Cafe Visitation in the Digital Age: The Role of Social Media Reviews

The advent of technology has significantly impacted modern society, transforming how we interact, communicate, and obtain information. With more than 4.2 billion users worldwide, social media platforms have a big impact on modern living and consumer behavior. Companies use these channels to build relationships with their customers and increase brand awareness. Social media makes it easier for consumers to research goods, services, and user-generated reviews (e-WOM) as its effect on consumer decisions grows. Based on peer judgments, the research suggests that internet reviews positively influence consumers’ perceptions of a product’s utility and trustworthiness, which in turn increases their trust and intent to purchase. Understanding the behavior of the mostly youthful customer population with respect to café services is essential. This study investigates young customers’ opinions regarding social media reviews and their influence on the intention to frequent cafés, with a focus on Generation Z and Millennial consumers aged 18-42. The study uses an online survey evaluated with SmartPLS. The findings show that perceived utility, perceived simplicity of use, trustworthiness, and information quality of social media evaluations have a favorable effect on sentiments about these reviews. Attitude toward social media reviews completely mediates the association between perceived ease of use and information quality and visit intentions, as well as somewhat mediating the relationship between perceived usefulness and trustworthiness. The findings emphasize the importance of social media reviews as electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) in affecting customer behavior, implying that marketers should collaborate with content providers to exploit positive e-WOM.