ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Advertising and Marketing Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1664694
From Scroll to Sale: How Social Media Triggers and Age Shape Digital Consumer Decisions through Interaction
Provisionally accepted
- University of Technology Bahrain College of Administrative and Financial Sciences, Salmabad, Bahrain
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
This study examines how digital stimuli social media trends (SMT), quality of information (QTI), and influencer cues (ICR) shape consumer buying behavior (CBB) through the mediating role of social media interaction (SMI). Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model, Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), data were collected from 359 Saudi social media users and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings indicate that SMT and QTI significantly enhance SMI, which in turn predicts CBB. However, ICR showed no significant influence, highlighting possible trust erosion or influencer fatigue. Mediation analysis confirmed SMI's central role between SMT/QTI and CBB, while moderation analysis revealed no significant age-based differences. The adjusted R² for CBB was 0.276, indicating modest explanatory power. PLS-Predict results showed predictive relevance with limited accuracy. This research repositions social media interaction as a cognitive-emotional mechanism that bridges exposure and behavior. Practically, marketers are encouraged to prioritize credible, engaging content over influencer-centric strategies, particularly in digitally mature markets.
Keywords: Social media interaction, Consumer buying behavior, Digital Stimuli, PLS-SEM, Influencer Fatigue
Received: 12 Jul 2025; Accepted: 14 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Abdalla, Faisal, Menon and Mohammed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Reem Abbas Abdalla, r.abdalla@utb.edu.bh
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.