Customer engagement in an e-commerce brand community: An empirical comparison of alternate models
Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing
ISSN: 2040-7122
Article publication date: 11 January 2019
Issue publication date: 11 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to outline a conceptual framework for customer engagement in the context of social media for emerging markets. Three competing models of customer engagement were identified and tested to arrive at the best suited model for the given contexts. The alternative conceptual frameworks involve the constructs of active participation, community trust and community commitment in relation to customer engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using questionnaires sent via e-mail to respondents. Structural equation modelling was then used to arrive at the best suited model, while also empirically testing for the relationships among the constructs.
Findings
The study, by way of an empirical comparison of alternative conceptual frameworks, presents a customer engagement framework best suiting the social media context for emerging markets. The study also outlines active participation, community trust and community commitment to be acting as antecedents to customer engagement. Further active participation is identified as a necessary antecedent to customer engagement based on the comparative assessment of the frameworks.
Research limitations/implications
While there is not much consensus on the nature of customer engagement, the study offers insights to marketers in terms of managing customer engagement with their brand communities. The study identifies the role and importance of inducing active participation in a brand community context. Further, it also identifies community trust and community commitment to be occurring as antecedents to customer engagement, with commitment implying for a more pronounced role in the framework.
Originality/value
There is no consensus among researchers regarding the nomological network surrounding customer engagement. Further, very few of these studies have focussed on this construct in the context of emerging markets. This study thus attempts to close the above gap, by testing for alternative conceptual frameworks involving customer engagement, in the context of social media for emerging markets.
Keywords
Citation
Vohra, A. and Bhardwaj, N. (2019), "Customer engagement in an e-commerce brand community: An empirical comparison of alternate models", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 2-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-01-2018-0003
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited