Jiang Zhu, Lan Jiang, Wenyu Dou, Valerie Lynette Wang and Liying Zhou
This study leverages theories of social influence to explore how “likes” for consumption-related content on social media fulfill consumers’ needs for social acceptance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study leverages theories of social influence to explore how “likes” for consumption-related content on social media fulfill consumers’ needs for social acceptance, subsequently affecting their repurchase and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. It aims to understand the extent to which social media engagements, specifically likes, serve as markers of social validation in the context of consumer behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Our mixed-methods approach incorporated two experiments and an analysis of an archival dataset from a popular Chinese social media platform. This comprehensive methodology allowed for empirical validation of our hypotheses, combining experimental control with real-world relevance to scrutinize the impact of likes on consumption behavior.
Findings
The results of Studies 1 and 2 revealed that the number of likes significantly enhanced behavioral intentions regarding repurchase and positive word-of-mouth by fulfilling consumers’ need for social acceptance. Moreover, this effect was observed only under conditions of high (vs low) ideal social self-congruity. Study 3, conducted in a natural social media context, further validated these findings, demonstrating that likes positively influenced behavioral intention, with ideal social self-congruity acting as a boundary condition.
Originality/value
This study provides a novel perspective by directly linking social media likes to consumer behavioral intentions, specifically repurchase and WOM, through the mediating role of social acceptance and the moderating effect of ideal social self-congruity. By focusing on user-generated content (UGC) rather than marketer-generated content (MGC), it addresses a critical gap in the literature, emphasizing how receiving likes on consumer-shared content impacts content creators’ post-purchase behaviors, with practical implications for marketers on leveraging aspirational self-congruity to optimize promotional strategies.
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Jintao Wu, Junsong Chen, Honghui Chen, Wenyu Dou and Dan Shao
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how nonprofit service providers can better engage their customers through online communication. It identifies two communication styles…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how nonprofit service providers can better engage their customers through online communication. It identifies two communication styles and three communication functions, and examines their impact on customer commenting, customer liking and customer sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
Similar to Python for Facebook, a software package for the automatic retrieval of web page content was developed specifically for this study to extract data from the microblog Sina Weibo. Following the successful retrieval of 1,500 randomly selected messages from 34 universities in China, a two-level regression was performed using Mplus 7 to examine the association between the proposed relationships.
Findings
The findings reveal that messages with a friendly communication style increase both the number of comments and their positive tone; an authoritative style has no effect on customer engagement. The functions associated with message content (spreading information, building community or promoting action) influence customer liking and sharing. Building community tends to engage more customers than spreading information; promoting action often generates the least customer engagement in social media settings.
Originality/value
The study fills an important research gap in the service marketing literature as it pertains to nonprofit service organizations (i.e. universities) by identifying two types of online identities based on the communication style and the messages posted on social media. This study is the first to investigate the relationship between identity type and audience engagement, and to analyze the moderating factors of this relationship.
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Jintao Wu, Na Wen, Wenyu Dou and Junsong Chen
This research aims to investigate effect of consumer creativity on their evaluations of brands. Consumers’ creative participation is often used by online retailers as a…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to investigate effect of consumer creativity on their evaluations of brands. Consumers’ creative participation is often used by online retailers as a promotional tool nowadays. The authors propose that consumer creativity exerts a positive impact on brand attitudes by affecting their attitudes toward the creative activity itself. Furthermore, consumer creativity moderates the effect of consumers’ perceived level of fit on their acceptance of brand extensions, such that creative consumers will show a higher level of acceptance of distant brand extensions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test their hypotheses in three laboratory experiments. Study 1 examines the effect of consumer creativity on brand evaluations. Study 2 explores the moderating effect of consumer creativity on perceived level of fit on acceptance of brand extensions. Study 3 replicates the authors findings in Studies 1 and 2 using a better representative sample and a different type of creative task.
Findings
Study 1 finds that consumer creativity results in a positive attitude toward brand; this effect is mediated by attitude toward the creative activity. Study 2 shows that creativity leads to a greater level of brand acceptance when the brand extension has a low fit with the focal brand. Study 3 further provides evidence of proposed effects using a different type of creative task with a more representative sample.
Research limitations/implications
In the experiments, this study examined three types of online creative marketing communication activities. Future research could examine other types of consumer creative activities so as to enhance the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
Our results provide important implications for firms that intend to exploit the promises of online creativity-themed marketing communications. First, because consumers’ attitudes toward the focal brand hinge on their attitudes toward the creative activity, it is important that firms design their creativity-themed activities carefully, so that they are attractive to the users. Second, firms can exploit the creativity edge by launching new brand extensions that target creative consumers. This effect is even more pronounced when the brand extension exhibits a low fit with the focal brand. These guidelines suggest that firms’ investments in online creativity-themed marketing communications can pay off in terms of improved consumers’ attitudes toward the firms’ brands and brand extensions.
Originality/value
This research makes several theoretical contributions. First, the authors explore the important role of creativity in the context of brand attitudes and brand extensions. This study adds to extant consumer creativity literature by documenting the consequences of consumer creativity in terms of positive outcomes for firms. Second, by examining the mediating effect of attitude toward the creativity task, the authors broaden the scope of attitude-toward-the-site and attitude-toward-the-sponsorship-event research to the online marketing communications setting. Third, by showing that consumer creativity can facilitate the acceptance of distant brand extensions, this study also enriches extant brand extension literature.
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Wenyu Dou, Boonghee Yoo and Ma Liangyu
The emergence and diffusion of the Internet has prompted a surge in web portal sites that are designed to meet the specific needs of ethnic Internet users who are not native…
Abstract
The emergence and diffusion of the Internet has prompted a surge in web portal sites that are designed to meet the specific needs of ethnic Internet users who are not native English speakers. These ethnic portal sites may be set up by global portal giants (e.g. Yahoo!) or by local entrepreneurs (e.g. netease.com in China). Often, because of the different origins of these sites, they tend to have different operating philosophies and varying appeals to ethnic Internet users. In this study, we first analyze the differences and similarities among different types of ethnic portals. We then propose a conceptual model concerning the factors that affect the patronage of ethnic portals by ethnic Internet users. An empirical study was designed to test the conceptual model with data collected from Mainland Chinese Internet users. Finally, implications of the study results for ethnic portals are presented.
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Guangping Wang, Wenyu Dou and Nan Zhou
The purpose of this paper is to further current understanding of the relationship between consumption attitudes and new product adoption and how the relationship may be contingent…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further current understanding of the relationship between consumption attitudes and new product adoption and how the relationship may be contingent upon consumers' other characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a contingency framework, five consumption attitudes derived from Schwartz's value systems framework were examined, along with demographic variables, for their associations with consumer new product adoption (NPA). Negative binominal regression models were estimated using syndicated data from a large urban Chinese consumer sample to test the main and interactive effect hypotheses.
Findings
Consumption attitudes have significant effects on NPA. Consumers' adoption of market innovations is associated negatively with their attitude toward existing products and positively with independent decision making and preference for high‐tech products. Further, the magnitude of the effects of consumption attitudes depends on consumers' demographic characteristics. The effects are stronger among consumers who are older and have lower income.
Originality/value
Using syndicated data from a large random sample of urban Chinese consumers, this study offers a deeper understanding of the attitudinal and personal antecedents of consumer new product adoption.
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“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically…
Abstract
“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically transforming communication and marketing models; it is providing marketers with a new set of capabilities.” But with new capabilities come casualties; Jay Walker cautions that advertising will disappear on the Net, “It may take two or ten years, but it will disappear.” Walker’s hypothesis is borne out by the latest research findings from Roper Starch. In its latest report it identifies the “The advertising‐free zone brought to you by (fill in the brand)” phenomenon. Roper Starch predict “ad‐free zones will be popping up on the Internet soon, a reflection of consumers’ increasing antipathy towards advertising”. This paper examines the opportunities for effective online marketing that go beyond the now omnipresent banner advertisements, and provides guidelines for marketers as to how to harness the “new set of capabilities” through planning and evaluation. The paper has relevance to those involved with public relations in a marketing context (often called marketing PR), and those interested in planning and evaluating online communications campaigns.
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Wangyue Zhou, Jincai Dong and Wenyu Zhang
Interpersonal interaction can influence consumers’ purchase intention in social commerce (s-commerce). This paper aims to identify interpersonal interaction factors as well as the…
Abstract
Purpose
Interpersonal interaction can influence consumers’ purchase intention in social commerce (s-commerce). This paper aims to identify interpersonal interaction factors as well as the mediating effect of relationship quality between interpersonal interaction factors and consumers’ purchase intention in s-commerce.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores new dimensions of interpersonal interaction in s-commerce by integrating interaction between consumers and online vendors and that between consumers and online recommenders in s-commerce. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for data analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that interpersonal interaction factors of both online vendors and online recommenders positively affect swift guanxi and initial trust between consumers and online vendors. Swift guanxi and initial trust positively affect consumers’ purchase intention. Initial trust partially mediates between interpersonal interaction factors and purchase intention while swift guanxi does not mediate between perceived similarity of online recommenders and purchase intention.
Practical implications
The findings can be used to guide vendors in s-commerce platforms to make good use of platform features to improve interpersonal interaction. Meanwhile, s-commerce platforms should be enhanced with efficient interaction tools to help cultivate relationship quality between consumers and online vendors.
Originality/value
This study combines social exchange theory, trust transfer theory and relationship quality theory to investigate the factors that influence swift guanxi and initial trust between consumers and online vendors, which extends the study of interpersonal interaction and enriches the dimensions of relationship quality in the context of s-commerce.