The Role of Demographics in Predicting e-Loyalty in Social Network Websites

Anil Bilgihan
Khaldoon Nusair, University of Central Florida
Fevzi Okumus, University of Central Florida
Milos Bujisic

Abstract

Although there is a considerable amount of research on loyalty in ecommerce settings, the number of studies that have examined loyalty behavior in social networking websites is scarce. Loyalty is an essential construct for social networking websites as the users generate the content in the website. The competitive scene of social networking websites created the critical issue of user loyalty. This research investigated the impact of demographic characteristics to e-loyalty in social networking websites. An online questionnaire was sent to a systematic sample of 500 participants. Study findings highlight that the most important demographic determinant of social networking website loyalty is income. On the other hand, gender has no significant impact to the loyalty. Based on findings, management of social networking websites can develop different strategies that foster loyalty for different demographic segments.