The effect of product category on customer motivation for customer engagement behaviour

Recently, research on customer engagement behaviour (CEB) has rapidly developed. However, comparative studies on the motivational drivers of CEB across different product contexts are lacking. This study aims to understand the nature of customer motivation (CM) and investigate how its elements and impact on CEB differ between product settings (tangible vs. intangible and high involvement vs. low involvement). Based on surveys of 2080 consumers, this study validates CM for CEB as a construct comprising hedonic, normative, and gain dimensions. The findings highlight significant differences in the importance of hedonic and normative dimensions as affected by the product category. The findings of this study can help marketing and brand managers understand how they can improve their engagement strategies by stimulating motivation-based CEB.