Abstract:

The research aims to determine the effect of sports consumers’ decision-making styles regarding their online shopping activities and social media marketing activities on their perceptions and compare these two dependent variables with various demographic variables. The research sample consists of 989 consumers who engage in online shopping and were included in the study using the convenience sampling method. As data collection tools, a Personal Information Form, the "Online Consumer Style Inventory (O-CSI),” and the "Social Media Marketing Activities Scale (SMMA)" were used. Descriptive statistical methods, t-tests, and ANOVA tests were employed to analyze the data. According to the findings, within the O-CSI, the sub-dimensions "high-quality, buying habit consciousness," “brand consciousness," "novelty-fashion consciousness," "price consciousness,” and “portability consciousness" show significant differences based on sex and the weekly internet shopping budget. Additionally, the sub-dimensions "high-quality, buying habit consciousness," brand consciousness," "novelty-fashion consciousness,” and "portability consciousness" show significant differences based on age groups. At the same time, the sub-dimensions "high-quality, buying habit consciousness," “brand consciousness," "novelty-fashion consciousness," and "price consciousness" show significant differences based on weekly internet shopping duration. Regarding the SMMA scale, no significant differences were found based on sex in all sub-dimensions, but significant differences were identified based on age groups in all sub-dimensions. Furthermore, the SMMA scale shows significant differences based on weekly internet shopping duration in the sub-dimensions "Personalization" and "Word of Mouth" and significant differences based on weekly internet shopping budget in the sub-dimensions "Informativeness" and "Word of Mouth." Correlation analysis results indicate that all sub-dimensions of O-CSI have a significant, moderate, and positive relationship with all sub-dimensions of SMMA. In conclusion, brands' marketing activities on social media effectively determine sports consumers' consumption preferences.

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