Customer motivations for brand engagement on social media: A comparative study of tourism and financial services in Vietnam and the United Kingdom

Research in customer motivations and customer brand engagement relationship (CBE) across the services industry remains underexplored (Barrett et al., 2024). This study explores the motivations driving customer brand engagement (CBE) with social media content in the tourism and financial services sectors in Vietnam and the United Kingdom. This study aims to investigate if service brands should tailor branded content on social media to the service types and culture context. A mixed methods research design was adopted to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer brand engagement in different contexts (Creswell, 2023). Data will be collected through a self-administered online questionnaire, including closed-ended questions to measure motivations and customer brand engagement, and open-ended questions to capture context-specific insights. The data collection has not yet been undertaken. However, the literature would suggest that a collectivist country like Vietnam is more driven by social interaction, escapism to engage with tourism brands content (Buzeta et al., 2024; Cheng et al., 2021). On the other hand, an individualistic country like the UK is more influenced by informational needs and rewards for financial services brand content (Lin and Wu, 2023; Günsoy et al., 2020). By comparing the two countries and two industries, the study offers new insights into how service type and national culture interact to influence CBE on social media context. Findings will provide theoretical contributions and practical implications for service brand managers aiming to optimize social media strategies in different cultural markets