Brand love and digital participation: The importance of consumer citizenship in the social media era

This paper investigates the intricate relationship between brand love, consumer citizenship behaviour and social media participation. Specifically, it delves into the synergistic effects of these constructs on stimulating dynamic forms of social media engagement. Using data collected from 527 members of a smart scooter brand community, the authors use statistical modelling techniques to identify the sequential process leading to content creation. Consistent with social engagement theory, the findings unequivocally demonstrate that brand love is a strong predictor of consumer citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, the research reveals a continuum of social media participation, progressing from consumption to contribution and culminating in content creation. This progression is initiated by consumer citizenship behaviour and indirectly influenced by brand love. The final model, characterised by robust psychometric properties, explains a substantial 85 per cent of the variance in content creation. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.