Consumer Engagement with Brands’ COVID-19 Messaging on Social Media: The Role of Perceived Brand–Social Issue Fit and Brand Opportunism

Mundel, Juan; Yang, Jing

doi:10.1080/15252019.2021.1958274

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Firstly, this finding might be explained by the fact that the public still has some concerns about virus transmission and treatment, how to protect themselves and how to distinguish the symptoms relevant to COVID-19, as public knowledge enhancement is associated with positive emotions and can promote community participation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic (Arslanca et al, 2021;Min et al, 2020). Secondly, these results may reflect that a sense of national superiority and positive emotional appeal were essential and more needed in the face of an unprecedented health crisis (Mundel & Yang, 2021;Wang & Tao, 2021). Thirdly, the observed growing demand for flight information could be attributed to changed travel regulations applied by different countries, such as cancellation, temporary restrictions, and entry requirements (Obembe et al, 2021;Yu et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of WeChat to gratify information needs of the Chinese community in Portugal during the COVID-19 outbreak

Cheng¹,

Espanha²

2022

(OBS*)

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[Objectives] This paper seeks to characterize the main themes of COVID-19-related posts delivered by WeChat official accounts targeting Portuguese news, and explore the information needs and preferences of their users. Furthermore, the current study set out to evaluate the influence of coronavirus situation in Portugal on the number of posts, view frequency and total engagement on WeChat platforms. [Methods] Following the selection of COVID-19-related posts published in 2021 by four official accounts targeting Portuguese news, Chi-square tests were conducted to quantitively describe the differences between the four developmental stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal. Negative binominal regression was employed to establish an association between category variables and count data. Regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between COVID-19 infection cases in Portugal and the metrics of selected posts. [Results] A total of 3292 COVID-19-related posts remained. The posts regarding the latest epidemic situation in Portugal, COVID-19 vaccination and the economic news were more prevalent. However, the predominant posts were not consistent with followers’ information demands, and the most in demand information did not generate more engagement. In addition, thematic categories were found to be significantly associated with view frequency and total engagement. Furthermore, a significant difference in thematic categories was identified among the four developmental stages, which in turn was found to be related to the overall engagement of posts. The COVID-19 official case counts in Portugal is predictive of post frequency, view frequency and total engagement. [Conclusions] The results of this study support the view that social media provided diverse information sources for migrants during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is evidently clear from the findings that communicators have to leverage the characteristics of social media, not only for delivering real-time news, but also to gratify public information needs and attract more users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of WeChat to gratify information needs of the Chinese community in Portugal during the COVID-19 outbreak

Cheng¹,

Espanha²

2022

(OBS*)

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“…In the context of COVID-19, engagement has been investigated for various service sectors, relating to community engagement (Burgess et al , 2021; Gilmore et al , 2020), consumer engagement (Mundel and Yang, 2021), public engagement (Mundel and Yang, 2021), employee engagement (Chanana, 2020) or media engagement (Bhati et al , 2020). Regarding the dramatic change in the education sector, student engagement in online lectures has also attracted extensive attention, as it has significant impact on a university’s service ecosystem consisting of students, instructors, administrative and other staff as well as available resources (Carter and Yeo, 2016; Finsterwalder and Kuppelwieser, 2020).…”

Section: Conceptual Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online student engagement and place attachment to campus in the new service marketplace: an exploratory study

Huang

Finsterwalder

Chen

et al. 2022

JSM

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Purpose The pandemic has accelerated the use of virtual learning spaces and led to rethinking post-pandemic course delivery. However, it remains unclear whether students’ online engagement in e-servicescapes can influence attachment to a place, i.e. a physical servicescape. This study conducted an exploratory study to inform place attachment and actor engagement literature in an online service context. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative survey design was used and 98 usable responses were collected from undergraduate and postgraduate students at a major New Zealand university during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 23 items relating to three dimensions of online student engagement and 19 items referring to six dimensions of campus attachment. Findings Results of the exploratory study indicate that classmate community in online lectures, referring to student–student interactions, can positively influence five of the dimensions of campus attachment, including place identity, place dependence, affective attachment, social bonding and place memory, even though students are physically not on campus. However, it cannot influence place expectation. Moreover, instructor community (student–instructor interaction) and learning engagement (student–content interaction) in online lectures have insignificant impact on campus attachment. Research limitations/implications This study emphasises the social dimension when interacting in e-servicescapes. Person-based interactions are more influential than content-based interactions for student engagement. Educational service providers should integrate the e-servicescape and the physical servicescape by encouraging more student–student interactions to contribute to service ecosystem well-being at the micro, meso and macro levels. Originality/value This study indicates that customer-to-customer interaction serves to integrate customer engagement across the digital and physical realms for process-based services like education.

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“…However, the inclusion of the COVID-19 message in a sponsored post can pose some issues as prosocial messages are often commoditized to serve commercial purposes. Similar to brand opportunism [17,36], when influencers share a COVID-19 message in a sponsored post, users might attribute self-serving motives to them such as increasing the success of the promotion. On the other hand, users can also attribute altruistic motives to the influencer such as the goodwill towards others [17].…”

Section: Covid-19 Messages In Sponsored Postsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similar to brand opportunism [17,36], when influencers share a COVID-19 message in a sponsored post, users might attribute self-serving motives to them such as increasing the success of the promotion. On the other hand, users can also attribute altruistic motives to the influencer such as the goodwill towards others [17].…”

Section: Covid-19 Messages In Sponsored Postsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 messages in sponsored social media posts: The positive impact of influencer-brand fit and prior parasocial interaction

et al. 2022

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This study explores the dissemination potential of a COVID-19 message embedded in a sponsored social media post. The moderating role of prior parasocial interaction and influencer-brand fit were considered. 365 respondents participated in the study. A 3 (control, congruent, incongruent brand) × 2 (control, COVID-19 message) between-subject online experiment was designed and executed. Data were analyzed using a mediated moderation model. Results indicated that the three-way interaction of the COVID-19 message, brand presence and prior parasocial interaction affected the perceived influencer credibility, attitudes towards the social media post, and the behavioral engagement with the post. When the COVID-19 message was included in the post, increased prior parasocial interaction intensified the positive effect of influencer-brand fit on influencer credibility, which in turn resulted in a more positive attitude towards the post, and a higher behavioral engagement. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

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Consumer Engagement with Brands’ COVID-19 Messaging on Social Media: The Role of Perceived Brand–Social Issue Fit and Brand Opportunism

Cited by 18 publications

References 77 publications

Use of WeChat to gratify information needs of the Chinese community in Portugal during the COVID-19 outbreak

Use of WeChat to gratify information needs of the Chinese community in Portugal during the COVID-19 outbreak

Online student engagement and place attachment to campus in the new service marketplace: an exploratory study

COVID-19 messages in sponsored social media posts: The positive impact of influencer-brand fit and prior parasocial interaction

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