IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS ON CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT AND PURCHASE DECISIONS: EVIDENCE FROM START-UP ECOSYSTEMS

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of perceived effectiveness of social media marketing (SMM) on consumer involvement and purchasing decisions in the start-up ecosystem. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed to gather primary data from 108 respondents using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chisquare analysis, and logistic regression were utilised to examine the potential relationships. The results indicate that consumer involvement markedly affects purchase decisions (χ² = 16.03, p < 0.01), and perceived social media marketing effectiveness likewise substantially impacts purchase behaviour (χ² = 9.42, p < 0.05). The relation between perceived effectiveness and engagement was not significant (χ² =13.44, p > 0.05), indicating parallel rather than sequential impact pathways. Logistic regression indicates that engagement (Exp(B) = 2.49, p < 0.01) is a more significant predictor of purchase than perceived effectiveness (Exp(B) = 1.97, p < 0.05), with an overall model accuracy of 83.3%. This study redefines customer engagement as a direct and independent predictor of purchase decisions, rather than a mediating factor, and introduces a parallel impact model in which both engagement and perceived effectiveness independently affect consumer behaviour. The paradigm expands Relationship Marketing and customer interaction theory to the inadequately examined domain of start-ups, providing practical insights for resource-limited digital enterprises.