Investigating the Effect of Social Marketing on the Behavior of Consumers of Smuggled Goods Case Study: Qasr Shirin Border City

The increasing use of the Internet has led to the creation of social networks that allow individuals to express ideas and feelings in groups. This phenomenon has the advantage of expanding individual and group relationships without face-to-face communication; however, it has now affected the smuggling of goods, especially in border areas, and is increasing more and more. Therefore, it is necessary to study it to promote. This study aims to investigate the impact of social media on the behavior of consumers of smuggled goods. This research is development-applied in terms of purpose and is mixed in terms of method, and falls into the category of mixed research. In the qualitative part, the study was based on grounded theory and semi-structured interviews were used to collect information. Analyzing the data obtained from the interviews during the open, axial, and selective coding process led to the design and explanation of the model. In a small part, the opinions of 25 experts who were familiar with the subject under study were used. Structural equation method was exerted to analyze the data. The results of the quantitative part obtained from Smart-PLS software showed that strategies on outcomes with a path coefficient of 0.652 affect the pattern of behavior of smuggled consumers, background conditions affect strategies with a path coefficient of 0.544, causal conditions affect the central category with a path coefficient of 0.544, the intervening conditions affect the strategies with a path coefficient of 0.416, and finally, the central category affects the strategies with a path coefficient of 0.046. Therefore, it can be concluded that social media standards have a significant impact on the behavior of consumers of smuggled goods.