SSRN Id3638929

Impact of Affiliate Marketing on e-buying behavior of Millennial – A TAM based Approach with Text
Analysis
Impact of Affiliate marketing on e-buying behavior of

Millennial – A TAM based Approach with Text Analysis
Indrajit Ghosala, Bikram Prasadb, Mukti Prakash Beherac

aAssistant Professor, Amity University, Patna
bResearch Scholar, Seacom Skills University, West Bengal
cFaculty in Marketing, State Bank Institute of Consumer Banking,
Hyderabad
ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT
Keywords: Affiliate Owing to a subsequently high growth of digital technology
Marketing, E-buying penetration, firms are now directly targeting global customers
attitude of Millennial, and harnessing the benefits that the online channel offers to gain
TAM model, competitive advantage. In such case, Affiliate marketing has
Perceived ease of use, emerged as significant e-commerce strategies to increase sales
Perceived usefulness, mediated by incentive. The adoption of online shopping
Behavioral intention, technology by millennial has been strengthened through affiliate
Text Analysis. marketing. The paper aims to evaluate the significant impact of
affiliate marketing strategy on millennial attitude of shopping
online .The implied findings have explored qualitatively the
benefits of the affiliate marketing strategy and it’s association
on the Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness. This
have further substantiated Attitude and behavior towards using
online shopping. A conceptual has been validated through
qualitative investigation and Text Analysis of the reliable
sources. The extracted findings will help stakeholders, e-
commerce organizations, entrepreneurs to boost their existing
operations of online shopping portals by adopting Affiliate
Marketing strategy.
1. Introduction
The affiliate marketing, a performance based internet marketing practice, has developed as one
of the crucial marketing tools to impact main generations thereby driving e-purchase decisions.
For firms, operating in the e-commerce ecosystem, affiliate marketing has proved to be a major
strategic consideration enabling competitive advantage for the firm. More importantly, the
adoption of affiliate marketing is driven by the digital generation referred to as the millennial.
Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Analysis
Millennial adopting affiliate marketing due to its dual advantage of providing rewards as revenue
generation as well as discount while buying product through it. Through affiliate marketing, the
consumers can get products with unbiased review .On the other hand; marketing analysts as well
as strategist can enhance the brand cognizance through it. To reiterate, the research paper makes
a holistic attempt to conceptualize a model vis-à-vis the relevant factors of affiliate marketing
impacting the online buying behavior of millennial based on TAM approach. The existing
researches have widely explored the effect of affiliate marketing and e-marketing adoption
Shaltoni et al. (2018). Shaltoni et al.2018 have explored e-marketing adoption among 135
European SMEs and the research finding revealed that e-marketing is adopted widely due to its
perceived relative advantage.(Sin et al., 2016 have explored the adoption of ecommerce among
the Malaysian SMEs. Hence the perceived ease of using the online shopping through affiliate
referrals and its perceived benefits is considered as key factor responsible for the adoption of
technology.
2. Gap and Research problems:

In this present study, an attempt has been made to extract out the relationship between the
affiliate marketing factors (In formativeness, Incentive, Perceived Trust, Perceived ease to
Locate) with the e-buying behavior of the online millennial shoppers. Collins (2000) reiterates
the attitude of the affiliates and the final consumer taking the e-purchase decision. Li et al.
(2011) analyzed the experimental aspects of m-commerce regardless of the type of consumption
and the study showed that emotion plays a very important role in consumer experience and
concluded that utilitarian factor had a negative effect on the consumption experience of
consumer. Affiliate marketing has its own challenges to operate successfully between
stakeholders (Advertiser, Affiliate, Consumer) with objectives of its own. According to Bounie
et al. (2008), Millennial rely on the unbiased review of the peer groups to strengthen their
decision for choosing the product. In such case, the online unbiased and non-sponsored reviews
through influential bloggers, youtuber’s, social media and affiliate marketers enhance the
adoption rate of online shopping. (Cha, 2013). According to (Godes et al. 2005) Online product
review forums have been applying an increasingly powerful influence on consumer preferences
and defiance. Word of mouth (WOM) is seen as more reliable than advancement as it is
perceived as having passed through the assessment of “people like me” (Allsop, Bassett, and

Analysis
Hoskins 2007). According to Keller, 2007; Olbrich, R., &Hundt, M (2018), e-WOM is also one
of the key factors that affect buying decision of online buyers. Contemporary researchers like
Stephanie, 2019 have opined that, affiliate marketing being a technology enabled human-centric
approach that can pave new dimensions in the virtual selling. The Affiliate marketing is a way
that creates value based approach for the attention management for niche surfers. According to
Syed & Khan (2019),the benefits of the affiliate marketing and its advantages as perceived by the
online buyers agglomerated by benefits ecommerce technology like perceived ease of use, safety
in transaction, privacy management, innovation affect the online buying behavior in a positive
way. Concurrently, Mariussen, Daniele, and, Bowie, (2010); Laminett, (2017); Stephanie;
(2019), have opined that digital marketing approaches like affiliate marketing propels and
convert the Youth, Women and netizens to promotes of online brands through targeting
Evergreen niches, seasonal niches, trends and viral product marketing leading to ecommerce
brand creation (Lammenett, 2017). But insufficient literatures have been found which can
exactly relate the attributes of purchase intention of millennial to online shopping mediated
through TAM based approach. Hence it is felt pertinent to conduct a research to probe the latent
relational attributes of the online purchase intention mediated through TAM based approach.
3. Purpose of the study

The research aims to study the inter-relations between the affiliate marketing factors and the e-
purchase behavior of millennial thereby establishing a conceptual framework through TAM. The
conceptual study further necessitates an empirical based pilot study to draw valuable conclusions
of the co-relations that exist between attitude of millennial and the adoption of affiliate
marketing.
The purpose of this study is as follows:
a. To identify the factors responsible for the adoption of Affiliate Marketing.
b. To co-relate the affiliate marketing factors, millennial behavior with TAM factors
Pertaining to PEOU and PU
c. To conceptualize a theoretical model that can act as a base for a further pilot study.
4. Objective
The specific objective that we intend to meet

Analysis
To Study and conceptualize the impact of Affiliate Marketing on e-buying behavior of

Millennial.
Design/Methodology/Approach:
This study is based on a systematic literature review as well as the scheduled interview on the
affiliate marketing factor/factors and its impact on millennial behavior of adopting to e-purchase.
The research article explores the factors that make affiliate marketing work vis-à-vis the attitude
of millennial through the scope of TAM.
5. Research Approach:
A process of mixed method has been followed in order to conduct this study.
5.1 Screening of respondents through Qualitative investigation: In the interview process, there
are certain protocols that is necessary to be carried out. It is important to fix the interview
location, time, theme and respondents. Since the textual information in the verbal data has been
recorded as a prior permission has been taken from the respondents. The study is about the use of
affiliate marketing process and its perceived benefits as a technology and strategy. Hence the
respondents have been chosen keeping in mind these factors. Hence before conducting the
interview, a proper screening through investigation has been carried out to screen the
respondents. A total of 100 questionnaires have been sent out to screen the respondents. The
screening process consists of structured questions. The objective of the question is to know the
basic knowledge and awareness of the ecommerce portals. It also includes query to get
information about the usage of the e commerce portals and any pre incidence of the usage of the
affiliate marketing technique. In some cases it has been obtained that they have used the affiliate
marketing strategy unknowingly. Hence the questionnaire has been prepared to extract such
untapped information. This process of quantitative investigation have been followed to extract
out the best available respondents so that proper and unbiased insights can be obtained regarding
the motto of the study
5.2 Contacting the respondents and entering into the plot: The verbal data have been collected
through interview process. Before conducting the interview and focused discussion, the

Analysis
interviewee has been contacted. They have been approached either through telephonic request or
through mail. But during the process, the interviewer has encountered certain obstacles.
a)Waiting for time: Since many selected respondents chosen for this study are corporate
executives in the Kolkata city, so there is obstacles in the getting their time for the interview. In
spite of prior consent, we have been asked for the resubmission of the request. This have been
taken certain time for the process.
b) Standalone views of the interviewee: In certain cases, the interviewee has told that they will
provide answers according to their own view. This creates dilemma as it may affect the
biasedness of the research.
c) Dilemma of integrating the view: The interviewee attempted to integrate the view of their
organization to the interviewer. Hence it have created dilemma about the views. Hence a verbal
request has been done to give views as a user of the affiliate marketing only.
5.3 Conducting the interview: Conducting the interview is a central part of the research
investigation as it helps to unionize the views about a specific matter. In concern to this the final
consent has been taken from the interviewee with a priori information about the conditions of the
interview. In this regard, with what boundary the interviewee will be addressed and objective of
the interview as well as the expectation of the interviewer has been clarified.
5.4 Situations during the interview: While conducting the interview, the interview has refrained
themselves from the following dilemma:
a) Dilemma of vagueness: The process of the interview consists of series of certain steps. While
advancing through his stages, the interview may face a sense of uncertainty. The vagueness
arises between the situation of the conditions of the interview and the accomplishment of the
research objective.
b) Fairness dilemma: The interviewer should collect as much as the required information,
personal details as required for these factors. But the collection of information should be in line
with the conditions and boundary of the interview process.
c) Dilemma of self-presentation: While conducting the interview, the interviewer must refrain
himself from being Omniscientist. The representation of acing as an Omni scientist as the

Analysis
interviewer may believe themselves. This situation may cause hurdles in the accomplishing the
research objective.
5.5 Managing the “Recorder Discomfort”: The interviewer have tried to record the cases in
their Android Phone Voice recorder app. But a priori consent has been taken from the
interviewer. While advancing through such stage, it has been found that many interviewees have
reluctance in recording their voice. This reluctance can be due to fear and their perceived believe
that their voice may sound unprofessional. But the interviewer has maintained a positive
atmosphere in order to ease the interviewee. It had been clarified to the interviewee to be
explicit. Interview in open and relaxed way provides better insight to the research objective. As a
result, the “Recorder Discomfort have been managed.
5.6 Interview process and limits of intimacy: The interview has been conducted. A series of
subjective questions have been asked in order to have deep assessment of the research. The
interviewer has maintained their role properly. During the first few minutes of the interview,
general questions have been asked. This has helped in creating the stage of the interview. During
the interview process, the interviewer can be overexposed. This may cause infringement in the
limits of intimacy. Hence the interviewer may set limits so that the limits of intimacy can be
maintained in a balanced way. In lieu of such situation, the interviewer can change the topics of
discussion so that interview process can be darted properly.
5.7 Computational linguistics: The factors responsible behinds perceived ease and perceived
usefulness are searched through interview and focus group discussions and text available through
researchers. The factors obtained through text mining have been framed to conceptualize the
relation between the benefits of affiliate marketing and the e-buying behavior of the millennial.
The text mining approaches have been followed to accomplish this research. Firstly the processes
of pre-processing of text have been done. The relevant data is then transcribed, tokenized. The
irrelevant punctuations, stops are removed based on the subjective assessment. They are then
processed for qualitative investigation by the text mining. The compression ratios have been
obtained though bigram analysis. The compression has been calculated from the size of
summarized text document and information accessed from original resources.

Analysis
Figure 1: Design of the research: Convergent parallel mixed method.
Qualitative data collection and

analysis Implications in study: To
screen Respondents subjectively and
interview process
Comparing, relating and

Building Interpretation.
Quantitative analysis
Implications in the study: Computational

linguistics to analyse and discourse
analysys through word root,network
diagram and biagram count approach
Figure 2:Text Analysis Approach using NVIVO:
Importing Documents Setting up of cases Exploration of each

Importing all the information source code themes
recorded in the interview Collecting and gathering a and cases
process participant
Exploring the data using Word Running a Coding and

Tree, Frequency measurement, Text Search annotating the data
Bigram Analysis Query
6 Findings of the study:

The conceptual study does indicate that, relevant affiliate marketing factors such as In
formativeness, Incentive, Perceived Trust, Perceived usefulness, perceived ease to locate,
Relative advantage, compatibility, observability aid in shaping the attitude of Millennial vis-à-vis
their e-purchase behaviour. The inter-relationship between affiliate marketing factors and

Analysis
Millennial attitude is further mediated through TAM factors of PEOU and PU. Thus, the overall
attitude formed, impacts the attitude and buying behaviour of the online buyers through
perceived benefits of affiliate marketing. The qualitative investigations have been done by the
word cloud analysis, word tree and with term co-occurrence. The word cloud aid in visual
representation of the text data from relevant metadata. It helps in creating links among the data.
The network diagram obtained through co-occurrence helps in indicating semantic proximity.
The bigrams processed through computational linguistics helps in assessing the co-relation of co-
occurring words. The scatter plot graph has been after quantifying the word frequency of smaller
sample of text data. The frequency of words like observability, innovation, compatibility,
marketing TAM (coded as tam) have been co-occurred and plotted.
6.1 Properties of Affiliate Marketing as obtained through text mining:

a) Information shared by the Affiliate marketer
The quality of information as shared by the affiliate marketers are very relevant and in
accordance to the queries of the consumer. People often rely on the affiliate websites as they are
reviewed unbiased by the affiliate marketers. The affiliate marketers give a real time review and
gives positive feedback about the product and service characteristics. The information shared by
the affiliate marketers is characterized by its accuracy as well its ability to influence targeted
population within lesser time. Besides these, the users can access to required information without
searching and relying from too many resources which they obtain through this marketing
technology Thus availability of relevant information is the major factors for increasing rate of
traffic redirected from the affiliate links.
Figure3: Word Cloud defining the key words used by the respondents.

Analysis
Figure4: Network diagram though Term co-occurrence showing the network of words obtained
by QSR NVIVO
Figure5: Word Tree showing the source of words with respect to the annotation

Analysis
Table 1: Details of Bigram
United words n Compression ratio

affiliate_marketers 8 7.095238
affiliate_marketing 4 3.153439
affiliate_links 3 4.257143
affiliate_referrals 2 74.500000
affiliate_traffic 2 74.500000
information_shared 2 12.416667
relevant_information 2 12.416667
affiliate_marketer 2 7.095238
affiliate_websites 2 7.095238
marketing_helps 2 5.518519
b) Offering of Rewards:
The affiliate websites provide various discount coupons for the community as well its new users.
This helps the online portals in gaining consumers who used to purchase repeatedly. Thus the
rewards offered to the consumers are a motivation factors for the new as well as the existing
consumers on the other hand, the affiliate marketers also get a reward based on the number of
visitors redirected from their website With the help of better incentive packages, the affiliate
marketers post their links either through organic or through paid way. Incentive leads helps in
generating more number of inbound affiliate links. The consumers who use affiliate marketing
referrals also desire for getting monetary benefits through referral codes. According to People
also tend to use affiliate marketing links and accept their notification and subscription. Thus the
affiliate marketers through value creation to their post also provide financial benefits to itself and
its follower. Through the value creation, they add positive perception about the product utility
which is still unexplored by the consumers and its community. Thus the affiliate marketing helps
in strengthening the purchase decisions of the consumers.
c) Trust:
Through positive experience received from the affiliate websites, blogs, videos, a sense of trust is
built among the consumers. The sense of trust also depends on how the information is perceived

Analysis
by the consumers. Trust building depends on the illustration, and the way the information is
provided by the affiliate marketer. Thus the trust is strengthened due to factors like quality of
information which instill sense of positive virtual cognition
d) Redirected from the Search engine: The affiliate links helps to generate leads which may
become a prospective buyer. The affiliate marketing helps in generating the sales through lead
generation and increasing the number of clicks. In fact, the affiliate marketers are paid on the
basis of pay per sales, pay for clicks(selective),as well as pay per lead. Their performance is also
measured and proper consideration of payment is scrutinized on the quality of traffic generated.
e) Value creation in marketing process: The affiliate marketing adds value to the marketing and
sales process .Advertisers as well as marketing managers wants to affiliate their product as it
creates unique experience among the consumers .It helps in sending the message to the targeted
traffic in a very short time. It adds value to the presales process, increases brand cognizance, as
well as complements the brand’s own marketing strategies.
6.2 Benefits of Affiliate marketing towards perceived ease of use and Perceived The usefulness:
Perceived usefulness can be explained by the perceived cognition about the utility of the any
specific technology or its relative application. The affiliate marketing strategy is perceived as
useful as it shares positive feedback as well as provided discounts and rewards.
a)Relative Advantage:
Relative advantage helps in increasing the adaptability of the innovation by creating the positive
experience. The relative advantage of the affiliate marketing is perceived as positive experience
by the consumers. The perceived advantage of the affiliate marketing strengthens the positive
experience across the entire social and economic diversity the strategy of online marketing
through affiliate referrals complements the online promotion process. The innovative use of
Affiliate marketing and other relative technology widely searched. The link of affiliate through
social media marketing also increasing the number of lead.
b) Compatibility:
The technology is best adopted when it is compatible with the socio economic values. Hence
compatibility is one of the key factors responsible for the adoption of newly infused
technology.The technology should meet the current needs of the consumer with compliance of
their values. Besides these, the new technology with compliance creates a positive perception
about the technology and even justifies it for long termIn case of organizational culture; the

Analysis
technology should comply with the work culture. Besides these the technology must be
responsible for value creation and revenue generation at the end for business environment. The
use of social media technology is perceived useful for advertising and promotions by
contemporary researches.
c)Observability: Observability occurs during the process of using a technology in real setting.
Through the perceived observability, the affinity of the consumer towards using a specific
technology increases with positive perception. Since the technological adoption increases when
they are applied and instilled in the daily life of the people as it creates positive experience about
the technology through observation. Hence the observation on the technology in real setting
helps in facilitating as well as mediating the adoption of new technology. The observability of
affiliate marketing technology increases the adoption rate of the online shopping
Figure4: Scatter plot diagram

Analysis
Perceived usefulness before and

after using online shopping portals
through affiliate marketing referrals
Affiliate marketing Attitude towards Behavioural Intention

properties: using online to use online
shopping portals shopping
 Sharing of
Information
 Offering of
Incre Rewards
 Trust
 Redirected from Perceived Ease of using
search Engine. online shopping through
 Value Creation Affiliate marketing referrals
Figure5: Conceptual diagram showing the relation of affiliate marketing and its impact on
online buying behavior through TAM approach.
7. Discussions and managerial implications of the study:
The research aims to contribute meaningful contribution for e-marketers in understanding the
attitudinal factors of millennial while designing affiliate marketing strategies. Marketers cannot
undermine the fact that the world is shifting from a tangible market to virtual marketplace
dynamically. The implied findings of the research will help to excavate a common link between
the affiliate marketing strategy and the buying behavior of the online shopper’s .The benefits of
the affiliate marketing strategy like offering of rewards, trust, increasing traffic rate and value
creation will increase the affinity of the millennial towards the buying behavior. The implied
findings are necessary in the step of strengthening the existing business operations. Currently,
the world is witnessing financial contagion with reduced consumer confidence. In such a
situation of VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity), the findings of
this research will help in reengineering the strategy according to current technology. The study
will empower e-marketers with a conceptual understanding of the relevant affiliate marketing

Analysis
factors vis-à-vis the attitude of the millennial. Specifically, it helps in understanding the
promotion and dissemination of affiliate marketing content with millennial as primary
stakeholders and further influence e-purchasers.
References
1. Bounie, David, Marc Bourreau, Michel Gensollen, and Patrick Waelbroeck. 2008. Do
Online Customer Reviews Matter? Evidence from the Video Game Industry (February).
Telecom ParisTech Working Paper No. ESS-08-02. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1091449
2. Diamond, Stephanie.2019.Digital Marketing All-In-One. Retrieved from
//https://books.google.com/.
3. Godes, D. and D. Mayzlin. (2004). “Firm-Created Word of Mouth Communication: A
Quasi-Experiment,” Harvard Business School Working Paper.
4. Heaslip, G. and Kovács, G., 2019. Examination of service triads in humanitarian
logistics. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 30(2), pp.595-619.
5. Dee T Allsop, R Bryce, James A Bassett, HoskinsWord-of-Mouth Research: Principles
and ApplicationsJournal of Advertising Research, volume 37, issue 4, p. 398 - 411Posted:
2007
6. Fiore, F. and Collins, S., "Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants",2001. Que,
Indiana,
7. Olbrich, R. and Hundt, M., 2018.Analyzing the Click Path of Affiliate-Marketing
Campaigns.Journal of Advertising Research, 50(1), pp. 5-6.
8. Patrick, Z. and Hee, O. C., 2019. Factors Influencing the Intention to Use Affiliate
Marketing: A Conceptual Analysis. International Journal of Academic Research in
Business and Social Sciences, 9(2), pp.701– 710.
9. Peter, D.N., Muhammad, N. and Andrew, M., 2013.Relationship Marketing, Word of
Mouth Communication and Consumer Loyalty in the Ugandan Mobile
Telecommunication Industry. African Journal of Business Management, 7, pp. 354-359.
10. Shaltoni, A. M., West, D., Alnawas, I., &Shatnawi, T. (2018).Electronic marketing
orientation in the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises context. European Business
Review, 30(3), 272–284.

SSRN Id3638929

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

SSRN Id3638929

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Impact of Affiliate Marketing on e-buying behavior of Millennial – A TAM based Approach with Text

Impact of Affiliate marketing on e-buying behavior of

Indrajit Ghosala, Bikram Prasadb, Mukti Prakash Beherac

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

2. Gap and Research problems:

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

3. Purpose of the study

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

To Study and conceptualize the impact of Affiliate Marketing on e-buying behavior of

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Figure 1: Design of the research: Convergent parallel mixed method.

Qualitative data collection and

Comparing, relating and

Implications in the study: Computational

Figure 2:Text Analysis Approach using NVIVO:

Importing Documents Setting up of cases Exploration of each

Exploring the data using Word Running a Coding and

6 Findings of the study:

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

6.1 Properties of Affiliate Marketing as obtained through text mining:

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Table 1: Details of Bigram

United words n Compression ratio

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Figure4: Scatter plot diagram

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Perceived usefulness before and

Affiliate marketing Attitude towards Behavioural Intention

7. Discussions and managerial implications of the study:

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

Electronic copy available at: https://www.ssrn.com/link/ICOBMIT-2019.html

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638929

You might also like