The effects of social media marketing activities and customer experience on customer intentions as mediated by relationship quality

The challenge that the stores in social networks face today is that, after receiving products, customers give their feedbacks to the store and on the social network. However, it is not clear whether this requires strengthening the quality of the relationship between the store and the customers. It is expected that the customers who have a favorable relationship with the store will be willing to support the store. If they see any defects in the service or have a suggestion for improvement, they will discuss it with the store. Also, it is not clear whether customers' price sensitivity changes the effect of relationship quality on their behavioral intentions or not. If there is sensitivity to the price, the stores should pay attention to the cost-effectiveness of the purchase, instead of increasing the cost for the customer. This research proposes a framework in which social media marketing activities and customer experience are considered as a prerequisite for relationship quality. In addition, the perceived relationship quality affects the responses and intentions of customers, which is moderated by the prices offered by the store.

This research is an applied and correlational study. The statistical population consists of the customers of a women's clothing store on the Instagram (about 450 people), and the sample size is 207 individuals selected by a simple random method. The data collection tool is an electronic questionnaire with confirmed content and structure validity as well as adequate reliability. All the variables have composite reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficients above 0.7. Also, the AVE coefficients for customer experience and relationship quality are more than 0.5. For other variables, it has a slight difference with 0.5; thus, the convergent validity is acceptable. The square root of AVE for all the variables is greater than the correlation of that variable with the others, which confirms its divergent validity. Finally, the value of the factor loading for all the items is significant. In order to check the hypotheses, the structural equation modeling method is used with the Amos software.

The results show that the customer experience and social media marketing activity have impacts on both relationship quality and customer intentions. Also, relationship quality affects customer intentions; as a result, relationship quality plays a mediating role between social media marketing activities and customer experience with customer intentions. In addition, the role of price sensitivity as a moderating variable in how relationship quality affects customer intentions was confirmed. In details, the path coefficient of social media marketing activity for the relationship quality is equal to 0.296, and the t-statistic is 4.413. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed. The path coefficient of the influence of social media marketing activity on customer intentions is 0.242, and the t-statistic is 2.97. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed. The path coefficient of the effect of customer experience on relationship quality is 0.726, and the t-statistic is 6.554. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed. The path coefficient of the effect of customer experience on customer intentions is 0.286, and the t-statistic is 2.142. Therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed. The path coefficient of the effect of relationship quality on customer intentions is 0.333, and the t-statistic is 2.457, so the hypothesis is confirmed. The path coefficient of the mediating role of relationship quality in how customer experience affects customer intentions based on the Sobel test is 0.241, and the t-statistic is 2.99. The hypothesis is thus confirmed. The path coefficient of the mediating role of relationship quality in the effect of social media marketing activities on customer intentions based on the Sobel test is 0.098, and the t-statistic is 2.83; therefore, the hypothesis is confirmed. Finally, the path coefficient of the moderating role of price sensitivity in how relationship quality affects customer intentions is 0.265 and negative. Also, the t-statistic is -4.78, which means that the hypothesis is confirmed.

Customer intention is often interpreted as the purchase intention or the reason for the customer's move towards buying. However, it can be much more than the reason for a call or a chat or purchase; it includes engagement intention, loyalty intention, and purchase intention. In this regard, social media can encourage people to buy and participate by providing appropriate marketing activities. In addition, social media is an important aspect of sustainable marketing strategies to support positive customer behavior. Therefore, creating marketing content in social media is a challenge for companies because they must be able to adjust the marketing content to the personal preferences of the customer or the preferences of the target community in order to improve the quality of the relationship with the store. Considering that price sensitivity is the extent to which the price of goods and services affects the customers' willingness to buy them, the fairness of the price affects the price sensitivity. Of course, higher prices are necessary to maximize profits, but it can negatively affect price-sensitive customers, resulting in reduced sales.