IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jmarka/v11y2023i1d10.1057_s41270-021-00148-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding consumer engagement in online brand communities: An application of self-expansion theory

Author

Listed:
  • M. Sadiq Sohail

    (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals)

Abstract

Despite a growing importance of consumer engagement on online brand communities (OBCs), empirically derived insights into its antecedents, dynamics and outcomes remain limited. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to apply the self-expansion theory and study the influence of emotional attachment, brand love, and cultural values on consumer engagement in OBCs. Second, the study also examines the effect of consumer engagement on brand loyalty. Using an online questionnaire, data were collected form 453 respondents. The respondents were members of at least one OBC. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that all three constructs, emotional attachment, brand love, and cultural values significantly affect consumer engagement, while only emotional attachment and brand love had a positive effect on brand loyalty. Finally, customer engagement had a significant positive effect on brand loyalty. This research integrates the self-expansion theory and offers explanations of the different effects on consumer engagement and also contributes to the development of brand loyalty. Marketing managers will find the study useful in building effective OBC strategies and enhancing brand loyalty. By establishing this innovative theoretical link, this study provides additional insights in the domain of consumer engagement.

Suggested Citation

  • M. Sadiq Sohail, 2023. "Understanding consumer engagement in online brand communities: An application of self-expansion theory," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 69-81, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jmarka:v:11:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41270-021-00148-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41270-021-00148-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41270-021-00148-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41270-021-00148-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beck, Susanne & Prügl, Reinhard & Walter, Katharina, 2020. "Communicating the family firm brand: Antecedents and performance effects," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 95-107.
    2. Dwivedi, Abhishek, 2015. "A higher-order model of consumer brand engagement and its impact on loyalty intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 100-109.
    3. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    4. Cambier, Fanny & Poncin, Ingrid, 2020. "Inferring brand integrity from marketing communications: The effects of brand transparency signals in a consumer empowerment context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 260-270.
    5. Hsieh, Sara H. & Chang, Aihwa, 2016. "The Psychological Mechanism of Brand Co-creation Engagement," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 13-26.
    6. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Glynn, Mark S. & Brodie, Roderick J., 2014. "Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-165.
    7. Fuller, Christie M. & Simmering, Marcia J. & Atinc, Guclu & Atinc, Yasemin & Babin, Barry J., 2016. "Common methods variance detection in business research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3192-3198.
    8. Margurite Hook & Stacey Baxter & Alicia Kulczynski, 2018. "Antecedents and consequences of participation in brand communities: a literature review," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 277-292, July.
    9. Kumar, Jitender & Kumar, Vikas, 2020. "Drivers of brand community engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    10. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Anita Pansari & V. Kumar, 2017. "Customer engagement: the construct, antecedents, and consequences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 294-311, May.
    12. Chathoth, Prakash K. & Ungson, Gerardo R. & Altinay, Levent & Chan, Eric S.W. & Harrington, Robert & Okumus, Fevzi, 2014. "Barriers affecting organisational adoption of higher order customer engagement in tourism service interactions," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 181-193.
    13. Sofie Bitter & Sonja Grabner-Kräuter, 2016. "Consequences of customer engagement behavior: when negative Facebook posts have positive effects," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 26(3), pages 219-231, August.
    14. Urša Golob & Mark A. P. Davies & Joachim Kernstock & Shaun M. Powell, 2020. "Trending topics plus future challenges and opportunities in brand management," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(2), pages 123-129, March.
    15. Sandor Czellar & D. Sprott & E. Spangenberg, 2009. "The Importance of a General Measure of Brand Engagement on Market Behavior: Development and Validation of a Scale," Post-Print hal-00458392, HAL.
    16. Erumban, Abdul Azeez & de Jong, Simon B., 2006. "Cross-country differences in ICT adoption: A consequence of Culture?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 302-314, December.
    17. Malthouse, Edward C. & Haenlein, Michael & Skiera, Bernd & Wege, Egbert & Zhang, Michael, 2013. "Managing Customer Relationships in the Social Media Era: Introducing the Social CRM House," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 270-280.
    18. Schouten, John W & McAlexander, James H, 1995. "Subcultures of Consumptions: An Ethnography of the New Bikers," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 22(1), pages 43-61, June.
    19. Fethi Klabi, 2020. "To what extent do conspicuous consumption and status consumption reinforce the effect of self-image congruence on emotional brand attachment? Evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(2), pages 99-117, June.
    20. Jamid Ul Islam & Zillur Rahman, 2016. "Examining the effects of brand love and brand image on customer engagement: An empirical study of fashion apparel brands," Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 45-59, January.
    21. Won-Seok Yoo & Kil-Soo Suh & Moon-Bong Lee, 2002. "Exploring the Factors Enhancing Member Participation in Virtual Communities," Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM), IGI Global, vol. 10(3), pages 55-71, July.
    22. Barbara Carroll & Aaron Ahuvia, 2006. "Some antecedents and outcomes of brand love," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 79-89, April.
    23. Zhenning Xu & Colin Vail & Amarpreet S. Kohli & Saeed Tajdini, 2021. "Understanding changes in a brand’s core positioning and customer engagement: a sentiment analysis of a brand-owned Facebook site," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 3-16, March.
    24. Li, Dongmei & Han, Xiaoyun, 2021. "Assessing the influence of goal pursuit and emotional attachment on customer engagement behaviors," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    25. Brodie, Roderick J. & Ilic, Ana & Juric, Biljana & Hollebeek, Linda, 2013. "Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 105-114.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Munyaradzi W. Nyadzayo & Civilai Leckie & Lester W. Johnson, 0. "The impact of relational drivers on customer brand engagement and brand outcomes," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-18.
    2. Munyaradzi W. Nyadzayo & Civilai Leckie & Lester W. Johnson, 2020. "The impact of relational drivers on customer brand engagement and brand outcomes," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(5), pages 561-578, September.
    3. Li, Dongmei & Han, Xiaoyun, 2021. "Assessing the influence of goal pursuit and emotional attachment on customer engagement behaviors," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Algharabat, Raed & Rana, Nripendra P. & Alalwan, Ali Abdallah & Baabdullah, Abdullah & Gupta, Ashish, 2020. "Investigating the antecedents of customer brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity in social media," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    5. Nadeem, Waqar & Tan, Teck Ming & Tajvidi, Mina & Hajli, Nick, 2021. "How do experiences enhance brand relationship performance and value co-creation in social commerce? The role of consumer engagement and self brand-connection," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Macky, Keith, 2019. "Digital Content Marketing's Role in Fostering Consumer Engagement, Trust, and Value: Framework, Fundamental Propositions, and Implications," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 27-41.
    7. Boisvert, Jean & Christodoulides, George & Sajid Khan, M., 2023. "Toward a better understanding of key determinants and consequences of masstige consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    8. Thakur, Rakhi, 2018. "Customer engagement and online reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 48-59.
    9. Itani, Omar S. & El Haddad, Rania & Kalra, Ashish, 2020. "Exploring the role of extrovert-introvert customers’ personality prototype as a driver of customer engagement: Does relationship duration matter?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    10. Schaefers, Tobias & Falk, Tomas & Kumar, Ashish & Schamari, Julia, 2021. "More of the same? Effects of volume and variety of social media brand engagement behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 282-294.
    11. Osei-Frimpong, Kofi & McLean, Graeme, 2018. "Examining online social brand engagement: A social presence theory perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 10-21.
    12. Bazi, Saleh & Filieri, Raffaele & Gorton, Matthew, 2020. "Customers’ motivation to engage with luxury brands on social media," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 223-235.
    13. Linda D. Hollebeek & Rajendra K. Srivastava & Tom Chen, 2019. "S-D logic–informed customer engagement: integrative framework, revised fundamental propositions, and application to CRM," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 161-185, January.
    14. Algharabat, Raed & Rana, Nripendra P. & Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Alalwan, Ali Abdallah & Qasem, Zainah, 2018. "The effect of telepresence, social presence and involvement on consumer brand engagement: An empirical study of non-profit organizations," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 139-149.
    15. Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia & Romero, Jaime & Bilro, Ricardo Godinho, 2020. "Stakeholder engagement in co-creation processes for innovation: A systematic literature review and case study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 388-409.
    16. Lourenço, Carlos Eduardo & Hair, Joseph F. & Zambaldi, Felipe & Ponchio, Mateus Canniatti, 2022. "Consumer brand engagement concept and measurement: Toward a refined approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Zheng, Run & Li, Zhuyuan & Na, Sanggyun, 2022. "How customer engagement in the live-streaming affects purchase intention and customer acquisition, E-tailer's perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Abdulla H. Fetais & Raed S. Algharabat & Abdullah Aljafari & Nripendra P. Rana, 2023. "Do Social Media Marketing Activities Improve Brand Loyalty? An Empirical Study on Luxury Fashion Brands," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 795-817, April.
    19. Kumar, Jitender & Kumar, Vikas, 2020. "Drivers of brand community engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    20. Sıddık Bozkurt & David Gligor & Nichole Gligor, 2022. "Investigating the impact of psychological customer engagement on customer engagement behaviors: the moderating role of customer commitment," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(4), pages 408-424, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:jmarka:v:11:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41270-021-00148-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.