Social media content, customer engagement and brand equity: US versus Korea
ISSN: 0025-1747
Article publication date: 10 May 2022
Issue publication date: 8 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study analyzes the relationship between the characteristics of social media content, customer engagement (CE) and brand equity and investigates whether these relationships differ between national cultures.
Design/methodology/approach
We collect data from a variety of sources, including Interbrand, Facebook and financial statements, to validate the research model using partial least squares structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results revealed that owned media content had a stronger positive effect on CE than did earned media content. In addition, information richness was found to have a positive effect on CE, but links to additional information had a negative effect. In addition, CE positively affected brand equity. The national comparison analysis revealed a difference in the coefficients between the United States and Korea for most paths.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the relevant literature by finding evidence that OM has a stronger effect on CE than does EM. In addition, this study expands the related literature by clarifying the effects of information richness in a CE context and exploring differences determined by cultural dimensions. Most importantly, this study expands CE and international marketing literature by finding that the relationship between CE determinants and outcomes in a social media environment differs between national cultures.
Originality/value
This study explores the relationship between CE and social media content, which has not been sufficiently investigated in previous studies, by collecting actual social media data. In addition, unlike previous survey-based studies, we find evidence that CE contributes to brand equity at a corporate level. Finally, our exploratory analysis indicates that the relationship between the characteristics of social media content, CE and brand equity differs between national cultures.
Keywords
Citation
Lee, J. and Park, C. (2022), "Social media content, customer engagement and brand equity: US versus Korea", Management Decision, Vol. 60 No. 8, pp. 2195-2223. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-12-2020-1595
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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