Social Influence Research in Consumer Behavior: What We Learned and.pdf

Jul 16, 2026

Social influence in consumer behavior describes how interactions with individuals or groups change consumers’ thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and purchase behaviors. The literature links social influence to persuasion and reference-source effects, showing its role across many consumer outcomes such as luxury consumption, technology and innovation adoption, online reviews, impulse buying, repurchase intentions, digital goods adoption, and pro-environmental and charitable behaviors.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

Journal of Business Research 162 (2023) 113870 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Business Research journal [homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres) | Social influence research in consumer behavior: What we learned and what we need to learn?– A hybrid systematic literature review Ramulu Bhukyaa, *, Justin Paul b, c a Department of Management, Central University of Rajasthan, India b University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, USA c Honorary Visiting Professor, University of Reading Henley Business School, UK | | | | --- | --- | --- | | A R T I C L E I N F O | | A B S T R A C T | | Keywords: Social influence Consumer behavior Buying behavior Purchase decisions Systematic literature review TCCM framework Hybrid review | | Social influence plays a significant role in shaping consumer behavior, and research in this area comprises a substantial portion of the literature. Despite the vast number of studies conducted over the decades, no comprehensive evaluation of the current state of research or potential gaps for future investigation has been performed. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to conduct a hybrid systematic literature review to provide an overview of the current status of research on social influence in consumer behavior employing bibliometric analysis. The study also utilizes the Theory-Context-Characteristics-Methodology (TCCM) framework to evaluate the theories, context, characteristics, and methodologies used in this field. Ultimately, this study offers implications for both scholars and practitioners and provides directions for future research in this area. | 1. Introduction All individuals are social beings. The individuals’ routine behavioral actions and reactions tend to get influenced by social contacts and social interactions with other members of society (Myers & Twenge, 2019, p. 5). This phenomenon is very much applicable to consumers. The interaction with the social environment greatly influences their purchase and consumption behaviors. Understanding social influences is highly valuable to marketers and practitioners in leveraging a more significant chunk of unplanned purchases from consumers. Social influence is widely documented in consumer research, especially in the consumer behavior context, as one of the most critical factors that can change individuals’ behavior significantly (Deutsch and Gerard, 1955; Park and Lessig, 1977; Bearden et al., 1989; Hsu & Lu, 2004; Kulviwat, Bruner & Al-Shuridah, 2009). It covers a wide array of influential zones through which the decisions of an individual customer are affected by others (Cialdini and Goldstein 2004). Social influence is defined as “changes inan individual’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes or behaviors resulting from interaction with another individual or a group” (Liang, Liao, & Liu, 2017; Monteserin & Amandi, 2015). It denotes how one’s attitudes affect a

Jul 16, 2026

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