Understanding the Effect of Product Reviews on YouTube on Consumers’ Intention to Purchase Electronic Devices

YouTube product review videos are popular sources of information for consumers when making purchase decisions. This study examines how sensory marketing cues in these videos affect consumers’ parasocial interaction with content creators. This interaction leads to hedonic motivations (perceived transparency and enjoyment) and utilitarian motivations (credibility and informativeness), which ultimately influence purchase intention. Data was collected from 343 consumers who bought electronic devices after watching YouTube product reviews. The data was analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results show that visual cues significantly influence parasocial interaction. Moreover, parasocial interaction has a significant impact on perceived transparency, perceived enjoyment, credibility, and informativeness. Perceived transparency, credibility, and informativeness also significantly affect purchase intention. However, the study found that auditory cues do not significantly influence parasocial interaction. Similarly, perceived enjoyment does not significantly affect purchase intention. These findings have some contributions to both theory and practice for researchers, social media influencers, retailers, and marketing managers of electronic devices in planning and producing product review content that encourages consumer purchases.