The Impact of Individuals' Susceptibility to Persuasion on Perceived Information Quality and Purchase Intention among Millennials

Abstract

Social media is growing in popularity and has assumed a more central role in information dissimilation more recently. This development has increased the opportunity for firms to communicate, persuade, and influence customers' behaviors. However, little is known about the antecedents of susceptibility to persuasion among millennials. Millennials' are individuals born between (1982-2002) the age and have become an important segment for marketers. Thus, this paper seeks to examine the effect of millennials' susceptibility to persuasion on perceived information quality and purchase intention. Precisely, the paper evaluates the effect of susceptibility to persuasion, based on Cialdini's six persuasion dimensions, namely, reciprocity, commitment/consistency, social proof, authority, scarcity, and liking on perceived information quality, as well as the mediating effect of perceived information quality in the relationship between susceptibility to persuasion on purchase intention. The results reveal that four of the persuasion dimensions explain a significant amount of variance in perceived information quality. Commitment/consistency, authority, scarcity, liking and perceived information quality are significantly related. There is partial support for the mediating effects of perceived information quality in the relationship of persuasion dimensions with purchase intention. Also, there is partial support for the moderating effects of gender and educational level in the relationship between persuasion dimensions and perceived information quality. The study presents key findings, and the results provide significant theoretical and managerial implications