Potential effects of customer-brand identification and self-representation on Aliexpress advocacy: a comparative study
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), the current research highlights the sequential mediation effects of customer interaction, functional value and hedonic value in linking customer-brand identification and self-representation with online brand advocacy (OBA).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 483 Egyptian and 595 non-Egyptian Aliexpress shopping platform customers, then analyzed using SmartPLS 4.
Findings
The multigroup analysis findings revealed that customer interaction and functional/hedonic values sequentially mediated the linkages of customer-brand identification and self-presentation with OBA for Egyptian and non-Egyptian user groups.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study is that it tested and validated customer interaction with the Aliexpress service scale, allowing for reflection on the interactive nature of this platform between Egyptian and non-Egyptian customers. SIT also lends credence to the idea that self-presentation mediates the effect of customer-brand identification on Aliexpress’s OBA, potentially shedding new light on this understudied dimension using a theoretical framework.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Funding: No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.
Since submission of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliations: Muhammad Haroon Shoukat is at the URD Research Center, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran; and Islam Elgammal is at the Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.
Citation
Hussain, S., Shoukat, M.H., Elgammal, I., Khan, M.A. and Selem, K.M. (2024), "Potential effects of customer-brand identification and self-representation on Aliexpress advocacy: a comparative study", Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-08-2023-0293
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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