Investigating customer behavior on Instagram to enhance online sale: modeling the effect of content types and broadcasting tools

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the role of various Instagram contents on customer behavior. The studied case is associated with herbal teas sold on active Instagram pages.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire is exploited to collect data from customers. The integration of two entropy weight methods and weighted sum method are used to evaluate the priority of contents. In addition, model development is illustrated through which Instagram broadcasting tools are prioritized benefiting from fuzzy cognitive map method.

Findings

The results illustrate that customer behavior is moderated by content types, which empirically enhances the profitability of the business. The results of this study reveal that educational live, show other ones experience at live as well as motivational lives are the most effective contents. This study is a pioneering one to practically assess the construct of social media engagement through the effects of content types on the Instagram platform.

Originality/value

The effects of various contents, including motivational content, other customers’ experiences, products, educational content and purchase bill, on customer behavior are studied.

Citation

Houshiarian, R., Amidi, A. and Nejad Mohammad Nameghi, E. (2024), "Investigating customer behavior on Instagram to enhance online sale: modeling the effect of content types and broadcasting tools", Journal of Modelling in Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-02-2024-0059