Consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs) on SNS brand pages

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate word of mouth as a consequence and information, entertainment, social interaction and remuneration motivations as antecedents of consuming, contribution and creating behaviours as consumers’ online brand-related activities (COBRAs). Design/methodology/approach As an empirical test of the proposed conceptual model, the quantitative research features an online survey of a sample of 359 German Facebook users. Findings Word of mouth benefits from consuming behaviour but not contributing or creating behaviours. Therefore, brand-related outcomes can be realised solely through the consumption of brand-related content. Consuming behaviour is positively affected by social interaction and entertainment motivations. Research limitations/implications Further research could investigate the conceptual model in other social networks, as well as validate the findings in other cultural settings. Potential moderators also should be considered in further research. Practical implications In addition to tracking contributing and creating behaviours, brand managers should measure consuming behaviour. This paper provides new insights into how consumer motivations influence different COBRA types. Originality/value This study is the first to analyse the distinct effects of consuming, contributing and creating behaviours of SNS brand page followers on word of mouth as an offline brand-related consequence. It also represents the first study to investigate the unique effect of creating behaviour on an offline brand-related outcome. Furthermore, this study is the first to analyse the effects of all four types of motivations on any COBRA type quantitatively with an appropriate statistical analysis that allows distinguishing relevant from irrelevant motivations.

Customer engagement in evolving technological environments: synopsis and guiding propositions

“…which technologies do they enjoy using integratively, such as social media, online product information, and secure blockchain-based payment options; see e.g. Connell et al, 2019or Piehler et al, 2019. Based on this rationale, we follow Hollebeek et al's (2019), Hollebeek and Macky's (2019) and Brodie et al's (2011Brodie et al's ( , 2016 approach, among others, to develop a set of Propositions of CE Within Evolving Technological Environments.…”

Investigating the nexus between the types of advertising messages and customer engagement: Do customer involvement and generations matter?

“…According to Muntinga et al, (2011), COBRA entails three types of online CBE: consuming, contributing, and creating. These behaviors are categorized based on consumers' engagement levels ranging on a continuum of minimum, medium, and high levels, respectively (Piehler et al, 2019). For instance, when people view pictures, watch videos, or read comments of a product shown on a brand's SNS, they are considered as passive consumers-the least active or at the minimum level of engagement-of brand-related activities (Schivinski et al, 2016).…”

“…Finally, creating is perceived as the highest (most active) level of engagement; this stage occurs when customers publish user-generated content (UGC) such as uploading pictures and videos or writing articles, blogs, and product reviews (Liu et al, 2019). Overall, following (Cheung et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2019;Piehler et al, 2019;Schivinski et al, 2016), these three behavioral CO-BRA typology dimensions are used as a measure of customer engagement in this research.…”

“…It is asserted that brands' digital content affects consumers' engagement levels; however, few studies have investigated the impact of message types and strategies on consumer engagement (Dolan et al, 2019;Pezzuti et al, 2021). Furthermore, previous literature lacks limitations in investigating the effects of all three types of COBRA; prior studies focused only on one or two behaviors of this typology (Liu et al, 2019;Piehler et al, 2019). Few of the recent studies examined customer engagement in the context of luxury brands' entertainment, interaction, trendiness, and customization of social media activities (Cheung et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2019).…”

“…In contrast Lee and Hong (2016) argued that informative message type was more effective than the emotional appeal, Moreover, Lee and Hong provided insightful information about the use of elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and how peripheral route (emotional appeal) and central route (informativeness) could be perceived by the users. Also, recent studies (Cheung et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2019;Piehler et al, 2019;Schivinski et al, 2016) investigated consumers' online brand-related activities (COBRAs) and their three key behavioral types of customer engagement, namely, consuming, contributing, and creating. However, these studies lack focus on which message type, considering the ELM theory classification, would work best in generating higher engagement levels on social media.…”