Exploring the drivers of customer engagement behaviours in social network brand communities: towards a customer-learning model

ABSTRACT

Customer learning is regarded as a process that alters either individual cognition or the outcomes of socialisation. Understanding how the learning process works enables a brand firm to identify a customer’s latent needs. Prior studies have primarily focused on effectively positioning brand knowledge in the minds of customers, but that linear learning process does not apply to the interactive and proactive social media setting. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this study proposes a customer-learning model and analyses 373 online questionnaires using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The empirical results confirm that learning motivation and collaborative learning are two core components of customer learning that have positive influences on satisfaction, which in turn has a positive influence on customer engagement behaviours (CEBs) and loyalty. In addition, learning motivation is the driver of collaborative learning. Finally, CEBs also have a positive influence on loyalty. This study also concludes that the social network brand community is an informative customer-learning platform that is characterised by interactivity, collaborative learning and co-creation. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Customer learning
• social network brand community (SNBC)
• customer engagement behaviours (CEBs)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chang-Tang Chiang

Dr. Chang-Tang Chiang is an adjunct Assistant Professor of the Department of Accounting Shih Chien University, Taiwan. He earned his PhD degree from Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan and a Master of Science degree from St. Louis University in USA. His primary research interests are social media, online relationship quality, and customer relationship management in the service industry. His papers have been published in Journal of Marketing Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, and International Journal of Business and Information.

Chiou-Fong Wei

Dr. Chiou-Fong Wei is an associate professor at Business School in Nanfang College of Sun Yat-sen University, China. He holds a PhD in Business Administration from Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan and has published his works in Journal of Marketing Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Business and Management, and Advances in Management and Applied Economics. His research interests include green marketing, communication, and consumer behavior.

Kevin R. Parker

Dr. Kevin R. Parker is Chair and Professor of the Department of Informatics and Computer Science at Idaho State University. His research interests include eGovernment and the elderly, business intelligence, and the impact of developments in informatics on curriculum. He holds a BA in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin (1982), an MS in Computer Science from Texas Tech University (1991), and a PhD in Management Information Systems from Texas Tech University (1995). He chairs an interdisciplinary academic department that spans the College of Business and the College of Science and Engineering, and offers degrees in business informatics, health informatics, and computer science.

Bill Davey

Dr. Bill Davey is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business Information Technology at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include methodologies for systems analysis and systems development, information systems curriculum, eGovernment and the elderly, and information technology in educational management. Bill and Kevin have worked together co-operatively on many occasions. They have co-operated on several joint research projects and coauthored several papers relating to management information systems, programming, computers in management, eGovernment and the elderly, and IS curriculum.