Facebook and the Cinema:

Assessing the Value of Facebook Fan Pages and its Impact on Facebook

Users' Behaviors toward Movie Consumption

IESEG, International Business School Lille-Paris, France

Thesis Report by Florence Poirel Master Graduate December 2011

"The characteristics of all successful communities: broadly shared, accessible set

of opportunities, a shared sense of responsibility for the success of the common

enterprise, and a genuine sense of belonging."

(Bill Clinton, TED2007)

Introduction

Social networking is one of the largest actual trends and Facebook is one of its stages.

“Brands can take directions in social media today that would have been unlikely if not

impossible five years ago”

(Mignon, et al., 2011 p. 21)

Purpose

Assess the impact of the Facebook Movie Fan Page in influencing Facebook users' attitudes

and behaviors toward movie consumption

Understand the users' decision making process that

takes place from the movie awareness on the Facebook page to the movie consumption, and how the behavior of the Facebook users toward a movie can be influenced by marketers via the related Facebook Movie Fan Page

Methodology

Using an inductive approach, constructs were identified from a comprehensive literature review and data was collected from survey questionnaires administrated to students (N=200).

Research Questions

• Do Facebook users visit Facebook movie Fan Pages? – Do Facebook users find Facebook Fan Pages useful?

– How do they engage with the movie on Facebook?

– How this technology platform and its social richness impacts on their decision making process regarding the movie legal consumption?

• How do they form their attitudes toward the movies? – Do Facebook users process information as other consumers?

– What options do they consider when they intend to consume a movie?

• How are their intentions [to consume the movie] influenced? – How are their intentions influenced by their Facebook personal networks?

– How are their intentions influenced by the different types of content that the Facebook Fan Page provides?

• How can companies drive Facebook users toward legal movie consumption?

Theoretical Model

Theory of Planned Behavior in the context of Facebook

Hypotheses

• H1: The more positive the perceived value of the FB Fan Page, the more favorable the attitude toward the behavior.

• H2: The more positive the perceived value of the FB Fan Page, the higher the perceived pressure.

• H3: The more positive the perceived value of the FB Fan Page, the lower the perceived risk.

• H4: The more positive the perceived value of the FB Fan Page, the more likely the intention to behave.

Hypotheses (cont.)

• H5: The more favorable the attitude toward the behavior, the more likely the intention to behave.

• H6: The higher the perceived pressure, the more likely the intention to behave.

• H7: The lower the perceived risk toward the behavior, the more likely the intention to behave.

Statistical Analysis

• VFP: Perceived Value of the Facebook Fan Page

• AB: Attitude Toward Behavior

• P: Perceived Pressure

• R: Perceived Risk

• IB: Intention To Behave

• f: function of

Reliability Analysis

• Alpha coefficient for the four items:

αVFP = 0.843, higher than 0.7.

Items have relatively high internal consistency.

α²VFP = 0.711, then the perceived value of the FB fan page is explained by 71.1% of inner variance.

• Alpha coefficient for the ten items:

αAB = 0.935, higher than 0.7

Homogeneity is high (high internal consistency). α²AB = 0.87, then the attitude toward the behavior is explained by 87% of inner variance.

Simple Regression H1: AB as a function of VFP

• Hyp 1: AB = f(VFP)

AB= B0 + BVFP.VFP AB= 1.307+ 0.212VFP

• R²=0.025: Perceived Value of the FB Page explains 2.5% of Attitude toward Behavior

• P-value =0.026, lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 1 is verified: the value that people see in the Facebook Fan page of movies does influence, or change, their attitude toward consuming the movie

Simple Regression H2: P as a function of VFP

• Hyp 2: P = f(VFP)

P= B0 + BVFP.VFP P= 1.301+ 0.210VFP

• R²=0.024: Perceived Value of the FB Page explains 2.4% of Perceived Pressure

• P-value = 0.027: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 2 is verified: the value that people see in the Facebook Fan page of movies does influence, or change, the pressure perceived toward consuming the movie

Simple Regression H3: R as a function of VFP

• Hyp 3: R = f(VFP)

R= B0 + BVFP.VFP R = 1.684 + 0.255 VFP

• R²=0.054: Perceived Value of the FB Page explains 5.4% of Perceived Risk

• P-value = 0.001: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 3 is verified: the value that people see in the Facebook Fan page of movies does influence, or change, the risk perceived toward consuming the movie

Simple Regression H4: IB as a function of VFP

• Hyp 4: IB = f(VFP)

IB= B0 + BVFP.VFP IB = 1.213 + 0.219 VFP

• R²=0.092: Perceived Value of the FB Page explains 9.2% of Intention To Behave

• P-value = 0.000: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 4 is verified: the value that people see in the Facebook Fan page of movies does influence, or change, the Intention to consume the movie

Simple Regression H5: IB as a function of AB

• Hyp 5: IB = f(AB)

IB = B0 + BAB.AB IB = 1.119 + 0.259 AB

• R²=0.235: Attitude Toward the Behavior explains 23.5% of Intention To Behave

• P-value = 0.000: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 5 is verified: the Attitude Toward consuming movies does influence, or change, the Intention to consume the movie

Simple Regression H6: IB as a function of P

• Hyp 6: IB = f(P)

IB = B0+ BP.P IB = 1.120 + 0.260 P

• R²=0.235: Perceived Pressure explains 23.5% of Intention To Behave

• P-value = 0.000: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 6 is verified: the pressure perceived toward consuming movies does influence, or change, the Intention to consume the movie

Simple Regression H7: IB as a function of R

• Hyp 7: IV = f(R)

IB = B0+ BR.R IB = 0.534 + 0.534 R

• R²=0.655: Perceived Risk explains 65.5% of Intention To Behave

• P-value = 0.000: lower than 0.05, so the variable coefficient β is different from zero, then the result is statistically significant

• Hyp 7 is verified: the risk perceived toward consuming movies does influence, or change, the Intention to consume the movie

Multiple Regression: IB as a function of VFP, AB, P, and R

• IB = f(VFP; AB; P; R)

IB = B0 + BVFP.VFP + BAB.AB + BP.P + BR.R

IB = 0.316 + 0.082.VFP + 0.064.AB + 0.011.P + 0.474.R

• R²=0.685: the different constructs explains 68.5% of the Intention To Behave

• The Attitude Toward the Behavior and the Perceived Pressure are in fact not significant since p-valueAB = 0.957 and p-valueP = 0.993.

Reduced Model: IB as a function of VFP and R

• IB = f (VFP ; R)

IB = B0 + BVFP.VFP + BR.R IB = 0.345 +0.087VFP +0.515R

• P-value = 0.000: lower than the agreed level of significance of 5%, therefore the relationships are statistically significant

• The Perceived Value of the Facebook Fan Page and the Perceived Risk are pertinent explainers and predictors of the intention to behave formed in Facebook users' minds.

Conclusion

• Facebook users do not consider the consumption of free copies as very risky.

• Therefore increasing scary messages about illegal consumption might have less impact than increasing positive messages about the legal consumption.

• Creating an entertaining, trustworthy and practical page may then push people to legally consume movies.

For more information, please contact me at florencepoirel[at]gmail[dot]com