Engaging consumers via online brand communities to achieve brand love and positive recommendations

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the influence of brand relationship quality and consumer community identification on consumer engagement. This study also examines the mediating role of consumer engagement between brand relationship quality and consumer community identification with brand love. Positive word of mouth is taken as an outcome variable. Design/methodology/approach – To test the proposed relationships, data were collected from 580 social media-based brand community followers and analysed through structural equation modelling. Findings – Results corroborate brand relationship quality and consumer community identification as critical drivers of consumer engagement on the online platforms. The results further reveal a positive association between consumer engagement and brand love which consequently foster positive word of mouth. The findings also corroborate the partial as well as full mediating role of consumer engagement on different proposed associations. Originality/value – This study offers an in-depth insight of specific motivations to engage consumers in the virtual domain, make them adore their brands and spread a positive word. All of these outcomes are crucial in offering competitive advantages to firms. This study validates the relevance of consumer engagement interactions in contemporary firms’ relationship marketing strategies

Mobile Phone Buying Decisions Among Young Adults: An Empirical Study of Influencing Factors

Background: The mobile phone shopping behavior of adults has been extensively studied in the past. However, given the novelty and dynamism of this domain and the multitude of new contributing factors coming into play, such studies soon become obsolete. Consequently, this phenomenon needs to be studied frequently within the context of contemporary social, technological, and market norms. In the same league, there is a pressing need to empirically examine the mobile shopping behavior of young adults in Pakistan. In this context, the last known such study was published in 2008. This paper provides a study of factors influencing mobile phone shopping behavior within the context of young adults in Pakistan. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey consisting of a five-point Likert scale was conducted. The survey was disseminated via social media, and participation was voluntary. Over a period of two weeks, 416 respondents completed the survey to report mobile shopping behavior. We employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) within the Structured Equation Modeling (SEM) model using AMOS 24. We chose CFA over Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) because the application of OLS is limited by compliance to simplifying assumptions. In contrast, SEM-CFA is a more robust method that also addresses the issue of multicollinearity, a common problem in survey data. Findings: The empirical results suggest that the Service Encounter and Convenience have coefficients of 0.049 [P=0.265] and 0.02 [P=0.682] only, suggesting a statistically insignificant influence of the two factors on the mobile phone buying behavior. Similarly, Avoidance of Core Service Failure and Response only has a coefficient -0.05 [P=0.401], suggesting a feeble and statistically insignificant negative effect on the mobile phone buying behavior in Pakistan. However, Price and Attractiveness have been found to have coefficients of 0.436 [P=0.00] and 0.155 [P=0.00], indicating that these two key factors are having a positive and significant influence on the mobile phone buying behavior in young adults in Pakistan. Contribution: The finding reveals mobile shopping behavior of young Pakistani adults might not be influenced by either Service Encounter or Convenience. Instead, the Price and Attractiveness of the mobile phone seem to affect the adults towards buying the mobile phone. Recommendations: The price of the mobile phones needs to follow the target market, and the product category should also be identified according to the characteristics of the target market. In addition, the attractiveness of the mobile phone needs to be maintained even if the prices are lower, as this should positively influence the buyers. Further research is suggested to include cultural and social factors in this context

Measuring the Effect of Consumer Brand Engagement on Brand-Related Outcomes in Gamified Mobile Apps: A Solicitation of Technology Acceptance Model

The present study investigates the role of gamification in fostering consumer engagement wherein consumer brand engagement construct has been viewed as a multidimensional construct embracing conscious attention, affection, participation and social connection dimensions in mobile apps settings. Brand related outcome-brand loyalty was also proposed as an outcome variable. Built upon Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a conceptual model has been proposed which has included perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as antecedents of consumer brand engagement in gamified mobile applications settings. Furthermore, the study also explored how consumer brand engagement drives users’ behavioral intention to use gamified mobile apps. The results revealed that gamified marketing activities integrated on mobile apps drives consumer brand engagement which in turn found to be positively related with user’s behavioral intention to use gamified mobile apps