Search results
1 – 10 of over 37000Thamaraiselvan Natarajan and Deepak Ramanan Veera Raghavan
The different dimensions of the online engagement behaviors exhibited by omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on the online channel for information search, are still…
Abstract
Purpose
The different dimensions of the online engagement behaviors exhibited by omnichannel shoppers, who mainly rely on the online channel for information search, are still understudied. This study aims to investigate how service journey quality (SJQ) has an impact on the overall omnichannel customer experience leading to customer identification (CI) with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is cross-sectional, quantitative and descriptive. Purposive sampling was used to choose the research's participants. Data were collected from 591 Indian omnichannel customers who had previously made an omnichannel purchase that included the concurrent usage of various channels of a retailer using a verified self-administered survey. Using the Smart PLS 4.0 software, the proposed conceptual model has been evaluated.
Findings
The results indicate that omnichannel customer experience mediates the relationship between SJQ and CI with the store, subsequently leading to their exhibition of online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions). The perceived customer gratitude toward the store significantly and positively moderated the direct relationship between SJQ and different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and service online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions).
Research limitations/implications
The study relied upon the omnichannel shoppers of only Indian population and relied on a cross-sectional data collection procedure for this research.
Originality/value
Post-pandemic, with highly dynamic shifts in customer preferences, the need for channel-agnostic shopping leading to the unpredictability of purchase patterns has made SJQ the only dimension to achieve sustainable loyalty intentions through value co-creation in an omnichannel retail context. Emphasizing post-purchase behaviors like different online engagement behaviors (writing online reviews, blogging, rating products and services online and indulging in customer-to-customer online interactions), this study is the first to show that SJQ might affect four different online customer engagement behaviors through omnichannel shopping experience and CI with the store. The moderating effect of customer-perceived gratitude toward the retailer on a few proposed hypotheses was also tested to give managerial recommendations. The study also answers the call to investigate the moderating role of customer gratitude in determining service quality-driven engagement behaviors.
Details
Keywords
Xinyu Dong, Cleopatra Veloutsou and Anna Morgan-Thomas
Negative brand engagement represents a pervasive and persistent feature of interactivity in online contexts. Although existing research suggests that consumer negativity is…
Abstract
Purpose
Negative brand engagement represents a pervasive and persistent feature of interactivity in online contexts. Although existing research suggests that consumer negativity is potentially more impactful or detrimental to brands than its positive counterpart, few studies have examined negative brand-related cognitions, feelings and behaviours. Building on the concept of brand engagement, this study aims to operationalise negative online brand engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the results of nine studies that contributed to the development and validation of the proposed scale. Building on the concept of engagement, Studies 1–3 enhanced the construct conceptualisation and generated items. Study 4 involved validation with an academic expert panel. The process of measure operationalisation and validation with quantitative data was completed in Studies 5–8. Finally, the scale's nomological validity was assessed in Study 9.
Findings
The results confirm the multidimensional nature of negative online brand engagement. The validated instrument encompasses four dimensions (cognition, affection, online constructive behaviour and online destructive behaviour), captured by 17 items.
Originality/value
Progress in understanding and dealing with negative online brand engagement has been hampered by disagreements over conceptualisation and the absence of measures that capture the phenomenon. This work enhances managerial understanding of negativity fostering strategies that protect brand engagement and improve firm performance.
Details
Keywords
Man Lai Cheung, Guilherme D. Pires and Philip J. Rosenberger III
This paper aims to investigate the causal relationships between constructs related to consumer–brand engagement (CBE), including consumers’ enduring involvement, ongoing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the causal relationships between constructs related to consumer–brand engagement (CBE), including consumers’ enduring involvement, ongoing information search behaviour, online engagement behaviour and brand attitude in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework is tested using data from 302 customers of a durable technology product, a smartphone, in Hong Kong, collected using a self-administered online survey. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.
Findings
The results reveal that consumers’ enduring involvement and ongoing information search behaviour are key drivers of CBE, ultimately enhancing customers’ brand attitude. The importance of enduring involvement in strengthening ongoing search behaviour, online engagement behaviour and CBE is confirmed, together with the importance of ongoing search behaviour in strengthening CBE. Further analysis demonstrated the full mediating role of ongoing search behaviour in the relationship between enduring involvement and online engagement behaviour, such that CBE fully mediates the impact of ongoing search behaviour on brand attitude.
Research limitations/implications
The research contributes to the extant literature by providing an understanding of how to strengthen CBE for durable technology products, such as smartphones. However, this study is cross-sectional in nature, focusing on smartphones in Hong Kong only. Thus, future research should consider comparisons between countries with diverse cultures as well as other industries, such as the service sector, to enhance the generalisability of the study’s findings.
Practical implications
Marketers should seek to heighten customers’ involvement levels by encouraging customer–brand interactions, which is not only useful in encouraging customers’ ongoing search and online engagement behaviour but also critical in strengthening CBE. Additionally, marketers are recommended to encourage customers’ ongoing search behaviour (at the category level), which is useful in encouraging consumers’ online engagement behaviour as well as strengthening CBE.
Originality/value
The role of ongoing search behaviour in brand building has received little attention in the branding literature. This paper makes a noteworthy contribution to CBE research by empirically testing a holistic framework, confirming that enduring involvement and ongoing search behaviour are critical drivers in the process of strengthening CBE. This paper also demonstrates the mediation roles of ongoing search behaviour and CBE in the holistic framework.
Details
Keywords
Khalid Abed Dahleez, Ayman A. El-Saleh, Abrar Mohammed Al Alawi and Fadi Abdel Muniem Abdel Fattah
This research explores the effect of e-learning Moodle-based system usability on students' learning outcomes with the possible intervening role of teacher's behavior and online…
Abstract
Purpose
This research explores the effect of e-learning Moodle-based system usability on students' learning outcomes with the possible intervening role of teacher's behavior and online engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, the authors followed a quantitative methodology and a deductive research approach. Data were collected from 433 students at different study levels and academic specializations in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Oman. The data have been analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling via Smart-PLS.
Findings
The findings of this research show that e-learning system usability affects students' learning outcomes. Moreover, the relationship between these two variables is mediated by teacher behavior and students' online engagement.
Originality/value
This study is important as it adds to the understanding of the role of e-learning system usability in predicting student outcomes. From practical perspectives, especially during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study also helps practitioners at private HEIs use e-learning systems more efficiently and effectively to improve students' engagement and learning outcomes.
Details
Keywords
Yan Qu, Adam J. Saffer and Daniel Riffe
Consumer engagement has become a critical component to many brands' relationship and promotional efforts. Empirical studies have documented the psychological elements that can…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer engagement has become a critical component to many brands' relationship and promotional efforts. Empirical studies have documented the psychological elements that can drive consumers to engage with brands. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding how consumer engagement is influenced by the social environment consumers are embedded in. Taking an egocentric network approach, this study explores the social network factors that affect different dimensions of consumers' online engagement behaviors with a brand.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey with an egocentric network design was employed, and 263 completed responses were collected from college students in US. The dimensionality of consumer engagement was validated using exploratory factor analysis. The hypotheses were tested through three sets of hierarchical regression models.
Findings
The results suggest that consumer engagement with a brand was partially shaped by the attributes of consumers' brand discussion networks that emerge from their conversations about a brand with others in everyday life. Specifically, the size, heterogeneity, and density to consumers' discussion networks were associated with certain engagement behaviors.
Originality/value
This study introduces a novel type of network method known as egocentric network analysis to explore and investigate the social network antecedents to consumer engagement behavior. It advances the conception of consumer engagement as a dynamic process influencing and is influenced by consumers' social interactions rather than merely a product of their psychological mechanisms. The study contributes to a social network approach to examining and conceptualizing consumer engagement.
Details
Keywords
Xiabing Zheng, Christy M. K. Cheung, Matthew K.O. Lee and Liang Liang
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of user engagement in the context of online brand communities. A research model is proposed to explain how brand loyalty is developed through user engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model was empirically tested with an online survey study of 185 current Facebook users.
Findings
Results revealed that user engagement influenced brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through online community commitment. Users tend to focus on the benefits (rather than the costs) derived from the usage when they engage in an online brand community.
Research limitations/implications
The selection of respondents is bound to the Hong Kong area, while Facebook members are globally distributed. In addition, this study involved a cross-sectional design instead of investigating the development of brand loyalty from a long-term perspective.
Practical implications
The results inform e-marketers the importance of user engagement behaviors for building brand loyalty through online communities. Strategies that encourage members to engage in online brand communities on social networking sites such as Facebook are also provided.
Originality/value
The concept of user engagement in online brand communities is still poorly understood, underscoring the need for theoretically based research of user engagement. This paper enriches the knowledge in the area of brand engagement by presenting a research model that introduces the concept of user engagement in social media research and empirically examines its role in building brand loyalty in online brand communities.
Details
Keywords
Tejas R. Shah, Pradeep Kautish and Sandeep Walia
This paper aims to establish and empirically investigate a research model examining the effect of four dimensions of the technology readiness index – optimism, innovativeness…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to establish and empirically investigate a research model examining the effect of four dimensions of the technology readiness index – optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity – on customer engagement that further influences purchase intention in the context of online shopping through artificial intelligence voice assistants (AI VAs).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in India from 429 customers in a self-administered online survey. Data analysis uses the structural equation modelling technique.
Findings
Technology readiness dimensions, e.g. optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity, are critical factors driving customer engagement. Customer engagement further results in purchase intention in online shopping through AI VAs.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds to the literature by understanding how customers’ technology readiness levels drive engagement and purchase intention. However, this study includes customer engagement as a unidimensional construct. Further research can consist of customer engagement as a multidimensional construct.
Practical implications
The findings offer guidelines for e-retailers to enhance customer engagement that matches their personality traits, thereby strengthening their purchase intention through AI VAs.
Originality/value
The research contributes to the literature by empirically investigating a research model, revealing optimism, innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity as crucial parameters for customer engagement and purchase intention.
Details
Keywords
Kleopatra Konstantoulaki, Ioannis Rizomyliotis, Yifei Cao and Ioannis Christodoulou
This study aims to explore the effect of social media engagement on the determinants of behavioural intention. Specifically, the authors empirically research the three behavioural…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the effect of social media engagement on the determinants of behavioural intention. Specifically, the authors empirically research the three behavioural intention determinants, namely, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (PBC), and confirm their effect on students' intention to enrol on a university online programme.
Design/methodology/approach
A conclusive research analysis is followed, and a moderation analysis is conducted to test the hypotheses of the model. Empirical evidence from 201 students in the UK higher education is used and a structural equation modelling approach is followed.
Findings
The findings suggest a significant effect of social media engagement on attitude, subjective norms and PBC. The latter three are confirmed as determinants of the intention to enrol on a university online programme. Mindfulness is found to positively moderate the effect of the three determinants on behavioural intention.
Originality/value
This study advances knowledge pertaining to the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by highlighting the effect of social media engagement on the determinants of the intention to enrol on a university online programme. Additionally, the moderating role of mindfulness is also tested with regards to its effect on the relationship between behavioural intentions and its determinants.
Details
Keywords
Jitpisut Bubphapant and Amélia Brandão
This paper aims to bridge the gap by understanding the context of ageing consumer behaviour in the online community. Specifically, this research seeks to identify which content…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to bridge the gap by understanding the context of ageing consumer behaviour in the online community. Specifically, this research seeks to identify which content typologies are critical to generating high engagement levels and, consequently, online brand advocacy and to understand the underlying motivation behind consumer online engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
A netnographic approach was used to comprehensively analyse older consumers’ online communities on Facebook, namely, “Silversurfers”. A total of 3,991 posts were included in the study and analysed using a content analysis approach over two years, from 2020 to 2022.
Findings
Results revealed that photography is the most active media type among older consumers. This study extends the literature on content marketing, identifying 17 new content types that reflect the four motivation states of older consumers to engage with the online community: cognitive/informative oriented, affective/emotional oriented, co-creation/interactive oriented and nostalgic oriented. Moreover, this investigation stressed affective/emotional oriented and nostalgic oriented as the primary motivations for higher engagement levels.
Originality/value
The older population is growing, which makes the ageing market potentially huge. However, more literature needs to address it, especially in online communities. Finally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study develops an original content typology framework in which firms can consider implementing effective content typology strategies for the older consumer segment.
Details
Keywords
Yusheng Zhou, Lei Zhu, Chuanhui Wu, Houcai Wang, Qun Wang and Qinjian Yuan
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social media affordances, specifically social engagement and social endorsement, on knowledge contribution in online Q&A…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of social media affordances, specifically social engagement and social endorsement, on knowledge contribution in online Q&A communities. Building on self-determination theory, this research seeks to tackle the issue of under-provision of knowledge in these communities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employs a sample collected from a popular social Q&A community in China and uses linear panel data models along with multiple robustness checks to test the research model.
Findings
The findings reveal that both social engagement and social endorsement have a positive effect on users' knowledge contribution to the online Q&A community. However, the impact of social engagement is mitigated by social endorsement.
Originality/value
This paper makes a valuable contribution to the field by filling the research gap on the role of social engagement behaviors and their interaction with social endorsement in online Q&A communities. The results provide insights into how social media affordances can be leveraged to enhance knowledge contribution in these communities.
Details