Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to outline a conceptual framework for customer engagement in the context of social media for emerging markets. Three competing models of customer engagement were identified and tested to arrive at the best suited model for the given contexts. The alternative conceptual frameworks involve the constructs of active participation, community trust and community commitment in relation to customer engagement.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using questionnaires sent via e-mail to respondents. Structural equation modelling was then used to arrive at the best suited model, while also empirically testing for the relationships among the constructs.
Findings – The study, by way of an empirical comparison of alternative conceptual frameworks, presents a customer engagement framework best suiting the social media context for emerging markets. The study also outlines active participation, community trust and community commitment to be acting as antecedents to customer engagement. Further active participation is identified as a necessary antecedent to customer engagement based on the comparative assessment of the frameworks.
Research limitations/implications – While there is not much consensus on the nature of customer engagement, the study offers insights to marketers in terms of managing customer engagement with their brand communities. The study identifies the role and importance of inducing active participation in a brand community context. Further, it also identifies community trust and community commitment to be occurring as antecedents to customer engagement, with commitment implying for a more pronounced role in the framework.
Originality/value – There is no consensus among researchers regarding the nomological network surrounding customer engagement. Further, very few of these studies have focussed on this construct in the context of emerging markets. This study thus attempts to close the above gap, by testing for alternative conceptual frameworks involving customer engagement, in the context of social media for emerging markets.
Introduction
Customer engagement is one of the biggest marketing buzzword of the twenty-first century among both academicians and practitioners alike. The term was recognized in marketing literature around 2006 (Brodie et al., 2011), and since then the research focus around the construct has grown formidably. Dessart et al. (2016) presented customer engagement while contrasting it to the older established concepts, such as, brand involvement or relationship quality, in that engagement “offers a modified view of relationships” which are highly interactive and social. On a similar note, Henning-Thurau et al. (2010) too identified that the modern-day customer relationships are the result of social, interactive and empowering situational elements. These engagement features enhance the empirical treatment of modern customer relationships (Dessart et al., 2016).
Conclusion
The present study advances the customer engagement literature by comparing alternative frameworks that best describe the antecedents and consequences to customer engagement. The study provides empirical evidence in terms of identifying both trust and commitment as antecedents to the construct of customer engagement, in the context of social media for emerging markets. It is also one of the few studies offering a distinction between the two dimensions of social media participation – active and passive; while presenting active participation as an antecedent to customer engagement. Customer engagement within the social media context is gaining precedence among the academic fraternity, with various researchers (Bowden et al., 2017) identifying for a spill over effect it exerts in terms of influencing consumer’s engagement with the brand (p. 891). This research is an answer to call for studies focussing on customer engagement in various contexts. While research in this area is witnessing an upward trend, there are many contextual dimensions that are still unexplored. With emerging markets playing an increasing role in the world brand map, this study offers insights on managing customer engagement on social media for emerging markets. The study by way of an empirical comparison arrives at a nomological network for customer engagement, in the context of e-commerce brand communities on social media.
