| dc.description.abstract | The emergence of the electronic marketplace has
redefined marketing practices. Today, competitiveness
is defined by a firm’s experience in being tech savvy.
Leveraging digital marketing tools is an antecedent to
influencing consumer purchase intentions and is gaining
traction in many industries. In the face of these
developments, limited evidence exists on the adoption
and use of technology in the motor vehicle industry.
Global trends point to the existence of volatility in the
sales of vehicles, hence the need for examining the
probable nexus between digital marketing tools and
consumer purchase intention in the motor vehicle
industry in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to
establish the effect of social media marketing, website
marketing and search engine optimization on consumer
purchase intention. Anchoring on the unified theory of
acceptance and use of technology, theory of reasoned
action and the technology acceptance model, the study
demonstrates the application of these theories in
influencing consumer purchase intention. Guided by a
cross-sectional survey design, the study targeted 197
registered motor dealers in Nairobi City County.
Researchers used a simple random sampling to select
131 respondents. A structured research instrument was deployed in data collection and the survey monkey
technique was applied to complement the process. A
pilot test of the instrument was done, and its validity and
reliability were confirmed. A mean scores analysis
shows that automobile firms have embraced the use of
digital marketing to a great extent. Exploratory factor
analysis decomposed the study variables into a three factor structure. The factors were regressed against the
predicted variable and the first two factors had a positive
and significant effect while the third factor had a
significant but negative effect on the predicted variable.
It was deduced that digital marketing tools significantly
affected consumer purchase intention; therefore, players
in the auto mobile industry should swiftly embrace and
invest in digital marketing technologies to excel in the e-market space. | en_US |
