An Empirical Investigation of Factors Affecting Jordanian Customers’ Attitudes Towards Facebook Pure Players’ E-Brands

Samer M Al-Mohammad^*

Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, MutahUniversity, Karak, Jordan

*Corresponding Author:

Samer M Al-Mohammad
Department of Marketing
Faculty of Business Administration
MutahUniversity, Karak, Jordan
Tel: 00962796998767
E-mail: samer_f3yahoo.com

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Abstract

The application of Facebook in e-commerce has paved the way for some Jordanian entrepreneurs to apply pure player business models via Facebook business pages. Despite the economic contribution of pure player Facebook pages, research on customers’ attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands is lacking. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper was to introduce a model suggesting that two major characteristics of pure player FB pages (namely; information quality and shopping convenience) should have a direct impact over customers' satisfaction with, and trust in, those pages. Further, the paper’s model suggested that both customers’ satisfaction and trust would affect customers’ attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. To examine the paper’s proposed model and hypotheses, quantitative data was collected through an online survey of 147 customers of eight Jordanian apparel pure player Facebook pages. Statistical examination of collected data has yielded several important findings. Firstly, information quality had a direct significant impact over both customers’ satisfaction with pure player Facebook pages, and their perceptions of shopping convenience via those pages. However, information quality had no significant impact over customers’ trust in pureplayer Facebook pages. Secondly, customers’ perceptions of shopping convenience via pure player Facebook pages had no significant impact over customers’ satisfaction with those pages. Thirdly, customers’ satisfaction had a direct significant impact over their trust in, and attitudes towards, pure players’ e-brands. Fourthly, customers’ trust in pure player Facebook pages had no significant impact over their attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. Based on its findings, the paper reaches certain conclusions, introduces some recommendations, and suggests further avenues for future research.

Keywords

Facebook (FB); Pure Players; E-brand Attitude; Information Quality; Shopping Convenience; Satisfaction; Trust

Introduction

Consistent with its worldwide status, Facebook is the most popular online social network in Jordan. With about five million active Jordanian users [1], the popularity of Facebook has encouraged many established Jordanian businesses to create their own Facebook pages to draw and communicate with their potential and target markets on a larger scale. Most noticeably, Facebook (hereby referred to as FB) has also enabled a considerable number of Jordanian entrepreneurs to create a cyber, rather than “brick-and-mortar” presence for their small businesses. Applying a "pure player" business model to their startups, those entrepreneurs have established their own FB business pages to market their products to Jordanian FB users, without having to go through the lengthy and costly process of establishing traditional, brick-and-mortar, firms. Nevertheless, and despite managing to avoid the costs and constrains associated with traditional firm establishment, "pure player" FB pages face significant challenges; they must compete as new brands and take customers away from established brick-and-mortar or online businesses [2]. Accordingly, "pure player" FB pages still have to take notice of general marketing principles that apply to all types of organizations, regardless of their presence. One marketing issue of concern to this paper is Jordanian customers' attitudes towards "pure player" e-brands on FB.

A brand can be defined as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” [3]. Marketing research has emphasized that the success of any brand is actually dependent on the attitude generated towards that brand amongst target customers. Brand attitude can be defined as "consumers' overall evaluation of a brand" [4]. It represents a "learned disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner towards a brand’’ [5]. Accordingly, brand attitudes are vitally important since they often form the basis for consumer behavior [6]. While an e-brand represents an electronic version of the “traditional” brand, the importance of generating favorable e-brand attitudes is paramount for pure player startups since that their brands are new to the market. Accordingly, it is important for such organizations to explore the factors affecting customers' e-brand attitude.

Very little research has addressed customers' attitudes towards e-brands in general [7], and FB pages e-brands in particular [8]. Scarce available research has actually attempted to either explore the impact of online presence over brand attitudes of brick-and-mortar organizations [7-9], or the impact of general (online) pure players' characteristics over e-brand experience and attitude [10]. With pure player FB pages representing a unique case of on online pure players (e.g. engines and e-tailers), e-brand attitude for such case is worthy of observation and study considering the growing number of FB pure player pages worldwide.

Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of certain FB page characteristics over customers' e-brand attitude. The paper introduces a model suggesting that two major characteristics of pure player FB pages (namely; information quality and shopping convenience) should have a direct impact over customers' satisfaction with those pages.

The model further suggests that both information quality and customers' satisfaction with FB pages will have a direct impact over their trust in those pages. Finally the model proposes that customers satisfaction with, and trust in, pure player FB pages will have a direct impact over their attitudes towards the e-brands of those pages. Despite the paper's local focus on Jordanian context, its results might shed some light in relation to the use of social websites for e-brand attitude creation. Further, the paper's results can be of benefit to Jordanian entrepreneurs embarking on establishing their own pure player presence via FB. Finally, the results might also be of benefit to governmental and nongovernmental organizations financing and supporting Jordanian online startups.

The paper is organized into seven sections. Section two introduces research problem and questions, while section three reviews relevant literature and introduces the paper’s proposed model and hypotheses. Section four discusses research methodology applied by the paper, in addition to empirical findings. Section five discusses empirical findings in relation to reviewed literature. Section six underlines the paper’s conclusions and recommendations, while section seven underlines the paper’s contribution and limitations, in addition to suggesting future research avenues.

Research Problem and Quetions

The paper's main problem is to understand how e-brand attitudes are formed, especially for Jordanian small businesses applying "pure player" models through FB pages. The paper suggests that two characteristics relevant to pure player FB pages play a vital role in shaping Jordanian customers' satisfaction with, and trust in, those pages. Further, the paper suggests that both of customers' satisfaction and trust should exert a positive impact over their attitudes towards pure players' e-brands. In relation to its research problem and arguments, and consistent with relevant literature review, this paper aims to answer the following questions:

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' perceptions of "information quality" on pure player FB pages over their levels of satisfaction with these pages?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' perceptions of "information quality" on pure player FB pages over their levels of trust in these pages?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' perceptions of "information quality" on pure player FB pages over their perceptions of these pages "shopping convenience"?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' perceptions of "shopping convenience" on pure player FB pages over their levels of satisfaction with these pages?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' levels of satisfaction with pure player FB pages and their trust in these pages?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' levels of satisfaction with pure player FB pages and their attitudes towards pure players' e-brands?

• Is there a direct effect of Jordanian customers' levels of trust in pure player FB pages and their attitudes towards pure players' e-brands?

Literature Review

Facebook Application in Business: The Growing Potential for Small Businesses and Pure Players

With over 1.7 billion active users, FB is currently the most popular online social network worldwide. While FB has grown exponentially for individuals seeking new ways of connecting with other individuals, the social network has also become increasingly more popular with companies looking to create a brand or enhance their current brand's image [11]. Acknowledging the commercial benefits it can gain out of hosting business related profiles, FB introduced specific profiles suitable for businesses, these profiles are referred to as FB pages.

A FB page is a "public profile specifically created for businesses, brands, celebrities, etc. Unlike personal profiles, pages do not gain friends, but fans which are people who like the page. All those fans who like a page will form the community of that page" [12]. FB pages create an online presence for a business’s brand and allow the brand to actively engage with its publics [13]. As Table 1 explains, FB pages are designed with specific elements to serve businesses' promotional needs. Further, they are flexible enough to allow two-way communication between businesses and their "fans".

Table 1: FB Page static elements (Source: Olczak and Sobczyk [12]).

Businesses use FB pages to achieve several goals such as creating brand awareness, connecting and engaging with current and potential customers, entertaining current and potential customers, creating a community around the organization and its products, offering incentives to customers, and promoting any organization or product related content [12,14]. The popularity of FB pages amongst both businesses and customers is unprecedented. In 2015, 84.7% of US companies with 100 employees or more were using FB for marketing activities. In 2016, a total of 60 million businesses worldwide were using FB pages [15]. It was estimated that FB made $15.5 billion in advertising revenues during the year 2015, approximately 65.5% of all social networks advertising spending worldwide [16]. On the other hand, a study by Kentico revealed that 52% of FB users were fans of branded FB business pages [17]. This percentage is anticipated to increase considering the fact that the number of people visiting FB pages monthly is one billion [15].

Of particular interest is the appeal FB has to small businesses and entrepreneurs. In a more detailed look at how it impacts global economy, a recent Deloitte report [18] declared that FB was reducing barriers to marketing by allowing businesses of all sizes to raise awareness of their brands, and supporting entrepreneurship by giving new startups a platform to introduce and promote their activities. In addition to the aforementioned benefits of using FB pages, they are particularly relevant to small businesses and startups short on marketing and financial resources [19,20]. Conducting businesses through FB by small firms not only increases their direct value on the basis of increased transactions and increased turnover which they get by connecting with new customers, but also gives rise in the indirect value through word-of-mouth, positive recommendations and the relative influence that followers exert on each other [21]. Accordingly, many small businesses that don’t have websites use FB pages to reach customers [22]. Latest 2016 figures show that over 50 million small businesses have a cyber-presence to their operations through FB pages [15].

Most notably, FB has allowed for the creation of small pure player businesses via its FB pages. By definition, pure players are businesses that began on internet, even if they subsequently added a brick-and-mortar presence [2]. Pure players do not have an up-front store presence and sell products only via the internet [23]. Typical examples of pure players include yahoo.com, google.com, amazon.com, and facebook.com. Pure players usually enjoy lower property and stock-keeping costs and their model is highly scalable with fewer constraints in product range, opening hours and geographical marketplaces [24,25].Without even having to create websites for their online startups, entrepreneurs nowadays can apply a "pure player" business model through creating and running their businesses via FB pages. Such endeavor is drastically less costly and lengthy compared to other on and offline presences, i.e. website and brick and mortar. Nevertheless, and despite managing to avoid the costs and constrains associated with traditional firm establishment, "pure player" FB pages face significant challenges; they must compete as new brands and take customers away from established brick-andmortar or online businesses [2].

Pure Player FB Pages; Factors Affecting E-brand Attitude

A brand has been defined as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” [3]. Most established, brick-and-mortar, businesses use their already existing brands on their FB pages, thus presenting and electronic version of their own traditional brands, i.e. ebrand. However, pure players have the challenging task of creating awareness and generating favorable attitudes towards their newly introduced e-brands appearing solely on FB pages. Amongst various definitions of the concept, brand attitude can be defined as "consumers' overall evaluation of a brand" [4]. It represents a "learned disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner towards a brand’’ [5]. According to Solomon [26], attitude includes three factors as affect, which explains the emotions and feelings toward an object; behavior, which explains the actions taken toward an object; and cognition, which explains the thoughts toward an object.

Considerable research has underlined the impact of favorable brand attitude over consumers' purchase intentions, behaviors, and loyalty; in addition to its impact over organizations' profits and general future success [4,6,27-31]. Nevertheless, little research has attempted to explore the impact of organizational social media presence over customers' attitudes towards brands in general, and e-brands in particular. Table 1 underlines a sample of such research [32,33]

While not calming to be comprehensive in nature, the Table 1 evokes the following observations. Firstly, most of available research attempts to examine the impacts of using social media presence over attitudes towards already existing, traditional, brands [32,34-40]. Research addressing impacts over newly introduced e-brands appears to be quite scarce. Secondly, FB is one of the most studied social networks in the domain of brand attitude formation [36,38].Such observation might be justified by the fact that FB is the most popular social network worldwide [41].

Thirdly, a plethora of factors related to social media were examined for their impacts over attitudes towards different types of brands. For instance, Jin [33] examined the impact of customers' satisfaction with a luxury brand's FB page over their attitudes towards that brand. Further, Rog [38] underlined the impact of content type of FB message over attitudes towards a convenience good brand. On the other hand, Ott el al. [39] studied the impact of FB message interactivity and source authority over respondents' brand attitudes of a fictitious durable brand (Table 2). Further, Le Roux and Maree [40] tested the impact of users' motives for using FB pages over their attitudes towards apparel brands. Such examples underline the diversity of research on social networks' role in forming brand attitudes for almost all types of products.

Table 2: Sample of Research on impact of organizational social media presence over customers' attitudes towards brands in general, and e-brands in particular.

Finally, research in the use of social media as a pure player platform is extremely scarce, if not unavailable. What is available, however, is research exploring the online presence of pure players and its impacts over their e-brands. For instance, Khan and Zillur [42] explored the impact of customers' experience with an e-tailer's website over their trust and loyalty towards the e-tailers' e-brand. Several explanations can be given to the lack of research on pure player FB pages' e-brand attitude. Firstly, pure player FB pages might represent a small percentage of FB pages worldwide. Secondly, pure player FB pages' existence might be context dependent, i.e. varies between countries. Thirdly, most pure players might have their online presence through their own websites mainly; FB pages might represent a secondary marketing channel for those pure players.

According to Strauss and Frost [2], the key to pure players' success is offering greater customer value. While pure player FB pages represent a unique case of pure player business models, it is vital to explore how those pages can create value for their potential customers, and how such value contributes to customers' attitudes towards those pure players' e-brands. Accordingly, and in relation to the above observations and comments, the purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of certain pure player FB page characteristics over customers' satisfaction, trust, and e-brand attitude. The focus will be on Jordanian pure player FB pages. As Jordanian young business community is catching up with the global technological development, more entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the internet to build their businesses based on "FB clicks" as opposed to "Bricks". Jordanian consumer's increasing internet penetration (75% of population), mobile penetration (147% of population), and social media adoption (over 4 million FB users) [1,43], are all major factors contributing to the appeal of "pure player FB page" business model to those Jordanian entrepreneurs.

Proposed Model and Hypotheses

Understanding the influencing factors which could increase the level of satisfaction within online brand communities on social media is a worthy goal which could result in greater volume of WOM and improved attitude towards the brand, potentially increasing company’s revenue [44]. Careful observation of previous research underlines the scarcity of research examining the impacts of pure player FB page characteristics over customers' attitudes towards pure players' e-brands. Accordingly, Figure 1 introduces the paper’s proposed model which suggests that two major characteristics of pure player FB pages (namely; information quality and shopping convenience) should have a direct impact over customers' satisfaction with those pages. The model further suggests that both information quality and customers' satisfaction with pure player FB pages will have a direct impact over their trust in those pages. Finally the model proposes that customers satisfaction with, and trust in, pure player FB pages will have a direct impact over their attitudes towards the e-brands of pure players.

Proposed Model Hypotheses

Impacts of FB Page Characteristics: Satisfaction and Shopping Convenience

Lim et al. [45] found that a company's social network site could influence a consumer depending on whether he/she had a positive or negative reaction to the company’s social network site. Individuals who had a positive experience reported being pleased with the brand. However when the site experience was negative consumers reported a negative reaction to the firm’s brand. While FB pages might provide the same elements and services to all types of business, it is the responsibility of those businesses to manage these pages in an effective manner to give customers a satisfying experience. Such task becomes more important to pure players for two reasons; firstly, a huge part of pure players' services is provided on a FB page.

Accordingly, much of customers' experience and satisfaction with pure players' services are actually dependent on how pure players manage customers' interactions on their FB pages. Secondly, and contrary to traditional brands using FB pages, the novelty of pure players' e-brands doesn’t give customers any previous expectations, which makes their judgment mostly based on their experiences with pure players' FB pages. Accordingly, two vital characteristics need to be carefully addressed by pure players on their FB pages in order to guarantee higher levels of customer satisfaction and trust, namely; information quality and shopping convenience.

To start with, pure player FB pages need to provide high quality information to their visitors. Information quality is defined as "information which satisfies criteria of appreciation specified by the user, together with a certain standard of requirements” [46]. It can be thought of as information’s inherent usefulness to customers in assessing the utility [47]. Several studies have highlighted the importance of information’s relevance usefulness, timeliness, adequacy, and accuracy as key dimensions of information quality [48-50]. Earlier research has emphasized the vital role information quality plays in forming consumers’ satisfaction with a company’s website and its associated services [50-52]. Szymanski and Hise [53] defined satisfaction as the “consumers’ judgment of their internet retail experience as compared to their experiences with traditional retail stores”. Interestingly, some research has underlined the direct impact of information quality over FB users’ satisfaction. For instance, and in an attempt to explore the importance of electronic service quality’s dimensions in relation to companies’ FB pages, Zeglat and Tedmori [50] observed that respondents rated information quality as the second most important dimension of service quality, after privacy. They concluded that companies should pay attention to information quality of their FB pages in order to guarantee customers’ satisfaction and continuous engagement. Further, and applying DeLone and McLean’s “information systems success” model to investigate how different quality dimensions affect FB pages users’ satisfaction, behavioral intention, and engagement; Thumsamisorn and Rittippant [49] found that information quality was a crucial factor in determining users’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions.

Building on the above, pure players' FB pages need to provide quality information to facilitate customers’ understanding of the products and assist customers’ decision making for purchases; such as detailed product description, transparent price information as well as supplemental services including company contact information, and hyperlinks to relevant websites [48]. If customers perceive information of a particular pure player FB page to be of high quality, they would be more satisfied and have a positive attitude toward that particular page. Accordingly:

H1: Customers' perceptions of information quality on pure player FB pages have direct positive impact over their level of satisfaction with these pages.

The impact of information quality extends to reach customers’ trust in pure player FB pages. Trust is defined as “one party’s belief that its needs will be fulfilled in the future by actions undertaken by the other party” [54]. It represents a set of beliefs held by a consumer as to certain characteristics of the supplier, as well as the possible behavior of the supplier in the future [55,56]. Trust has been emphasized as one of the major influential factors in the context of e-commerce in general [57,58] and social commerce in particular [59], due to the high levels of risk and uncertainty associated with such types of commerce. Companies use customers trust in setting expectations for future behavior and building their brand name online, i.e. e-branding. Therefore, the higher the levels of consumer trust, the higher the degree of purchase intentions of consumers, and the easier it is to retain consumers [60].

Previous research has underlined a direct impact of information quality over users’ trust in social networks in general, and business pages on social networks in particular [59,61-63]. For instance, and in an attempt to explore the impact of consumer trust on purchase intentions in organic rice via FB, Sukrat et al. [63] underlined that trust in rice farmers depends on their benevolence and trust in FB depends on information quality. Further, and in an effort to scrutinize available literature for factors affecting trust in s-commerce, Esmaeili et al. [59] identified information quality as one of the most cited factors affecting trust in social networks’ business pages. These research results suggest that if business pages on FB provide high quality information, consumers tend to believe that those pages can actually fulfill their current and future needs, which will make them determinant to purchase products via those pages. Accordingly:

H2: Customers' perceptions of information quality on pure player FB pages have direct positive impact over their level of trust in these pages.

Finally, information quality exerts its impact on another important characteristic usually examined in assessing FB business pages, namely; shopping convenience. Convenience is a key to understanding shopping behavior, for which consumers attach an increased significance [64]. Brown et al. [65] defined shopping convenience as “a reduction in the amount of consumer time and/or energy required to acquire, use, and dispose of a product relative to the time and energy required by other offerings in the product class”. Online shopping provides an experience not limited by time, space, and weather [66]. Convenience due to the time and effort saved by shopping from one’s own place rather than visiting physical stores has been suggested by various researchers as a perceived benefit of online shopping [67-69]. While pure player FB pages represent a unique case of online shopping, convenience remains an important characteristic worthy of consideration [70]. Previous research has suggested a vital role of information quality in forming online shopping convenience [71]. Nevertheless, empirical examination if information quality’s impact over online shopping convenience is lacking. This paper proposes that information of high quality should save customers’ time and mental effort thus increasing shopping convenience, accordingly;

H3: Customers' perceptions of information quality on pure player FB pages have a direct positive impact over their perceptions of these pages' shopping convenience.

While being affected by the quality of information provided by pure player FB pages, previous research has underlined a direct impact of online shopping convenience over customers’ satisfaction [72-74]. Online shopping is associated with hassle-free shopping i.e. it helps consumers at their convenience without any shame for not buying anything and just browsing the products [69]. Furthermore, online shopping has been related to low cost and savings, as consumers are able to get same quality products at a lower cost due to the cost saved on rent, store installation, decoration which are generally borne by the owners of the retail stores and are passed on to the consumers [75]. Such factors are anticipated to make online customers satisfied. While FB shopping is considered as a supplemental environment to established brands, it represents the core environment for pure players. Accordingly, the importance of pure player FB pages' shopping convenience is paramount for its proposed impact over customer satisfaction;

H4: Customers' perceptions of shopping convenience on pure player FB pages have a direct positive impact over their levels of satisfaction with these pages.

Satisfaction and Trust: Impacts over E-brand Attitude

Having been affected by both characteristics of pure player FB pages, i.e. information quality and shopping convenience, customer satisfaction with those pages can result in both customers’ trust and positive e-brand attitude. Consumer trust in e-commerce is built upon online shopping experiences, and it represents the confidence in certain attributes of the company [76]. According to Johnson and Grayson [77], the experience of a certain level of satisfaction potentially contributes to perception of trust. In the e-commerce domain, previous research has underlined a direct impact of customers’ satisfaction with a website over their trust in that website [78-81]. While considerable research has explored the impacts of social networks use over customers trust through applying different models [82,83], empirical research studying the direct impact of customer satisfaction with a business’s page on a social network over customer’s trust in that page is apparently lacking. Nevertheless, and building on the fact that social networks application in business represents one dimension of e-commerce, this paper argues that satisfaction with an organization’s FB page should lead to higher levels of customer trust in that organization. While pure player FB pages are online based organizations, the impact of customer satisfaction over trust becomes more important, since that the FB page is the only outlet for the pure player business. Accordingly;

H5: Customers' satisfaction with pure player FB pages has a direct positive impact over their level of trust in these pages.

In addition to its impact over customer trust in a pure player’s FB page, customer satisfaction is anticipated to have a direct positive impact over customers’ attitudes towards the pure player’s e-brand. Earlier, brand attitude was defined as “consumers’ overall evaluation of a brand” [4].The more positive the brand attitude, the easier it is for the consumer to retrieve or recall the brand. Previous branding research has underlined a direct positive impact of customer satisfaction over brand attitude [84,85].

The argument behind such impact is when consumers are satisfied with the product/brand, they are more likely to evaluate it positively, recommend the product to others, are less likely to switch to other alternative brands, and are likely to repeat purchase [86], all of which are close to the three aforementioned dimensions of brand attitude, namely; affect, cognition, and behavior. In relation to Table 2, some previous research has found a direct impact of customer satisfaction with FB business page over brand attitude. For instance, Jin [33] underlined that customer satisfaction with a luxury brand’s FB interface was a positive predictor of favorable attitude towards that brand. While such research has focused mainly on established/traditional brands extending their reach and communication capabilities through FB pages, this paper argues that pure players using FB pages to provide their core businesses should be more concerned with customer satisfaction impact over their new to the world e-brands. Accordingly;

H6: Customers' satisfaction with pure player FB pages has a direct positive impact over their attitudes towards pure players' e-brands.

Finally, the paper proposes that trust in pure player FB pages will have a direct positive impact over customers’ attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. In e-commerce research, customer trust in an organization’s website was a predictor of customers trust in the organization itself, its products, and purchase intentions [87,88]. The idea behind such impact is that a trusted business website should not engage in unfair practices such as unfair pricing, conveying inaccurate information, violations of privacy, unauthorized use of credit card information, and unauthorized tracking of transactions [87]. Website trust is the outcome of customers’ experience with the website [89]. As consumers gain higher levels of website trust, the value of the consumer-website brand relationship increases [90].

In the context of social commerce, previous research has echoed findings reached in the more general e-commerce domain [87,91,92]. For instance, Hajli [92] found that when potential consumers were encouraged to trust in vendors by their peers, and also to trust in the SNS itself, they were more likely to buy through social networking sites. Further, Pentina et al. [91] underlined that users’ trust in the social media site positively affected patronage intentions towards the brands which users followed on the site. Nevertheless, such research has fallen short of examining the direct effect of customers’ trust in specific business pages on social networks over customers’ attitudes towards those pages’ brands. In other words, previous research has focused more on the impact of trust in social networks themselves over relationships and intentions towards certain brands; however, they didn’t separate between trusts in a particular social network and trust in specific page(s) on that network. While customers might trust a certain social network in general, they might be distrustful of a certain business page on the same network due to bad experience with that particular page. Accordingly, this paper focuses on specific pure player FB pages, and suggests that users trust in those pages will result in positive attitudes towards pure players' e-brands;

H7: Customers' trust in pure player FB pages has a direct positive impact over their attitudes towards pure players' e-brands.

Methodology

Population and Sampling

While there are over 4 million FB users in Jordan, the exact figure of those who had a purchase experience from Jordanian pure player FB pages was not available. Accordingly, and consistent with similar research in social networks domain [33,38,40], a convenience sampling technique was applied. In order to increase the probability of reaching those Jordanian FB users with at least one purchase experience, and appreciating the paper’s time limitations, the researcher contacted eight of the most popular pure play FB apparel pages in Jordan in order to submit an electronic questionnaire through them. After granting their cooperation and permission, an electronic questionnaire was distributed via the eight FB pages for a period of two weeks. Accordingly, a total of 199 questionnaires were received at the end of that period. Thorough examination of returned questionnaires has resulted in disregarding 52 questionnaires for missing items. A total of 147 questionnaires were deemed suitable for analysis purposes. The resulting sample characteristics are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Respondents’ Characteristics.

Interestingly, the majority of respondents were females, which indicates that Jordanian females are more interested in shopping via FB pages when compared to males. Further, around 86.5% of respondents were between 18-31 years old, this is consistent with the fact that the majority of Jordanians are below the age of 35 [93]. In relation to respondents’ education, 68.7% of them had a Bachelor degree, which is also consistent with the fact that the Jordanian society is highly educated [93]. Finally, the majority of respondents, 63%, had a maximum of two shopping experiences, which might have some indications is relation to respondents’’ satisfaction with their shopping experiences.

Measurement Items

Items used to measure the model’s constructs were adapted from previous research. Four items were used to measure respondents’ perceptions of “information quality” on pure player FB pages, while three items were used to measure their perceptions of “shopping convenience” on those pages. Another three items were used to measure respondents’ “satisfaction” with pure player FB pages, in addition to three items used to measure their “trust” in those pages. Finally, and consistent with previous empirical research [39,40], a respondents’ “attitudes towards pure players e-brands” was considered as a unidimensional construct, and three items were used to assess it. All items were measured using a 5 point Likert scale. Appendix A underlines all measurement items in addition to their sources.

Data Analysis and Results

Following Hulland’s [94] procedure, a two-phased approach was used for data analysis. First, and in accordance with Anderson and Gerbing [95] recommendations, five measurement models -representing the five major constructs of the paper’s model - were estimated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the overall fit of these models, as well as their validity and reliability to ensure that only reliable and valid measures of the constructs were used before drawing conclusions about the nature of the constructs’ relationships [94]. Second, a structural model was tested by estimating the paths between the constructs in the model. T-values and their statistical significance were assessed for that purpose, as indicators of the model’s predictive ability. In addition to SPSS (version 16), Amos software (version 3) was adopted to perform data analyses of both measurement and structural models.

Constructs Validity and Reliability

In accordance with Wilson et al. [96] suggestions, and since most constructs and many relationships hypothesized in the paper’s model were derived from previous literature, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was chosen to validate the measurement models.

CFA is appropriate in situations where strong theory suggests known relationships among the indicators and their intended factors [97]. To assess the CFA, goodness of measurement model fit indices using SEM were followed [96]: χ2 (P≥0.05); goodness-of-fit index (GFI≥0.90); normed fit index (NFI≥0.90); comparative fit index (CFI≥0.90); standardized root mean-square residual (SRMR≤0.08); and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA<0.50). Factor loadings are the correlations of the variables with the factor, the weighted combination of variables which best explains the variance. Higher values (e.g. ˃0.40) making the variable representative of the factor [98].

In relation to the above criteria, and due to its poor loading on its respective constructs, one item was dropped from the “satisfaction” construct (Appendix A). As a result of this procedure, and as underlined by Table 4, all refined models exhibited acceptable fit to the data. Accordingly, correlations, reliabilities, and AVEs were calculated in order to assess constructs’ factorial validity.

Table 4: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Reliabilities and AVE for Research Constructs.

The validity of the research constructs was assessed through different types of validity. Face validity was evidenced through the pilot work of the research instrument with three academics from reputable business schools in Jordan who checked the relevance and appropriateness of the questionnaire to achieve the research objectives. Content validity was evidenced by examining the previous empirical and theoretical work of the research constructs. With regard to Convergent validity, it was assessed using the average variance extracted (AVE). For all constructs, Table 4, the values of AVE were higher than the recommended threshold of 0.5 [99], indicating high convergent validity. As for discriminant validity, it is demonstrated when the square root of a construct’s EVA is higher than the correlation between that construct and all other constructs in the model [99]. Accordingly, and as shown in Table 5, discriminate validity was satisfied since that the diagonal elements (square root AVE) were greater than the off-diagonal elements in the same row and column. Finally, and to establish reliability, a composite reliability value of 0.70 or greater was considered acceptable [100]. Computed reliability of all five constructs exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.70 indicating constructs’ sufficient reliability, Table 4.

Table 5: Correlation amongst Research Constructs.

Descriptive Statistics

Consistent with previous empirical research [101,102], and based on statements’ mean scores, levels of agreement with questionnaire statements for each construct were divided into three categories: a mean value of 1.00 to 2.49 indicated a low level of agreement, a mean value of 2.50 to 3.49 indicated a moderate level of agreement, and a mean value of 3.50 to 5.00 indicated a high level of agreement (Table 6).

Table 6: Mean scores for research constructs.

Accordingly, and in relation to Table 6, while respondents’ perceptions of “information quality” were a little higher than those of “shopping convenience” (M=2.124, 1.916 respectively), both characteristics of pure player FB pages were low. Interestingly, respondents’ levels of “satisfaction” and “trust” were moderate (M=2.564, 2.664 respectively). Such results suggest that respondents might focus on certain characteristics of pure player FB pages other than “information quality” and “shopping convenience”. These characteristics might be the reason behind the moderate levels of “satisfaction” and “trust” despite the low perceptions of “information quality” and “shopping convenience”. Finally, and despite the moderate levels of “satisfaction” and “trust”, respondents’ scored low levels of “e-brand attitude” (M=2.190). Respondents seem to consider certain factors other than “satisfaction” and “trust” in forming their attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands.

Structural Model and Hypotheses Testing

The analysis of the proposed model was conducted by a structural path analysis model which is shown in Figure 2. The structural path model was created by running three direct paths from “information quality of pure player FB page” to “satisfaction with pure player FB page”, “trust in pure player FB page”, and “shopping convenience of pure player FB page”. One direct path was run from “shopping convenience of pure player FB page” to “satisfaction with pure player FB page”. Two direct paths were run from “satisfaction with pure player FB page” to both “trust in pure player FB page” and “attitude towards pure player FB page”. Finally, a direct path was run from “trust in pure player FB page” to “attitude towards pure player FB page”.

Table 7 exhibits both the structural path model goodness of fit measures and the structural paths results. In relation to Table 7, the goodness-of-fit measures indicated that the model had an excellent fit to the data. The structural findings showed that four out of seven hypotheses were supported.

Table 7: Structural Path Model Results.

Structural findings showed that the research hypothesis H1 was supported. Respondents’ perceptions of “information quality of pure player FB page” had a significant direct impact over their levels of “satisfaction with pure player FB page”. On the other hand, H2 proposed that respondents’ perceptions of “information quality of pure player FB page” had a direct significant impact over their levels of “trust in pure player FB page”. Structural path results indicated that H2 was rejected (β=0.220, t=1.891). However, in H3, Structural path results showed that respondents’ perceptions of “information quality of pure player FB page” had a direct significant impact over their perceptions of “shopping convenience of pure player FB page” (β=0.714, t=5.668). Accordingly, H3 was supported. With regard to H4, it suggested that respondents’ perceptions of “shopping convenience of pure player FB page” had a direct significant impact over their levels of “satisfaction with pure player FB page”. Structural path results showed that H4 was rejected (β=-0.9, t=1.452).

On the other hand, structural path results indicated that both H5 and H6 were supported. Starting with H5, respondents’ levels of “satisfaction with pure player FB page” had a direct significant impact over their “trust in pure player FB page” (β=0.302, t=2.380). As for H6, respondents’ levels of “satisfaction with pure player FB page” had a direct significant impact over their “attitudes towards pure player e-brand” (β=0.838, t=9.121). Finally, structural path results showed that H7 was rejected (β=0.199, t=1.764). H7 proposed that respondents’ levels of “trust in pure player FB page” had a direct impact over their “attitudes towards pure player e-brand”.

Discussion

As a major characteristic of pure player FB pages, the hypothesized impacts of “information quality” over some of the model’s variables have witnessed mixed results. Firstly, and consistent with previous research [49,50], the quality of information provided by Jordanian apparel pure players on their FB pages had a direct positive impact over respondents’ satisfaction with these pages (H1: β=0.290). According to Shanthi and Kannaiah [71], there has to be sufficient product information about any of the products available on a website to provide the knowledge about and to promote these products. When customers find the information available on pure player FB pages to be adequate, useful, and usable, they will be more likely to feel that these pages satisfy their informational needs, which represents a considerable part of their overall satisfaction with pure player FB pages.

Secondly, information quality had a direct positive impact over respondents’ perceptions of “shopping convenience of pure player FB pages” (H3: β=0.714). While such finding affirms previous suggestions [71], it underlines the importance of quality information in saving customers’ mental and physical efforts, in addition to saving their time, which represent the major dimensions of shopping convenience on pure player FB pages. Interestingly, the impact of information quality over shopping convenience of pure player FB pages was considerably higher than its impact over customers’ satisfaction. Such observation suggests that, while information quality is a major determinant of respondents’ perceptions of shopping convenience on pure player FB pages, respondents appear to take into consideration some other factors as contributors to their satisfaction with pure players FB pages, e.g. page design, page responsiveness, privacy and security, speed, reliability, etc.

Thirdly, and contrary to proposed hypothesis, there was no significant impact of information quality over customers’ trust in pure player FB pages (H2: β=0.220, t=1.891). Such results echo some previous empirical findings [103,104], which suggest that merely providing high levels of information quality does not guarantee customers’ trust in pure player FB pages. Other factors might be more important in forming customers trust such as payment methods, privacy and security, delivery on promises, meeting customers’ expectations, etc. Nevertheless, the fact that customers satisfaction with pure player FB pages had a direct significant impact over customers trust in these pages (H5: β=0.303, t=2.380) suggests that while information quality does not have a direct impact over customers trust, it might exert and indirect effect over trust via its impact over customers’ satisfaction with pure player FB pages (H1).

With regard to the second characteristic of pure player FB pages, empirical results underlined that shopping convenience of pure player FB pages had no significant impact over customers satisfaction with these pages (H4: β=-0.9, t=1.452). Interestingly, and contrary to their own propositions, some previous empirical research has actually reached the same finding [105,106].

Attempting to explain this result, Hung et al. [106] suggested that although the transaction costs can be reduced via e-business, customers may be overloaded with too much information to find shopping a satisfying experience. They often end up wasting time when comparing one product with another if they do not know exactly what they are looking for. Similar explanation was also given by Dincer and Dincer [105].

In the context of this paper, and amongst the five variables examined in the model, respondents’ perceptions of shopping convenience were considerably the lowest (M=1.916). If respondents’ perceptions of “pure player FB pages” shopping convenience are not encouraging, it’s highly unlikely that shopping convenience will affect their satisfaction with these pages. Further, and in relation to Herzberg’s two-factor theory, while information quality was a determinant of respondents’ satisfaction with pure player FB pages, respondents might consider lack of shopping convenience on pure player FB pages as a dissatisfier. Accordingly, if pure player FB pages provide certain levels of shopping convenience, respondents will be neutral, i.e. neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, however, if respondents perceive these pages to lack any shopping convenience they will be dissatisfied. This argument is supported by the fact that online shoppers are growing to expect more convenience of FB pages [107,108], so if pages are convenient for shopping, shoppers will not be particularly satisfied, since that they already expect it.

With regard to customer satisfaction impacts, respondents envisaged a direct significant impact of their satisfaction with pure player FB pages over their trust in these pages (H5: β=0.302). Such result was consistent with previous empirical research [78-81]. According to Tang and Hanh Nguyen [108], when customers have had a satisfactory transaction with a specific online vendor, they are willing to go back and make more purchases with it and confirm their trust in and loyalty to that particular online vendor. In the context of this research, respondents’ satisfaction with pure player FB pages leads them to build positive expectations about these pages’ ability to satisfy their future needs, which consequently leads to trusting pure player FB pages. On the other hand, respondents’ satisfaction with pure player FB pages had a direct significant impact over their attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands (H6: β=0.838). Accordingly, and consistent with previous research [33,84,85], respondents’ satisfaction with pure player FB pages leads them to positively evaluate these pages, recommend them to others, and constantly use them; all of which are aspect demonstrating a positive attitude towards pure players e-brands [86]. Finally, and in contradiction with previous suggestions [90], respondents’ trust in pure player FB pages had no significant effect over their attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. Interestingly, respondents’ levels of trust in pure player FB pages (M=2.664) were higher than their levels of satisfaction with these pages (M=2.564). This basically means that, although respondents’ expect that pure player FB pages will provide the same level of satisfaction in the future, i.e. trust them, they feel that such expectations are not high enough to generate positive attitudes towards those pure players and their e-brands. Accordingly, the fact that respondents trust pure player FB pages doesn’t necessarily mean that they will have positive attitude towards their e-brands [109-111].

Conclusion and Recommendation

Information quality remains as one of the most important qualities any business website should possess. In the case of pure player FB pages, the importance of information quality is more emphasized due to its direct impacts over customers’ feelings of shopping convenience and satisfaction with pure player FB pages; in addition to its indirect impact over customer trust via its impact over satisfaction. The fact that shopping convenience didn’t have a significant impact over satisfaction with pure player FB pages indicates that customers are growing to take certain website characteristics for granted. Accordingly, pure players need to underline what makes their customers more satisfied and what will merely make their feelings neutral towards pure player FB pages.

Having been affected by information quality, customer satisfaction with pure player FB pages is a main influencer over customers trust in these pages. Further, customer satisfaction has a considerable impact over customers’ attitudes towards pure player e-brands. Hence, pure player FB pages need to consider all factors that can affect customer satisfaction, apart from information quality, since that customer satisfaction will most probably affect customers future purchase intentions via its impacts over their trust and attitudes towards pure players and their e-brands.

On the other hand, while customers trust pure player FB pages to provide the same level of service in the future, such trust doesn’t mean that they should develop positive attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. What matters to customers is the extent of satisfaction they reached through their experiences with pure player FB pages, and that satisfaction well result in more positive attitudes towards pure players’ e-brands. Accordingly, what makes customers satisfied with pure player FB pages doesn’t necessarily make them trust these pages, and the opposite applies too.

Building on the above, Jordanian pure players should constantly focus on enhancing the quality of information provided on their FB pages. Constant updating of information on pure player FB pages should guarantee the availability of adequate useful information for current and potential customers. This also should cover all informative material such as images, pictures, and videos; which have to be constantly updated too. Further, pure players must make shopping on their FB pages as convenient as possible. Although shopping convenience might not necessarily satisfy customers with pure players’ FB pages, lack of convenience might draw them away from these pages. Pure players must also focus on providing the best possible service to customers, in addition to being fully committed to their own promises. Issues such as on time delivery, security and flexibility of payment methods, prompt response to customers’ inquires and complaints, and a strictly followed privacy policy are all important factors necessary to enhance customer satisfaction with, and trust in, pure player FB pages. The achievement of the aforementioned recommendations should be embedded within adequately defined and formulated targets in order to measure the performance of pure player FB pages against.

Contribution, Limitations and Future Research Avenues

This paper’s contribution has both academic and practical sides to it. From an academic perspective, despite its validity and use in e-commerce, research on FB application by small businesses, especially pure players, is considerably lacking. This paper is one of very few papers addressing the particular and unique case of pure player organizations applying their business models through FB. Further and appreciating the importance of generating the right e-brand attitude for the future success of pure players on FB, this paper has developed a model to address the contribution of several concepts to the development of pure players/e-brands attitudes. On the other hand, and from a practical perspective, this paper has underlined the importance of information quality and shopping convenience to the satisfaction of pure player FB pages’ customers. Such findings should be of particular concern to Jordanian entrepreneurs applying pure player business model on FB.

Nevertheless, the paper has its limitations. Firstly, and due to its inability to reach the whole population of pure player FB pages’ users, the paper adopted a convenience sampling technique. Although the decision to adopt such technique was consistent with previous similar research, it had an inherited weakness in terms of ability to generalize paper’s findings. Secondly, and due to time limitations, the paper approached only eight apparel pure player FB pages. While such approach should have increased the paper’s chances of reaching real pure player FB pages customers, it limits the paper’s ability to generalize its findings to other pure player FB pages selling other types of products. Thirdly, the paper studied the impacts of two major characteristics relevant to pure player FB pages. However, empirical findings suggested that other characteristics, not addressed by this paper, might have a significant impact over customers’ satisfaction with, and trust in, pure player FB pages. Accordingly, the fact that this paper didn’t address more characteristics adds to its limitations.

Building on the above, future research can attempt to expand sample size to include more respondents using more, different, types of pure player FB pages, other than apparel specialized ones. It can also explore the impact of other FB pages characteristics over customers’ satisfaction and trust with pure player FB pages. Further, future research can explore the impact of other factors over pure players’ e-brand attitudes.

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