Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive brands. We investigated 504 Facebook users in order to observe the impact of firm-created and user-generated social media communication on brand equity, brand attitude and purchase intention by using a standardized online survey throughout Poland. To test the conceptual model, we analyzed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and mobile network operators. When analyzing the data, we applied the structural equation modeling technique to both investigate the interplay of firm-created and user-generated social media communication and examine industry-specific differences. The results of the empirical studies showed that usergenerated social media communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed measurement model was invariant across the researched industries. However, structural path differences were detected across the models.

The impact of brand communication on brand equity through FacebookPurpose: The purpose of this study is to fill the gap in the discussion of the ways in which firm-created and user-generated social media brand communication impacts consumer-based brand equity metrics through Facebook.Design/methodology/approach: We evaluated 302 data sets that were generated through a standardized online-survey to investigate the impact of firm-created and user-generated social media brand communication on brand awareness/associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty across 60 brands within three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing, and mobile network providers. We applied structural equation modeling techniques (SEM) to investigate the effects of social media brand communication on consumers' perception of brand equity metrics, as well as in an examination of industry-specific differences. Findings:The results of our empirical studies showed that both firm-created and usergenerated social media brand communication influence brand awareness/associations; whereas, user-generated social media brand communication had a positive impact on brand loyalty and perceived brand quality. Additionally, there are significant differences between the industries being investigated. Originality/value:This article is pioneering in that it exposes the effects of two different types of social media brand communication (i.e., firm-created and user-generated social media communication) on consumer-based brand equity metrics, a topic of relevance for both marketers and scholars in the era of social media. Additionally, it differentiates the effects of social media brand communication across industries, which indicate that practitioners should implement social media strategies according to industry specifics to lever consumer-based brand equity metrics.Keywords: brand equity; CBBE; social media; firm-created content; user-generated content; Facebook Article Classification: Research paper IntroductionBy taking advantage of Web 2.0 technologies, companies are using social network sites (hereafter: SNS) to promote and relay information about their brands (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2012). With the number of people accessing the Internet exceeding 34% of the world's population (Internet World Stats, 2013), and 1.2 billion monthly active users accessing the social network site Facebook (Facebook, 2013), brands such as Starbucks, Zara, and Orange seek to connect with customers and enhance their brand communication using social media channels. Social media is changing traditional marketing communication. Internet users are gradually shaping brand communication that were previously controlled and administered by marketers. The traditional one-way communication is now multidimensional, two-way and peer-to-peer communication (Berthon et al., 2008). Addressing to the modern changes in marketing communication, this article provides a better understanding of the effects of firm-created and user-generated brand communication through the most popul...

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Market knowledge is recognised as an important predictor of new product performance, which existing studies have proven. However, a missing link in this relationship is creativity, and specifically, as a natural process in product innovation. This study aims to examine a model that includes two mediating mechanisms between market knowledge scope and two new product outcomes, respectively: a new product’s competitive advantage and its commercial success. In both cases two mediators are used that represent dimensions of creativity—i.e. a product’s meaningfulness and novelty. The model was tested on a sample of 374 Polish medium-high- and high-technology companies using structural equation modelling. The results indicated that market knowledge is transferred to both new product outcomes through new product creativity, albeit somewhat differently. The first mediating mechanism, which explains the factor of competitive advantage, operates only through the indirect effects of both the product’s meaningfulness and its novelty. The second mechanism works directly, through the market knowledge’s effect on commercial success, as well as indirectly, through product meaningfulness. Subsequently, theoretical and managerial implications as well as indications for future research are provided based on these findings.