trust also influences the way
consumers make online purchases (Hong & Cho, 2011). Previous
studies have also shown that trust influences loyalty intention
(Hong & Cho, 2011; Paulssen, Roulet, & Wilke, 2014). Therefore we
hypothesize:
H4. Trust in the e-tailer has a significant positive effect on attitude
toward the e-tailer.
H5. Trust in the e-tailer has a significant positive effect on con-
sumers’ loyalty intention.
Consumer attitudes and behavior are based on different types
of cognitive, affective, and human memory stored information
(Zanna & Rempel, 1988). Contrasted with the fact that users get
information from secondary sources in the pre-adoption phase,
more experience is gained through the system in the post-adoption
phase. In our study, as in most of the studies in this field, loy-
alty intention toward the e-tailer is manifested through consumer
attitudes. Most of the previous studies have demonstrated the influ-
ence of attitude on loyalty intention toward the use of electronic
services such as banking (Cho & Hwang, 2001; Ok & Shon, 2006),
and tourism services (Ruiz & Sanz, 2010). Previous studies have also
shown that positive attitude toward the online service provider
increases loyalty intention (Shankar, Smith, & Rangaswamy, 2003).
In the context of social media, recent studies (Chang Lee, Currás-
Pérez, Ruiz-Mafé, & Sanz-Blas, 2013; Lee, Xiong, & Hu, 2012) have
revealed that consumers’ attitudes influence their intention. Hence
we hypothesize:
H6. Attitude toward the e-tailer have a significant positive effect
on loyalty intention.
3.1. Gender differences
Even though the role of gender has been examined in many
marketing research streams, few studies analyze this difference in
e-commerce contexts (Rodgers & Harris, 2003), particularly with
a focus on Generation Y consumers. Generally, in marketing lit-
erature females are considered to have a more positive attitude
toward shopping than males; the latter are more interested in the
functional meaning of buying activities (Campbell, 2000; Dittmar,
Long, & Meek, 2004).
Moreover, Swaminathan, Lepkowska-White, & Rao, 1999 in
online context validated the previous research in offline contexts,
demonstrating that females are more socially interactive than
males when shopping online. Sanchez-Franco, Ramos, and Velicia
(2009) used the commitment-trust theory framework to analyze
gender differences in forming loyalty online. Morgan and Hunt
(1994) demonstrated that path relationships between trust, com-
mitment, and loyalty are different between females and males. In
the context of online financial services, Kivijärvi, Laukkanen, and
Cruz (2007) argued that it is meaningful to test the role of gen-
der in trust-based research models, and more recently, Ladhari
and Leclerc (2013) demonstrated that genders differ in their per-
ceptions of website service quality, e-satisfaction, e-trust, and
e-loyalty.
The literature on information processing also underlines differ-
ences between male and female consumers (Richard, Chebat, Yang,
& Putrevu, 2010) in gathering and sharing information online. For
instance, males make faster buying decisions and need less infor-
mation than females, who surf different sources of information
before making buying decisions (Kim, Lehto, & Morrison, 2007).
Females were found to be more relationship-oriented than males,
as evidenced by females’ online connections with service providers
and other consumers (Richard et al., 2010). Moreover, males are
more likely to trust (Riquelme & Román, 2014) and shop online
 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
Gender
Website Service
Quality
H1 +
Peer
Recommendations H2 +
H3 +
Online
Shopping via
Facebook
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework and hypotheses.
than females (Wolin & Korgaonkar, 2003). Finally, another study
investigating the contribution of online word-of-mouth quality
(defined as a relevant and useful word-of-mouth system on a
retailer website) in creating trust indicated that males are more
concerned about their ability to create and post online comments,
whereas females place greater value on online comments from
other consumers (Awad & Ragowsky, 2008). As the earlier litera-
ture demonstrates that genders differ in e-commerce contexts, we
hypothesize (Fig. 1):
H7. The path estimates of the conceptual model vary across gen-
ders.
4. Research methodology and sample
4.1. Research context
This study focuses on individuals born between 1981 and 1991
labeled as Generation Y (Bolton et al., 2013). These consumers had
frequent and early exposure to technology, leading to advantages
and disadvantages in the form of emotional, cognitive, and social
outcomes (Immordino-Yang, Christodoulou, & Singh, 2012). For
interaction purposes, entertainment, and emotion regulation, Gen-
eration Y relies heavily on technology. Moreover, Generation Y has
experienced long periods of prosperity until the past few years and
has seen rapid advancement in technologies, instant communica-
tion, globalization, and social networking (Park & Gursoy, 2012).
This group grew up with the computer and, particularly in terms
of communication, has mastered this technology. Moreover, these
digital natives are either recent entrants to the workforce or are
students (Bolton et al., 2013) and are the most visually sophisti-
cated and tech-savvy generation. Therefore, we used Generation Y
as the target audience for our online survey.
4.2. Questionnaire development
The questionnaire was developed and divided into two sections:
The first section was dedicated to respondents’ demographic infor-
mation, and the second part to six constructs adapted from different
435
H7
Attitudes
towards e-tailer
H4 +
Trust
H6 +
H5 + Loyalty
Intention
Table 1
Sources of observed variables used for to measure latent constructs.
Constructs and measurement items
*
Website service quality (Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2003)
Responsiveness
The company is willing and ready to respond to consumer needs
When you have a problem, the website shows a sincere interest in solving it
Inquiries are answered promptly
*
Online shopping via Facebook (Jin, 2012)
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook to follow up on brands’ online updates
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook to browse brands I like
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook for shopping for brands online
I am interested in utilizing Facebook for shopping fashion brands online
I am interested in utilizing Facebook to refer to consumer reviews
*
Peer recommendations (Königstorfer & Gröppel-Klein, 2007)
Recommendations make online shopping more simple
Recommendations lead to the desired product
Recommendations lead to new relevant products
*
Trust (Büttner & Göritz, 2008; Gefen, 2002)
Ability
One can expect good advice from this website provider
This provider is very competent
This provider is able to fully satisfy its customers
Benevolence
This website provider is genuinely interested in consumer’s welfare
If problems arise, one can expect to be treated fairly by this website provider
This provider puts customers’ interests first
Integrity
I am happy with the standards by which this website provider is operating
This website provider operates scrupulously
You can believe the statements of this website provider
*
Attitude (Van der Heijden et al., 2003)
I would have positive feelings toward buying a product from this website
The thought of buying a product from this website is appealing to me
It would be a good idea to buy a product from this website
*
Loyalty intention (Parasuraman et al., 2005)
I say positive things about this clothing e-tailer to other people
I recommend this clothing e-tailer to someone who seeks my advice
I encourage friends and others to do business with this clothing e-tailer
I will consider this site to be my first choice for future transactions
I’ll do more business with this site in the coming months
*
Note: Items of the constructs adapted from the mentioned authors and amended
and fitted into our context.
436 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442

Table 2
Overall CFA for the measurement model.

Constructs and measurement items Completely Mean SD CA CR AVE

standardized loadings
(t-value)
*
Website service quality 0.886 0.887 0.725
The company is willing and ready to respond to consumer needs 0.785 (std.) 5.58 1.15
When you have a problem, the website shows a sincere interest in solving it 0.877 (16.11) 5.34 1.26
Inquiries are answered promptly 0.890 (16.32) 5.50 1.18
*
Online shopping via Facebook 0.880 0.886 0.723
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook to follow up on brands’ online updates 0.923 (std.) 4.25 2.03
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook to browse brands I like 0.873 (19.87) 4.50 2.97
I’m interested in utilizing Facebook for shopping for brands online 0.725 (14.94) 3.27 1.85
*
Peer recommendations 0.906 0.897 0.744
Recommendations make online shopping more simple 0.844 (std.) 4.52 1.75
Recommendations lead to the desired product 0.919 (18.72) 4.32 1.70
Recommendations lead to new relevant products 0.823 (16.66) 4.75 1.71
*
Trust 0.926 0.927 0.679
One can expect good advice from this website provider 0.810 (std.) 5.78 1.07
This website provider is genuinely interested in consumer’s welfare 0.777 (14.97) 5.18 1.23
If problems arise, one can expect to be treated fairly by this website provider 0.803 (15.67) 5.31 1.18
I am happy with the standards by which this website provider is operating 0.888 (18.12) 5.54 1.17
This website provider operates scrupulously 0.827 (16.35) 5.28 1.19
You can believe the statements of this website provider 0.837 (16.62) 5.54 1.19
*
Attitude 0.883 0.883 0.716
I would have positive feelings toward buying a product from this website 0.852 (std.) 5.71 1.28
The thought of buying a product from this website is appealing to me 0.881 (17.93) 5.31 1.40
It would be a good idea to buy a product from this website 0.804 (15.97) 5.29 1.41
*
Loyalty intention 0.888 0.89 0.738
I say positive things about this clothing e-tailer to other people 0.869 (std.) 5.60 1.29
I recommend this clothing e-tailer to someone who seeks my advice 0.887 (19.29) 5.59 1.30
I encourage friends and others to do business with this clothing e-tailer 0.820 (17.18) 5.11 1.55
*
Note: Items of the constructs adapted from the mentioned authors and amended and fitted into our context.

sources and modified for our context of fashion clothing and Gen-
eration Y consumers.
As shown in Table 1, the construct “trust toward the e-tailer”
was drawn from Büttner and Göritz (2008). Of the four dimensions
composing the original scale of trustworthiness toward online
financial providers (i.e., integrity, ability/competence, benevo-
lence, and predictability), we selected the three dimensions of
trust that have been proven more relevant in online retailing:
integrity, ability/competence, and benevolence (Gefen, 2002; Lee
& Turban, 2001; Urban, Amyx, & Lorenzon, 2009).
The “loyalty intention” scale was adapted from Parasuraman,
Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005), and the “attitude toward e-tailer”
was adapted from Van der Heijden, Verhagen, and Creemers (2003).
To measure consumer perception of “website service quality,”
related only to the dimension of consumer service of the e-tailer,
was derived from Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003). In the literature
review developed by Ladhari (2010), he asserted that the e-tailing
dimension combining responsiveness, reliability, and assurance is
the most relevant for promoting consumer trust. Since reliabil-
ity and assurance are linked to post-purchase activities and we
are investigating perceived website service quality, we decided to
measure “website service quality” only through the dimension of
“responsiveness”.
Finally, we developed the measurement scale for “online
shopping via Facebook” from Jin (2012) and the measurement
for “peer recommendations” from Königstorfer and Gröppel-Klein
(2007). The items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging
from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree).
fan page, as well as on the Facebook pages of the engaged fans,
avoiding the problem of repeated answers from the same respon-
dents.
The composition of the sample (n = 288) was as follows: 26%
male (n = 75) and 74% female (n = 213). In addition, 5% of respon-
dents were between ages 15 and 19, 75% between 20 and 24, 18%
between 25 and 29, and 2% between 30 and 34. Seventy-one percent
of respondents reported very low income (between 0 and 500 euros
per week) and thus are economically supported by their families,
while 18% declared an income higher than 500 but less than 1000
euros, and only 11% reported earning more than 1000 euros. The
sample demonstrated high Internet usage with 29% being online
for more than 4 h a day, 49% between 2 and 4 h, and 22% less than
2 h. All the respondents have shopped online at least once, and 38%
of respondents shop online monthly, 28% quarterly, 23% once in six
months, and 11% at least once a year.
5. Results
In order to test the hypothesized effects and the moderating role
of gender, the authors used the following four steps. First, we con-
ducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), confirming the factor
structure and deleting the items that contributed to the poor fit
of the measurement model. Second, we conducted an invariance
analysis to ensure that the measurement model provides a compa-
rable representation among both genders. Third, we evaluated the
discriminant validity of the constructs, and fourth, we conducted a
multigroup analysis to assess the moderator effect of gender.

4.3. Sample 5.1. Measurement model

To collect data from Italian Generation Y consumers, we posted
our questionnaire on the Facebook fan page of a master-level course
in fashion marketing at an Italian university; we also asked fans to
post the questionnaire on their personal Facebook pages. Thus the
questionnaire appeared only once in the timeline of the Facebook
Constructs and items have been tested through a CFA to provide
a statistical critical test of the homogeneity of the items used to
assess the latent constructs. The complete measurement model
resulted in an unsatisfactory statistical fit: the ratio between the
chi-square (2 = 1425.466; p < 0.005) and the degrees of freedom
 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
Table 3
Correlations among constructs.
Constructs (1) (2)
(1) Trust 1
(2) Attitude 0.582 1
(3) Loyalty intention 0.651 0.718
(4) Website service quality 0.731 0.425
(5) Online shopping via Facebook 0.249 0.145
(6) Peer recommendations 0.134 0.078
(df = 362) was higher than 2 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007), the root
mean square error of approximation (RMSEA = 0.0903), goodness
of fit index (GFI = 0.789), non-normed fit index (NNFI = 0.948),
and comparative fit index (CFI = 0.943) were below the suggested
thresholds. To identify the measurement items contributing to
this poor fit, the largest negative and largest positive standardized
residuals were considered along with the scores of the items’ mul-
tiple squared correlations below 0.50 (Byrne, 1998). This procedure
allowed us to discard the following from the measurement scales:
three items from the construct Trust, two items from Loyalty inten-
tion and two items from the construct Online shopping via Facebook.
In order to validate the measures and to define the relations
between observed and latent variables, we established a six-
construct measurement model with the remaining 21 observed
variables. The goodness of fit statistics of the measurement
model revealed an acceptable fit. The ratio between the chi-
square (2 = 312.79; p < 0.005) and degrees of freedom (df = 174)
is below 2 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007), and all other relevant fit
indexes overcome the recommended thresholds: root mean square
error of approximation (RMSEA = 0.0525), goodness of fit index
(GFI = 0.906), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI = 0.876), normed
fit index (NFI = 0.969), non-normed fit index (NNFI = 0.983), and
comparative fit index (CFI = 0.986). Moreover, the constructs indi-
cate excellent internal consistency as the Cronbach’s alphas ranged
from a minimum of 0.880 to a maximum of 0.926, thus exceeding
the 0.70 threshold level suggested by Nunnally (1978). In addition,
composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) of
each construct were above the recommended threshold levels of
0.6 and 0.5, respectively (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988; Fornell & Larcker,
1981). We also tested for convergent validity by verifying that each
item significantly and substantially loaded onto the expected latent
construct by checking that all the t values were greater than 5.23
and that all the standardized parameters were greater than 0.5,
respectively (Table 2). Moreover, in order to reduce the risk of com-
mon methods bias for data, we employed Harman’s single-factor
test (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). We estimated
a CFA to compare our model to a constrained single-factor model.
In case of common method variance, the single latent factor would
account for all of the variables. The single-factor fit showed no evi-
dence of common method bias, as it exhibited 2 = 2289.883 and
df = 188. Thus, the measurement model demonstrated significantly
improved fit (p < 0.001).
Finally, following Fornell and Larcker (1981), we assessed the
discriminant validity of each construct, by comparing the AVE val-
ues with the squared correlations for all pairs of latent variables.
As the highest squared correlation is 0.537 and the lowest AVE is
0.679, all pairs of constructs met this condition (Table 3).
5.2. Multigroup invariance analysis
Since the model fits the data adequately, the database was
divided in two groups (female and male consumers), and we con-
ducted a multigroup CFA (Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998) with
LISREL 8.8 program in order to assess that the measurement model
provided the same representation in both genders. Thus, we ran a
437
(3) (4) (5) (6)
1
0.476 1
0.162 0.091 1
0.087 0.017 0.555 1
configural invariance analysis and, successively, a metric invariance
and scalar invariance.
The measurement model estimated for the two groups inde-
pendently demonstrated a good fit with the data both for
female consumers (2 = 283.62; p < 0.00; df = 174; NNFI = 0.983;
CFI = 0.986; RMSEA = 0.0819) and for male consumers (2 = 279.48;
p < 0.00; df = 174; NNFI = 0.926; CFI = 0.938; RMSEA = 0.0552). To
test that the two samples show the same factor pattern, we ran
a configural invariance test that showed a good fit (2 = 563.114;
p < 0.00; df = 348; NNFI = 0.973; CFI = 0.978; RMSEA = 0.0630). In
order to verify whether the interpretation of item measure-
ment between female and male consumers is the same, we
tested the metric invariance. Also in this case, results showed a
good fit (2 = 585.915; p < 0.00; df = 363; NNFI = 0.973; CFI = 0.977;
RMSEA = 0.0625), and the univariate 2 incremental value reveals
that the probability value is higher than 0.05. Successively, we
tested the scalar invariance of the model across the two groups,
and the results reported a good fit (2 = 607.331; p < 0.00; df = 378;
NNFI = 0.974; CFI = 0.976; RMSEA = 0.0610). Also in this case, the
univariate 2 incremental value reveals that the probability value
is higher than 0.05.
5.3. Hypotheses testing
To test our hypotheses, we checked the squared multiple cor-
relation for structural equations. The analysis indicated that trust
in the e-tailer is explained by website service quality, peer rec-
ommendations, and online shopping via Facebook (R2 = 0.569).
Attitude toward the e-tailer is explained by trust in the e-tailer
(R2 = 0.386), and loyalty intention is explained by attitude toward
the e-tailer and trust in the e-tailer (R2 = 0.599). The results further
show that website service quality positively explains consumer
trust toward the e-tailer ( = 0.736; p < 0.001), supporting H1. The
relationship between peer recommendations and trust is statis-
tically non-significant ( = 0.027; ns). Thus, H2 is not supported.
However, online shopping via Facebook positively affects trust
in the e-tailer ( = 0.145; p < 0.05), supporting H3. The results
suggest that website service quality is a strong predictor of
consumers’ trust instead of online shopping via Facebook. In addi-
tion to that, trust in the e-tailer positively and directly affects
both the attitude toward the e-tailer (ˇ = 0.614; p < 0.001) and
the loyalty intention (ˇ = 0.379; p < 0.001), supporting H4 and
H5. Moreover, hypothesis H6 is supported as attitude toward
the e-tailer positively influences the loyalty intention (ˇ = 0.523;
p < 0.001).
In order to verify whether gender moderates the relationship
paths in the model, we first compared a fully constrained model,
constraining the paths equally across the two groups, to an uncon-
strained model in which paths are allowed to vary freely. The result
of the 2 difference test showed that genders do not vary at the
model level (2 (6) = 9.369; p > 0.05), meaning that there are no
differences in the path relationships between females and males.
Therefore, H7 is not supported. The results of the structural model
and the statistical tests of the research hypotheses are reported in
Table 4.
438 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
Table 4
Standardized path coefficients and corresponding hypotheses results.
Relationships Hypotheses
Website service quality → Trust in the e-tailer H1
Peer recommendations → Trust in the e-tailer H2
Online shopping via Facebook → Trust in the e-tailer H3
Attitude toward the e-tailer → Loyalty intention H4
Trust in the e-tailer → Attitude toward the e-tailer H5
Trust in the e-tailer → Loyalty intention H6
Moderating role of genders H7
5.4. Mediating effects
Since, according to Dellarocas et al. (2007) and Smith et al.
(2005), consumers highly rely on recommendations from other
consumers, we also verified the mediating role of trust between
peer recommendations and attitude. While no mediating effect of
trust was found in the relationship between peer recommendations
and attitude toward the e-tailer, a one-tail significant (tvalue = 1.91)
direct-only effect was found between peer recommendations and
attitude toward the e-tailer ( = 0.031; p < 0.10). The direct effect of
peer recommendation on attitudes is significant both for females
and males. However, gender appears to moderate this effect as the
results show that the peer effect on attitudes toward the e-tailer is
significantly stronger for females than for males (Table 5).
6. Discussion and implications
The main objective of this study was to identify how consumer
engagement – such as trust, attitude, and loyalty intention toward
an e-tailer – is affected by an e-tailers’ website quality, peer rec-
ommendations, and online shopping via Facebook. The current
study has bridged certain gaps in previous research, which did not
take into account both e-tailers’ websites and social media, i.e.,
Facebook presences and the trust, attitude, and loyalty intention
of consumers. Moreover, the moderating role of gender in such
settings was not previously identified. Previously, websites were
mainly used for surfing, but now social media enables consumers to
develop long-term relationships with e-tailers as consumers share
their product and service experiences on e-tailers’ Facebook fan
pages. However, unlike previous research, the current study also
highlights consumers’ online engagement both on the e-tailers’
websites and on Facebook, and has determined which of these two
(websites or Facebook) is a strong predictor of consumers’ trust.
Our findings have significant implications both theoretically and
managerially. Theoretically, we have proposed a new model for
engaging consumers online and tested it empirically among Gener-
ation Y consumers, also taking into consideration the possible role
of gender.
Based on our empirical findings, we provide a fivefold summary
of theoretical implications. First, the relationships between trust,
attitude, and loyalty are widely demonstrated by relationship
marketing literature (Hong & Cho, 2011; Singh & Sirdeshmukh,
2000); however, few studies determine consumers’ engagement
online through websites and Facebook and analyze the effects of
Table 5
Direct effect of peer recommendations on attitudes between genders.
Direct relationships FEMALE Std. MALE Std. 2 difference
estimates estimates and
significance
Peer 0.347** 0.093** 6.862**
recommendations → Attitude
toward the e-tailer
**
p < 0.05.
Std. estimates t value
0.736 11.07 Supported
0.027 0.485 Not supported
0.145 2.87 Supported
0.523 7.93 Supported
0.614 9.21 Supported
0.379 5.74 Supported
Not supported
consumers’ trust on attitude and loyalty intention toward e-tailers
in social media settings. We aim to fill this gap in the marketing
literature. Moreover, trust, attitude, and loyalty intention are
salient here as we targeted Generation Y consumers who do not
generally have well-established attitudes compared to adults.
With the passage of time and different life experiences, attitudes
develop and mature, becoming stronger, as mentioned in the
psychology stream (Visser & Krosnick, 1998). In line with previous
research (Dennis et al., 2010; Limbu et al., 2012), trust was found
to influence attitude, which in turn affects loyalty intention.
Second, it has been revealed that website service quality and
online shopping via Facebook directly affect trust in e-tailers, high-
lighting once again the power of social media in strengthening the
relationship between consumer and e-tailer. Therefore, researchers
have to consider the importance of both (websites and social media)
in coming up with significant implications for practitioners.
Third, our study generates the important finding that the online
gender gap is diminishing, as we found no significant gender differ-
ences. Even though there has been a long history of studying gender
differences in various contexts in marketing research (Garbarino
& Strahilevitz, 2004; Ladhari & Leclerc, 2013; Yeh et al., 2012),
gender analysis in social media contexts is at a very early stage
(Verbraken, Goethals, Verbeke, & Baesens, 2014; Zhang, Lu, Gupta,
& Zhao, 2014). In particular, previous research supports the find-
ings of this paper, as it demonstrates a different intensity of e-trust,
e-attitude, and e-loyalty across genders, but no differences have
been detected in the relationships with their drivers – i.e., web
design, information quality, and e-tailers’ responsiveness (Ladhari
& Leclerc, 2013). Moreover, earlier gender analysis in e-commerce
contexts used a sample different or partially different from our Gen-
eration Y sample, which could explain the non-moderation effect.
Fourth, peer-recommendations do not affect trust toward an e-
tailer, but instead have a direct effect on the consumers’ attitude
toward an e-tailer. This indicates that peer recommendations have
a strong impact directly on consumers’ affective responses and feel-
ings toward the e-tailer. This finding is of particular interest because
previous research has focused more on analyzing how peer rec-
ommendations could affect trust (Awad & Ragowsky, 2008; Zhang
et al., 2014). Differently, as we demonstrated, peer recommenda-
tions are assuming more relevance in building positive attitudes
toward e-retailers, which has strong behavioral implications such
as willingness to recommend the websites (Kumar & Benbasat,
2006), accept e-retailers’ advertisements, and leave comments, at
least as far as Generation Y is concerned. Moreover, according to the
results of the mediation analysis, we found a positive and direct
effect of peer recommendations on attitude both for female and
male consumers. In particular, as shown in Table 5, females demon-
strate a stronger relationship between peer recommendations and
attitude toward the e-retailer. These results are in line with the pre-
vious information processing literature, which already evidenced
how females make buying decisions on the basis of a wider set of
information (Kim et al., 2007). Moreover, being more relationship-
oriented (Richard et al., 2010), women have been previously found
to rely more on peers’ comments when shopping online (Awad
& Ragowsky, 2008). Males, instead, make faster buying decisions,
 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
Gender
Website Service
Quality
Trust
Online Shopping
via Facebook
Fig. 2. Re-specified model.
tend to rely more on their own judgment (Awad & Ragowsky, 2008),
and therefore are less influenced by peer recommendations.
Thus, unlike in the previous research where consumers’ atti-
tudes were affected by peer recommendations via e-trust (De Vries
& Pruyn, 2007), we propose an alternative conceptual model (Fig. 2).
In this new framework, peer recommendations instead of influ-
encing trust; directly influences the attitudes of consumers with a
moderating effect of gender.
Finally, even though the social media platform Facebook is
widely used, when it comes to shopping, consumers show less
interest. The low mean values of the items composing online
shopping via Facebook demonstrated a lack of interest in purchas-
ing fashion clothing online via Facebook, which is in line with
previous studies (Harris & Dennis, 2011). It can be said that cur-
rently consumers are likely to use Facebook for searching and
connecting but not for purchasing. It implies that Facebook fan
pages mainly serve as a source of information for consumers, and
also as a source of enjoyment and a way to connect with significant
others. But a higher activity level on Facebook may lead to greater
trust toward clothing e-tailers.
6.1. Managerial implications
The current study provides various useful insights into con-
sumer engagement for shopping online via Facebook and websites.
Managers can take into account the following insights to enhance
positive attitude and loyalty intention of consumers toward e-
tailers.
We provide three key contributions for managers: First, the
presence of an e-tailer on Facebook can enhance consumer trust
in the e-tailer, but managers should be aware of the importance of
peer recommendations since they have a significant direct impact
on the attitude of consumers toward e-tailers. For this reason,
online marketing managers should invest not only in website
service quality and in Facebook presence, but also in the qual-
ity of the peer recommendations that consumers can post online
by facilitating peer recommendation activities to generate pos-
itive consumer attitude. Peer recommendations and comments
are posted directly on websites, and therefore, the reliability and
quality of the content becomes very important. As our study high-
lights, the attitude of female consumers is influenced more by
439
Peer
Recommendations
Attitudes
towards e-tailer
Loyalty Intention
peer recommendations than males. In this regard, managers need
to identify the influential groups and individuals related to their
brand and devise strategies (for example, giving special discounts
to drive more traffic to the online stores) to get positive recommen-
dations from such groups/individuals in order to influence potential
female consumers. Managers should aim to evaluate and con-
trol the quality and content of peer recommendations. Consumers
on Facebook are producing content in the form of comments,
likes, sharing posts, and uploading photos, and if this content is
read/monitored carefully by e-tailers, they can come up with strate-
gies (such as aiding consumers with more informative and visual
content) to positively influence consumers’ attitude and loyalty
intention.
On the other hand, if peer recommendations are external to the
website, they need to be commented on to give the perspective
of the company so they are not just driven by consumers. This
is important because peer recommendations have the potential
to affect consumers’ attitude toward the e-tailer even if web-
site service quality is good. It is also vital for companies to
enhance valued information to increase consumers’ engagement
through interactions with a mix of desired fun on Facebook fan
pages.
Second, building trust is a key to bringing about positive change
in the attitudes and loyalty intention of consumers. Trust is often
generated by website service quality. Consumers evaluate e-tailers
not only based on their websites, but also based on their shopping
outlets on Facebook; if their Facebook fan page has an updated look
and strong content, it is more likely that consumers will develop
trust and have a favorable attitude and loyalty intention toward
the e-tailers. Effective Facebook fan page design demands continu-
ous improvement and updating with newer fashion clothing items
and accessories. E-tailers must create an enjoyable and informative
exploring experience that ensures consumers’ engagement.
Third, this study shows that consumer services are a crucial
aspect of website quality. For service- related matters, consumers
still rely on the websites of the e-tailers. However given the
time consumers spend on Facebook fan pages and Facebook in
general, trust measures should be taken into consideration; this
means, for example, delivering fashion clothing items and replying
to consumers’ queries in a prompt manner. It is important for
managers to play a significant role in facilitating conversations
440 W. Nadeem et al. / International Journal of Information Management 35 (2015) 432–442
between companies and consumers to generate mutual positive
feelings (Powers, Advincula, Austin, Graiko, & Snyder, 2012).
Companies should place special emphasis on improving web-
site services (e.g., utilizing responsive design) for the tech-savvy
Generation Y consumers. Managers should invest significantly in
improving their company’s websites and provide access to all social
media plugins. This is an era of omni-channeling and providing
consumers multiple ways to interact online with the company can
enhance overall online shopping (McKinsey and Company, 2014).
The importance of this is highlighted in our results showing that
better website service quality will lead to higher trust in the e-tailer.
6.2. Limitations and future research
This study has limitations and opens up avenues that can be
addressed by the future research. First, in terms of the analysis,
the LISREL results show a linear relationship, which can be consid-
ered an oversimplified assumption in the case of online consumers’
engagement. Social media research is still in an embryonic state
(Ngai, Tao, & Moon, 2015), and more novel approaches to inte-
gration of website and social media linkage would be welcomed
in marketing literature. E-tailers should pay more attention to
facilitating conditions where consumers have easy access to infor-
mation, not just in official form but also from their friends or other
consumers. Also, marketing literature highlighting the shrinking
Internet gender gap is scarce, so the role of gender deserves more
attention.
Second, every aspect of human activities nowadays is influenced
or even controlled by social media (Ngai et al., 2015), so researchers
must focus on a wider perspective; a possibility to extend this study
would be to replicate it using product categories such as electronics,
books, and tourism, which may lead to more diverse patterns of
understanding.
Third, we targeted only on Generation Y consumers; further
studies can incorporate Generation X (1961–1981) (Brosdahl &
Carpenter, 2011) to address a significant number of consumers who
are not young adults and include more professionals. This may lead
to interesting findings pertaining to Generation X’s engagement
online and how they perceive shopping in social media settings,
which is rather a new phenomenon. Extending this research to
this group could help demonstrate that the current study has an
acceptable level of external validity.
Fourth, this study was done in an online environment, taking
into account the antecedents of trust. Future studies could be done
in brick-and-mortar settings by applying the qualitative stream of
research and conducting interviews with key persons responsible
for reaching consumers via social media. We have borrowed some
conventional constructs to meld with our new constructs for draw-
ing our conceptual framework. However, upcoming research could
incorporate new social commerce constructs to come up with a
totally new research framework. Finally, one major social media
site, Facebook, was employed as an empirical context in our study.
Future studies could include other services such as Pinterest, QQ,
VKontakte, or Renren and their influences on consumers’ online
shopping behavior.
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Waqar Nadeem is working as a researcher at the Department of Marketing, Oulu
Business School, Finland. The major area of his research interest is social media
adoption/marketing and consumer behavior.
Daniela Andreini is an assistant professor in marketing management at the Depart-
ment of Management, Economics and Quantitative Methods of the University of
Bergamo and Visiting Professor at the University of Washington Bothell (USA). Her
research interests in marketing include communities’ online, branding, e-commerce
and multi-channel retail businesses.
Jari Salo is a full professor at the Department of Marketing, University of Oulu.
He is also an adjunct professor of marketing at the School of Business at the Aalto
University. Salo has more than 100 publications on digital and industrial market-
ing published in international academic journals. He has been organizing many
conferences and is an active member in several editorial boards.
Tommi Laukkanen is a full professor of marketing at the University of Eastern
Finland Business School. He received his PhD from Lappeenranta University of Tech-
nology. His research interests include innovation adoption and resistance, consumer
behavior, bank marketing, tourism marketing, brand management, and SME mar-
keting and management. He has published in Tourism Management, International
Marketing Review, International Journal of Information Management, Journal of
Small Business Management, Journal of Consumer Marketing, International Journal
of Bank Marketing, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Marketing Intelli-
gence and Planning, International Journal of Mobile Communications, and others.