Social Media usage results in purchasing online

Social Media (SM) have attracted considerable research Attention in the last decade. In this paper, we investigate whether SM influence consumer's choice of the purchase channel. Our model suggest that a high level of consumer identification with the brand using SM increases the likelihood of consumers' choice of the purchase channel - mediated by the consumers' perceptions of the channel. An experimental study and a large scale survey Support our model.The paper offers practical insights as well as useful theoretical implications.