Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the theory which gives valuable insight into the context of social media, electronic word of mouth (EWOM), trust and purchase-decision involvement. Design/methodology/approach A review of the existing literature was carried out and construct-wise measurement items were adapted from existing scales. Experts reviewed the items and validated. Convergent validity, discriminant validity and reliability of the scales were tested with the data collected from 252 respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the proposed model. Findings Social media usage and EWOM have positive impact on purchase-decision involvement and online trust plays a vital mediating role in this context. Originality/value The implications of findings of this research are relevant for managers and public policy makers. People can be sensitized against any menace or can be made aware about any good things in the society in true sense so that they become proactive, participate and take decision (or purchase decision).

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the concept of conviction in online environment. It examines the vital role of conviction and firm’s brand reputation while understanding the impact of social media usage and electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) on purchase decisions of Generation Y. Design/methodology/approach Literature review resulted in six constructs – social media usage, EWOM, conviction, firm’s brand reputation and purchase intention and customer loyalty. The authors adopted the concept of conviction from another field of enquiry (organizational learning), conducted a qualitative study and an e-mail survey with post-graduate management students (Generation Y) of a university to examine the impact of social media and EWOM on customer purchase decision. Data were collected and analyzed with the help of structural equation modeling. Findings Results indicated that impact of social media usage and EWOM on purchase decision is mediated by conviction. Firm’s reputation as brand (perceived by the customer) moderates the relationship between EWOM and purchase intention in a manner that this relationship is significantly stronger if there is more positive brand reputation. Originality/value This study validates the concept of conviction in online environment. The purchase decision is defined as purchase intention and loyalty of the customer.

PurposeThe purpose of the research paper is to examine customers' online purchase intention towards apparel in the online environment, with a focus on the role of conviction and brand reputation of the e-retailer.Design/methodology/approachHypotheses are based on an extensive literature review and tested using adapted existing scales for the constructs-social media usage for apparel, electronic word of mouth (EWOM), conviction, apparel e-retailer's brand reputation and online purchase intention towards apparel, and data are collected from 362 online customers of apparel brands in eight major cities across the country. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to analyze data and test hypotheses because of multiple dependent variables.FindingsThe quantitative results indicate that impact of social media and EWOM on online purchase intention towards apparel is mediated by conviction. The results also explain the moderating effect of apparel e-retailer's brand reputation.Originality/valueFindings provide suggestions for the apparel business in an online environment that address the issue of breach of trust and implications for apparel e-retailers, managers and researchers. The study contributes to the existing retail literature by proposing concept of conviction and role of apparel e-retailer's brand reputation in this context.

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Nowadays, the use of social media has increased exponentially. People show different behavior on social media depending on the kind of responses and behavior of people around them. It is important now to analyze the behavior of social media users and the way how they affect their friends. In this paper, behavioral analysis of people is done based on Twitter data. An algorithm is proposed which helps in finding the impact of text written by someone on social media and its effect on others. The impact of written text is calculated with the help of the number of retweets done for the same tweet. The severity of the used word is calculated based on AFINN dictionary. According to the proposed algorithm, the score of the dictionary is recalculated when a negative word is forwarded multiple times. This is done with the understanding that if a less severe negative word is used many times, it may affect the person in a highly negative manner. With this, Severity of words is recalculated and its impact on people is found with the help of the proposed algorithm. The impact of using negative words on social media affect 32 % of the total users (in their friend-list). Behavior change is demonstrated with the help of graphs week-wise, month-wise and year-wise analyses. The research helps in finding the impact of swear words on social media users depending on the frequency and severity score of the words.