The enormous number of social media users globally and the increased time spent by each user on social media every day have made social media an irreplaceable part of the contemporary marketing mix. Markets have become more competitive because of the new informed and empowered customers. Integrating social media into the existing marketing mix and honing its power to the optimum is the need of the hour. This has led marketers and researchers to develop a considerate understanding of social media and to analyse its effect on customers. This research paper attempts to address this contemporary paradigm and investigates the effect of social media on customer equity in fast-food restaurants. In addition, the effect of user-generated content and firm-generated content on relationship equity, value equity and brand equity is analysed. A conceptual framework is proposed in this regard, and later the relationships of this framework are evaluated with the help of data from 400 respondents. The results confirmed that social media has a positive effect on the drivers of customer equity for fast-food restaurants. While user-generated content affects brand equity the most, followed by value equity and relationship equity, firm-generated content affects relationship equity the most, followed by brand equity and value equity.
In the contemporary business environment, the increasing competition and dynamics have made it very difficult for businesses to attract and retain customers. Understating the variables of consumer buying behaviour can go a long way in addressing this problem. This study explores the impact of social media on users’ complex buying behaviour. The mediating effect of perception has been studied between social media and users’ complex buying behaviour; also, the moderating effect of extended social media usage on the proposed relationships was evaluated. Data for the study were collected from social media users through an online survey using a structured questionnaire specifically developed and validated for the purpose. The data were analysed with the help of structural equation modelling using SPSS and AMOS software. The results of the study indicated that social media has a positive and significant effect on users’ complex buying behaviour as well as users’ perception. In addition, the results demonstrated that perception partially mediates the relationship between social media and users’ complex buying behaviour. Finally, the study indicated that extended social media usage acts as an enhancing moderator in the proposed framework. The outcomes of this study may be used as the basis by marketing managers to assimilate social media into the existing integrated marketing mix, to attract, retain and nurture customers.
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