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1 – 10 of over 69000Social media marketers are keen to understand how viewers perceive their brands on a platform and how the learning experiences from content can impact their attitudes toward a…
Abstract
Purpose
Social media marketers are keen to understand how viewers perceive their brands on a platform and how the learning experiences from content can impact their attitudes toward a brand. This study aims to focus on examining the effect of firm-generated content (FGC) on X (formerly known as Twitter), using Kolb’s experiential learning theory to analyze the viewers’ learning process. In addition, the study investigates how the length of time a viewer follows a brand and the type of brand can influence their attitudes toward it.
Design/methodology/approach
This study involved three qualitative studies on X to investigate how content learning affects consumer attitudes toward two brands, namely, Nike and Subway. The study also examined the impact of the duration of following the brands, with participants following the brands for 4, 8 and 12 weeks, respectively, to assess changes in their attitudes.
Findings
The results demonstrate that content learning significantly impacts consumer attitudes. By following brands and engaging with their FGC over time, viewers can transition from being occasional or intermittent followers to becoming devoted brand enthusiasts. Through the four-stage experiential learning process, followers undergo cognitive, emotional and behavioral transformations that collectively shape their brand attitudes. The impact of content learning varies according to the brand type, and the duration of following has a positive effect on brand attitudes.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s findings have significant marketing implications for social media marketers, suggesting that they should restructure their social media platforms as learning platforms to effectively engage followers. Companies should adjust their content marketing strategies from a learner’s perspective, providing followers with content that resonates with them, enhances their learning outcomes and helps shift their beliefs and brand attitudes, ultimately converting them into loyal consumers.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this qualitative research is the first of its kind to apply experiential learning theories to investigate how users learn from FGC by following brands on social media and how this learning ultimately changes their brand attitude. The study provides a unique perspective on social media marketing, enriching the understanding of content marketing and consumer experiences on social media platforms.
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Dongling Huang, Dmitri G. Markovitch and Yuanping Ying
This paper aims to identify the effects of social learning and network externalities by conditioning on product quality and early sales momentum. This approach is demonstrated…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the effects of social learning and network externalities by conditioning on product quality and early sales momentum. This approach is demonstrated using film sales data.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used econometric modeling approach.
Findings
It was found that both social learning and network externalities have significant and comparable impacts on film choice. We show that the relative effects of network externalities and social learning in the film market are robust to different momentum and quality definitions and to alternative estimation methods.
Originality/value
Scholars have long argued that social learning plays a key role in new product diffusion. In some product categories, consumer choice may also be influenced by network externalities, meaning that purchasing popular products may provide the consumer utility above and beyond that derived from product usage directly. We propose a novel identification approach to help quantify the relative magnitude of these two effects on new product sales.
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Chen Lou, Quan Xie, Yang Feng and Wonkyung Kim
This study aims to test the role of branded content marketing on YouTube in brand building and explicates the mechanism through which brand content influences brand loyalty and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test the role of branded content marketing on YouTube in brand building and explicates the mechanism through which brand content influences brand loyalty and purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative, Web-based, three-step randomized intervention design and recruits YouTube users through the Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 925).
Findings
Post-intervention results (n = 596) show that consumers’ repeated exposure to branded content facilitates their social learning processes. Consumers derive value from the relevant content and subsequently form more favorable brand attitudes, greater brand loyalty and heightened purchase intentions. Brand loyalty mediates the effect of perceived brand content value on purchase intentions.
Practical implications
This study’s findings support the advantages of investing in the creation and dissemination of valuable brand content through a brand’s own social media channel(s). While informative content and entertaining content can both drive brand loyalty, high product-involvement brands are advised to emphasize on informative content to precipitate brand–consumer attachment. Low product-involvement brands, on the other hand, are advised to feature more enticing and captivating content to stimulate consumer devotion.
Originality/value
This study reveals the positive impact of branded content marketing within social media on consumers’ brand attitudes, brand loyalty and purchase intentions. It also explicates the mechanism through which content marketing influences brand evaluation and purchase intentions by coordinating consumer learning and value derivation.
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Alireza Zolfaghari, Kimberly Thomas-Francois and Simon Somogyi
Smart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the technology and the characteristics of digital technologies. However, the impact of the…
Abstract
Purpose
Smart retail technology adoption models are largely focused on consumer perceptions of the technology and the characteristics of digital technologies. However, the impact of the prior-to-use knowledge of consumers on the adoption of the technologies has been understudied. This research examined to what extent social acceptance and consumer learning can facilitate consumer adoption of digital grocery shopping (DGS).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper builds on the innovation–decision model to develop a framework to examine the impact of social acceptance and consumer learning on DGS. The research tested a structural model based on data collected from 611 North American participants.
Findings
This study found that the social acceptance of DGS directly and consumer learning indirectly affects the appeal of grocery shopping to consumers and consequently increases their intention to adopt this new shopping method. Furthermore, the results indicated that both hypothesised directions are parallelly mediated by digital convenience, the consumer’s digital readiness and digital trust.
Originality/value
This study extends the understanding of consumer adoption of DGS by highlighting the influence of consumer knowledge about DGS on their behavioural intention. Several important theoretical and practical implications are provided to help retail managers to develop service strategies.
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Torgeir Aleti, Linda Brennan and Lukas Parker
The purpose of this paper is to establish how consumer knowledge is transferred among family members in multi-generational families, based on the consumer socialisation theory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish how consumer knowledge is transferred among family members in multi-generational families, based on the consumer socialisation theory. Understanding how consumers learn about consumption and are socialised as consumers is critical to developing marketing strategies throughout the family lifecycle. Central to current conceptions of consumer socialisation is the idea that individuals make decisions as outcomes of previous socialisation processes. However, socialisation takes place in the meso-level social setting and there is need to understand how these meso-systems interact when it comes to consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a social system design and dyadic analysis, the authors tested knowledge transfer and consumer socialisation agency in multi-generation families in Vietnam, yielding a sample size of 654 individuals and 218 families.
Findings
The authors demonstrate the role of consumer socialisation agency on consumer knowledge transfer between people within families. The study illustrates that where knowledge is limited, family-related services and household products will be jointly considered within the family.
Research limitations/implications
This study was undertaken within a single country setting, but the technique and findings have wider implications for collectivist family decision-making in other settings. The limitations of cross-sectional research are acknowledged; the method specifically overcomes issues with self-reported measures by collecting data from multiple people within the social system.
Practical implications
Our findings suggest that consumer knowledge and learning is bi-directionally transferred through consumer socialisation agency. In complex new market situations, marketers can target the social system and ensure that knowledge will be transferred between members.
Originality/value
Social system design and dyadic analysis have not previously been used to examine meso-level consumption settings. The results provide unique understanding of consumer learning in social settings.
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Mahmood Hajli and Mohammad Hajli
Empowered by Web 2.0 and social media, consumers join online communities and produce social capital. They generate information for online communities by sharing their knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Empowered by Web 2.0 and social media, consumers join online communities and produce social capital. They generate information for online communities by sharing their knowledge, information and experience, and thus support organisational learning. Co‐creation of value with consumers instead of co‐creation of value for consumers is a new strategy for organisational development. The purpose of this paper is to investigate social factors introduced through social media to sport organisations in the co‐creation of value with fans.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts social capital and social support theory and investigates the way sport organisations can apply social relationship with fans in online communities in order to co‐create value for organisational development. The study looks at the current literature and the potential theoretical development for organisational learning.
Findings
Social interaction of individuals through social media and online communities has introduced co‐creation of value with customers. This behaviour originates from the supportive climate that has emerged through Web 2.0, where individuals share their information, knowledge, and experience through online communities. This co‐creation offers online social support as a source of social capital for organisations. The results can be beneficial for the development of sport organisations in the co‐creation of value with fans.
Research limitations/implications
The clear implication of the research would be whether sport organisations can develop virtual communities and offer rich means that facilitate individuals' interactions. The research highlights the theoretical foundation and opportunities for sport organisational development. However, the study does not provide an empirical test of the theory. Therefore, an empirical test of the research theory is a future research direction.
Originality/value
This research investigates social factors introduced through social media to sport organisations in the co‐creation of value with fans. The contribution of the research is to provide the theoretical bases for a new research area for sport organisational development through social media. Sport organisations can learn from the social interactions of their fans and develop their strategies. This research shows how sport organisations can use social capital theory and online social support to progress in the industry.
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Mahmood Hajli, Hatem Bugshan, Xiaolin Lin and Mauricio Featherman
The emergence of Web 2.0 opened a new route for education to use the values derived from this development. The future of e-learning is social learning, where individuals can learn…
Abstract
Purpose
The emergence of Web 2.0 opened a new route for education to use the values derived from this development. The future of e-learning is social learning, where individuals can learn online due to the facility of social media. Social media such as online communities are places for social interactions between users. These social interactions are the way forward and can drive social support in an online context. This paper aims to explore the impact of these interactions
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses social support theory to explore the impact of social interactions on the internet on learning and education. The research uses a case study and investigates the health industry.
Findings
The paper explains the development in e-learning through social media and the emerging concept of social learning.
Originality/value
The contribution of this research is to emphasise social relationships of individuals in the internet and social interaction in online communities which enhance their learning qualities. The research drawn on social support theory describes social learning as a future for e-learning.
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Li Zhao, Stacy H. Lee and Lauren Reiter Copeland
Social media and sustainability are changing Chinese consumers’ consumption behavior in notable ways. Few apparel industry sustainability efforts are enforced or well known in…
Abstract
Purpose
Social media and sustainability are changing Chinese consumers’ consumption behavior in notable ways. Few apparel industry sustainability efforts are enforced or well known in China. As China operates its own social media sites, it is necessary to study Chinese social media, rather than Western types, in order to understand its influence on Chinese consumer behavior with regard to sustainability. By extending the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the prototype willingness model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese consumers were taught their environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) consumption behavior through social media, and also how the influence of peers affected their purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 238 survey responses were collected and analyzed from a Chinese research firm in 2016. In accord with the study objectives, an exploratory factor analysis was first conducted, and then a two-step analysis of a structural equation model was employed for hypothesis testing. To test the significance of hypothesized mediated effects, a bootstrap procedure with 2,000 bootstrap samples from the original data was used to compute bias-corrected 95% CI for indirect effects. Moreover, hierarchical regressions were demonstrated to verify the unique contribution of social media influence.
Findings
The study findings support the previous literature that indicated positive attitudes toward environmentally sustainable purchasing behavior increased as Chinese consumers learned about social and environmental issues. Also, results of the analysis revealed that Chinese consumers’ engagement with social media and their peers were important social influences that were directly tied to increasing sustainable apparel purchase intentions.
Originality/value
By extending two grand theories of the prototype willingness model theory and the TRA, this study underlines a novel link between the influence of social media and ESA purchase intentions among Chinese consumers. Results are valuable in a global context as it is one of only a few studies to explore Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions of ESA through an exclusive social media platform – WeChat – in China.
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Cameron Richards and Irina Safitri Zen
The purpose of this paper is to develop and explore the policy concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a focus for sustainable development. To this end, it develops…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and explore the policy concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a focus for sustainable development. To this end, it develops and explores the implications of a distinction between CSR as a marketing strategy and a more sustainable long-term commitment to changes in organizational culture and also society.
Design/methodology/approach
This a conceptual paper which develops a policy research framework for examining the CSR rationale as well as general concept as applied to the “plastic bags” public awareness campaign in the Malaysian case study. On this basis, its central inquiry approach is to develop and explore the distinction between surface and deep modes of CSR policy implementation as also related modes of social learning.
Findings
The findings from the conceptual inquiry recognize that corporations which fail to apply a deep rather than a surface commitment to their own CSR polices will sooner or later be judged on that basis by their customers as well as external stakeholders. Although CSR policies will always involve a corporate marketing focus, this is sustainable only if framed by a long-term organizational commitment to accountable change.
Originality/value
The paper makes, develops and further explores a basic accountability distinction between surface and deep modes of CSR as a management commitment, corporate policy implementation and related processes of corporate cultural change. This links to the paper’s associated innovation of linking CSR as both internal organizational learning and a larger sustainable development process of social learning.
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Marigold G. Castaneda, Carmelita P. Martinez, Rodilina Marte and Banjo Roxas
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social capital within a community on the adoption of consumer eco-behaviour or environmentally sustainable behaviour of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of social capital within a community on the adoption of consumer eco-behaviour or environmentally sustainable behaviour of consumers. The authors draw on the behavioural perspective model (BPM) of consumer behaviour and social capital theory in arguing that social capital shapes a consumer’s knowledge of environmental issues and pro-environmental attitudes, which in turn influence a consumer’s perceived capability to engage in eco-behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling of survey data involving 1,044 consumers in the Philippines. It involves testing of a measurement model to examine the validity and reliability of the constructs used in the study. This is followed by testing of the structural models to test the hypothesised relationships of the constructs.
Findings
The results suggest the substantive influence of social capital on environmental knowledge, pro-environmental attitudes and eco-capability. Both knowledge and attitudes have positive effects on eco-capability, which in turn positively shapes eco-behaviour.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies can examine how social capital as a multi-dimensional construct impacts context-specific consumer behaviour.
Practical implications
Social and environmental marketing may focus on social network activation to encourage eco-behaviours of consumers.
Social implications
Findings highlight the role of social capital within one’s community as a resource channel to encourage environmentally responsible consumer behaviour.
Originality/value
The study extends the BPM by offering a social capital view as a more nuanced explanation of consumer eco-behaviour.
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