Christian Rudeloff and Joke Bruns
With the growing importance of conscientious branding, companies are increasingly adopting messages of female empowerment in their social media communications. However, this is…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing importance of conscientious branding, companies are increasingly adopting messages of female empowerment in their social media communications. However, this is not without risk, as stakeholders may be suspicious of femwashing. Therefore, companies need to develop appropriate messaging strategies to increase the effectiveness of their femvertising communications.
Design/methodology/approach
A between-subjects 3 × 1 online experiment was conducted to examine the influence of different messaging strategies (symbolic, philanthropic and explicit brand promises) and respective stakeholders' attributions of a company’s femvertising motives on brand equity and endorsement outcomes.
Findings
The results show that philanthropic and explicit brand promises have more positive effects on brand equity and endorsement outcomes than symbolic brand promises. In addition, motive attributions towards the firm’s femvertising messages were found to moderate the influence of message strategies on endorsement outcomes.
Originality/value
Previous research on the effects of femvertising has been inclined towards short-term performance factors like purchase intentions. This study contributes to the literature by examining its impacts on more strategic intangible assets such as brand equity. Furthermore, while prior studies on femvertising effects have so far focused primarily on the influence of recipients’ characteristics and less on the side of the communicators, this study illuminates the potential of different messaging strategies for effective femvertising communicating.
Details
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Christian Rudeloff and Julius Damms
Drawing on the example of car manufacturer Tesla and its early investor Elon Musk, the purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between the personal communication…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the example of car manufacturer Tesla and its early investor Elon Musk, the purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between the personal communication activities of influential entrepreneurs on social media, the emergence of parasocial interactions (PSIs) and the related communication outcomes for the company.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducted an online survey, recruiting 207 participants via purposive sampling. Partial least square path modeling and an independent t-test were conducted to test hypotheses.
Findings
The results of this paper show that following entrepreneurs’ personal social media activities amplifies PSIs, which in turn positively impact the company's communication outcomes. Organization–public relationships and purchase intentions are improved by PSI.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that connects the personal and the organizational level in exploring entrepreneurial marketing. The results show that Elon Musk acts as an influential entrepreneur to effectively promote communication outcomes for Tesla. This paper illuminates the potential of entrepreneurs’ personal social media activities to support the success of their ventures.