Impact of Social Media on Consumer Buying Behavior in Oman: An Exploratory Study

This paper investigates the impact of social media on the online buying behavior of consumers in Oman. Through a two-part questionnaire distributed to 250 consumers, 190 valid responses were collected. Findings suggest that social media use has a positive impact on consumer buying behavior, with celebrity endorsements and friend recommendations also positively influencing purchasing decisions. The regression analysis indicates that while all three attributes examined have positive effects, celebrity endorsement shows the strongest impact (coefficient: 0.29, p-value: 0.00034). This exploratory study demonstrates the growing importance of social media as a marketing and consumer engagement tool in the Omani market.