Antecedents of Social Media–Induced Retail Commerce Activities: Impact of Brand–Consumer Relationships and Psychological Sense of Community

Abstract

Young consumers’ social media activities are increasingly important for marketers and retailers. A key phenomenon of social media platforms is that groups of people who share similar interests create a virtual community. The psychological sense of community (PSoC) refers to individuals’ perception of voluntary engagement and sharing of their stories with others in various settings. Theoretically grounded in PSoC and adopting social identity theory as a research framework, this study investigates the interrelationships among social media–related variables (e.g., perceived interactivity and PSoC), brand-related variables (e.g., self–brand connection and brand commitment), and consumers’ attitude formation toward brands featured on an influencer social media page and their subsequent intention to purchase a product/service via multichannels operated by the brands (e.g., brick-and-mortar, e-commerce).

Keywords:

• Psychological sense of community (PSoC)
• social media influencer (SMI)
• structural equation modeling
• consumer–brand relationships