•Models how consumers’ relationships with four elements of a brand community based on social media influence brand trust.•Three of the four relationships positively influence brand ...trust.•Customer-other customers’ relationships negatively influence brand trust, which is counter intuitive.•Engagement amplifies the strength of relationships consumers have with element of brand community.•Engagement has moderating effect in translating the effect of such relationships on brand trust.
Brand communities and social media often overlap. Social media is an ideal environment for building brand communities. However, there is limited research about the benefits and consequences of brand communities established on social media platforms. This study addresses this issue by developing a model depicting how consumers’ relationship with the elements of a brand community based on social media (i.e. brand, product, company, and other consumers) influence brand trust. The findings include that three of the four relationships positively influence brand trust. However, customer-other customers’ relationships negatively influence brand trust, which is counter intuitive and interesting. The prominent role of engagement in a brand community is also investigated in the model. Community engagement amplifies the strength of the relationships consumers make with the elements of brand community and it has a moderating effect in translating the effects of such relationships on brand trust. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
Consumers are empowered to exert influence on brands through social networking sites (SNSs), which make it possible for consumers to become active content creators in their relationship with firms. ...To further understand brand value co-creation, we use the socio-technical theory to build a model of brand co-creation with key antecedents−social commerce information sharing, social support, and relationship quality, with privacy concerns as a moderator. Through an empirical study, we found that social commerce information sharing, social support and relationship quality positively affect brand co-creation directly/indirectly and privacy concerns moderate the effects of social commerce information sharing on brand co-creation. This article contributes to the literature on the value co-creation paradigm and social commerce by: 1) developing the concept of brand co-creation in social commerce; 2) explaining how consumers engage in online brand co-creation activities; 3) arguing that privacy concerns may hamper the effects of brand co-creation. Our study provides an innovative approach to brand management practices in today's marketplace.
Trust is a crucial issue in online shopping environments, but it is more important in social commerce platforms due to the salient role of peer-generated contents. This article investigates the ...relationship between trust in social commerce and purchase intentions and describes a mechanism to explain this relationship. We propose a main and two alternative models by drawing on three concepts: social commerce information seeking, familiarity with the platform, and social presence. The models clarify the mechanisms through which trust, familiarity, social presence, and social commerce information seeking influence behavioral intentions on social commerce platforms. Findings from a survey of Facebook users indicate that trust in a social networking site (SNS) increases information seeking which in turn increases familiarity with the platform and the sense of social presence. Moreover, familiarity and social presence increase purchases intentions. Findings indicate that the main model fits the data better than the alternative ones. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
This article looks at the co-creation of value in the branding process with members of online communities. Three online communities in Iran are analyzed through 45 interviews with members along with ...three interviews with top managers of the three brands of these communities. A content analysis shows a clear process in that the social interactions of customers in online brand communities with their favorite brands help develop relationship quality and increase customer brand loyalty. The findings suggest that firms may develop their branding strategies using social media and online brand communities through relationship marketing by using an online co-creation strategy. The findings also serve to inform practitioners of the impact of social media on branding and how they can best facilitate these brand relationships.
► Brand communities on social media have positive effects on community markers. ► Community markers have positive effects on value creation practices. ► Brand communities on social media enhance ...brand loyalty through brand use practices. ► Brand trust is fully mediating value creation practices on brand loyalty.
Social media based brand communities are communities initiated on the platform of social media. In this article, we explore whether brand communities based on social media (a special type of online brand communities) have positive effects on the main community elements and value creation practices in the communities as well as on brand trust and brand loyalty. A survey based empirical study with 441 respondents was conducted. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand communities established on social media have positive effects on community markers (i.e., shared consciousness, shared rituals and traditions, and obligations to society), which have positive effects on value creation practices (i.e., social networking, community engagement, impressions management, and brand use). Such communities could enhance brand loyalty through brand use and impression management practices. We show that brand trust has a full mediating role in converting value creation practices into brand loyalty. Implications for practice and future research opportunities are discussed.
There is evidence that review ratings affect sales; yet little is known about the drivers of the star ratings from the perspective of the customers who have written them. A person who writes a review ...touches upon many different aspects of the experience. It is intriguing to explore the underlying topics that motivate customers to provide certain star ratings. Although there have been many studies to predict rating, they are mostly data driven. A marketing perspective and a consumer theory driven approach is still in their infancy. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature, and to explore the topics of reviews and their effects in determining the star ratings of a review. Since review rating influences prospective customers, traffic to the site and ultimately sales, examining the topics that make a customer rate a review in a certain manner is theoretically and managerially important.
Résumé
Même s'il est prouvé que l’évaluation des avis des clients a une incidence sur les ventes, les facteurs qui déterminent l'attribution des étoiles, du point de vue des clients qui rédigent les avis, restent peu connus. Les auteurs des avis abordent de nombreux aspects différents liés à leurs expériences. Il est donc intéressant d'explorer les sujets sous‐jacents qui poussent les clients à attribuer les étoiles. Même si de nombreuses études permettent de prédire les évaluations, ces dernières s'appuient essentiellement sur des données. L'approche marketing et la théorie du consommateur n'en sont qu’à leurs balbutiements. Les auteurs de cet article cherchent à combler la lacune qui existe dans la littérature en explorant les thèmes des avis et leur impact sur l'attribution des étoiles. Étant donné que les évaluations des avis influencent les clients potentiels, le trafic sur le site et, au bout du compte, les ventes, il est important, d'un point de vue théorique et managérial, d'examiner les thèmes qui incitent les clients à évaluer les avis d'une manière particulière.
Due to the benefits of brand community initiatives and the potential advantages of social media, many marketing managers made significant investments in building brand communities based on social ...media. A noticeable issue is how to measure the success of such investments in ways that are understandable and comparable to other marketing initiatives. To address this issue, it is essential to understand how social media-based brand communities influence customers' perceptions and behaviors. The purpose of this article is to develop and estimate an extended model of how different aspects of customers' relationships with such communities influence their perceptions and behaviors. The paper describes a way a customer's identification with a brand influences relationships with brand community elements, brand community markers, and ultimately brand relationship quality and brand loyalty. Then using a large sample of brand community members in social media and structural equation modeling, the authors estimate how social media-based brand communities influence brand relationship quality and brand loyalty. Managerial implications are discussed.
•Brand loyalty can be enhanced by brand communities established on social media.•Brand community identification positively affects value creation practices through brand community markers.•Brand community identification strengthen consumer's relationship with brand community elements.•Consumer relationship quality with brand is positively influenced by the elements of brand community.•Brand relationship quality positively influences brand loyalty.
► Brand communities on social media have positive effects on customer–product/brand/company/other customers relationships. ► Customer/product, customer/company and customer/other customers ...relationships have positive effects on brand trust. ► Brand trust has positive effects on brand loyalty. ► Brand trust is fully mediating the effects of enhanced relationships in brand community to brand loyalty.
There is an ongoing debate over the activities of brands and companies in social media. Some researchers believe social media provide a unique opportunity for brands to foster their relationships with customers, while others believe the contrary. Taking the perspective of the brand community building plus the brand trust and loyalty literatures, our goal is to show how brand communities based on social media influence elements of the customer centric model (i.e., the relationships among focal customer and brand, product, company, and other customers) and brand loyalty. A survey-based empirical study with 441 respondents was conducted. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand communities established on social media have positive effects on customer/product, customer/brand, customer/company and customer/other customers relationships, which in turn have positive effects on brand trust, and trust has positive effects on brand loyalty. We find that brand trust has a fully mediating role in converting the effects of enhanced relationships in brand community to brand loyalty. The implications for marketing practice and future research are discussed.
Display omitted
•Segments differ based on cultural identity and technology adoption propensity.•Intra and inter-country differences appear in consumer segments.•Consumers activate on a continuum of ...localism and globalism.•Market segmentation incorporates technology variables.
This paper uses a state-of-the-art quantitative modeling approach to latent class analysis to analyze American, Canadian, and French consumers’ perception of technology-based products and their cultural values. It identifies hidden segments of consumers based on technology adoption propensity, cosmopolitan characteristics, and identification with the global consumer culture. The study emphasizes the diversity and variability between and among countries regarding localism, globalism, cosmopolitanism, and the global consumer culture. The framework provides a new way to evaluate modern consumers and reflects the combination of national/regional cultural characteristics and global culture elements while highlighting the relevance of modern technologies and communication methods in leveling consumer preferences and attitudes across cultures. From a theoretical viewpoint, this article provides a new framework incorporating technology adoption propensity and cultural elements in the empirical evaluation of modern consumers.
PDF
