Journal of Business and Econometrics Studies

Social Media and Consumer Behaviour in Service Industry: A Study of Jumia Technology Company Nigeria

Ogunkoya Olufemi A*, Sobo Aderemi Omotayo and Ogunkoya Labeebah O

Department of Business Administration, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria

*Corresponding author
Filipe Mahaluca, Higher Institute of Accounting and Auditing of Mozambique, Mozambique.

ABSTRACT
This study assessed the impact of social media on consumer behaviour in service industry. It adopted a survey research design, by collecting and analysing cross-sectional data from respondents. The data was coded and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistic. The findings showed that customers made use of social media platforms as a tool in the process of verifying their purchasing choices. The vast majority of respondents saw social media platforms as the equivalent of electronic word of mouth. It also revealed that consumers were frequently using social media for online purchase and the major factor of social media that influences them is innovativeness. The study therefore concluded that there was significant positive relationship between social media and consumer behaviour. Likewise, there was statistically significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision. It therefore recommended that organizations should utilize social platforms to setup their communication platforms for interacting with their customers and clients.

Keywords: Social Media, Consumer Behaviour, Service Industry, Online Purchase, Innovativeness

Introduction
Most individuals all over the world now communicate with one another via social media. Due to the democratic nature of social media, which enables clients to interact with one another and exchange data regarding goods and services, marketers are being forced to adapt their traditional strategies in order to meet the needs of consumers. This is especially true when it comes to contacting customers directly and using social networking sites as an outlet for automated marketing. One method for informing customers about new goods and need is via advertising. Consumers have more options as a result of increased product knowledge, and nobody wants to make terrible purchases. Social media gives consumers smart choices rather than just many choices. Social media interaction with consumers may increase prospective customers and the likelihood of them becoming buyers. Social media also encourages shoppers to share their favourable or negative comments about a product with their peers [1]. Social media boosts word-of-mouth, thus marketers aim to find or create their own opinion leaders to promote to [2]. Social media has shifted the focus of company to the customer and gives marketers an assortment of tools to engage with consumers and creatively incorporate them into their businesses. As a result, the marketing industry has changed from a period when retailers had the power of impact to the present, when consumers have more sway over their peers [3]. The era of conventional marketing, in which advertisers primarily used one-way contact to push messages to consumers, is ended. Businesses have to discover how to utilize social media in a manner that is compatible with their company strategy and marketers must comprehend how these platforms affect customer behaviour. 

Widespread usage of social media for searching has mesmerized the populace into compiling information from multiple sources on the COVID pandemic. People are ordered to stay inside, and social media has been vital in sustaining care, promoting mindfulness, and providing pandemic updates. Thus, social networking promotion has been a hot topic of discussion since the start of the pandemic. In today’s digital age, social networking promotion has become a powerful tool for businesses to reach new audiences. If a large percentage of a target audience regularly engages with a brand via social media, it will be much easier for that brand to accomplish its other marketing goals. In our day and age, more so than at any other time in the course of uninterrupted history, online social networking platforms have emerged as the primary source of information, surpassing print and other types of electronic media. The ongoing COVID-19 epidemic has an effect on every aspect of our life, from the ways in which individuals devote their energy, seek for items, locate them, and make purchases, to the ways in which organizations, businesses, and sponsors/advertisers disseminate and market the goods or services they offer. When people started providing greater amounts of energy at home because of epidemics they also started utilizing the internet more, which resulted in a sudden increase in their involvement with internet-based media. With this in mind, the goal of the present study is to determine the impact of online platforms on consumers’ buying habits.

This study aims at assessing social media and consumer behaviour in service industry. The specific objectives are to:

1. Analyse the frequency of online purchase among consumers.
2. Look closely at how social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube affect customer behaviour.
3. Determine the relationship between social media and consumer behaviour.
4. Establish if social media influence consumer purchase decision.

The findings of the investigation shed light on the subsequent topics of inquiry:

1. What percentage of customers make purchases online on a regular basis?
2. What are the most significant aspects of social media that influence the behaviour of customers?
3. Can you provide some light on the connection between consumer behaviour and social media?
4. Will social media influence consumer purchase decision?

Hypothesis I
H_O: Social media and consumer behaviour don’t really have any kind of connection.
H₁: Consumer behaviour is strongly correlated with social media use.

Hypothesis II
H_O: There is no significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision.
H₁: There is significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision.

Literature Review
Social Networking Sites and Their Past
Social media became popular when Myspace and Facebook were founded in 2003 and 2004. Around this time, the phrase “Web 2.0” was coined to characterize the emerging usage of the internet as a platform where people collaborate to develop and distribute content [4]. Web 2.0 introduced collaborative projects, Wikis, and interactive blogs, enabling user networks and the exchange of ideas, information, and expertise [5]. OECD defines user-generated content (UGC) as publicly accessible material contributed by end-users [4,6]. UGC frequently discusses a commercial product or service, and the content producer is the latter. Web 2.0 provides the intellectual and technical foundation for social media, which in turn enables user-generated content (UGC) generation and sharing [4]. Wikipedia, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, World of Warcraft, and Second Life are examples of social [4]. Amazon and dpreview.com accept UGC. Meslat says that social media (SM) are websites or apps that let people make and share content [7]. Zhou and Zimmermann state that social media enables users to promote, sell, compare, rate, purchase, and share items and services in markets and neighbourhoods both in person and online [8]. Alnsour, Ghannam, Al-Natour, and Alzeidat explain social media networks. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are social media [9]. It also includes blogs, messages, chat rooms, and newsgroups. The internet enable firm-user interactions online [9,10]. Through two-way conversation on social media, companies may build strong customer relationships. Ndurura claims that spontaneous and broad chats around a shared interest on social media strengthen relationships [11]. Yin et al. state that social media entails exchanging knowledge and making decisions [12]. Social media encompasses various social networking sites that evolve over time [10]. It develops real-time information and interactions by involving customers. Diebes and Iriqat said social media makes customers active purchases rather than passive information recipients [13]. Social media users impact other customers in online and offline selling platforms. Putter said that 1.5 billion individuals used social media in 2017 [14]. GlobeStat said that social media users exceeded two billion three years later. This suggests that social media use has increased recently. Alnsour et al. also predicted 7% yearly growth in social media use [9]. The elderly were the least likely to utilize social media [14]. Lilima uncovered fascinating data on age and social media use [15]. Lilima revealed that although 20–30-year-olds were more social media users, 40–50-year-olds were more likely to join [15]. Ricardialiono examined the relationship between age and social media use and found that age groups utilize social media differently [16].

Social Media Platforms/Sites 
According to Ricardialiono’s research from 2020, different social media platforms and sites have varying degrees of influence on consumers’ intentions to make a purchase. The term “social media platforms” refers to networking sites, which end users log into in order to connect to social networks. There are many different kinds of platforms available for use inside social media; some examples of these include microblogging, social sharing, and social reviewing. According to Oleynikovaa and Zorkina, social commerce can be broken down into seven distinct categories [17]. Facebook, iRecommend, Hotel.com, Esty, eBay, and other daily deal and group buying platforms fall under this category. Because customers utilize various forms of social media for various reasons, the consumer intention effects generated by each platform may be very different [18]. Ricardialiono observes, with relation to the link between the kind of social media and consumer behaviour, that different social network platforms have varying degrees of effect on consumer behaviour [16]. According to Ricardialiono, Facebook is more appealing for the marketing of word-of-mouth by businesses and content produced by users [16]. This is a more-broad statement. Because of this, the effect that Facebook would have on the behaviour of consumers would be distinct from that of Twitter, whose emphasis is placed more heavily on reliable, user-generated material. [16]. According to Never, The most popular networking platforms include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram [18]. Eqwubo suggests that in order to attract people’s attention on Facebook, marketers should mix simple words, photographs, and videos [19]. This recommendation pertains to the marketing of products and services via the use of Facebook. On Facebook, such posts are likely to elicit a large number of responses from users in the form of comments, wall posts, and likes. According to Oleynikovaa and Zorkina, Facebook may help individuals make friends with one another, talk with one another, share interests with one another, and propagate ideas [17]. Twitter users may follow other users and also build their own followings on the platform. According to Eqwubo, 2020, followers are made aware of any new and relevant posts made by their premier. Twitter also enables group following and group debate among users of the platform. This is very necessary in order to successfully influence user behaviour via reference groups. Through the use of videos and jingles, people have promoted their goods via YouTube. Companies collaborate with comedians to produce viral skirts, which are then distributed in the form of new videos. According to Eqwubo’s research from 2020, advertisements aired on YouTube by companies that have a comedic appeal are more likely to attract the attention of users and result in consumer intention to make a purchase. In addition, Tapfumaneyi (2015) explains that YouTube users are able to influence the purchasing choices of their peers by posting comments on publicly available content [20]. Because happy customers may upload photos of their brands and goods to Flickr, this photo-sharing platform is an indispensable tool for branding reasons. Flickr not only improves the aesthetic value of the goods but also helps the firm archive its promotional data.

Social Media Effect
Few social media studies have been examined, and the results suggest that this research focused primarily on social networks without providing insight into the dynamics of social media [16]. The lack of agreed-upon standards for social media is a striking example of this. Others view social media as nothing more than a two-way information exchange between businesses and their customers, while others believe social media success is dependent on familiarity with the medium, commitment to learning about it, and the availability of relevant apps [21]. According to some analysts, social media is essentially an ongoing dialogue between the company and the consumer. That created a wide range of debates as a result of the fact that some scholars regard social media to be everything that originates through a social channel [15]. The debate is made even more widespread by the findings of academics like Gizlan and Mertucalis, who claim that a knowledge of social media can never be considered complete until the efficiency of the social media platform is considered [22]. Gizlan and Mertucalis concluded that certain social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter) are more appealing to specific types of consumers than they are to other types of customers [22].

Consumer Behaviour and Social Media
The use of social media as a channel through which customers may have their voices heard. According to Smith and Zook, businesses are participating for the purposes of building brand recognition, maintaining and strengthening relationships with current consumers, increasing channel count, and directing traffic to other marketing domains [23]. It’s common knowledge that internet usage facilitates two-way communication; moreover, each networking site contributes to the process that involves data dissemination, reception, and exchange without regard to physical location. It is crucial to keep in mind that rejection, misinterpretation, and misunderstanding are probable risks in the course of interactions because they can affect not solely how enterprises can reach their intended audience but additionally the entire decision-making process, from comprehending the content to looking for substitutes to taking actions after making the purchase [23]. The modern way of living online introduces a new facet of possible results and challenges for public relations (PR) and marketing departments at companies all over the world. It recasts the very idea of a network and redefines the channels through which customers and businesses exchange information. Prior to the widespread availability of internet networking, consumers had few options for taking complaints farther than contacting customer service or informing others in their immediate vicinity. This was altered by the emergence of web-based social networking. Customers now have the ability to provide open feedback on companies in a split second. As a separate component, online networking has contributed to the confusion that has been introduced into the noble buying behaviour process hypothesis. This hypothesis states that the purchasing views are not just influenced by the conventional channels but also extend to the online stages. By depending on sources of data provided by parties other than the capacity of online advertisements to affect individuals, preferences and decision-making are encouraged. These information sources include peer audits, recommendations, websites, interpersonal organizations, and various sorts of client created material [24]. According to Golden, Online communities can be formed with the use of dynamic tools like social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube [25]. According to Kaplan and Haenlein, it is a kind of marketing that has a comparatively cheap cost and enables businesses to interact directly with their customers [4]. Because of the variety of options that have been made accessible to customers and the significant part that social media marketing plays in shaping consumer behaviour, both brands and customers now have the ability to have an economic influence on the approach that an organization employs. The choices that customers make are impacted by brands. Consumers have an impact on one another as consumers. These interconnected chains of occurrence have an effect on repurchases, which in turn has an effect on future profits and the long-term viability of the business. Peer contact via web-based living is an additional kind of consumer socialization; it influences dynamic and, as a result, advertising processes. The buyer socialization hypothesis postulates that consumers’ psychological states, the extent to which they feel and act, and the manner in which they behave are influenced by their interactions with other purchasers [25].

The Commitment Trust Theory 
The commitment -Trust theory was developed by Robert and Shelby, as a means of explaining the value of commitment and trust to the buying decisions of individuals [26]. This was done to contrast the then believed notion that the major influencing factor in any relationship is power [26]. The theory argues that there should be a central means of understanding relationship marketing, and this must be able to distinguish productive, effective, and relational exchanges from unsuccessful ones, and therefore presents two constructs as the means of achieving this; relational commitment, and trust. The theory further states that when both (not one) commitment and trust are present between businesses and customers, it creates a conducive environment for direct cooperative behaviour for relationship marketing. 

According to Spekman, trust is so vital to any strategic relations that it can be seen as the cornerstone of it [27]. In addition to this, Hrebiniak says that when trust is evidently present in any relationship, all parties involved will strive to maintain it cause of the immense value that be will attach to it [28]. These show that trust has an impact on the value attached to any and all kinds of relational exchanges, and can lead to building commitment in all parties involved. Commitment on the other hand has been seen by Berry and Parasuraman as the foundation of relationships [29]. It has further been conceptualized by Assael to be the same thing as brand loyalty [30].

Symbolic Interactionism Theory 
Mead’s symbolic interactionism thesis discusses how human interactions shape identity and social norms. This notion applies in the digital age even if human contact is changing. Applying this idea to online communities, it may be hypothesized that they affect people’s identities and realities and provide a huge space to connect and form connections. Symbolic interactionism describes how humans use language, cognition, and meaning to build their “self.” Interactions shape social identity and behaviour [31]. Thus, the idea shapes social media profiles and online self-discovery. As people interact with others, their “self” changes, evolves, and adapts to shape their identities, which, according to Mead, are premised on how others’ view of them [32]. This “generalized other” guides their communal interactions. It helps a person give activities significance and behave in accordance with community values. Mead’s “self” is a good metaphor for how a Facebook profile is developed and enhanced via digital consumer involvement. 

Hyper-Symbolic Interactionism Theory
Because early theories were developed before the Internet, hyper-symbolic interactionism is a modified theory for social media. Lynch and McConatha say this theory explain how digital symbols create a new world [33]. The hypothesis includes computer language’s l’s and O’s, digital graphics tiny pixels, and everyday advertising’ rich visuals. These subtleties establish new values and standards. Marketers and advertisers in this digital society shape human reality, including values, standards, and symbolism. In virtual reality, people interact differently. Digital advertising also makes individuals believe marketers and adverts. Online communities, which employ alternative methods of engagement, may enable one’s “self” to change even more than Mead envisaged. According to Lynch and McConatha, the generic other that influences oneself tends to be more consumerist in the age of technology than it is in symbolic interactionism [33]. According to Mead’s symbolic interactionism, social network groupings will have an impact on buying habits. Mead argues that online social networking groups ought to possess the same authority as real groups [32]. Thus, social networks strongly impact customer attitudes, behaviour, and purchase decisions.

Empirical Review
In their 2018 study, Noureddinea and ZeinEddineb highlighted why, when, and how social media influences the consumer choice process in Spain. Additionally, they explained how consumers attend to, process, and choose information found on social media before making a purchase. The findings suggest that people are more engaged in the quest for information on social media in comparison to other forms of mass media; yet, individuals’ exposure to information is selective and subjective when they are engaged in the process of seeking for information. The exploratory aspect of the study endeavour to give direction to any organization that is either in the process of transitioning to the new marketing trend or is already participating in it. According to the findings of a study conducted by Putter among European countries on the influence of social media on consumer buying behaviour intention, one emerging focus of marketers is on the use of user-created content [14]. This refers to content that is generated by consumers in response to specific brands and influences the perception of other consumers. A consumer’s impression of a brand and their desire to make a purchase may be affected by a variety of factors, such as the opinions of others as expressed in social media postings.

In their 2018 study, Noureddinea and ZeinEddineb highlighted why, when, and how social media influences the consumer choice process in Spain. Additionally, they explained how consumers attend to, process, and choose information found on social media before making a purchase. The findings suggest that people are more engaged in the quest for information on social media in comparison to other forms of mass media; yet, individuals’ exposure to information is selective and subjective when they are engaged in the process of seeking for information. The exploratory aspect of the study endeavours to give direction to any organization that is either in the process of transitioning to the new marketing trend or is already participating in it. According to the findings of a study conducted by Putter among European countries on the influence of social media on consumer buying behaviour intention, one emerging focus of marketers is on the use of user generated content [14]. This refers to content that is generated by consumers in response to specific brands and influences the perception of other consumers. A consumer’s impression of a brand and their desire to make a purchase may be affected by a variety of factors, such as the opinions of others as expressed in social media postings.

In their 2015 study, Jenyo and Soyoye found a significant correlation between online advertising and customer buying choices in Nigerian firms. They also found that the Internet’s distinctive features, such as instant communication, make this relationship possible such as information accessibility, may influence the behaviour of consumers who follow an alternative-based decision-making process. Etale and Uranta examined the relationship between digital marketing and consumer behavioural pattern in fast food business enterprises in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The study adopted the Commitment Trust Theory developed by Robert and Shelby, which is premised on the value of trust and commitment to the buying behaviour of customers [26]. In order to further the study, primary data was generated from the administration of 200 copies of a questionnaire to a total of 200 customer respondents of the fast-food enterprises in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The Pearson correlation coefficient method was used in the analysis of the data to establish a relationship between the variables, and pointed to a positive relationship between both social media, and email marketing as dimensions of digital marketing, and customer loyalty as a measure of consumer behavioural pattern.

Methodology
The research design adopt in this work is the Survey Method. Surveys are often used to collect information from large groups of people using scales that have been tested for validity and reliability. This study focuses on social media and consumer behaviour in service industry with emphasis on Jumia, an industry that is into selling of product online. The population therefore is the numbers of people that patronize Jumia Pick Up Station in Ago-Iwoye. Therefore, one hundred and forty (140) consumers, representing the typical clientele of the Jumia Ago-Iwoye Delivery Office, make up the study’s target populace. The sample size for the study consists of nine-eight (98) selected customers of Jumia Pick Up Station in Ago-Iwoye. Proportional sample was used to select 70% of the population. This enables the researcher to select only those that are willing to participate in the study and at the same time, have a sample can give accurate results. The instrument used in this study is a questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises of demographic data form, Social Media Behaviour Questionnaire and Consumer Buying Behaviour Questionnaire.

Social Media Behaviour Questionnaire: The questionnaire is developed by Muthiah and Kannan measure social media behaviour of the respondents. The questionnaire consists of 12-items with five sub-scale: Reliable and interactive factor (4-item), social media as Advertisement tool (3-item), social media as Informative tool (2-item) Longevity (2-item) and social media interactivity (1-item). Respondents were given three responses of “Yes”, “No”, or “Undecided”. Some of the items on the scale include Advertisements through social networking are more fascinating than orthodox advertising, social media is an effective and powerful platform for consumers to interconnect with each other and with the companies. I change my attitude towards a particular brand/ product/ service after reading a positive comment. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was computed by Muthiah and Kannan using Corn Bach’s Alpha and the value is 0.912, which shows that the instrument is reliable.

Consumer Behaviour Questionnaire: The measure for consumer buying behaviour was adopted from literature. To measure consumer buying behaviour, four items was adopted from the study of Sürücü et al,. This scale was tested and verified by existing studies. A sample item is “I mostly buy luxury brand goods for myself.” The responses of the questionnaire ranged from 5 “strongly agree” to 1 “strongly disagree”. In order to ascertain the validity of the research instrument, a draft copy of the questionnaire was given to the experts for a critical review before given approval for final distribution. In order to conduct reliability test for the instrument, twenty questionnaires were piloted by issuing them to respondents who were not be included in the final study sample. The twenty questionnaires were coded and responses input into SPSS which was used to generate the reliability coefficient of 0.74.

Table 1 contains an evaluation of the demographic information that was collected. According to the outcomes of the gender distribution evaluation, 58.1% of the people were male while 41.8% were female. This suggests that the greatest number of those surveyed were individuals of the male gender. Analysis of age distribution showed that 12.2% were less than 18 years, 67.3% were between 18 and 25 years while 20.4% were between 26 and 35 years. The results showed that majority of the respondents were between 18 and 25 years. Analysis of educational attainment showed 5.1% had no formal education, 16.3% attain secondary level while 78% attained Tertiary level.

SPSS calculations done by the authors
Table 2 presents the information of respondents regarding the use of social media. It was shown that 66.3% of the respondents used social media and 41.8% used it for more than 3 hours a day. Findings from the study revealed that 76.5% pay attention to advertisement on social media and this have influenced the purchasing decision of 82.7% of the respondents. Analysis of social media network used indicate that 50% were active on Facebook, 58.2% were active on WhatsApp, 66.3% were active on Instagram, 87.8% were not active on Blogs, 61.2% were not active on microblog, 81.6% were not active on YouTube, and 76.5% were not actively using search engine.

Analysis of Research Questions and Test of Hypotheses
Research Question 1: What is the frequency of online purchase among consumers?

Table 3 displays the statistics, showing how often customers make purchases via the internet. The mean of the table was set at 3.0, and every single entry was higher than that. Also, the grand mean was 3.80, which indicated that the frequency of the online purchase among consumers was very high. In essence, the frequency of online consumers is high.

Research Question 2: What are the major factors of social media that influence consumer behaviours?

The results in table 4 showed the factors that influence consumer behaviour. It was shown that all the items in the table were below expected mean on 2.0, except for item 5 (innovativeness) which was 3.64. This shows that only innovativeness influence consumer behaviour as indicated by the respondents.

Research Question Three: What is the relationship between social media and consumer behaviour?

H₀:    There is no significant relationship between social media and consumer behaviour.
H₁:    There is significant relationship between social media and consumer behaviour

The results in table 5 showed the mean value for social media and buying behaviour as 18.74 and 1.17 respectively. The Correlation coefficient of social media and buying behaviour was .503 which was significant at 0.000. With the significant value less than 0.05, this indicate that there was significant positive relationship between social media and consumer behaviour.

H₀: There is no significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision.
H₁: There is significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision.

The results in Table 3 indicated that with when predictor variables (social media) were entered into the regression model, there was significant influence on consumer purchase decision (R = .291; R2 = .085; Adj R2 = .075; F (1,96) = .8.879; p <.004). The relationship between both independent and dependent variables is shown by the R-value. For further examination, a number that is chosen is more than 0.4. The result in this instance is 0.291, which is lower and shown a weak association-square displays the overall variance for the variable in question that the independent factors may account for. A number higher than 0.5 indicates that the algorithm is capable of identifying the link. The value in this instance is 0.085, which is quite weak. In multiple regression, the adjusted R-square demonstrates the generalization of the findings, or the variance of the sample results from the population. A minimal distinction between R-square and modified R-square must exist. The value in this instance is.075, which is close to 085, making it weak. Generally, 95% confidence interval or 5% level of the significance level is chosen for the study. Thus, the p-value should be less than 0.05. In the above table, it is .004 which is less than the expected p-value of 0.05. Therefore, the result is significant. F-ratio represents an improvement in the prediction of the variable by fitting the model after considering the inaccuracy present in the model. A value is greater than 1 for F-ratio yield efficient model. In the above table, the value is 8.879, which is an indication that the model is efficient. In summary, since the significant value (0.004) is less than 0.05, the null hypothesis stated in this study is rejected while the alternate hypothesis is accepted. Thus, the results showed that there was statistically significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision (R = .291; R2 = .085; Adj R2 = .075; F (1,96) = .8.879; p <.004).

Discussion of Findings
The number of times that customers make purchases on the internet was the primary focus of the first objective. A large proportion of those surveyed (mean = 3.8) reported making frequent purchases from internet retailers. The implication of this results is that the respondents buy online products frequently. This further validated the opinion of Gaudel, who claimed that social media has begun to shift the power from marketers to consumers, Because of the democracy that social media sites permit, every user are able to interact with one another and exchange data regarding goods and services. This forces marketers to adapt their old strategies to meet the demands of customers and make as many personal connections to them as they can, especially when it comes to their plight. In addition, this further validated the opinion of Gaudel. Research objective two examine the major factors of social media that influence consumer behaviour. Among the factors listed which include interest, interactive, effective communication, informative and innovativeness, only innovativeness (Mean = 3.64) was identified as the major factors of social media that influence consumer behaviour. This implies that respondent exposure to social media is selective. The result validated the findings of Noureddinea and ZeinEddineb who clarified that individuals are actively involved in the search for information on social media compared with the mass media; yet exposure to information is selective and subjective when searching for information [34]. Research objective three determined the relationship between social media and consumer behaviour. Findings from the study revealed that there was significant positive relationship between social media and consumer behaviour, The result is in tandem with Mangold who assert that social media has also influenced consumer behaviour from information acquisition to post-purchase behaviour such as dissatisfaction statements or behaviours. The outcome of the present study supported the study of Al Jahwari, Joshi and Al Mandhari affirmed that social media platforms influence purchasing decisions [35]. The study was further supported by Jenyo and Soyoye who found a significant relationship between online marketing and consumer purchase decision in Nigerian firms.

Research objective four established if social media influence consumer purchase decision. Results from the study showed that there was statistically significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision (R = .291; R2 = .085; Adj R2 = .075; F (1,96) = .8.879; p <.004). Regarding a similar topic, Diebes and Iriqat came to the conclusion that social media enables users to be active knowledge seekers rather than passive data consumers [13]. As a result, social networking site users have the power to affect other customers on the internet as well as physical sales platforms. The results from the present study corroborate the findings of Makudza, Mugarisanwa and Siziba who found that social media is a significant driver of consumer purchase intention [36].

This study aims at assessing social media and consumer behaviour in service industry. In particular, it looked at how often people buy things online, what aspects in social networking sites have the biggest impact on consumers, the manner in which social internet affects people’s actions, and whether or not people let social media affect their buying decisions. The research concentrated on the service sector, with a particular emphasis on the Jumia Pickup Station located in Ago-Iwoye. Mead’s hyper-symbolic interactionism, which is a modified theory of symbolic interactionism for social media, served as the basis for the study’s theoretical framework. Earlier theories were developed before the development of the Internet therefore this theory serves as an update to the more traditional theory. Because of Mead’s symbolic interactionism theory, the author is led to conclude that communities found inside social networking sites will have an effect on the behavior of consumers. The primary hypothesis is based on the premise that consumers’ attitudes, behaviors, and the process by which they make purchase decisions are significantly impacted by social networks.

Primary data was used gather information from consumers of online products from Jumia Pickup station through the use of questionnaire. The summary of findings are as follows:

1. The frequency of the online purchase among the respondents were high (mean = 3.80).
2. The major factors of social media that influence consumer behaviour include interest, interactive, effective communication, informative and innovativeness, only innovativeness (Mean = 3.64) was identified as the major factors of social media that influence consumer behaviour.
3. There was significant positive relationship between social media and consumer behaviour (r=.503, p<.000).
4. There was statistically significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision (R = .291; R2 = .085; Adj R2 = .075; F (1,96) = .8.879; p <.004).

Based on the findings of this study, one can draw the conclusion that customers are making use of social media platforms as a tool in the process of verifying their purchasing choices. The vast majority of respondents saw social media platforms as the equivalent of electronic word of mouth. The evaluations and preferences expressed by former customers on social media platforms have an impact on the decision-making process of possible new customers. The results of this study found that consumers were frequently using social media for online purchase and the major factor of social media that influences them is innovativeness. The study therefore concluded that there was significant positive relationship between social media and consumer behaviour. Likewise, there was statistically significant influence of social media on consumer purchase decision. Thus, social media have an important role to play on consumer behaviour in service industry.

Because of this, it is advised that service businesses reduce the number of posts they produce and instead prioritize promoting posts written by users and sponsored word of mouth marketing. The research also concluded that social media sites by themselves do not influence consumers’ intentions to make purchases. Therefore, service industries may run social media campaigns on any social platform with the intention of bring in innovativeness in order to attract more customers. In addition, since consumers may not be able to visit the service industries office for complain, organizations should give prompt and quick response to its customers’ compliant by creating a simple and fast compliant handling system. They should create a strong feedback system that enables them to relate effectively with customers and understand them better. This will help to improve on effective communication and informative. Organization should utilize social platforms to setup their communication platforms for interacting with their customers and clients.

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