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The authors apply Alan P. Fiske's relational models framework to customers' engagement with service firms – specifically, they propose that customers who hold different relational models for the service firm are likely to engage with the firm in dissimilar ways, thus generating different types of customer engagement value for the firm. Fiske's relational models framework is eminently suitable for studying customer-service firm engagement because it is widely adopted in the social sciences as a rigorously developed framework for conceptualizing social interactions.

The article bridges Fiske's relational models framework and Kumar et al.'s customer engagement value framework, and conceptually demonstrates that customers employing different relational models for the service firm are likely to generate different types of customer engagement value for the firm.

The article demonstrates conceptually that customers' relational models, schemata, and scripts influence how consumers engage with the firm and the type of customer engagement value accruing to the firm.

This research has implications for service firms' relationship strategies. First, service marketers can determine the desired customer engagement value(s) and then craft their customer relationship strategy so that it maximizes those engagement value(s). The article suggests relationship strategies that service firms may implement for encouraging customers to adopt different relational models.

No research has bridged relational models theories and customer engagement value theories.

The current increase in social media activity related to brand–consumer interactions is progressively influencing the manner in which brands and their customers communicate. Whereas this attention to social media is warranted, researchers and brand managers must also recognize that consumers connect and engage with brands across other communication platforms as well. Accordingly, this study aims to examine brand–consumer interactions taking place across social, online and physical platforms, as well as consumer motives for initiating these brand interactions across various platforms.

A mixed-method approach integrating quantitative and qualitative data was used. We administered a written diary to 102 individuals over a two-month period, in which study participants recorded their motivations and platform use in their interactions with a brand. We evaluated latent-class mixture models for complex data and multi-level latent-class mixture models to identify classes of interactions based on participants’ motivations and platform use as well as customer segments based on the identified motives-by-platform classes.

The findings reveal ten categories of motives for interacting with brands, including promotions and incentives, timely information, product information, engagement, browsing, purchase, customer service, branded content, entertainment, and personalization/exclusivity. Furthermore, six motives-by-platform interaction classes are identified. The findings suggest three consumer segments differentiated by their motives-by-platform profiles.

This study adds to past research investigating the motives behind brand–consumer interactions in social media by investigating both social media and non-social media-related interactions, and offering a typology of interaction profiles that considers interaction motives and platform preferences.

This study illustrates that consumers are driven to interact with brands based upon the ten motive categories. These motives, in turn, are associated with different platform uses. Thus, it is important for brands to adopt ambidexterity across multiple communication platforms.

This research adds to the understanding of brand–consumer interactions conducted on online and offline communication platforms.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the preferences of young Millennials for a salient product category (toys) and to investigate possible within‐group differences that have relevance for marketers.

The study carried out analysis of commercially collected survey data (538 pre‐teen Millennials) from Harris On‐Line using cluster and correspondence analyses.

Segments exist within the younger Millennial cohort. Specifically, four clusters emerged including enthusiasts, social/intellectuals, creatives and the disengaged.

One limitation is the selection of the toy characteristics included in the cluster variate, which were based on scarce published research and the opinion of Harris On‐Line experts. A second limitation is that the toys were never differentiated between traditional toys and electronic toys. A third limitation revolves around the maturation of the Millennials and how that may affect the clusters over time.

The cohorts are not homogeneous and the marketers should attend to the differences within the Millennial cohort when preparing promotions and in new product development.

To date, few, if any, academic studies have been done that segment the Millennial generational cohort. The research paper utilizes both cluster and correspondence analyses, which are the most appropriate for investigating segmentation in this setting.

This research aims to examine the effects of varying front-of-package (FOP) nutrition information type on parents' food product choices for children.

A 3(FOP nutrition information: nutrient specific system vs food group information system vs summary indicator system) × 3(Perceived healthiness of the product: high vs moderate vs low) mixed-design experiment and content analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings suggest that summary indicator systems were effective in positively impacting parents' choices for healthier food options, however not as effective as food group information systems – which includes specific nutrient content claims complementing less familiar health nutrient symbols.

Implications for marketers, consumer welfare advocates and product brand managers are provided.

Online social media are dramatically changing the ways in which firms and their consumers interact. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter among younger consumers (“digital natives”) in their interactions with brands. To investigate this, the authors conduct a mixed-method study including latent class analysis (LCA) to examine the role of social media among younger consumers (referred to as “digital natives”) in their interactions with brands.

A mixed-method approach including both qualitative analysis and LCA was used to analyze daily interactions between consumers and specific brands across two primary social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter). Data were collected by means of a social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter). Data were collected by means of a social media diary collected over a one-week period.

The findings from this study suggest that brand-consumer interactions driven by social media can be characterized by five primary motivations or themes: entertainment, brand engagement (specifically identification with or connection to the brand), timeliness of information and service responses, product information, and incentives and promotions. The authors also identify relationships among these themes related to respondents' age, gender, and social media use.

Although social media have become a widespread form of communication and interaction between brands and consumers, research regarding the nature of social media-driven brand-consumer interactions is only now developing. Drawing on the perspectives of consumer online engagement and uses and gratifications theory, the results from this study are important to guiding future brand-customer interaction research. These findings help extend previous research by identifying consumer motivations that underlie social media usage in brand engagement.

These results highlight the role of social media in helping brands to be proactive in their consumer communications and interactions, in areas such as communicating product information, addressing customer service issues, engaging consumers with content relevant to the brand, providing timely information regarding promotions and new product launches, and fostering consumer-generated comments. Managers should also recognize that younger digital natives interact with brands via social media differently (e.g. for pure entertainment) than older individuals.

This study provides new insights to the nature of brand-consumer interactions, engagement, and outcomes driven by social media.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance consumers place on various types of socially responsible marketing practices, and whether the level of importance varies by gender, race, and consumers' income.

A survey was designed that asked subjects their attitudes toward the various social marketing practices that were uncovered through an analysis of recent literature from ABI-Inform, Fordham University's Center for Positive Marketing and focus groups. The survey was administered to 232 subjects and included information regarding race, gender, and income. Survey results were analyzed using latent class analysis (LCA). The results of the LCA were used to develop a correspondence analysis map.

The results confirm the importance of key demographic factors (income, gender, and race) in understanding consumers' perceptions of socially responsible marketing.

One limitation is that the sample was collected in Baltimore, Maryland and not entirely representative of the population of the USA. Another limitation is that consumers’ perceptions of socially responsible marketing are only captured at one point in time rather than showing the evolution of a belief.

Marketers need to target their messages carefully if they are promoting socially responsible marketing as a differentiating factor. Understanding how each demographic group responds to these socially responsible marketing messages can assist managers in their promotional efforts.

Limited research has been completed that segments the market with regards to socially responsible marketing options. The research explores these segments by surveying active consumers.

This paper aims to advance the current understanding of social media (SM) brand engagement. Specifically, it validates the dimensionality of SM brand engagement, examines its drivers and explores the impact of SM brand engagement on brand equity.

A survey was conducted with 433 Generation Y (Gen Y) SM users.

The study results validate SM brand engagement as a multidimensional construct comprising utilitarian, hedonic and social dimensions. Three categories of SM engagement antecedents were identified: social factors (social identity and tie-strength), user-based factors (service, product and price information, hedonic motives and prior experience with SM) and firm-generated information (personalized advertising, mass advertising, promotional offers and price information). Finally, SM brand engagement was positively related to brand equity.

This study focused on Gen Y SM users in India. This study should be replicated in other contexts to establish the generalizability of the findings.

A better understanding of the dimensionality and drivers of SM brand engagement can help managers to enhance their SM strategies to build brand equity.

This is the first study to provide a comprehensive examination of the dimensions, drivers and consequences of SM brand engagement.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to develop and measure customer engagement scale in context to social media (SM); second, to elucidate the variables that impact customers’ brand engagement on SM and its impact in building customer-based brand equity; and finally, to examine the moderating role of trust in SM brand engagement and brand equity relationship.

The data were collected from 767 SM users working in multinational corporations of Gurgaon city, using purposive sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were undertaken to analyze the data.

The paper outcomes indicated SM brand engagement as a bi-dimensional construct comprising information interest and personal interest. Both social factors and consumer-based factors significantly influence customers’ SM brand engagement. Specifically, results depicted that tie-strength and social identity (social factors); and opportunity seeking and product selection (consumer-based factors) strongly influence customers’ SM brand engagement in comparison to other factors.

The research has two major limitations. First, it is limited to Gen Y only. How older and younger consumers interact with brands via SM can stimulate theoretical development as well as furnish potentially valuable strategic opportunities to brand managers in future research. Second, relationship between SM brand engagement and brand equity is examined using trust as a moderating variable. Thus, the effect of other moderating factors like perceived risk and gender can be investigated in the future.

The paper makes a maiden attempt to examine the moderating role of trust in the relationship between SM brand engagement and brand equity. It adds value to the marketing literature in the development of SM brand engagement scale for Gen Y.