Abstract:
Creating and sharing ephemeral content, which has an exhibition time of a
maximum of 24 hours, has become an emerging trend in social media marketing
today. Despite the escalated growth of using ephemeral content in social media
marketing, there is a lacuna of academic research on how the ephemeral content
shared through social media influences customers' purchase decisions. Drawing
on the advertising value theory, this study addresses this void by examining how
the true potentiality of the ephemeral content shared on social media stimulates
customers’ purchase intention, referring to Instagram and fashion products.
Following the positivism research paradigm, explanatory research design, and the
purposive sampling technique, data was collected from an online survey of 384
Generation Z Instagram users who follow fashion products. Findings from
multiple linear regression analysis revealed that informativeness, entertainment,
irritation, and credibility of the ephemeral content shared through Instagram
influence customers’ purchase intention towards fashion products. The findings
further uncovered that informativeness of the ephemeral content is the most
influential factor, whereas irritation of the ephemeral content negatively impacts
customer’s purchase intention towards fashion products. The study results are
added to the theory by empirically confirming the applicability of the advertising
value theory to the social media marketing research domain. Moreover, the
findings emphasize the need for marketing practitioners to create and share
ephemeral content to stimulate customers' purchase decisions.
