Background: Electronic commerce has recently been seen as a very auspicious service of technology witnessed in the last decade. Several types of e-commerce initiatives include very modernized and upgraded facilities such as smart cards, online retailing, and remote payments that help make the payment process faster and more consistent. Therefore, there is a need to explore the factors from payment methods that influence a change in the purchasing behavior of a customer, due to the fact that constant development in technology is occurring. Furthermore, due to the ability to access and control digital technology, millennials are believed to be destined for a current business and have a significant impact on the corporate world. Therefore, this thesis contributes to the research on the effect of payment methods on millennials’ purchase behavior by exploring millennials in the context of clothing e-commerce in Sweden.   Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to understand how electronic payment methods influence purchase behavior of millennials in Sweden in the clothing e-commerce.    Method: The study follows interpretivism philosophy due to integrating human interest and meaning. For a more in-depth understanding, the research used qualitative methods by conducting individual in-depth semi-structured interviews. The data was collected by fifteen millennials in Sweden and analyzed within the thematic analysis.   Conclusion: The results show that payment methods tend to influence millennials in Sweden differently depending on several factors such as trust, ease of use, and time consumption. The findings showed that the easier it is to use the payment method, the faster and smoother it is for millennials to complete the purchase. Moreover, when the website is organized and well-designed, there is a higher demand for purchasing from it, which leads to trust in the website and the operated payment methods in it to a higher extent. Hence, establishing the trust and credibility of the selected payment method was one of the essential points of the purchasing process. Additionally, certainty, reliability, and suspiciousness were highly taken into consideration when purchasing products from countries other than Sweden, as their operating payment methods vary significantly.

Through the past decade live streaming has grown to be a greater sensation, creating a competitive scene among those involved. Live streamers are able to broadcast their daily life or their gameplay sessions while also interacting with viewers. As this is a relatively new phenomenon it has not yet been fully explored, and it is missing critical research in how attitudes and purchase intention among viewers change with different factors. Previous research has shown that elements such as demographics, content consumption and behavioral aspects might increase viewers’ purchase intention. Furthermore, in accordance with attitudinal theory, attitudes have been shown to correlate with the general purchase intention,  when it comes to Internet users. This study was therefore conducted to fill the gap in knowledge regarding personal branding on Twitch.tv, or Twitch in short, and how it affects attitudes with its subsequent purchase intention.   This research adopted an exploratory approach as it aimed to “explore the unknown” and to provide pertinent data for future studies. This was realized via a qualitative method of semi-structured one-to-one interviews involving both streamers and viewers. Findings show that two aspects of personal branding on Twitch have a greater potential of affecting attitudes; namely personalities of a streamer and the type of content they provide. If these two are managed well there are implications of positive attitudes among the viewers and subsequently an intention to purchase.

The online revolution has developed digital marketing, and how businesses connect with new consumers. The commercial usage of the World Wide Web has created opportunities for businesses to market their product through new digital platforms and marketing strategies. Therefore, social media platforms such as Instagram has become a dominant communication channel for consumers. From a business perspective this has created an opportunity by marketing their product through influencer marketing. An influencer is a person who has built a social network with people following them on the social platforms. The influencer is getting paid to market products on their social media to influence their followers. 98% of people studying in Sweden are using social media frequently, this makes them a target group suited for influencer marketing. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate how influencer marketing affect students’ attitudes and subsequently purchase intention through social media. To answer this research purpose a theoretical framework has been developed based on Theory of Reasoned Action. Semi structured interviews were conducted on a one-to-one basis with 17 students at Luleå University of Technology (LTU). The interviews focused on attitudes towards influencer marketing and subjective norms, and how these would subsequently affect their purchase intention. To analyze the interviews a thematic analysis was conducted. The data was coded based on observations of repetitive answers and themes, consisting of negative or positive attitudes towards influencers, as well as the impact of the subjective norms on the participants and how it affects their purchase intention. Results showed that there was an overall negative attitude towards influencers, that the subjective norms seem to have a significant and that purchase intention is mostly affected by the direct influence from the subjective norms. Analysis of these results leads to the conclusion that influencer marketing has a negative impact on students’ attitudes. On the other hand, subjective norms seem to be more important than the influencer marketing, when it comes to the purchase intention among the students.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to create an understanding of how influencer marketing could be used to increase the purchase intention in an area of a high involvement product in a niche market. Since this study is collected together with a Swedish golf company, the golf industry was evaluated. In order to fulfill the purpose, the social media influencer value (SMIV) model was adopted in this study. Method – A quantitative experiment was conducted through the use of experimental vignette methodology (EVM) together with a qualitative validity check-in form of an interview with a key person from the industry. The main data was collected through a combination of exposure to the independent variable (through a stimulus) and a set of following questions (a questionnaire). The questionnaire was sent out to the company’s consumer through email and to analyze the collected data an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used. Findings – In the collected data, evidence indicating that golf is a high involvement activity where the participants put down a lot of time and effort in the sport was found. In the SMIV model three significant paths was found between expertise and purchase intention, similarity and purchase intention, and usefulness and purchase intention. All three independent variables had a positive impact on purchase intention which tells us that when expertise, similarity, or usefulness increases, consumers purchase intension increases as well. Theoretical and practical implications – The results in this study contributes to current literature in the area of influencer marketing by confirming some relationships but also by extending the literature. The study also contributes to important insights for marketing practitioners since the results present important variables to consider when using influencer marketing to create purchase intention. It also creates meaningful insights for the influential person itself and open up for further research in the area of the effect of influencer marketing in a high involvement product.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to research the factors influencing the purchase intention of Airbnb in China from the perspective of liability of foreignness. Methodology: This thesis adopts a quantitative approach through a questionnairebased survey among Chinese people. Based on a PLS-SEM analysis of the data from 241 online questionnaires, this thesis teststhe effects of perceived risk, perceived higher price, lesser availability of listings, as well as lesser availability of advertising on consumers’ purchase intention towards Airbnb in China. Findings: The results illustrate that both perceived higher price and lesser availability of listings would reduce Chinese purchase intention towards Airbnb in China, whereas perceived risk and lesser availability of advertising do not significantly influence Chinese purchase intention towards Airbnb in China. Research implications: The study contributes to the literature on sharing economy and customer behavior by providing a new framework from the perspective of liability of foreignness in order to understand more completely the deterrents of the Chinese consumer’s purchase of Airbnb-related products and services in China. Specifically, this thesis invokes a relatively under-explored theoretical view (i.e., the liability of foreignness) in the research on the internationalisation of sharing economy, which enables us to enrich the research on sharing economy and international customer behaviors. This study also enhances the understanding of the barriers of international marketing of sharing economy and advances the research on the internationalisation of sharing economy by evaluating the four relevant factors (i.e., perceived risk, perceived higher price, lesser availability of listings, and lesser availability of advertising) in the host country. Practical implications: Our findings entail several practical implications for managers of Airbnb in conquering the Chinese market. For example, given that perceived higher price and lesser availability of listings appears to be the critical barriers of consumer intentions, we recommend that Airbnb China employ strategies to increase the availability of listings, and devise relatively lower pricing strategies to attract Chinese consumers.

Background: Social Media Content consists of characteristics by which have been found by previous research to have an influence on consumers' purchase intention. The social media content can be created by any social media user, who are referred to as content creators, whereby the degree of impact the social media content has on consumers' purchase intention is difficult to predict. There are specifically three social media content characteristics that have been shown to be more strongly related to consumers’ purchase intention than others, which are Usefulness, Informativeness and Interactivity. Previous research suggests that further investigation regarding consumers’ purchase intention in relation to the online context is of relevance to research since social media content is an influential factor regarding consumers’ purchase intention, for an increased explanation of consumers’ purchase intention. Purpose: The purpose is to explain the relationship between social media content characteristics and consumers’ purchase intention. Methodology: This explanatory research is using the deductive approach within the quantitative study and following a cross-sectional research design in order to detect patterns from the empirical investigation. Based on a theoretical foundation of previous research, the study presents three hypotheses which by support from the empirical investigation, consisting of 239 responses to a self-completed questionnaire, were either rejected or accepted. Findings: The acceptance of one out of three hypotheses were based on the authors revealing findings about there being a significantly positive relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention. The findings also provide implications that the relationship has been accepted based on a combination of certain aspects. These are that consumers have a desire to take part in online conversations, they want their voice heard by being able to express opinions and also that they will immerse themselves in a social media platform if they find the content of the platform interesting. These findings allowed for the authors to suggest a new modified research model demonstrating the relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, this research provides a conclusion that there is a significant positive relationship between the social media content characteristic Interactivity and consumers’ Purchase Intention

The growing consciousness of consumers towards buying products that contain mainly natural ingredients and do not harm the health and the environment drives the growth of the natural personal care market. Additionally, men nowadays care more about their image and self-presentation which lead to an increase of the natural personal care products offered for men. As the drug store market in Germany is highly competitive, marketers need to understand the factors influencing men’s purchase decision. The attitude of consumers is an elemental influence factor on purchase intention that could lead to the actual behaviour as it predicts the intention to purchase a product. Therefore, this thesis investigates the factors influencing men’s attitude towards natural personal care products and attitude’s impact on purchase intention, particularly in the German market. This has been done through the development of an own theoretical model whereas the main idea was taken from the TPB model. Afterwards, it was extended by factors that influence attitude which were identified through literature review. To meet the purpose of this study, data were collected through a quantitative online survey which generated 207 valuable responses. In order to analyse the relationships between the different variables, descriptive statistics, factor analyses, Pearson correlation analyses as well as linear and multiple regression analyses were used. The findings of this study provide new insights about the predictors of attitude: German male consumers’ attitude towards natural personal care products is mainly predicted by their consciousness about the environment and subjective norms whereas health consciousness and product knowledge were identified to be no predictors. Moreover, the study confirmed attitude as a strong predictor for intention which is supported by the idea of the TPB model and findings in previous literature. The respondents of this study are environmentally conscious and are influenceable by others. Furthermore, they have an overall positive attitude towards natural personal care products and intent to some extent to purchase these products in the future. The study’s results provide a variety of theoretical and managerial implications as well as opportunities for future research.

Recent technological developments have changed the lifestyle of people around the world. The business sector is not an exception, and companies frequently adjust to such changes by investing in their online presence. Furthermore, the internet provides consumers with different channels to find and share their purchase experiences, and such digital interactions result in bringing forth the electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Although eWOM is an essential aspect of the overall marketing mix of modern firms, its research is heavily limited to the developed world. Thus, a qualitative study of 10 millennials from Pakistan was designed to understand how three eWOM components, i.e., Valence, Channels, and Length, affect consumer purchase intentions. The data was collected through semi-structured online interviews, and the findings show that each component has a significant impact on purchase intentions. The result confirms factors such as communicator credibility, trustworthiness, and Valence ratio as essential characteristics of the eWOM components. This study contributes to further understanding of global consumers and help companies to identify eWOM components useful for promoting and selling their products in the Pakistani market.

Background: Globalization and the aggravation of world economic integration make lots of overseas enterprises enter the Chinese market and win the market share by integrating Chinese elements into their brand names, logos, advertisements, and products. Therefore, what should local brands do to gain market share? Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the different effects of local Chinese brands with global, foreign, or local elements on consumers' perceived brand globalness, perceived functional benefits, perceived symbolic benefits, and purchase intentions. Methods: In this study, a quantitative method was used to collect data online through a pre-test questionnaire and a formal experimental questionnaire. And then statistically analyzed for valid data using SPSS. Findings: The results of the study show that consumers have higher perceived brand globalness for local brands that incorporate global and foreign elements, and higher purchase intentions for local brands that incorporate global elements. Perceived symbolic benefits have a higher impact on purchase intentions than the Perceived functional benefits. Perceived functional benefits and symbolic benefits mediate the effect of perceived brand globalness on purchase intention.

As the digital society, built up by the internet, gradually changes people's lives, online celebrities are emerging in China and have discovered the huge business opportunities of online platforms by establishing their own brands. Many brands created by Chinese online celebrities are increasingly popular among consumers, such as Li Ziqi and Taozi Sister. Responding to the emergence and popularity of Chinese online celebrities and their brands, this study – drawing on the source-credibility model and the stimulus organism response model – will investigate the determinants of Chinese consumers’ purchase intention regarding online-celebrity brand products. Following a survey of 198 valid questionnaires of Chinese consumers, the empirical results show that the attractiveness of online-celebrity brand products and consumers’ affection for online celebrities are important factors in encouraging consumers to purchase online-celebrity brand products. The expertise of online-celebrity brand products, and consumers’ trust in online celebrities, do not significantly influence consumers' purchase intentions. This means that Chinese people's purchase behavior regarding online-celebrity brand products seems to be emotional rather than rational. This study advances understanding of online celebrity and online-celebrity brands, which contributes to the literature on celebrity effects and brands.