International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship

Marketing on Instagram: Social influence and image quality on perception of

quality and purchase intention
Li Xin Teo, Ho Keat Leng, Yi Xian Philip Phua,
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Li Xin Teo, Ho Keat Leng, Yi Xian Philip Phua, (2018) "Marketing on Instagram: Social influence
and image quality on perception of quality and purchase intention", International Journal of Sports
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Marketing on
Marketing on Instagram Instagram
Social influence and image quality on
perception of quality and purchase intention
Li Xin Teo, Ho Keat Leng and Yi Xian Philip Phua
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Received 6 April 2018
Revised 23 May 2018
Abstract Accepted 4 December 2018
Purpose – Social network sites are becoming more visual-centric. The purpose of this paper is to examine the
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effectiveness of visual social network sites as a marketing platform.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper comprises two experiments. The first experiment sought to
examine the effect of social influence; while the second experiment examined the effect of image quality on the
perception of quality and purchase intention.
Findings – The first experiment showed that social influence did not affect perceived quality or purchase
intention. In the second experiment, a one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of covariance
(MANCOVA) adjusting for sport involvement showed a statistically significant difference between the two
groups. Respondents in the experimental group reported higher levels of perceived quality (adjusted
M ¼ 3.68) and purchase intention (adjusted M ¼ 3.23) when compared to the control group’s perceived quality
(adjusted M ¼ 3.12) and purchase intention (adjusted M ¼ 2.17).
Research limitations/implications – One of the limitations of this study is that it only examined the
effects through a single social network site, i.e. Instagram. As there are other visual-centric social network
sites, such as Tumblr and Pinterest, which operate slightly different from Instagram, it remains to be
established how such effects vary across these social network sites.
Practical implications – The results suggest that social influence on Instagram is limited and marketers
should invest in images of high quality when marketing on visual social network sites.
Originality/value – While there are many studies examining the effectiveness of marketing on social
network sites, these studies have primarily focussed on earlier social network sites, such as Facebook. Newer
social network sites that are more visual-centric, such as Instagram, are different from earlier social network
sites and studied to a lesser extent. This study adds insights on the marketing effectiveness of visual-centric
social network sites and deepens the understanding on marketing in general on social media.
Keywords Social influence, Purchase intention, Social network sites, Image quality, Perception of quality
Paper type Research paper

Social networking sites have emerged as a major form of communication. The first social
network site Six Degrees.com was launched in 1997. Since then, many social network sites
have been launched and the number of members on such sites have grown exponentially
(Boyd and Ellison, 2008). In 2015, approximately two-thirds of North American adults used
at least one social network site, a large increase from only 7 per cent in 2005 (Perrin, 2015).
The popularity of social network sites is most clearly observed among young adults
with many of them having at least one social network account and logging on to them at
least once a day (Duffett, 2015; Gangadharbatla, 2008; Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008;
Ting et al., 2015).
Social networking sites are defined as web-based services that allow individuals to
construct a public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users whom they
share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections (Boyd and Ellison, 2008).
On social network sites, members are able to share information with each other. As such,
many commercial organisations believed that it will be possible to conduct marketing
activities on social network sites as members will share information of their products and
services with each other (Barczyk and Duncan, 2011). As members of a social network site International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship
have a relationship with each other in a virtual community, it is also more likely that members © Emerald Publishing Limited
1464-6668
trust recommendations on social networks sites (Phua and Ahn, 2016; Ridings et al., 2002). DOI 10.1108/IJSMS-04-2018-0028
 IJSMS However, marketing on social network sites is different from traditional marketing.
Members on social network sites are not only receivers of marketing messages but can also
create shared meaning of the brand (Deighton and Kornfeld, 2009; Kozinets et al., 2010).
As such, there have been many studies conducted to examine how such characteristics of
social network sites can be leveraged into more effective marketing tools. These studies
have primarily focussed on earlier social network sites, such as Facebook, which was
started in 2004 and subsequently opened to the public in 2006 (Abeza et al., 2015; Boyd and
Ellison, 2008; Duffett, 2015; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015).
Over time, technological advancements have allowed social network sites to become
more visual-centric. In 2010, Instagram was founded primarily for members to share photos
and images (Ting et al., 2015). Members also use Instagram to search for information about
other people, document their life, demonstrate to other members their coolness and
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creativity and share their interests with others (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). Since its
inception, the number of members on Instagram has grown exponentially with
approximately 700m registered users in 2017 (Dogtiev, 2018). This growth is likely to be
attributed to the growing number of mobile devices including tablets and smartphones
which are capable of capturing high quality images for sharing. Consequently, many
commercial organisations are also leveraging on Instagram in addition to Facebook for their
marketing activities.
However, there exist a smaller number of studies examining marketing on a visually
centred social network site, such as Instagram, when compared to studies on other social
network sites (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017; Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). Recent studies
have found that there were differences in how members use Instagram when compared to
other social network sites (Sheldon and Bryant, 2016; Ting et al., 2015). In particular, users of
Instagram were more likely to have stronger social interaction motives in using the social
network site (Blight et al., 2017; Sheldon and Bryant, 2016). As such, this suggests that it will
be illuminating to examine the effectiveness of marketing on Instagram and whether it
differs from the marketing on other social network sites.

Literature review
Studies have shown that members of social network sites are not merely passive receivers of
marketing messages, but can also actively create shared meaning of the brand with other
members (Deighton and Kornfeld, 2009; Geurin and Burch, 2017; Kozinets et al., 2010). Social
network sites allow members to raise brand awareness, influence brand image and state
their preferences for specific brands. As such, these websites can be a source of social
influence as members may rely on the perception and judgment of others in consumer
decision making (Ruiz-Mafe et al., 2018).
Individuals are susceptible to social influence because humans learn to rely on others’
perceptions and judgments as sources of evidence. This susceptibility to social influence
arises from the tendency to learn about products through seeking information from others,
conforming to others’ expectations to receive rewards or avoid punishments, and identifying
one’s image with others through the acquisition of certain products or brands (Bearden et al.,
1989; Deutsch and Gerard, 1955).
However, susceptibility to social influence varies across individuals. Consumers who are
highly involved in the purchase situation or product category possess high levels of
motivation to acquire and process information (Wang et al., 2016; Zaichkowsky, 1985). They
are, thus, more likely to be persuaded by the content of the message instead of peripheral
cues (Petty et al., 1983). Consequently, they are less susceptible to social influence than
consumers who are less involved (Chew and Leng, 2014).
The effect of social influence on consumer behaviour have been established in earlier
studies before the founding of social network sites (Burnkrant and Cousineau, 1975;
 Pincus and Waters, 1977). While studies examining social influence specifically on social Marketing on
network sites are fewer in number, it is evident that social influence can affect consumer Instagram
behaviour on these platforms including the perception of quality and purchase intention
(Chew and Leng, 2014; Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017; Duffett, 2015; Phua and Ahn, 2016;
Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015). In particular, high levels of interaction with posts
including “like” votes and shares can positively influence purchase intention (Beukeboom
et al., 2015; Phua and Ahn, 2016; Richard and Guppy, 2014). While ratings may not solely
have an effect on purchase intention, the conversational human “voice” including comments
on social network sites can positively affect purchase intention through social influence
(Beukeboom et al., 2015; Chew and Leng, 2014; Duan et al., 2008). It may even mitigate the
negative impact of negative comments (Sandes and Urdan, 2013). As such, it is expected
from the above review that social influence on social network sites can have an effect on the
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perception of quality and purchase intention of products.

The majority of these studies have focussed predominately on earlier social network
sites, such as Facebook and Twitter (Abeza et al., 2015). Over time, social network sites
have evolved to become more visual-centric and focussed on the sharing of images,
photographs and videos. Instagram, which was founded in 2010, is one such social
network site. As its number of members grew, it attracted the attention of commercial
organisations and marketing campaigns were launched on the platform. According to
Instagram’s internal data, 50 per cent of their users follow at least one business,
60 per cent claim they learn about a product or service on the platform and 75 per cent
visit the product’s website or tell their friends, after looking at an Instagram advertising
post (Instagram Business Team, 2016).
Recent studies have attempted to make comparisons across the platforms. They have
found that attitude towards word-of-mouth communication can differ across various
digital channels due to the presence of images and videos (Djafarova and Rushworth,
2017; Gvili and Levy, 2016; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015). The nature of social network
sites favours a quick emotive response rather than a prolonged, conscious and cognitive
response (Leng, 2013). Visual content on social network sites leverages on this nature and
allow information to be transmitted to members quickly and in an entertaining manner
(Gvili and Levy, 2016). Jensen et al. (2015) cited market research that has found that
visual images are more likely to be tweeted when compared to text messages. As such, a
visual-centric social network site like Instagram may be even more effective as a
marketing platform in influencing perception of quality and purchase intention. This
leads to the first research question for this study:
RQ1. What is the effect of social influence on consumers’ perception of product quality
and purchase intention on Instagram?
Consumers are unable to physically examine products on digital platforms. Besides
word-of-mouth communications on social network sites, consumers will need to rely on
other informational cues for their decision making. Product presentation on the digital
platform is one of such cues.
It has been shown in earlier research that images can potentially draw consumers’
attention away from textual information (Kroeber-Riel, 1984; Rossiter, 1982). In addition, the
properties of images used in marketing communications can affect consumers’ attitude
towards the advertised product. Some studies suggest that when images on social network
sites are of high quality, they are more likely to produce positive affective experiences for
members (Colliander and Marder, 2018; Jeong et al., 2009). Consumers are also more likely to
draw positive inferences on product quality when the images are of high quality
(Mavlanova and Benbunan-Fich, 2010; Wang et al., 2016; Wells et al., 2011; Yoo and Kim,
2014). Even by simply manipulating the size of the image, consumers are more likely to
 IJSMS notice the image and have more favourable attitudes towards the products (Kim and
Lennon, 2008; Kroeber-Riel, 1984; Rossiter, 1982). However, while the quality of an image is
important, the image must abide by the rules of the medium to remain likeable and credible.
Specifically, social network sites are informal platforms for communications and as such,
informal snapshots may work better than formal studio shots (Colliander and Marder, 2018).
This leads to the second research question for this study:
RQ2. What is the effect of image quality on consumers’ perception of product quality
and purchase intention on Instagram?

Method
There had been calls to use experimental research design in sports management research
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(O’Reilly, 2011). Experimental methods allow for the evaluation of stimuli in a controlled
setting (Colliander and Marder, 2018). Given the research objectives of this study, it was
deemed appropriate to adopt an experimental research design for this study.
The product category selected for this study was sports shoes. As a fashion product, it
was an appropriate choice for this study as Instagram is a common advertising platform for
the industry (Colliander and Marder, 2018). In addition, there are few studies examining
Instagram in the sports industry. A couple of recent studies had focussed on athletes and
self-presentation on Instagram (Geurin-Eagleman and Burch, 2016; Smith and Sanderson,
2015). Specific to examining marketing of sports products on Instagram, a recent study
examined branding strategies of sports shoes on Instagram (Geurin and Burch, 2017).
As such, this study by examining social influence and image quality can add to the
literature on the marketing of sports apparels on Instagram.
Sports apparels are purchased for different purposes including as everyday wear or for
enhancing sporting performance. As such, purchase decision can be based on a variety of
product attributes including fit, aesthetics, design and the material used (Bae, 2011;
Chae et al., 2006; Dickson and Pollack, 2000; Scheerder et al., 2011; Zhou et al., 2018). This
also implies that consumers of sports apparels may differ in their level of involvement.
Consumers who purchase sports apparels for enhancing sporting performance are likely
to be high in involvement. They tend to have some experience with sports products and
possess some knowledge of the product category. In contrast, consumers who purchase
sports apparels as everyday wear are more likely to be low in involvement and tend to have
less product-related knowledge. This group of consumers may be more susceptible to social
influence when making a purchase decision (Chew and Leng, 2014). This suggests that the
level of involvement will need to be controlled when examining effects on perception of
quality and purchase intention.
Sports involvement is measured using a three-item, seven-point Likert scale. These
items are adapted from an earlier study and was found to be reliable with Cronbach’s α
coefficient reported at 0.87 (Gwinner and Swanson, 2003). For this study, the scale was also
found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.86 in Experiment 1 and 0.91
in Experiment 2:
(1) sports is very important to me;
(2) I think about sports all of the time; and
(3) I watch sporting events whenever I can.
Two separate experiments were conducted. In both experiments, an Instagram account for a
fictitious brand of sports shoes Ludere Lite was created. Using a fictitious brand can
eliminate potentially confounding effects from respondents’ pre-existing beliefs and attitudes
towards a specific sports brand (Colliander and Marder, 2018; Phua and Ahn, 2016).
 Respondents were solicited through convenience sampling from the student population in a Marketing on
tertiary institution in Singapore and randomly assigned to a control and an experimental Instagram
group in both experiments.
In this study, the dependent variables under investigation are perception of product
quality and purchase intention. There is a positive relationship between perceived quality
and purchase intention. Consumers who perceive products to be of higher quality are more
likely to report higher levels of purchase intention (Shaharudin et al., 2011; Wells et al., 2011;
Yoo and Kim, 2014). However, the two terms are conceptually different. Perceived quality is
only one factor that determines purchase intention. When other factors are more important
in determining purchase intention, the relationship between perceived quality and purchase
intention weakens.
Perception of quality of a product was tested using a five-item instrument with a
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seven-point Likert Scale adapted from previous research (Teas and Agarwal, 2000;
Wang et al., 2016). In this study, the scale was found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s α
coefficient of 0.91 in Experiment 1 and 0.93 in Experiment 2. The items in the instrument
are as follows:
(1) I perceive Ludere Lite to be durable;
(2) I perceive Ludere Lite to be well crafted (i.e. good workmanship);
(3) I perceive Ludere Lite to be of high quality;
(4) I perceive Ludere Lite to consistently perform well (i.e. dependable); and
(5) I feel safe to buy Ludere Lite through this seller on Instagram.
Purchase intention was measured using a four-item instrument with a seven-point Likert
Scale adapted from earlier studies. This scale was found to be reliable with Cronbach’s α
coefficient reported above 0.80 (Coyle and Thorson, 2001; Prendergast et al., 2010). For this
study, the scale was also found to be reliable, with a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.92 for both
experiments. The items in the instrument are as follows:
(1) It is very likely that I will buy Ludere Lite.
(2) I will purchase Ludere Lite the next time I need a pair of running shoes.
(3) I will definitely try Ludere Lite.
(4) Suppose that a friend called you last night to get your advice in his/her search for a
pair of running shoes. Would you have recommended him/her to purchase Ludere
Lite?

Experiment 1
In this experiment to examine the effect of social influence on perceived quality and
purchase intention, respondents in both control and experimental groups were exposed to
the fictitious Instagram account of Ludere Lite. For the experimental group, the Instagram
account was shown with additional members’ comments on usage and product experience.
These include comments like “perfect for your marathon”, “you will love the design!” and
“Totally getting it!” After viewing the Instagram, respondents completed the survey
instrument via a laptop.

Experiment 2
Respondents in both control and experimental groups were exposed to an Instagram post
with a visual image of a pair of Ludere Lite sports shoes. The visual image in experimental
group was the same as the visual image in the control group except that the size of the
 IJSMS image was two times larger than the control group. As such, the manipulation was expected
to expose the experimental group to an image that had better photographic detail and image
quality than the control group (Kim and Lennon, 2008). In other words, the respondents in
the experimental group were presented with an image with a higher level of information
richness. After being exposed to the Instagram post, respondents from both groups
completed a survey.
To test for product presentation richness, a three-item instrument with a seven-point
Likert Scale was adapted from an earlier study (Wang et al., 2016). For this study, the scale
was found to be reliable with a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.84. The items in the instrument
are as follows:
(1) the Instagram post is sufficiently detailed;
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(2) the Instagram post is visually pleasing; and

(3) the Instagram post is well organised.

Results
Experiment 1
A total of 99 respondents agreed to participate in the study with 50 respondents in the
control group and 49 respondents in the experimental group. In the control group,
there were 39 female respondents (78 per cent) and 11 male respondents (22 per cent). In the
experimental group, there were 31 female respondents (63 per cent) and 18 male respondents
(37 per cent).
A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was
performed to investigate the differences in perceived quality and purchase intention
between the control and experimental groups with sport involvement as the covariate.
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient showed a strong, positive correlation
between the perceived quality and purchase intention, r ¼ 0.68, n ¼ 99, p o0.01. While the
correlation between the perceived quality and purchase intention was strong, it was
considered acceptable as it was below 0.80 (Pallant, 2010). Preliminary assumption testing
showed that the number of cases in each cell was more than 20 and as such, was sufficiently
robust for modest violations of normality (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2014). Box’s test of
equality of covariance matrices did not indicate any violation on the assumption of
homogeneity of variance–covariance matrices.
After adjusting for sport involvement, there was no statistically significant difference
between the control and experimental groups on the combined dependent variables,
F(2, 95) ¼ 1.46, p W0.05; Wilks’ λ ¼ 0.97. Further analysis showed that there was no
significant relationship between sport involvement and the two dependents, perception of
quality and purchase intention. The means and standard deviations of the dependent
variables are found in Table I.

Unadjusted mean SD F-value p-value Partial η2

Perceived quality
Controla 4.32 0.99 0.67 0.42 0.01
Table I. Experimentalb 4.12 1.34
MANCOVA with
perceived quality and Purchase intention
purchase intention as Controla 2.93 1.19 0.25 0.62 0.00
dependent variables in Experimentalb 3.06 1.37
Experiment 1 Notes: an ¼ 50; bn ¼ 49
 Experiment 2 Marketing on
A total of 159 respondents agreed to participate in the study with 75 respondents in the Instagram
control group and 84 respondents in the experimental group. In the control group, there were
39 female respondents (52 per cent) and 36 male respondents (48 per cent). In the experimental
group, there were 37 female respondents (44 per cent) and 47 male respondents (56 per cent).
An independent-samples t-test was conducted as a manipulation check to determine
whether there was any difference in the visual quality of the image presented to the control
and experimental groups. The results showed a significant difference between the
control group (M ¼ 3.26, SD ¼ 1.02) and the experimental group (M ¼ 3.80, SD ¼ 1.26;
t(157) ¼ 2.92, p o0.01) in Table II. This confirmed that the manipulation in visual quality by
increasing the size of the image in the experimental group was successful. This allowed the
research to proceed with examining whether visual quality of the image on social network
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sites had an effect on perception of quality and purchase intention.

A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was
performed to investigate the differences in the control and experimental groups with sport
involvement as the covariate. The two dependent variables used were perceived quality and
purchase intention. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient showed a strong,
positive correlation between the two variables, r ¼ 0.79, n ¼ 159, p o0.01. While the
correlation between the perceived quality and purchase intention was strong, it was
considered acceptable as it was below 0.80 (Pallant, 2010).
Preliminary assumption testing was conducted. As the number of cases in each cell is
more than 20, it is sufficiently robust for modest violations of normality (Tabachnick and
Fidell, 2014). The calculated Mahalanobis distance did not indicate the presence of
multivariate outliers. In addition, Box’s test of equality of covariance matrices did not
indicate any violation on the assumption of homogeneity of variance–covariance matrices.
After adjusting for sport involvement, there was a statistically significant difference between
the control and experimental groups on the combined dependent variables, F(2, 155) ¼ 18.51,
po0.01; Wilks’ λ ¼ 0.81; partial η2 ¼ 0.19. The results for the dependent variables were
considered separately, using a Bonferroni adjusted α level of 0.03. Both the perception of quality
(F(1, 156) ¼ 8.62, po0.01, partial η2 ¼ 0.05) and purchase intention reached statistical
significance (F(1, 156) ¼ 32.00, po0.01, partial η2 ¼ 0.17). This indicated that the quality of
visual content on social network sites has a small effect size on perception of quality but a
moderately large effect size on purchase intention (Cohen, 1988). Respondents in the
experimental group reported higher levels of perceived quality (adjusted M ¼ 3.68) and
purchase intention (adjusted M ¼ 3.23) when compared to the control group’s perceived quality
(adjusted M ¼ 3.12) and purchase intention (adjusted M ¼ 2.17). Details are reported in Table III.
Further analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between sport
involvement and the two dependents, perception of quality ( p o0.01, partial η2 ¼ 0.09), and
purchase intention ( p o0.01, partial η2 ¼ 0.08).

Discussion
Many commercial organisations use social network sites to market their products and
services. While there are many studies examining the effectiveness of such a strategy, these

Mean SD t-value

Controla 3.26 1.02 2.92*

Table II.
Experimentalb 3.80 1.26 Visual quality of
Notes: an ¼ 75; bn ¼ 84. *p o0.01 product image
 IJSMS studies have predominately focussed on the earlier social network sites, such as Facebook
and Twitter. As social network sites evolve to become more visual-centric, it is necessary to
examine whether such strategies can still be applied effectively.
One of the main findings on marketing on social network sites is that social influence can
affect perception of quality and purchase intention, especially for consumers who are less
involved in the product category or purchase situation (Chew and Leng, 2014). In
Experiment 1, it was found that on a visual-centric social network site, such as Instagram,
social influence in the form of members’ comment did not affect perceived quality or
purchase intention when compared to the control group. In addition, the findings did not
find any relationship between the level of sport involvement with perceived quality and
purchase intention.
This is unexpected and contrary to earlier studies. Images can draw consumers’
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attention away from textual information. In print advertisements, it has been found that
consumers tend to focus on the image before the text (Kroeber-Riel, 1984; Rossiter, 1982). In
this study, social influence was represented as text within the post. As such, respondents
may be focusing their attention on the image instead of the text on Instagram. Compared to
other social network sites, such as Facebook, where the text is given more attention, the
effect of social influence may have become limited.
While there is a need to examine this further, the findings suggest that commercial
organisation need to consider using more than one social network site as their roles in the
marketing campaign may differ (Gvili and Levy, 2016; Ting et al., 2015). Facebook and
other social network sites may be able to influence perception of quality and purchase
intention through social influence, but Instagram is more likely to provide entertainment
and provide information to members quickly (Djafarova and Rushworth, 2017; Gvili and
Levy, 2016). As such, commercial organisations cannot simply replicate their strategies
across the different social network sites but must learn to leverage on the strengths of the
individual platform.
In Experiment 2, the findings suggest that an image quality on social network sites can
affect consumers’ perception of product quality and purchase intention. When the image is
of high visual quality, consumers are more likely to perceive that the products presented
are of high quality and report a higher level of purchase intention. These findings concur
with the existing literature, further emphasising the importance of high quality images
when marketing products on social network sites. In this study, a simple manipulation of
having a larger image resulted in higher levels of perceived quality and purchase
intention. Commercial organisations on social network sites thus need to invest in high
quality visual images and yet ensure that it remains authentic and relevant to the medium
(Colliander and Marder, 2018).
The findings from Experiment 2 also provided further empirical support that sport
involvement has a significant relationship with perception of quality and purchase intention

Unadjusted mean SD Adjusted mean F-value p-value Partial η2

Perceived quality
Controla 3.21 1.16 3.12 8.62* 0.00 0.05
Table III. Experimentalb 3.61 1.27 3.68
MANCOVA with Purchase intention
perceived quality and
Controla 2.24 0.98 2.17 32.00* 0.00 0.17
purchase intention as
dependent variables in Experimentalb 3.16 1.28 3.23
Experiment 2 Notes: an ¼ 75; bn ¼ 84. *Significant difference using a Bonferroni adjusted α ¼ 0.03
 of sport products. Sports apparels are purchased by both serious athletes to enhance Marketing on
their performance and consumers to make a fashion statement (Chae et al., 2006; Instagram
Dickson and Pollack, 2000; Zhou et al., 2018). As such, depending on the level of
involvement, consumers differ in their susceptibility to social influence. This suggests that
in future studies involving sports products, it is important to consider the effect of sport
involvement as a variable.

Conclusion
This study examined the effect of social influence and quality of visual image on
respondents’ perception of quality and purchase intention on the marketing of sports shoes
on a visual-centric social network site. Due to the nature of visual-centric social network
sites, it was found that social influence in the form of members’ word-of-mouth did not
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affect perceived quality and purchase intention significantly. However, higher quality
images in the form of larger image size resulted in higher levels of perceived quality and
purchase intention.
One of the limitations of this study is that it only examined the effects through a single
social network site, i.e. Instagram. As there are other visual-centric social network sites,
such as Tumblr and Pinterest, which operate slightly different from Instagram, it remains to
be established how such effects vary across these social network sites. Future studies
should also investigate the effects of other product presentation strategies including product
coordination, product customization, three-dimensional views and the use of video clips on
perception of quality and purchase intention (Yoo and Kim, 2014).

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Corresponding author
Ho Keat Leng can be contacted at: hokeat.leng@nie.edu.sg

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