Impact of Virtual Gazing of Culinary YouTube Experiences on Millennials’ Purchase Intention in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Technological revolution and development of the mass media are constantly providing tremendous and massive opportunities for users and there is an enormous impact on the purchase intention of millennials. YouTube is a video-sharing platform which becomes a value creation and information-sharing option, affiliated with Google. Further, YouTube is a mainstream media and micro-influencer which becoming an aspiration figure that has a strong influence on consumers’ mindsets. This paper aims to determine the impact of virtual gazing of culinary YouTube experiences on millennials’ purchase intention. The current study is extended to a conceptual framework with the impact of video characteristics, perceived enjoyment and telepresence on purchase intention. The SPSS software was employed to predict the effect by occupying 100 valid responses undertaken from an online questionnaire filled by the millennials and snowball sampling method was used to collect data. The study adapted to the quantitative research approach and multiple regression analysis is used to explore the impact of virtual gazing of culinary YouTube experiences on millennials’ purchase intention in Sri Lanka. The overall regression analysis outcomes revealed that independent variables such as video characteristics, perceived enjoyment and telepresence are highly impacting the purchase intention through the virtual gazing of YouTube videos. This is one of the rare investigations that combine the virtual gazing of YouTube videos on millennials’ purchase intention in the Sri Lankan context. This research greatly helps the YouTube vloggers in re-branding their channels with more understanding while helping the country’s economy indirectly and the nature of the fascinating technology will help enhancing the brand awareness of the users.