Journal Screenshot

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2222-6990

Technology Features and Social Media Influencer E-brand Influencing Customer Loyalty in Online Shopping: A Conceptual Paper

Swee Keat Chong, Abu Bakar Sade, Norizan Mat Saad

http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v14-i2/20770

Open access

The paper plans to clarify the relationship of e-customer loyalty with social media influencer e-brand, gamification adoption, and perceived humanness, while keeping e-satisfaction and e-trust as mediating variables. This study focus to understand what are the factors that affect customers loyalty when customers are shopping online. This study opted for quantitative study and primary data will be collected randomly in Malaysia to ensure test result is sufficiently to represent research population. Data collection will be conducted online using soft copy questionnaires. This study is limited only to Malaysia due to time and geographical limitation. The paper provides insights about the relationship of e-customer loyalty with social media influencer e-brand, gamification adoption, and perceived humanness, while keeping e-satisfaction and e-trust as mediating variables. This paper considers the effectiveness on e-customer loyalty level after incorporating into business strategy the aforementioned key factors which benefit brand managers who manage customer loyalties, business owners and other researchers pursuing any associated domain knowledge. This paper analyses how the relationships between social media influencer e-brand, gamification adoption, and perceived humanness affecting e-customer loyalty, while keeping e-satisfaction and e-trust as mediating variables.

Abouelkheir, L. (2021). Rethinking customer loyalty for the post-pandemic retail market, available at:
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/retail/467982-rethinking-customer-loyalty-for-the-post-pandemic-retail-market (accessed on 21 July 2022)
Al-Adwan, A. S., and Al-Horani, M. A. (2019). Boosting customer e-customer loyalty: An extended scale of online service quality. Information, 10(12), 380.
Al-Dweeri, R. M., Moreno, A. R., Montes, F. J. L., Obeidat, Z. M., and Al-dwairi, K. M. (2018). The effect of e-service quality on Jordanian student’s e-customer loyalty: an empirical study in online retailing. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 119(4), 902-923.
Atulkar, S. (2020). Brand trust and brand loyalty in mall shoppers. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 38(5), 559-572.
Bhaskar, P. P., and Kumar, D. P. (2016). Customer loyalty on e-commerce. International Journal of Management Research and Reviews, 6(12), 1661.
Carter, S. (2023). How Companies Like Starbucks And Nike Are Innovating With Web3 Customer Loyalty Programs?, available at:. https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/07/07/how-companies-like-starbucks-and-nike-are-innovating-with-web3-customer-loyalty-programs/?sh=7907fc0237c1 (accessed on 28 Dec 2023)
Dang, V. T., Nguyen, N., and Pervan, S. (2020). Retailer corporate social responsibility and consumer citizenship behavior: The mediating roles of perceived consumer effectiveness and consumer trust. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102082.
Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2023). Usage of ICT and E-Commerce by Establishment 2022. available at:
https://www.dosm.gov.my/uploads/release-content/file_20230706111528.pdf (accessed on 21 Dec 2023)
Duke, D. (2023). Building Brand Trust And Loyalty Through Thought Leadership, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/02/03/building-brand-trust-and-loyalty-through-thought-leadership/?sh=7b2219c129f6 (accessed on 5 Dec 2023)
Facebook, Inc, and Bain and Company. (2021). Southeast Asia, the home for digital transformation, A sync Southeast Asia Report. available at:
https://www.facebook.com/business/news/southeast-asia-the-home-for-digital-transformation (accessed on 6 Jan 2022)
Flavián, C., Guinalíu, M., and Gurrea, R. (2006). The role played by perceived usability, satisfaction and consumer trust on website loyalty. Information and management, 43(1), 1-14.
Ganguly, B., Dash, S. B., and Cyr, D. (2009). Website characteristics, Trust and purchase intention in online stores:-An Empirical study in the Indian context. Journal of Information Science and Technology, 6(2).
Giao, H., Vuong, B., and Quan, T. (2020). The influence of website quality on consumer’s e-customer loyalty through the mediating role of e-trust and e-satisfaction: An evidence from online shopping in Vietnam. Uncertain Supply Chain Management, 8(2), 351-370.
Hsu, C. L., and Chen, M. C. (2018). How gamification marketing activities motivate desirable consumer behaviors: Focusing on the role of brand love. Computers in human behavior, 88, 121-133.
Irshad, M., Ahmad, M. S., and Malik, O. F. (2020). Understanding consumers’ trust in social media marketing environment. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 48(11), 1195-1212.
Jacoby, J., and Kyner, D. B. (1973). Customer loyalty vs. repeat purchasing behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 10, 1–9.
Kim, J., Jin, B., and Swinney, J. L. (2009). The role of etail quality, e-satisfaction and e-trust in online loyalty development process. Journal of retailing and Consumer services, 16(4), 239-247.
Kotler, P. (2005). The role played by the broadening of marketing movement in the history of marketing thought. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 24(1), 114-116.
Krejcie, R. V., and Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and psychological measurement, 30(3), 607-610.
Leachman, L., and Scheibenreif, D. (2023). Using Technology to Create a Better Customer Experience, available at: https://hbr.org/2023/03/using-technology-to-create-a-better-customer-experience (accessed 13 Nov 2023)
Leung, F. F., Zhang, J. Z., Gu, F. F., Li, Y., and Palmatier, R. W. (2022). Does Influencer Marketing Really Pay Off?, Harvard Business Review, available at: https://hbr.org/2022/11/does-influencer-marketing-really-pay-off (accessed 3 Jan 2023)
Mangione, T. W. (1995). Mail surveys: Improving the quality (Vol. 40). Sage.
Marshall, M. N. (1996). Sampling for qualitative research. Family practice, 13(6), 522-526.
Matthews-El, T., and Bottorff, C. (2022). 14 Customer Retention Strategies That Work In 2022, available at
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/customer-retention-strategies/ (accessed 9 Nov 2022)
Moe, W. W. (2003). Buying, searching, or browsing: Differentiating between online shoppers using in-store navigational clickstream. Journal of consumer psychology, 13(1-2), 29-39.
Molinillo, S., Japutra, A., Nguyen, B., and Chen, C. H. S. (2017). Responsible brands vs active brands? An examination of brand personality on brand awareness, brand trust, and brand loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 35(2), 166-179.
Monae, A. (2023). Here's Why Customer Engagement on Social Media Is Important to Your Brand, available at:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/science-technology/the-importance-of-customer-engagement-on-social-media/449786 (accessed 19 Feb 2024)
Moon, Y. J. (2013). The tangibility and intangibility of e-service quality. International Journal of Smart Home, 7(5), 91-102.
Moorthy, K., Chun T’ing, L., Ai Na, S., Tze Ching, C., Yuin Loong, L., Sze Xian, L., and Wei Ling, T. (2018). Corporate image no longer leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty: a Malaysian perspective. International Journal of Law and Management, 60(4), 934-952.
Morgenstern, Y. (2021). Creating A Digital Customer Experience That Drives Loyalty And Revenue, available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/10/01/creating-a-digital-customer-experience-that-drives-loyalty-and-revenue/?sh=5f2cfd1a5768 (accessed 7 Feb 2023)
Muniesa, R. L., and Giménez, C. G. (2020). The importance of the loyalty of fashion brands through digital marketing. Journal of Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, 8(3), 230-243.
Nannini, V. (2020). Fashion consumption in digital media: Multiple practices and new identities. Fashion, Style and Popular Culture, 7(4), 519-537.
Navarro, G. M. (2016). The influence of blogs in fashion in consumer behavior: An exploratory approach. Vivat Academia, 19(135), 85-109.
Torres, S. J. A., and Arroyo-Cañada, F. J. (2017). Building brand loyalty in e-commerce of fashion lingerie. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 21(1), 103-114.
Saoula, O., Shamim, A., Suki, M. N., Ahmad, M. J., Abid, M. F., Patwary, A. K., and Abbasi, A. Z. (2023). Building e-trust and e-retention in online shopping: the role of website design, reliability and perceived ease of use. Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC, 27(2), 178-201.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. (2009). Research methods for business students. Pearson education.
Schanke, S., Burtch, G., and Ray, G. (2021). Estimating the impact of “humanizing” customer service chatbots. Information Systems Research, 32(3), 736-751.
Sekaran, U., and Bougie, R. (2016). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley and Sons.
Selchau-Hansen, C. (2022). How To Improve Customer Loyalty With Gamification, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2022/03/18/how-to-improve-customer-loyalty-with-gamification/?sh=6a24c33cb86b (accessed 2 Jan 2023)
Senecal, S., Kalczynski, P. J., and Nantel, J. (2005). Consumers' decision-making process and their online shopping behavior: a clickstream analysis. Journal of Business research, 58(11), 1599-1608.
Shainesh, G. (2012). Effects of trustworthiness and trust on loyalty intentions: validating a parsimonious model in banking. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 30(4), 267-279.
Silitonga, K., Fakhrorazi, A., and Ikhsan, R. (2020). Drivers of buyer retention in e-commerce: The role of transaction characteristics and trust. Management Science Letters, 10(15), 3485-3494.
Song, S., Yao, X., and Wen, N. (2021). What motivates Chinese consumers to avoid information about the COVID-19 pandemic?: The perspective of the stimulus-organism-response model. Information Processing and Management, 58(1), 102407.
Tal, O. (2021). Six Ways Retailers Can Keep Pace With E-Commerce Giants, available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/09/08/six-ways-retailers-can-keep-pace-with-e-commerce-giants/?sh=590d84776d75 (accessed 3 Jan 2022)
Times Now Exclusive. (2022). Why influencers paying TDS in India might make social media more reliable, available at: https://www.timesnownews.com/exclusive/why-influencers-paying-tds-in-india-might-make-social-media-more-reliable-article-92420039 (accessed 2 Mar 2023)
Toufaily, E., Ricard, L., and Perrien, J. (2013). Customer loyalty to a commercial website: Descriptive meta-analysis of the empirical literature and proposal of an integrative model. Journal of business research, 66(9), 1436-1447.
Trivedi, S. K., and Yadav, M. (2020). Repurchase intentions in Y generation: mediation of trust and e-satisfaction. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 38(4), 401-415.
Vehovar, V., Toepoel, V., and Steinmetz, S. (2016). Non-probability sampling (Vol. 1, pp. 329-345). The Sage handbook of survey methods.
Vogel. S. (2022). The new-age technology saving the high street, available at: https://www.itpro.co.uk/technology/368277/the-new-age-technology-saving-the-high-street (accessed 7 Jan 2023)
Winnie, P. M. W. (2014). The impact of trustworthiness and customer e-customer loyalty and e-satisfaction. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(3), 390.
Wood, L. (2023). Saudi Arabia Loyalty Programs Market Intelligence 2023: Loyalty Providers are Innovating by Bringing Gamification into Play to Drive Engagement and Increase Sales, available at: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudi-arabia-loyalty-programs-market-113800763.html (accessed 12 Dec 2023)
Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., and Griffin, M. (2013). Business research methods. Cengage learning.

(Chong et al., 2024)
Chong, S. K., Sade, A. B., & Saad, N. M. (2024). Technology Features and Social Media Influencer E-brand Influencing Customer Loyalty in Online Shopping: A Conceptual Paper. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(2), 1537–1553.