The Impact of Integrated Marketing Communications on Consumers’ Purchasing Decision Process through Social Networks in Phuket, Thailand

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to; 1) examine the importance of integrated marketing communications’ effects on consumer’s decision-making process in buying products through social networks in Phuket province, 2) analyze the  decision process in buying products through social networks of consumers in Phuket province, and 3) analyze the impacts of integrated marketing communications on the decision process in buying products through social networks of consumers in Phuket province. The participants were 420 consumers who had bought products via online social networks in Phuket by using a Stratified random sampling and convenience sampling.techniques. The  research tool was the questionnaire. The research results found that: 1) The overall important level of the integrated marketing communications affected the majority of the respondents’ decision process in buying products through social networks  in Phuket province was found at a high level. When considering each aspect in descending orders of average, they were Advertising, Sale Promotion, Personal Selling, Publicity and Public Relations, and Direct Marketing, respectively. 2) The  overall decision-making process in buying products through social networks of the respondents  was at the highest level. 3) The impact of integrated marketing communications on the decision-making process  when buying products through social networks, the results of the multiple regression analysis sorted by the effect weight in descending orders showed that  Sale Promotion (Beta=.397), Advertising (Beta=.243), Publicity and Public Relations (Beta=.211), Direct Marketing (Beta=.194), and Personal Selling (Beta=.062) at statistically significant level of .05., since all independent variables were able to explain  the variation of dependent variables at 62.4 %.