Brand evangelism on social media: the role of social endorsement

Purpose Ordinary consumers can promote brands through like-based social endorsements on social media. This study aims to develop a research model to examine the influences of two types of social endorsement on consumers’ tribal and evangelistic behaviors as well as the mediating effects of two identification processes on these influences. The findings enrich the understanding of consumers’ roles as brand promoters. Design/methodology/approach An online experiment was conducted among 329 participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Multivariate analysis of variance and variance-based structural equation modeling were used for data analysis. Findings The results indicate that social endorsement has significant direct effects on brand tribalism and evangelism. Social endorsement is a self-expressive behavior that initiates brand–self and brand–social connections. These two identification processes facilitate the establishment of brand tribalism and evangelism with varying magnitude. The findings suggest that brand tribalism drives brand evangelism, highlighting the crucial role of end users in promoting brands on social media. Practical implications This study enriches the understanding of the active role of customers and the impact of consumer–brand relationships on brand evangelism by providing insights into how social endorsement contributes to strong brand support. The findings suggest that social endorsement, brand tribalism and brand evangelism are powerful marketing-related assets that should be leveraged by marketing managers to strengthen dyadic consumer–brand relationships, defend their brand against criticism and attract new customers. Originality/value The findings advance the knowledge of how brands are promoted on social media. The results suggest that social endorsement, brand tribalism and brand evangelism are emerging forms of customer-driven brand promotion that uniquely contribute to a brand’s promoter economy.