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This study explored the role that Instagram, a prominent social media platform, plays in the consumer decision-making process of young adults (age 18–27 years) in the United States as they shop online for apparel and interact with the digital profiles of apparel brands. Specifically, this study compared consumers' purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors on Instagram between Millennials and Generation Z, and investigated the role of consumers' trust of Instagram on these behaviors.

A survey instrument was developed to explore critical variables, including consumers' purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors on Instagram, consumers' trust of Instagram, and demographic factors, adapting previous works from Ko (2018), Djafarova and Rushworth (2017), and Herrando et al. (2019). Survey responses were collected via the Qualtrics participant panel service (N = 226), then coded and analyzed using JMP Pro (Version 14.2).

Results indicated that statistically significant mean differences were present among several key variables, including between Millennial and Generation Z post-purchase behaviors on Instagram, willingness to share feedback about a brand experience on Instagram, and trust of content on Instagram. Additionally, it was determined that purchase and post-purchase behaviors on Instagram are significantly different depending on whether or not a consumer trusts Instagram and the content therein.

While online consumer behaviors have been previously studied, the impact of young adults' Instagram usage on their purchase and post-purchase evaluation behaviors in the apparel sector had not been thoroughly examined. The findings from this study provide meaningful insights on the purchase and post-purchase behaviors on Instagram of young adult consumers from different generational cohorts. They demonstrate that developing trust with young adults is critical to the success of brands trying to reach this demographic on Instagram.