Social-relational capabilities: strategic transformation of brand resources to increase brand equity

ABSTRACT

As consumers are increasingly online and social, they also increasingly value brands that interact with them and create personalized relationships with them. We propose social-relational capability in marketing as an ability to build and maintain relationships, which generate value for consumer communities on social media and enhance the customer-based brand equity. Prior research has been fragmented and more research focusing on the development of social-relational capability is needed to develop a better understanding of the social networks of brands and consumers. By examining the effects of consumer-level, brand-level, and consumer-brand dyadic level antecedents on the development of the social-relational capability of a brand we advance existing literature on marketing using perspectives from social network theory, resource-based view, and dynamic capabilities theory. The findings have implications for both consumers and managers in maintaining long-lasting beneficial relationships. The results revealed that social-relational capability enables a brand to strengthen brand equity. The integration of different social media and relational resources allows brands to develop three distinct dimensions of social-relational capability, which enhance brand equity.

KEYWORDS:

• Consumer relationships
• reputation
• social-relational capability
• ethical values
• consumer-based brand equity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Manisha Mathur

Dr. Mathur is an Associate Professor of Marketing. Her research focuses on digital marketing, strategic brand management, cybersecurity marketing, and healthcare marketing. She has published her research in top peer-reviewed journals, such as International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Brand Management, The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, and The Marketing Review, Journal of Business Ethics. She has received research awards, namely, Thomas Ponzurick Top Paper in Conference Award, Best Paper in a Track Award, and Graduate Achievement Award, and has presented her research work at several international conferences. She is a member of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Applied Marketing Theory and Practice and serves as a reviewer for top marketing journals.