Does social media usage affect online purchasing intention for wine? The moderating role of subjective and objective knowledge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence that social media usage has on the online purchases of wine and to examine whether objective and subjective knowledge moderates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire was completed by a sample of 2,597 Italian wine consumers. A multinomial logistic model was used to assess how the investigated variables influenced online purchasing behavior. Findings – Social media usage was found to be positively related to online wine buying, and consumer’s objective and subjective knowledge moderates the relationship between social media usage and online wine purchasing. Research limitations/implications – Wineries should acknowledge the relevance of social media in favoring online wine buying and adopt integrated multi-channel marketing strategies. Given that knowledge moderates the relationship between social media usage and online wine buying, in order to optimize the channel management, wineries should segment customers and prospects based on subjective and objective product knowledge. Originality/value – The study represents one of the first attempts to investigate social media use and online wine purchasing behavior in Italy. In addition, it sheds light on previous research on the influence that objective and subjective knowledge has on consumer behavior.