Bahtar and Muda (2016) explained UGC with a comprehensive scope as many researchers have conducted examinations in recent studies to provide many contexts of UGC and also to demonstrate the dissimilar aspects of UGC. At the time of writing, UGC is a new term that draws its definition from public usage, thus there has been no clear definition of UGC published (Christodoulides et al. 2011; Santos, 2022). However, UGC is defined as UGC by satisfying three basic requirements: (i) the content should be published and made available via publicly available transmission media (e.g., the Internet), (ii) the content generated should reflect a level of inventiveness and effort to create it, and iii) for professional routines and practices, the content must be created outside (Luca, 2015). Since the popularity of UGC has become a trend in 2016, many firms started to use its influence for their advertising by letting customers generate content about their products (Assaker, 2020). User-generated brand content is a highly discussed marketing tool that is addressed as being appropriate for the marketing strategy of businesses since it seamlessly integrates with editorial social media material (Mayrhofer et al. 2020). While UGC is created by consumers, firms generate content traditionally through banners, email marketing, and blogs (Yi et al. 2019). Moreover, Chen and Shen (2015) examined that consumers no longer rely on the information provided by firms through their traditional channels; however, they now compare the performance of several products through content posted by experienced consumers. Liu et al. (2019) also revealed that UGC works as “an online seller’s free” as it helps consumers classify which product is the best match for their needs. Experienced users can give ratings, likes, or shares of their experience of product usage, while the readers who read content from experienced users can evaluate the alternative in order to inform their purchase intention (Mayrhofer et al. 2020). Furthermore, content on social media has a great impact on the context of green retailing including organic, natural, and healthy perspectives (Lu and Miller, 2019).
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The term UGC is perceived to be more credible than content generated by firms (Dabbous and Barakat, 2020; Park et al. 2007). Other studies also confirm that purchasing intention has been largely impacted by UGC on different types of platforms such as the influence of UGC on purchase intention in the background of a YouTube channel (Mathur et al. 2022), or the research of UGC on purchase intention via the “content + transaction” app (Chung et al. 2015). Besides, there are also a lot of empirical studies which research the topic of consumers being affected by UGC in the background of Facebook (Chari et al. 2016; Pahlevan Sharif and Mura, 2019), and the power of brand-related UGC (Kim and Johnson, 2016). In other studies, the role of UGC toward purchase intention has been widely discussed in the literature (Sethna et al. 2017; Utami and Rahyuda, 2019). During the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the significant change in consumers’ purchase intention has been recently highlighted in the study by Ellison et al. (2021). Besides, the topic of UGC impacting consumers’ purchase intention was also researched in the context of Vietnam (Nguyen et al. 2020).
The heuristic-systematic model (HSM) has been extensively employed to observe user behaviors in information processing and decision-making in multiple contexts (Shi et al. 2021). The dual-process theoretical framework serves as a groundwork to explain how users process information, assess the content validity, and then make a decision (Chen and Chaiken, 1999; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Frauenstein and Flowerday, 2020). Scholars have argued that HSM is one of the most prevalent models rooted in the dual-process theory and the model anticipates one’s social assessment such as self-beliefs, reflections, and attitudes (Chaiken, 1980; Khalifa, 2022). Scholars have also described HSM as being two processes or routes including (1) heuristic processing, in which users study informational cues to create their initial or irrational judgments, and (2) systematic processing, in which they evaluate all relevant aspects of information and establish coherent judgments based on these comprehensive evaluations (Chen and Chaiken, 1999; Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Shi et al. 2021). Zhang et al. (2014) also claimed that both routes of HSM (heuristic processing and systematic processing) are likely to occur in parallel, and interact with each other, imitating an individual’s process of decision-making.
Extant research on innovative service and product adoption has largely depended on traditional theories of innovation diffusion such as the technology acceptance model (TAM) (Davis et al. 1989; Legris et al. 2003), theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991), and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al. 2003), expectation-confirmation model (ECM) (Bhattacherjee, 2001), and theory of innovation diffusion (DIT) (Rogers, 2003), to name a few, to predict user acceptance and continuance intention to use an IT-enabled service (Nguyen and Ha, 2021; Shi et al. 2021). Furthermore, it is worth observing that, in addition to traditional models on adoption (e.g., ECM, UTAUT), the HSM is becoming the most appropriate theoretical framework to study users’ behavioral intention and usage of healthcare services and products (Griffin et al. 2002; Son et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2014; Zhang and Zhu, 2021).
While the HSM is widely applied to observe a user’s decision-making process in the context of healthcare, both message characteristics (i.e., validity information) and source characteristics (e.g., status of a person) could influence user decisions. For instance, Zhang and Zhu (2021) discovered that people are more positive about the quality of messages (e.g., messages with images or hyperlinks) than the branding of a journalist (e.g., source characteristics) during a public health crisis of the Covid-19 outbreak. In the case of the e-cigarette, Katz et al. (2018) claimed that the addition of a modified risk statement can reduce user perception of the warning and preserve non-smokers’ intentions to use e-cigarettes, and while both the systematic and heuristic routes are illustrative, heuristic processing provides more appropriateness.
Purchase intention expresses consumers' plan to make a future purchase of goods or services (Ajzen, 1991; Ha et al. 2023; Hsu and Tsou, 2011). Purchase intention is also an antecedence that may be used to forecast real-world buying behavior, thus it has caught the attention of a lot of studies (McClure and Seock, 2020). A great number of papers have examined the elements influencing customer purchase intention through online platforms such as blogs (Lu et al. 2014; van Esch et al. 2018), websites (Erkan and Evans, 2018; Wu et al. 2014), social networking sites (McClure and Seock, 2020; Shang et al. 2017; Sokolova and Kefi, 2020). There are a variety of factors that can affect online purchase intention. Al-Jundi et al. (2019) researched the perceived customer value such as perceived usefulness and perceived sacrifice, while trust is the focused determinant in investigating the purchase intention (Yu et al. 2021). In addition, there are a lot of studies examining the factors from other buyers to potential customers’ purchase intention such as electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on social networking sites (Alhidari et al. 2015; Lee et al. 2020) and generated content from prior consumers (Bahtar and Muda, 2016; Nyein, 2019). Next, consumer purchase intention will emerge strongly if the customers rely on the content created by other users on the internet for pre-purchase evaluation of variably priced services (Noone and McGuire, 2013) and even product sales (Tang et al. 2014). Similarly, Bahtar and Muda (2016) indicated the increasing consumption trends of show-rooming and web-rooming arise significantly to look for product information and comments from prior consumers to inform their purchase decision (Kang, 2018; Tsiakali, 2018). Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is an encumbrance all over the world, thus the purchase intention is more or less also partly impacted. Some recent studies analyze how the purchase intention changed during this pandemic in the context of online book shopping (Nguyen et al. 2020) and online medication (e.g., dietary supplements, anti-cough medicine) (Jairoun et al. 2021). The aforementioned studies prove that as the COVID-19 pandemic has been occurring, purchase intention tends to be formed through online shopping (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: The proposed research model.The model was constructed on the base of user-generated content features such as Hedonic and Utilitarian values and Information quality; and its relationships to Trust among consumers and finally facilitating consumer purchase intention.
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Hedonic value is correlated to the non-functional advantages; and concentrates more on the emotional benefit (Fang et al. 2017; Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982; Lavuri et al. 2023). In addition, the hedonic aspect represents the enjoyment from UGC (Hazari et al. 2017). Also, Batra and Ahtola (1991) also supported that hedonic value is relevant to content gratification which brings emotional arousals and feelings through subjective and personal evaluation rather than utilitarian (Ham et al. 2019). Given the influence of hedonic use on consumers’ intention to do online shopping is still dubious among researchers. Nevertheless, some studies assert that hedonic value just increases the enjoyment for wondering then browsing the information, thus the purchase intention is not largely affected by the hedonic value, which involves cognition more than feeling (Arruda Filho et al. 2020; Okada, 2005). On the other hand, hedonic is examined as a strong effective factor that results in consumers’ intention to purchase the product (Soebandhi et al. 2019). From the viewpoints of online-generated content, the relationship between hedonic and purchase intention is figured out in an online environment as content generated by users considered as amazed, interesting, and likely to create consumers’ and forming discussion on the information, thus resulting in purchase intention (Karunanayake and Madubashini, 2019). Thus, the hypothesis proposed for this research is below:
H1: Hedonic value of UGC has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention toward dietary supplement products on Facebook
Utilitarian value refers to “functional and instrumental benefits” such as convenience and cost-reduction (Gan and Wang, 2017; Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982; Lu et al. 2022). Utilitarian is distinguished among the terms of value as individuals involving processes such as information usefulness for necessity rather than getting information for reaction. Thus, the utilitarian value of UGC refers to how beneficial and useful information is on social media (Chiu et al. 2014). Nowadays, people spend more time searching UGC to obtain more useful information which refers to utilitarian value to fulfill their goals (Kim and Park, 2013). Some earlier studies examine the positive relationship between utilitarian value and purchase intention (Gan and Wang, 2017; Ozkara et al. 2017). From online contents, the side of utilitarian values contributes massively in the decision of whether or not to buy something based on user reviews, especially in mobile services (Zhani et al. 2022). These findings are consistent with a previous study (Hazari et al. 2017) as it indicated that utilitarian use of UGC is relevant to practical benefits of UGC as consumers can obtain more useful information and/or practical. Furthermore, the researchers also state that the comprehensibility of utilitarian value of UGC is essential for consumers and potential customers in their purchasing intention (Hazari et al. 2017). To clarify the relationship, it can be hypothesized that:
H2: Utilitarian value of UGC has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention toward dietary supplement products on Facebook
Quality of contents encompasses various characteristics such as objectivity and logical reasons, which is also deliverable information that is understandable, abundant, and applicable to related products (Chen et al. 2011; Tyrväinen et al. 2023). Additionally, online consumer reviews come in a variety of formats ranging from subjective emotional information to attribute-specific factual descriptions (Lukyanenko et al. 2014). In 1984, information quality is distinguished as both understandable and objective aspects that are more effective and strongly influential than emotional and subjective information (Petty and Cacioppo, 1984). An online review is perceived quality under the terms of understandability, relevance and sufficiency. The degree of congruence between information in the consumer review and the information consumers desire to evaluate a product is measured by relevance (Chua and Banerjee, 2016). The degree of ease with which the information may be understood is referred to as understandability; and sufficiency represents the level of detail (Petty and Cacioppo, 1984). When uncertainty emerges in consumer perception, the purchase intention also partially fluctuates (Shiu et al. 2011). Another research study also elucidates that if the information is clear, it will help consumers to evaluate the product which then can create the purchase intention (Bataineh, 2015). Therefore, it is a prediction that the purchase intention of consumers becomes stronger as the reviews generated by users are quality, and the following hypothesis is proposed:
H3: Information quality of UGC has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention toward vitamin and dietary supplement products on Facebook.
Trust is defined as the willingness of a party to depend on an exchange relationship with partners and a specific state of mind with positive expectations of individuals (Rousseau et al. 1998; Zafari et al. 2020). The importance of trust enriches the higher level of information acceptance and the increasing purchase intention among individuals (Basha et al. 2015). Continuously, consumers who are involved in processing individual reviews systematically will likely enhance purchase intention and have a predilection for favorable product reviews, which then influences consumer information processing by eliciting a confirmation bias (Yu et al. 2021). As a fact, consumers likely use information that they trust toward particular products/services; and they make decisions whether or not to react to such information obtained (Cheng et al. 2017; Mayer et al. 1995). In the context of UGC, trust is indicated by the information that users provide through their activities (Al Qundus et al. 2019). More recently, people have become increasingly likely to trust other consumers with similar characteristics and/or experiences than they are to believe the government authorities, business experts, and the media (Mainardes and Cardoso, 2019). Given the previous studies regarding online contents, the findings revealed the impact of UGC on health-related attitudes and intentions (Hu and Shyam Sundar, 2010; Jin et al. 2015; Plasek and Temesi, 2019). Consumers are sidestepping the conventional methods of information transmission, such as doctors and healthcare advisors, and instead of that, they are depending more on online from different sources (Willis, 2018). Moreover, online-generated contents might be perceived in the type of recommendations provided by relatives, friends, or “like-minded souls” (Zeng and Gerritsen, 2014). These users usually generate contents that help other consumers to reduce the risks in their decision-making and thus reduce the uncertainty in their intention to purchase (Lăzăroiu et al. 2020). Generally, consumers normally trust reviews from users who have purchased the product, and trust of UGC is an essential factor that influences other potential consumers (Hazari et al. 2017). Thus, it can be concluded that trust in UGC has a significant impact on consumers’ purchase intention (Table 1).
Table 1 Respondents’ profile.Full size table
H4: Hedonic value of UGC has a positive impact on consumer trust toward vitamin and dietary supplement products on Facebook.
H5: Utilitarian value of UGC has a positive impact on consumer trust toward vitamin and dietary supplement products on Facebook.
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H6: Trust of UGC has a positive impact on consumers’ purchase intention toward vitamin and dietary supplement products on Facebook.
We recently posted about the items you should bring with you when visiting Vietnam. We thought it would be fitting to also tell you about the items you should not bring with you! Here is a short list to guide you when packing for the trip and to remind you of the import rules in Vietnam.
1. The Obvious – We hope that the point we are making here is assumed, but to reiterate – please do not bring illegal drugs (yes, this includes cannabis) and weapons to Vietnam. If you are caught with illegal drugs or weapons, the repercussions are not pretty!
2. Anti-Government Propaganda – Although we highly recommend learning about Vietnam’s history and culture before coming here, we do not recommend bringing some of these reading materials to Vietnam. If they contain any material that one would consider to be against the current government, they will be confiscated and you will be heavily reprimanded. What’s more, if you bring any printed maps, make sure that the map labels the giant body of water next to Vietnam as ‘Eastern Sea’, not ‘South China Sea’! 🙂
3. Heavy or Excess Items – As we mentioned in our previous blog post, internal flights seem cheap at first but they really make their money on excess baggage fees. If you can do without heavy items such as hair dryers or even heavy-shelled bags, you may save yourself a lot of money! Also avoid bringing an excess of common hygiene products like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. If you happen to run out during your trip, you can find all these items here, and most brand names are available.
4. Expensive Items – Thieves in Vietnam can be masters of their art. If you flaunt that real gold necklace or diamond pendant while roaming the motorbike-saturated streets, it may get snatched before you even realize what has happened! It really is best to leave your expensive jewelry back home to avoid theft. Although rings are more difficult to steal, you still have to use caution. Women do wear their wedding rings routinely here without a problem but you will have to be very aware of your surroundings.
We do not recommend that you bring expensive electronic items, but if you must bring them, be extremely careful. For the photography enthusiasts, professional cameras can be very useful here as Vietnam offers an amazing backdrop for your photos. However, we advise you to have straps for your camera that are really thick and to keep it strapped across your body or wrist. PacSafe makes bags for cameras that is reinforced with steel wire so it cannot be cut. As for phones, many people have had their phone stolen right from under them as they write a text message or look at maps. Have someone cover if you if you need to use your phone on the streets and stand facing inwards rather than towards the street. Otherwise, keep it in a pocket with zippers.
5. Pornography – The sale or possession of any pornographic material is strictly prohibited and illegal in Vietnam, not just for tourists but for everyone. Enforcement is very strict! If you happen to have unlabeled DVDs in your bag, they will be checked at the airport. Please note that pornography is illegal in most of Southeast Asia but more easily obtainable in some of the neighbouring countries. If you are traveling around Asia, you will have to get rid of any pornographic material in your possession before entering Vietnam.
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