Building brand credibility: The role of involvement,identification, reputation and attachment

The aim of this study is to propose a conceptual framework for building destination brand credibility. This research proposes a novel framework to explore the antecedents of destination brand credibility based on four constructs: enduring culture involvement, destination brand identification, destination brand reputation and destination brand attachment. The data used to assess the proposed research model was collected through in-person-administered surveys conducted in Indonesia and Spain. The study shows that destination brand credibility is influenced by enduring cultural involvement, destination brand identification and destination brand reputation. In addition, destination brand attachment partially mediates the relationship between destination credibility and the three antecedents. The findings contribute to the relevant literature by improving the knowledge of the antecedents of destination brand attachment and destination brand credibility.     

FsQCA versus regression: The context of customer engagement

The purpose of this study is to address the strengths and weaknesses of the Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method by contrasting it with traditional multiple regression analysis. To achieve our objective, we utilize the context of customer engagement and explore how both methodological approaches can explain the factors that lead customers to engage with brands/firms. We test the association between customer engagement and its antecedents by using both methods, fsQCA and multiple regression analysis (MRA), and compare the findings. MRA results show a significant relationship between customer engagement and perceived interactivity, perceived identification, perceived value, and brand involvement, a negative relationship with perceived fairness, while the relationship with customer satisfaction and perceived value is not statistically significant. On the other hand, fsQCA revealed eight different combinations of these antecedents that lead to high levels of customer engagement. Although multiple regression analysis (MRA) certainly has its own merit, our findings indicate that this methodological approach does not capture the complexities extant in real life. This method's strength of providing generalizable results is also its weakness as relationships cannot always be generalized as shown in our study. As such, at a minimum, fsQCA should be used as a complementary approach when authors employ MRA. We suggest ‘at a minimum’ because fsQCA possesses sufficient explanatory power to be employed by itself to offer a rich perspective on the relationships of interest. We also make several noteworthy contributions to the customer engagement and service marketing literatures.     

Customers’ service-related engagement,experience, and behavioral intent: Moderating role of age

Though customer engagement (CE) and experience are important research priorities, empirically derived insight into these concepts and their associations remains scarce. We therefore investigate the impact of CE on experience and behavioral intent, which we explore in the tourism context. We also envisage customer age to moderate the proposed associations, thereby further contributing to the CE literature. To investigate these issues, we collected data from key tourism-sites in Jammu/Kashmir, Northern India. Using structural equational modeling, we find that CE dimensions exert differential effects on customer experience. The findings also reveal a stronger, significant effect of younger customers' (up to 39) cognitive engagement on experience, whereas a negligible effect is attained for older customers. While the paths from affective/behavioral engagement to experience are significant across all age groups, the association's strength rises with customer age. Moreover, the effect of customer experience on behavioral intention intensifies as customers get older. We conclude by outlining key implications that arise from our analyses, followed by avenues for further research.     

The new wave of AI-powered luxury brands online shopping experience: The role of digital multisensory cues and customers’ engagement

Academic literature retains a dearth of empirical evidence of the cutting-edge aspect of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered digital assistance and digital multisensory cues, despite the prospect of these factors on real-life customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the significant pathway and effects of AI-powered digital assistance toward customers’ luxury brand online shopping experience. Drawing on S–O-R (Stimulus, organism, and response) and TRAM (Technology Readiness and Acceptance Model) paradigm, a multi-method research design was deployed to investigate constructs. Firstly, semi-structured interviews were utilized to explore customers' online behavior under the luxury brands and information technology aspect. Secondly, survey data were collected and analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The PLS-based analysis of quantitative data confirmed the exploratory insights of qualitative findings, establishing the connections of AI-powered digital assistance, customer engagement, and customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Research findings also suggest that customer engagement plays a mediation role in the relationship between AI-powered digital assistance and customers' luxury brand online shopping experience. Besides, digital multisensory cues moderate the relationship between AI-powered digital assistance and customer engagement. Further, fsQCA complements the findings of PLS-SEM that reveal the significant combination of factors that lead to the perceptions of customers' luxury brand online shopping experience.     

Building Customer-Brand Relationships through Customer Brand Engagement

Abstract

Engagement has surfaced as a vital tool in marketing to enhance the customer’s relationships and loyalty with brands. Despite this, there is dearth of empirical studies focusing on the role of customer engagement within the context of brands. Thus, the main objective of this study is to investigate the role of customer brand engagement in building customer-brand relationships and brand loyalty within the context of hotel industry. Using convenience sampling technique, a sample of 418 respondents has been collected through self-administered questionnaire method from the users of hotel services in India. The study findings suggest that different dimensions of customer brand engagement vary in terms of their influence on customer-brand relationships and brand loyalty. In addition, customer-brand relationships exhibit positive and significant influence on brand loyalty. This present study enhances the understanding of customer brand engagement construct by empirically verifying its relevance in determining the long-term success of firms/brands.     

Consumer brand engagement and its social side on brand-hosted social media: how do they contribute to brand loyalty?

ABSTRACT

Social media offer brands new opportunities to interact with their customers. This paper focuses on consumer brand engagement (CBE) and its social facet in the context of brand-hosted social media. It highlights that CBE (consumer–brand interactions encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions) and brand-based consumer–consumer interactions (social brand engagement (SBE)) lead to brand loyalty intentions. Brand customers were surveyed about their favourite brands on Facebook. Results indicate that self-brand connections and SBE are two drivers of CBE, and that CBE is the key element in inducing brand loyalty. In addition, configural analysis shows that high brand loyalty can be achieved through several combinations of social and CBE with various levels of cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement.     

Social media engagement: a model of antecedents and relational outcomes

This article investigates individual-level antecedents and relational outcomes of social media engagement. Social media engagement approached in this study is a three-dimensional construct composed of affective, cognitive and behavioural dimensions. Surveying more than 48 Facebook pages, spanning nine product categories and 448 consumers, the results show that product involvement, attitude towards the community and online interaction propensity all impact social media engagement. The study also reveals that high social media engagement increases brand relationships significantly, particularly affecting brand trust, commitment and loyalty. Additionally, community engagement appears as a precursor of brand engagement. These findings provide insight into antecedents and outcomes of engagement for academic research and bring value to online brand and community management.     

Brand trust and engagement in social commerce

With the surge in social media (SM) users around the world, the scope of social commerce (SC) in brand engagement is a prominent area of discussion. The present study empirically investigates the effect of social commerce construct (SCC), multi-dimensional constructs of social presence theory (SPT) and consumer generated content (CGC) on brand trust and brand engagement in SC platforms. An online survey was conducted among 625 Indian consumers who had made more than one purchase using SC platforms in the previous 6 months. Structural equation modelling technique was employed for testing the hypotheses and conceptual model. The results suggest that each element of SCC, SPT and CGC positively contributes to brand trust and engagement. Further, the study provides insight into brand trust and brand engagement in SM, which prompts brand usage intention of the consumers. The insights can be used by managers to create long-term customer relationship management action plans that emphasize brand trust and engagement.     

Drivers of brand community engagement

Brand community engagement is evolving as a prominent relationship marketing variable that yields promising outcomes for the firms. Drawing upon the relevant premises of social exchange theory, this paper proposes a theoretical model portraying the role of online brand community based benefits (experience based and self-esteem based) and the community relationship investment in predicting the levels of brand community engagement.Data collected through a survey questionnaire technique from 925 members of the firm created online brand communities was employed to test the measurement and structural theory using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling respectively. The empirical results reveal that the customers’ experiential and self-esteem based benefits drive their brand community engagement. The perceived community relationship investment of the members also drives their brand community engagement positively. The sequential structural model also supported a positive impact exerted by brand community engagement on brand community commitment and brand loyalty. Additionally, it is observed that the focal brand ownership moderates the effect of community benefits and community relationship investment on brand community engagement.This study contributes to the nascent academic research on online brand communities and to the existing understanding of the brand community managers in managing customer engagement in online brand communities, thereby of profound theoretical and managerial relevance.     

An empirical study of the impact of consumer emotional engagement and affective commitment in firm-hosted virtual communities

ABSTRACT

Emergent perspectives in marketing highlight new opportunities for leveraging social media as a means to build customer–firm relationships through consumer engagement. Drawing from cognitive appraisal theory and aspects of the service dominant logic, this study delineates and empirically tests hypotheses regarding the effects of key components of consumer engagement (cognitive appraisal, affective states, participation) on consumers’ affective commitment, in the context of two service companies where the firms used social media to host virtual communities. The research examines how consumers’ cognitive appraisal of the engagement experience aligned with their online interaction propensity and participation in value-creating activities drive engagement outcomes. The results confirm the need to contextualise, personalise and respond to the consumer’s engagement experience to develop this engagement.     

How do customers engage in social media-based brand communities: The moderator role of the brand's country of origin?

Across the globe, companies increasingly use social media-based brand communities (SMBBC) to facilitate customer engagement (CE). This study clarifies the relationship between brand trust and CE in SMBBC, which is often inconsistent in previous literature. Drawing on the uses and gratifications theory, we examine the motivations that drive customers' active and passive engagement behaviors. Additionally, this study employs multi-group analysis to compare the differences in the customer engagement process concerning the brand's country of origin. The empirical results demonstrate that brand trust is an antecedent to customer engagement in a long-term relationship. Brand affiliation, entertainment, and investigation prompt customers' active and passive engagement behaviors; the opportunity-seeking only encourages the passive engagement, but the motivation of conversation prompts neither active nor passive behaviors of the customers. Notably, there is no significant difference in Chinese customer engagement between domestic and foreign brands on Sina Weibo. The research enriches the understanding of customer engagement in SMBBC and provides valuable insights for international brands keen on the Chinese market.     

Effects of Country-of-Manufacture and Brand Image on Korean Consumers' Purchase Intention

ABSTRACT

In this study, a theoretical framework is developed to explain the differential effects of country-of-manufacture (COM) and brand image on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of Koreans' consumer decision making. Although effects are product specific, findings, overall, indicate that brand image has a stronger effect than COM on Koreans' perceptions of hybrid global products. Moving the production of an electronic product (TV) to a developing country, however, negatively affected Koreans' evaluation of product performance, prestige (brand and technical), and purchase attitudes. The findings have interesting marketing implications for hybrid global brands and contribute to building a theory of COM.     

Investigating the antecedents of customer brand engagement and consumer-based brand equity in social media

The current research is concerned with identifying and testing the role of three main predictors: consumer involvement, consumer participation, and self-expressive brand on the customer brand engagement (CBE). The customer brand engagement is treated in the current study as multidimensional constructs comprising three main aspects: cognitive processing (CP), affection (AF), and activation (AC). It was also proposed a direct influence for these three aspects of CBE on consumer-based brand equity (CBBE). Using online surveys, we gathered data from fans/followers of mobile phone service providers, via Facebook fan pages in Jordan. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Based on structural equation modelling analyses (SEM), it was supported that CBE aspects were largely predicted by the role of consumer involvement (INV), consumer participation (COP), and self-expressive brand (SEB). However, we find that activation impact one dimension of the CBBE dimensions, namely, brand loyalty. Further, we find that brand awareness/associations affect perceived quality but not brand loyalty. To validate the CBE scale, future studies could investigate the impact of the scale using other social media platforms for different brands. The limited amount of empirical research on CBE was the motivation behind this research. In particular, there is no study that has investigated the main predictors of CBE and its consequences over developing context by proposing and testing the association between the antecedents of CBE with the dimensions of CBE, which in turn affect the dimensions of CBBE.     

Elements of destination brand equity and destination familiarity regarding travel intention

In a highly competitive market, marketing staff are always looking for solutions to strengthen what can be called their destination values (unique place, services, and human resources, etc.). They do this by concentrating on vital factors which can enhance their brand equity. Nevertheless, there is a shortage of studies about how destination brand evaluations are related to visitor appraisals. Using the opinions of 531 foreign tourists visiting a destination in Vietnam and a partial least squares (PLS) approach, this study examines four elements of destination brand equity (perceived quality, loyalty, awareness, image) regarding travel intentions and the moderating effect of destination familiarity. Results revealed that brand equity is positively related to travel intentions. Additionally, destination familiarity has positive moderating effects on destination awareness and perceived quality of travel intentions. This study offers some managerial insights into the effective building of destination brand equity.     

Projecting corporate brand image and behavioral response in business schools: Cognitive or affective brand attributes?

This paper considers corporate brand image, focusing on cognitive and affective brand attributes in the context of business schools. While previous research on university or institutional branding has studied these elements separately via cognitive (e.g., service or educational quality attributes) or affective criteria (personality traits of the corporate brand), this study investigates them jointly through behavioral responses (leading to positive recommendations about the corporate brand). This is important because brand equity such as positive word-of-mouth (or mouse) is derived from both attitudinal components, rather than being based on only one component. Drawing on an empirical survey of postgraduate (MBA) students from four business schools, the findings reveal that both cognitive and affective attitudinal components appear equally important in shaping corporate brand image. Further, when the mediating effect is investigated, interestingly, students' positive recommendations to schools depended largely on the affective (prestigious, adventurous, empathy and competence) rather than upon the cognitive brand attributes. This paper contributes theoretically to the corporate brand and consumer behavior literature by investigating both attitudinal components at a corporate brand level and investigates their effects on behavioral/conative response. The practical contribution of the paper and its managerial implications lie in the context of defining strategy in relation to positioning business schools in an increasingly competitive higher education market.     

Exploring antecedents of customer citizenship behaviors in services

Social exchange theory explains how a party in social interaction provides the other party with reciprocal rewards. Applying this concept to the customer context, this study empirically investigates determinants of customer citizenship behaviors (CCBs) in services. For the generalizability of the study across various service providers, the data were collected based on Bowen’s (1990) classifications of services. With a total of 665 usable customer responses, structural equation modeling was adapted to test the theoretical research model. This study reveals that customers’ perceived support and justice from the service provider positively influence affective commitment toward the organization, resulting in CCBs. The results show that customers’ perception of organizational support has the partial mediation effect between customers’ perception of organizational justice and their affective commitment. Furthermore, customers’ affective commitment partially mediates the relationship between customers’ perceived organizational justice and CCBs, but fully mediates the effect of customers’ perceived organizational support on CCBs.     

How IT affordances influence customer engagement in live streaming commerce? A dual-stage analysis of PLS-SEM and fsQCA

Engaging customers and building loyalty are crucial for operators who embrace live streaming. While previous research has identified many social and technical factors that assist operators in engaging their customers, few studies have examined customer engagement from a sociotechnical perspective (i.e., IT affordances). To fill the gap, a theoretical model grounded in the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework is developed to explain how IT affordances (i.e., metavoicing, visibility, and guidance shopping affordance) influence customer engagement through swift guanxi and perceived enjoyment in live streaming. To test the model, a survey with 371 valid samples was carried out and a dual-stage analysis using partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was employed. PLS-SEM results reveal that IT affordances in live streaming indirectly affect customer engagement through swift guanxi and perceived enjoyment. Additionally, fsQCA suggests that two different configurations with high or low visibility affordance can lead to the same outcome of high customer engagement. These findings offer insights into how IT affordances can promote customer engagement and assist operators of live streaming commerce (LSC) in developing effective strategies to engage their customers.     

The Effect of Brand Engagement and Brand Love upon Overall Brand Equity and Purchase Intention: A Moderated –Mediated Model

Abstract

In their quest for retaining or enhancing their overall brand equity, firms engage with their customers. This study investigates if brand engagement blossoms in brand love and the combined effect of brand engagement and brand love upon overall brand equity and purchase intention. A two stage analysis was done on data collected from 548 respondents through a self administered questionnaire. In the first stage the measurement model was checked for reliability and validity, while in the second one, the strength of the relationships was ascertained in the structural model. The study enables an in-depth understanding of the antecedents of brand equity. It provides valuable theoretical insights on the determinants of brand equity formation. At the same time, it explores the effect of socio demographic variables like gender and usage. Brand love and overall brand equity mediate relationships. This study proposes a new branding model by simultaneously integrating variables that have been previously researched upon; brand love, brand experience, overall brand equity and purchase intention as one comprehensive model. This paper confirms that brand love and brand engagement are second order constructs and important brand mix elements. Brand engagement and brand love relationship is moderated by usage and gender.     

Examining customer engagement and brand intimacy in social media context

Customer engagement (CE) is critical for firms to cultivate and improve customer brand experience in the customer journey. However, few studies are available on the effects of customer-based driving forces on CE in a defined brand experience context. Given the multidimensional nature of CE, the interrelationships among CE dimensions and various dimensional effects on the customer–brand relationship, represented by brand intimacy, have not been thoroughly explored. To address these research gaps, this study explores three customer- and context-based forces that drive CE in social media contexts from a consumer’s perspective. CE is operationalized as a second-order construct consisting of three dimensions (i.e., consumption, contribution, and creation) to reflect its multifaceted nature. An online survey was used to collect data. The results suggest that customer-based forces, advice seeking, and self-image expression exert positive influences on behavioral CE dimensions. The effect of a context-based factor, that is, fashion involvement, is salient only when gender difference is integrated. Moreover, the three facets of behavioral CE affect brand intimacy to different extents. Brand intimacy is the most affected by creation followed by consumption. The research findings contribute to the literature on CE and brand intimacy and also offer practical insights on marketing communications and segmentation.     

Assessing the Effect of Personal Cultural Orientation on Brand Equity and Revisit Intention: Exploring Destination Branding in Latin America

ABSTRACT

Despite a growing body of work on destination branding, there are few studies to look at culture at the individual level and examine the potential impact of personal cultural orientation on destination brand equity. Based on Social Identity Theory, this study investigates tourists' personal cultural orientation (independent vs. interdependent) and its effect on destination brand equity (destination brand image, destination brand value, and destination brand quality) and revisit intention. All data were collected in Quepos, Costa Rica, using both person-administrated and online surveys. Results of this study reveal that personal cultural orientation impacts the destination brand image, destination brand value, and destination brand quality. In addition, the destination's brand value is positively related to the revisit intention. The theoretical and practical implications, as well as the future research directions, conclude the article.