Online advertising uses the internet to communicate promotional messages to target consumers and provides a simple and efficient way for organisations to display their products and services (Paul et al. 2023). With the expansion of the internet, various online advertising options have emerged, including search portals, social media platforms, e-commerce sites, online games, mobile apps, online videos and banner advertisements, all of which help deliver marketing messages to potential consumers (Yang & Zhai 2022). Social media platforms are websites and networks created to offer a diverse range of services such as information, online friendships, communication between people and involvement in various media, such as videos and photographs (Salloum et al. 2017). Social media has significantly transformed the marketing landscape, reshaping how organisations interact with their customers, with various organisations integrating social media platforms as a key marketing tool (Appel et al. 2020; Li, Larimo and Leonidou 2021). Social media enhances advertising, customer service, product development, feedback and other operations that rely on information sharing and customer engagement. In addition, the wealth of social media data has improved organisations’ ability to manage consumer relationships and make better commercial decisions (Li et al. 2021).

In the digital era, the clothing industry has transformed faster than other industries because of customer fashion habits, which are continually evolving (Camargo, Pereira & Scarpin 2020). Clothing has now evolved beyond a necessity to a symbol of social status, shaping both individual identity and cultural expression (Gunawan 2022). The growing reliance on social media has transformed marketing in the fashion industry, where brands now prioritise visual content and consumer engagement to attract customers. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp offer platforms for consumers to engage with brands and stay informed about the latest fashion trends that reflect societal values (Li et al. 2021). These platforms are particularly significant for online clothing shoppers, who rely on them to track emerging trends and adjust their purchasing behaviour. As fashion is heavily influenced by social media, research emphasises the importance of digital engagement in shaping consumer buying habits, with Tarnanidis et al. (eds. 2023) highlighting how real-time interactions on social media platforms, particularly in the rapidly evolving fashion retail sector, significantly influence consumer buying decisions.

The S-O-R theory is based on the law of effect and is viewed as a significant paradigm for understanding how humans react to stimuli. The theory aims to explain how environmental stimuli (S) influence customer perceptions (O), which in turn stimulate emotions that cause consumer responses (Woodworth 1958). The S-O-R theory was developed to describe behavioural variances brought about by various marketing stimuli and cognitive elements, and it indicates linear correlations between the elements, which are uncomplicated (Sultan, Wong & Azam 2021). Initially used in offline environments, the S-O-R model has been extended to online settings, such as e-commerce, where it helps explain how stimuli, like website cues or advertisements, influence online consumer behaviour (Kaur, Lal & Bedi 2017). This study applies the S-O-R theory by investigating perceived deceptive advertising as the stimulus that negatively influences consumers’ internal evaluations, which are measured as online customer satisfaction (the organism), and this subsequently influences their behavioural responses, such as eWOM and repurchase intentions.

Perceived advertising deception refers to the customer’s perception that an organisation or marketers try to generate a false belief through a variety of marketing communications (Held & Germelmann 2018). False advertising can mislead consumers, leading to incorrect conclusions and reduced trust in marketing claims and includes a variety of actions such as false or misleading claims and manipulation of visuals to emphasise certain features or advantages (Petrescu et al. 2019). In addition, deceptive advertising serves a practical purpose as the means to an end, which is often motivated by the desire for recognition, respect and financial gain. Deceptive advertising furthermore involves the communicator’s perception that the information provided is false and has a deliberate intent to deceive (Chaouachi & Rached 2019). This study defines perceived advertising deception as a customer’s belief that the advertising they have been exposed to is attempting to mislead them about the product or service benefits, potentially harming their interests (Au & Wong 2019; Chaouachi & Rached 2019). The construct was measured through five items, which relate to respondents indicating that, on social media, organisations utilise misleading strategies to persuade customers to buy their products, that the social media advertisement is not completely upfront about its offerings and that the social media misrepresent product characteristics (Riquelme, Román & Iacobucci 2016; Riquelme & Román 2014).

Initially, Oliver (1997) defined customer satisfaction as the consumer’s assessment of a product’s capacity to deliver a satisfying amount of fulfilment from consumption. As e-commerce continues to grow, customer satisfaction has expanded beyond traditional commerce and now extends to the online shopping environment. Online satisfaction, therefore, refers to a customer’s experience with an online shopping platform (Rahmawaty et al. 2021). Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend products, whereas poor service and inaccurate product information can lead to dissatisfaction and lost commercial opportunities (Pandiangan et al. 2021). Online satisfaction has become an essential asset for organisations operating in the digital marketplace as maximising satisfaction through efficient platforms and accurate information can enhance both immediate sales and long-term customer loyalty (Gshayyish 2023).

The rise of the internet has transformed traditional WOM into eWOM, where consumers share their experiences and reviews online through social media, websites and forums (Aydoğan & Aktan 2019). Electronic word-of-mouth, as an evolving communication tool, significantly shapes consumer behaviour and offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional advertising, broader reach, faster communication and easier access to global reviews, which makes it a significant tool for shaping purchasing decisions (Ai et al. 2022).

Social media platforms play an important role in disseminating eWOM (Romadhoni et al. 2023). From an organisational perspective, eWOM is valuable for engaging with customers, gathering user-generated content and influencing purchasing intentions. It furthermore assists organisations to build customer relationships, trust and loyalty (Halim et al. 2022). Customers, in turn, rely on peer reviews and opinions shared within online networks, often trusting them more than the organisation’s advertisements (Ahrens, Coyle & Strahilevitz 2013). Whether positive or negative, WOM is a powerful communication tool that can significantly impact purchasing decisions (Romadhoni et al. 2023).

This study defined eWOM as customers’ willingness to share their experiences with other customers about products or services in an online environment. This includes activities like writing online reviews, posting product photos on forums and seeking product or service-related suggestions (Chang & Wang 2019). Adapted from validated studies, the items used to measure eWOM included items such as the customers’ excitement to comment on social platforms or media about the online clothing retailer, that they have written positive comments about the online clothing retailer on social media and that they have posted positive reviews about the online clothing retailer on social media (Kala & Chaubey 2018).

Repurchase intention, which has been extensively studied by marketing researchers, is often characterised as the desire to repeatedly buy a specific good or service over time (Won & Kim 2020). Online shopping environments differ from in-store shopping environments because front-line employees are replaced with websites and technologies, as well as numerous third parties, including delivery services and credit card clearing organisations, which are involved in every online purchase (Díaz, Gómez & Molina 2017). Online repurchase intention, therefore, refers to a consumer’s tendency to frequently purchase a product or brand from the same online retailer. In marketing literature, it is also known as a repeat buy, a continuing intention and similar intentions (Pettinger, Jamil & Roja 2022).

In the highly competitive online market, understanding and promoting repurchase intention is vital for the sustainability and profitability of online organisations (Zhu, Kowatthanakul & Satanasavapak 2019). These authors indicate that an online retailer’s success is influenced by both the strategies implemented to keep customers and the inherent qualities of the goods and services that are advertised in the market. For this reason, marketers must understand the factors that influence consumer decision-making about online purchases and repurchase intent as retail organisational models become increasingly more reliant on online sales (Fazal-e-Hasan et al. 2019). For this reason, both satisfaction and perceived advertising deception are relevant to online repurchase intention and, therefore, are investigated in this study.

This study defines online repurchase intentions as the possibility of a buyer returning to an online store on their own or purchasing anything from a website again (Pandiangan et al. 2021). The items that were used to measure this construct refer to, for example, the customers’ likelihood of using the clothing retailer in the future, their intent to repurchase clothing from the same online clothing retailer and the customer’s intent to buy clothing products from the same online clothing retailer rather than any other online clothing retailer (Kala & Chaubey 2018; Trivedi & Yadav 2020).

Customer and marketing studies about advertising deception have largely focused on how perceived deception affects consumer satisfaction, trust in advertisers and negative reactions (Lim et al. 2020; Riquelme et al. 2016). Most current studies were conducted in the e-commerce and hospitality industry, which established that perceived advertising deception has a negative influence on online customer satisfaction. Deceptive hotel online reviews cause emotional fury and disappointment, which in turn lead to dissatisfaction and uncomfortable customers (Akhtar et al. 2019). Customers, therefore, feel disappointed and dissatisfied when they learn that organisations have misled them, unfairly exploited them or provided them with inaccurate information about products (Joseph & Nimako 2015). Riquelme et al. (2016) established that customers who shop online will experience perceived deception to a greater extent because the online environment makes it easier for dishonest retailers to alter product information than in physical stores. This is also the case because the internet’s generally unreliable and emotionless nature makes it harder for customers to identify deception.

Customer satisfaction is therefore negatively impacted by dishonest or manipulative selling methods (Riquelme & Román 2014).

This study argues that misleading advertisements might lead to negative online customer satisfaction as customers may feel dissatisfied when social media advertisements are not completely upfront about a clothing item’s features and benefits. This negative relationship between perceived advertising deception and online customer satisfaction can become evident when social media posts exaggerate the product’s attributes, which might result in customers feeling misled. Therefore, when online clothing shoppers perceive the advertisements to be dishonest, they are likely to experience dissatisfaction with the products they purchase.

Hence, this study hypothesises that:

Electronic word-of-mouth provides prospective customers with explicit information and also the possibility of interactivity (Tsao & Hsieh 2012). Customer satisfaction has been established as a crucial antecedent of behavioural intentions, particularly WOM, in the travel and tourism industry (Prayag et al. 2017) and also in the e-retailer environment (Jain, Dixit & Shukla 2023). These authors concluded that when customers are satisfied with an e-retailer, they are more prone to provide positive e-WOM to new and current customers of the e-retailer.

It is therefore possible to argue that when customers are satisfied with the clothing item that they have purchased, they are likely to engage in positive eWOM about the online clothing retailer. Hence, the study hypothesises that:

If a customer is satisfied with a product, they are probably going to purchase the product again and will also share the positive experience with others (Oktaviani, Astuti & Firdiansjah 2019). Consumer satisfaction helps organisations determine what customers want, enabling them to satisfy their needs and encouraging customers to make additional purchases that benefit organisations (Agarwal, Wang & Yang 2021).

In a retail and e-commerce environment, Jia, Cegielski and Zhang (2014) established that customer satisfaction positively influences the intention of customers to make additional purchases. Because of the influence of online satisfaction, a pleased consumer is more likely to establish a long-lasting relationship with the online organisation, which often encourages customers to make additional purchases from the same online store (Trivedi & Yadav 2020).

This study, therefore, argues that in the online clothing retail environment, online customer satisfaction may have a positive and significant impact on their online repurchase intentions. It is argued that when customers feel that they are satisfied with the online clothing retailers’ online purchasing procedure, they may purchase from the same online retailer again.

Hence, the study hypothesises that:

A mediator was first described by Baron and Kenny (1986) as the generating process through which the main independent variable can affect the relevant dependent variable. A variable that serves as a bridge between both dependent and independent variables is referred to as a mediator (Hofmann, Curtiss & Hayes 2020). Various studies have established that customer satisfaction can act as a mediator in different relationships. For example, in the transport service environment, Emaluta and Soewaarno (2019) established that customer satisfaction acts as a mediator between customer relationship management and customer loyalty. Also, the impact of customer satisfaction on the relationship between service quality, perceived value and brand loyalty among airline customers in Bali was examined by Devi and Yasa (2021). The results of the study demonstrate that customer satisfaction can act as a mediator between service quality and brand loyalty and between brand loyalty and perceived value.

It is likely that online customer satisfaction may act as a mediating factor pertaining to the negative relationship between perceived advertising deception and eWOM and the negative relationship between perceived advertising deception and online repurchase intentions in an online clothing environment. When perceived advertising deception increases, online customer satisfaction will decrease, which will subsequently cause a decrease in eWOM and online repurchase intention. Online customer satisfaction might therefore be a significant negative mediator in the relationships between perceived advertising deception and both eWOM and online repurchase intentions.

Hence, it is hypothesised that:

The conceptual model for this study is presented in Figure 1.