SHORT-FORM VIDEO PLATFORMS AND CONSUMER BUYING INTENTION: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK EXTENDING THE UNIFIED THEORY OF ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29121/ShodhPrabandhan.v3.i2.2026.130Keywords:
Short-Form Video Platforms, Consumer Buying Intention, UTAUT2, Consumer Engagement, Digital Literacy, Social CommerceAbstract
Short-form video platforms like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, Facebook Videos, and Snapchat have changed consumers' experience of the commercial information they encounter, consider, and act upon. Previous scholarship has demonstrated the persuasiveness of such content, but not in three respects. First, technology acceptance research has focused mainly on modelling the intention to use or continue using technology rather than on buying it. Second, there has been a focus on a single platform (TikTok), which has restricted the ability to draw comparisons between the broader short-form video landscape. Third, the psychological process that translates perceptions of acceptance into purchase decisions is generally taken for granted rather than defined. This paper extends the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model in three ways: by including learning value as a context-specific predictor, by positioning consumer engagement as a mediating factor between acceptance perceptions and buying intention, and by identifying digital literacy as a moderator between consumer engagement and buying intention. The framework is theoretically connected to the Stimulus–Organism–Response paradigm and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the latter of which is a confirmed framework for understanding the reasons for engagement, being the correct organismic state and why intention is the correct proximal outcome. Twelve propositions are advanced, and a methodological path is proposed to validate them empirically using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling in the empirical study in the Tricity region of northern India. The framework extends UTAUT2 with a consumer-behaviour model, provides a diagnostic model of the success or failure of short-form video persuasion for marketers, and provides a testable framework for further empirical research.
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