Brand equity in social media-based brand community

Abstract Purpose: The main purpose of

this

research

is to examine the effects of social media-based

brand

community

(

SMBBC

) markers on

customer

-based

brand

equity

(

CBBE

).

Moreover

,

this

research

evaluates the mediating

effect

of

brand

community

commitment

, and moderating

effect

of

customer

gender

. Design

/

methodology

/

approach:

This

research

collected data from a questionnaire survey with the

participants who

Accept comma addition

participants, who

are the members of

Xiaomi

Community

in Vietnam on Facebook (XCVF).

Finally

, 512 valid and usable questionnaires were tested by applying structural equation modelling (SEM) approach. Findings: The results showed that three components of

brand

community

markers significant influence

two

aspects of

CBBE

.

Moreover

,

brand

community

commitment

plays the mediating

role

in the

relationship

of shared consciousness, ritual and traditions and

CBBE

.

In addition

, the influence of

SMBBC

on

CBBE

is stronger for women in

comparison

with men.

Research

limitations

/

implications: The sample selected

is limited

Suggestion

limits

for only members of XCVF, which may have an inadequate view in

comparison

with other

brand

communities.

This

research

can eliminate some other important variables that can contribute to

this

relationship

. Originality

/

value

:

This

research

is among the

first

works that have focused on the

importance

of

SMBBC

markers on

CBBE

, the mediating

role

of

brand

community

commitment

, as well as the moderating

effect

of

customer

gender

. Keywords: social media;

brand

community

;

customer

– based

brand

equity

;

brand

community

markers;

brand

community

commitment

. 1. Introduction “

Xiaomi

is a

brand

making effective use of online

brand

community

marketing.

Xiaomi

has gained the benefit of a new media era. “Born for enthusiasm” is the

brand

concept and behind the large sales figures, as the company is very successful in fostering a

fans

Suggestion

fan

culture. Its fans, self-proclaimed as “MI fans” which sounds like

mifen

an alkaloid narcotic drug extracted from opium; a powerful, habit-forming narcotic used to relieve pain

morphine

muffins

muffin

(米粉 rice noodle) in Chinese, have become an important force making the

Xiaomi

brand

popular.

Xiaomi

stimulates its fans’

participation spirit

Accept comma addition

participation, spirit

and satisfies their self-realization needs by constructing a virtual space, MIUI (MI User Interface) forum”

.

Accept space

.

The advance of technology in the Internet age has totally changed our daily life and firms’ activities as well.

For instance

, with the

development

of social media, marketing activities are much more complicated in

comparison

with conventional marketing (

Habibi

et al., 2016). Recently, the concept “social media-based

brand

community

” (

SMBBC

) has frequently used to express

brand

community

that is

created on the social media platforms

such

as Facebook, Weibo (

Habibi

et al., 2014).

Brand

community

relates to specialized, non-geographically bound

community

, based on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a

brand

(Muniz and O'

Guinn

, 2001). Nowadays, with the evolution of Web 2.0 platforms, customers’

role

was transformed

Suggestion

were transformed

from passive in Web 1.0

platform

Suggestion

platforms

to active.

Hence

, social media supports

brand

community

members creating

Accept comma addition

members, creating

content themselves as called “user-generated content” (Kumar et al., 2016) or

customer

co-creation

value

(Hidayanti et al., 2018) that was confirmed as the determinants of word-of-mouth (Chu and Kim, 2011), which in turn, influenced on

customer

engagement, buyer-seller

relationship

quality

(Sashi, 2012a), as well as

brand

awareness

,

brand

loyalty

and purchase intention (Jamali and Khan, 2018).

Moreover

, previous

research

indicated that

SMBBC

stimulated

customer

satisfaction,

customer

relationship

capabilities, and firms performances as well (Clark et al., 2017).

Furthermore

, owing to

SMBBC

,

customer

Suggestion

customers

the customer

can

significant

Suggestion

significantly

sign

participate in the

brand

value

co-creation process (Merz et al., 2018). But previous

research

also

showed the necessary to

clearer

Suggestion

clear

understand

Suggestion

understanding

the

role

of

SMBBC

in the marketing field because of its

value

for the firms in the Industry 4.0 (Merz et al., 2018).

SMBBC

comprises people who like specific

brand

(s) of firms, are the members of the

brand

community

created by firms or by the subsidiary/ agent of firms in a country (Munnukka et al., 2015). With

this

important significance,

SMBBC

has recently gained great attention from marketing scholars and practitioners (Munnukka et al., 2015;

Habibi

et al., 2014; Hur et al., 2011;

Kamboj

and Rahman, 2018; Islam et al., 2018).

For instance

, (

Kamboj

and Rahman, 2018) asserted principal antecedents and the outcomes of

SMBBC

as well as the possible moderators and mediators. They

also

showed a lot of

research

gaps and called for

further

research

in terms of other possible determinants and/ or outcomes. In the same line, other researchers stated the

importance

of deeper evaluating the effects of customers’

perception

and

behavior

manner of acting or controlling yourself

behaviour

on

CBBE

(

Habibi

et al., 2016; Munnukka et al., 2015).

CBBE

refers to the customers’

perception

regarding the overall betterment of a

brand

in

comparison

with other related brands (Hassan and Luis V. Casaló Ariño, 2015).

This

research

gaps

Suggestion

gap

is needed for

further

and

deeper examining

Accept comma addition

deeper, examining

because it is crucial for companies in building and maintaining the competitive advantage of their brands in new technology based business as suggested by (Palazon et al., 2018),

Kamboj

& Rahman, 2018. Based on the literature review,

this

research

propose

Suggestion

proposes

and utilize

two

aspects of

CBBE

, namely,

brand

awareness

and

brand

loyalty

.

Moreover

, the

development

of social media

platforms challenges

Accept comma addition

platforms, challenges

firms to establish and manage their

SMBBC

. Through

SMBBC

firms can understand more about their customers’ demands or suggestions to optimize their products, their adaptability and competitiveness (Cui and Wu, 2015; Kang et al., 2016; Carlson et al., 2018).

Moreover

,

SMBBC

facilitates customers in searching and understanding information concerning products and services of the firms, as well as experiences, feedbacks of other customers. Well managed

SMBBC

can lead customers to be

more

Suggestion

more loyal

loyalty

to the firms (Poulis et al., 2018) to form citizenship

behavior

manner of acting or controlling yourself

behaviour

.

Although

such

importance

, a lot of firms have not adequately apprehended the

role

of

SMBBC

yet.

In addition

, most customers still lack the willingness to participate actively (

Kamboj

and Rahman, 2018; Jain et al., 2018; Kaur et al., 2018).

Furthermore

, previous scholars regard the social, economic, psychological and functional motivation of customers as the factors influencing

CBBE

(Poulis et al., 2018; Godey et al., 2016), but overlooking the impact of

brand

community

commitment

.

Brand

community

commitment

is not innate, but can be influenced by the markers of

SMBBC

and establishing a sense to firm

belonging

Suggestion

belongs

. So that, the

research

of

CBBE

should proceed from the markers of

SMBBC

, and in-depth analysis with the mediating

effect

of

brand

community

commitment

.

Thus

shaping a systematic analysis, the

research

has important significance for obtaining

CBBE

. Recently, (Hook et al., 2018) suggested that future researchers need to

deeper examine

Accept comma addition

deeper, examine

long – term consequences of

customer

brand

community

participation. They

also

indicated the necessary to investigate the terms “

brand

community

markers” and “

brand

community

commitment

” together, rather than researching in separation. In the same vein, (

Kamboj

& Rahman, 2018) showed that it is necessary to

further

examine the new mediating variables

such

as

brand

community

commitment

.

Moreover

, because of the

different

Suggestion

difference

differences

in biology,

previous

Suggestion

previously

indicated the necessary to differ in

behaviors

manner of acting or controlling yourself

behaviour

between male and female customers (Correa et al., 2010).

Therefore

,

this

work attempts to answer to the

research

questions as

follow

Suggestion

follows

: RQ1: How do

SMBBC

markers influence

CBBE

? RQ2: Which component of

SMBBC

markers is more significant related to specific aspects of

CBBE

? RQ3: How does

brand

Suggestion

a brand community commitment

community

commitment

mediate the

relationship

between

SMBBC

markers and

CBBE

? RQ4: Does

customer

gender

moderate the

relationship

between

SMBBC

markers and

CBBE

? To answer the above questions,

this

paper proposes and empirical tests a

research

model to clarify the correlation between

SMBBC

markers and

CBBE

directly and indirectly via

brand

community

commitment

and

customer

gender

. The remains of

this

research

is organized

Suggestion

are organized

as

follow

Suggestion

follows

.

This

research

starts with theoretical background and

research

design, which followed by the data analysis results and conclusion. 2. Theoretical background and hypothesis

development

2.1. Social media based

brand

community

The notion of

brand

community

was proposed by (Muniz and O'

Guinn

, 2001) and relates to the organized social

relationship

based on

brand

admirers, a specialized

community

organization without geographical boundaries.

This

concept provides a better way to solve the

two

challenges of one-to-one

customer

relationship

management and

customer

classification faced by firms. With the rapid

development

of

Internet

Suggestion

the Internet

which is one of the most important innovations of human life, the

brand

community

is easier than ever in terms of

timely

Suggestion

timing

timeliness

time

, geographical restrictions. Its application forms and implementation technologies are constantly evolving. Many firms are gradually building

SMBBC

on the basis of computer cyberspace, social media and other virtual platforms.

In

Suggestion

On

one hand,

SMBBC

is the combination of social media and

brand

community

(Algesheimer et al., 2005) or

brand

communities created on the platforms of social media (

Habibi

et al., 2014; Kaur et al., 2018; Zaglia, 2013).

In

Suggestion

On

the other hand, (Arnone et al., 2010) indicated that

SMBBC

relates to customers gathered together because of similar

brand

preferences or ideas, and sharing

brand

experience as well as values through social media platforms.

Although

a wide

types

Suggestion

type

of social media platforms, scholars all agreed that shared consciousness, shared rituals and traditions and obligation to

community

Suggestion

the community

are the components of

SMBBC

(

Habibi

et al., 2014; Muniz and O'

Guinn

, 2001;

Habibi

et al., 2016).

Therefore

,

this

research

inherits their assertion to test the

relationship

with their consequences. In which, shared consciousness relates to connection among members of a

brand

community

that decide the difference between its members with outsiders (Zhou et al., 2012).

Besides

it, shared rituals and traditions refers to the social responsibility of members towards the

community

and its members (Muniz and O'

Guinn

, 2001).

Moreover

, obligation to

community

indicates that members think about and act for the benefits of the

community

and its members.

This

can explain the reason of willingness to mutual help of members in a

community

(Muniz and O'

Guinn

, 2001).

In addition

, previous researchers considered that

SMBBC

is based on a series of relationships among members with brands, products and firms to form four kinds of

relationship

(

Habibi

et al., 2016; James H.

McAlexander

et al., 2002). In the reality, many firms have established

SMBBC

not only for establishing and maintaining the above four relationships and

also

stimulating members to share

brand

experience and innovative ideas to improve the

quality

of products or services (Casaló et al., 2010; See-To and Ho, 2014). Because through the knowledge acquisition

from

Suggestion

of

social media, firms can improve the

brand

innovation strategy (Bang et al., 2015).

Moreover

,

SMBBC

influences on

customer

satisfaction, trust, and

loyalty

with the

brand

(Algesheimer et al., 2005; Zhou et al., 2012; Tsai et al., 2012). Obviously,

SMBBC

also

has some negative effects, called “dark side”,

such

as leading to normative pressure on members, thereby reducing

community

identification, recommendation and participation as well (Poulis et al., 2018). 2.2.

Customer

– based

brand

equity

Brand

equity

refers to the

perception

of the customers about the overall betterment of a

brand

when they compare to other related brands (Hassan and Luis V. Casaló Ariño, 2015). In the perspective of customers,

brand

equity

relates to

CBBE

(

Yoo

et al., 2000; Datta et al., 2018). That means customers acquaint with certain

brand

and revoke uniqueness of

brand

Suggestion

the brand

such

as its name, logo and motto (Torres et al., 2015). These factors stimulate

customers’

Suggestion

the customers’ perception

perception

of the

brand

and other factors of the

brand

such

as its

importance

or positioning (Keller, 1993).

CBBE

is an interesting and important topic that recently has gained the attention of researchers and practitioners in marketing (Poulis et al., 2018;

Yoo

et al., 2000; Datta et al., 2018). But to date, its dimensions are still

in disputable

not open to question; obviously true

indisputable

.

For instance

, (Godey et al., 2016) divided

customer

based

brand

equity

in

brand

awareness

and

brand

image; (Chahal and Rani, 2017) considered

brand

awareness

,

brand

image and

brand

loyalty

as the dimensions of

brand

equity

;

brand

awareness

,

brand

loyalty

, perceived

quality

of

brand

and

brand

association (Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015);

brand

awareness

,

brand

quality

and

brand

loyalty

(Guzmán and Davis, 2017);

brand

associations,

brand

image, perceived

quality

and

brand

credibility (Vogel and Watchravesringkan, 2017). Among the different approaches, most of researchers highlighted that

CBBE

combines

two

main components, namely,

brand

awareness

and

brand

loyalty

(Poulis et al., 2018). For

this

reason, by inheriting and utilizing these

two

dimensions of

CBBE

,

this

research

develops and tests a new framework to clarify the related relationships. In which,

brand

awareness

relates to the power of

brand

existence and

perception

in the

customer

’s head and thinking (Molinillo et al., 2017).

Hence

, customers can easily distinguish a specific

brand

among other brands in term of logo, name and motto.

Brand

awareness

can be created and maintained through marketing communication

such

as advertising or through social media platforms (Barreda et al., 2015; Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015; Bruhn et al., 2012; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2014) Along with

brand

awareness

,

brand

loyalty

relates to the customers’

first

choice of a specific

brand

among other brands (

Yoo

et al., 2000). Previous

research

confirmed that

loyalty

Suggestion

loyal

customers even may not consider buying other brands (Aaker, 1996) or selecting as their default preferred

brand

(

Yoo

et al., 2000). In a sense,

brand

loyalty

refers to one of the main goals for marketing activities which in turns can increase sales and market share (Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2014).

Likewise

,

brand

loyalty

affects the purchase decisions of the customers to the same product (Huang et al., 2010). Previous

research

showed that social media is a type of communication that acts as an important

role

in promoting

customer

engagement (Hollebeek et al., 2014; Sashi, 2012b). They

also

showed that

SMBBC

significant correlates with

customer

- based

brand

equity

(Godey et al., 2016; Sasmita and Norazah Mohd Suki, 2015; Jiao et al., 2018). In the

next

section, the authors clarify the

relationship

between

SMBBC

markers and

CBBE

.