Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 53 (2020) 101975

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services

The role of involvement: Investigating the effect of brand’s social media

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study examined the influence of consumer’s brand familiarity and the information quality of social media
Social media content on their involvement with a brand on the brand’s social media pages. Also studied were the influence of
Brand familiarity involvement on consumer’s attitude towards the brand’s social media page and the effect of their attitude on
Involvement
future purchase intention from the brand. The results indicated that both brand familiarity and information
Information quality
Attitude
quality had significant effects on a consumer’s involvement with a brand on its social media page, yet the brand’s
Purchase intention social media content had a greater influence on a consumer’s involvement with the social media page. Further,
involvement with a brand’s social media led to a positive attitude towards the brand’s social media page, which
in turn influences future purchase intention from the brand. However, the involvement did not directly influence
future purchase intention from the brand. The results suggest the significant importance of quality of social
media content.

1. Introduction approximately more than $8 billion from advertising and 38% of orga­
nizations plan to spend more than 20% of their advertising budgets on
Trending Twitter hashtags, “Like Us” on Facebook, “Viral Videos” on social media channels in the same year, rising 13% up from a year ago
YouTube, and “Pin Boards” on Pinterest –social media is a phenomenon (Smith, 2016). In addition, today 91% of retail brands currently use two
that is hard to miss. According to a study done by Smith (2016), as of or more social media channels (Smith, 2016).
July 2015, more than 70 percent of Internet users are active social media Social media is a tool that can be harnessed by brands and retailers to
users, having an average of 5.54 social media accounts. There are many engage and influence their customers. Mersey et al. (2010) noted that
reasons that individuals may engage in social media – for entertainment, social media provide an opportunity for businesses to participate and
connection points, or mindless searching activities. Social media has interact with potential consumers, encourage an increased sense of in­
seen steady growth due to the ease of connecting as well as the option to timacy with consumers, and build relationships with potential con­
choose whom to connect with, when to connect, and what to share sumers. Colliander and Dahlen (2011) investigated the power of blogs
(Kumar and Sundaram, 2012). To date, with almost 100% dispersion of on brand attitude and intention and noted the importance of relation­
mobile phones worldwide (ICT, 2014), social media are even more ship building and transparency in blogs and other forms of social media.
accessed and used at all times and places. Customer engagement within Facebook has been examined to determine
Users of social media are not limited to only individual people, as enhancing satisfaction and loyalty, yet the authors note that more
social media can act as a platform for an organization, a business, a research should be done within other online communities (Gummerus
cause, or a brand. These other entities can make use of social media to et al., 2012). Hudson et al. (2016) suggest that when the brand interacts
create content and reach out to others – meeting at the social media with followers on the social media page by replying to comments,
connection points. It can often be confounding for a business or brand to solving problems, and inviting participation, consumers have stronger
grasp how they might influence and engage in conversations with their relationships with the brand having a feeling of connection and thus
customers. These conversations usually take place over a wide range of experiencing a higher level of relationship quality. Social media is a
platforms and vast communities as well as at different rates of time (i.e., low-cost, easy to use, platform offering a direct link for a brand to its
rapid vs. over many months). In 2015, social networks earned an consumers. It is essential to understand the factors influencing

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. McClure), [email protected] (Y.-K. Seock).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101975
Received 7 September 2018; Received in revised form 11 October 2019; Accepted 14 October 2019
Available online 18 November 2019
0969-6989/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. McClure and Y.-K. Seock Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 53 (2020) 101975

consumers to engage with a brand on social media platforms and the and non-users of the targeted brand. Casalo et al. (2008) also found that
effects of involvement on social media. participation in a virtual community has a positive influence on con­
As the landscape of communication is changing, it becomes vital for sumer commitment to the brand. In a study of social media communi­
brands to understand how involvement on social media platforms may cation and its impact on purchase intention, Wang et al. (2012) found
influence consumer’s attitudes and intention. Past research has focused that consumption-related communication on social media is positively
primarily on the Facebook community, yet social media is a broad realm related to their attitude toward the product. Additionally, this commu­
with many brands and consumers being active on multiple sites (Duru­ nication informs consumers’ decisions regarding purchasing and
kan et al., 2012; Gummerus et al., 2012; Yang, 2012). In this study, we increased involvement with products (Wang et al., 2012). Jahn and
look at social media as an entire entity to gauge involvement, attitude, Kunz (2012) studied how fan pages affect the customer-brand rela­
and intention. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of tionship and what motivates to participate. They found both fan-page
consumers’ brand familiarity and information quality of social media usage and engagement, as indicators for involvement with the brand,
content on their involvement with a brand on social media pages. This significantly influencing brand loyalty. Hutter et al. (2013) analyzed the
study also examined the influence of consumers’ involvement on social impact of brands’ social media activities and consumers’ involvement
media pages on consumer’s attitude towards the brand’s social media with the social media pages of the brands on the purchase decision
pages and future purchase intention from the brand. This study further making process. They found that social media involvement significantly
examines the effect of consumers’ attitude towards the brand’s social influenced all three decision making stages: the cognitive phase
media presence on future purchase intention from the brand. (awareness and knowledge), the affective stage (liking, preference, and
conviction), and the conative stage (purchase and loyalty). They also
2. Theoretical framework noted that the degree of involvement with social media applications is
an important indicator of positive WOM and purchase intention from the
The Associative Network Theories of Memory (ANT) explains brand brand. Furthermore, Hajli (2013) supported the findings of other re­
familiarity and their influence on perceptions and patronage behavior searchers in that the interconnectivity of individuals through social
with the brand. Existing evidence from the research supported the media create trust in e-commerce, which eventually leads to purchase
impact of familiarity of a brand on perception and patronage of the behavior from the company. Laroche et al. (2013) reported that they
brand (Collins-Dodd and Lindley, 2003; Flavian et al., 2006; Keller, found social media based brand community has a strong impact on
1993; Kim et al., 2008a,b; Romaniuk and Sharp, 2003). In this vein, our customer relationships and brand loyalty. Kang et al. (2014) tested the
primary objective was to examine whether this notion applies to the influence of consumers’ participation in the brand’s social media
environment of social media. This study, further, attempted to discover (Facebook) pages on brand trust and brand commitment. Their study
whether information quality of the social media page can account for a affirmed that active participation in a brand’s social media page en­
significant increment in determining the effect on involvement with a hances both brand trust and brand commitment; thus, strengthening
brand’s social media pages above and beyond that being explained by consumer-brand relationships. In addition, Kang et al. (2014) found
brand familiarity. Besides, derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action brand trust plays a mediating role in the relationship between con­
(Ajzen, 1985, 1991), this study examined the relationship between sumers’ active participation in a brand’s social media pages and brand
attitude toward social media pages and future purchase intention from commitment. More recently, in a study of the effect of social media
the brand in the context of the social media environment. communication on consumer perceptions of brands, Schivinski, and
Dabrowski (2016) found that both user-generated and firm-created so­
3. Literature review cial media communications significantly affect consumers’ brand atti­
tude. A study done by Kamboj and Rahman (2016) revealed that social
3.1. Involvement with brand on social media media-based brand community members’ active participation signifi­
cantly influences brand commitment and brand loyalty. Accordingly,
Involvement, particularly consumer’s involvement with a brand on the following hypotheses have been developed:
social media, is a significant relationship to understand. Yang (2012)
H1. Consumers’ involvement with a brand on social media will in­
defined involvement as, “the perception of the correlation of participa­
fluence their attitude towards a brand’s social media presence.
tion … based on internal needs, values, and interests” (p. 52).
For this study, involvement will refer to the participation with a H2. Consumers’ involvement with a brand on social media will in­
brand in the realm of that brand’s social media pages driven by needs, fluence their future purchase intention from the brand.
values, or interests and in particular brand familiarity (Huang et al., The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Ajzen, 1985, 1991) posits
2010). Research has found that the leading indicators of involvement are that attitude toward an object and subjective norm are direct de­
personal factors (i.e., prior use of social media), stimulus factors, and terminants of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude toward an object
situational factors (i.e., brand familiarity) (Zaichkowsky, 1986). Previ­ is renowned as a person’s positive or negative evaluation of an object
ous studies have found that involvement influences factors such as brand and is comprised of a person’s salient beliefs. In Gefen et al., 2003, and
attitudes, purchase intention, advertising attitudes, and online shopping Straub reported that trusting beliefs has a significant impact on online
behaviors (Bosnjak et al., 2007; Huang et al., 2010; Yang, 2012). For purchase intention. Other researchers also found that trust can have an
instance, Bosnjak et al. (2007) studied online purchase intention and indirect impact on online purchase intention (McKnight and Choudhury,
found that affective involvement was a significant indicator of online 2006; Wen et al., 2012). In Glasman and Albarracín (2006) found that
purchase intention. Huang et al. (2010) investigating travel blogger’s attitudes correlated with future behavior more strongly when they were
involvement found that high involvement bloggers had a more positive easy to recall (accessible) and stable over time. According to their
opinion towards advertisements and posit this as a significant indicator findings, attitudes more strongly predicted future behavior when people
of purchase intention when managing brands. have increased direct experience with the attitude object. In addition,
In 2008, Kim, Choi, and Han studied the role of online community they also reported that the attitude-behavior association was strongest
commitment in raising brand commitment and found a significant in­ when participants formed their attitude on the basis of
fluence of online community commitment on brand commitment. They behavior-relevant information. Earlier studies indicated that, in the
found that online community participants possess stronger brand context of online shopping, consumers’ attitudes toward a website or
commitment than consumers who are not members of the community. online shopping significantly affect their shopping behavior in an online
Interestingly their results revealed that among online community setting (Eri et al. (2011); Javadi et al., 2012; Seock and Norton, 2007).
members, brand commitment is enhanced for both active brand users ICT, 2014, See-To and Ho observed that trusting belief of the product on

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fans page in social networking sites (SNS) has a positive impact on an Heide and Lim (2015) suggested that users who are familiar with a social
SNS user’s purchase intention of the product. Kang et al. (2014) media platform are more likely to rely on user-generated contents for
confirmed a significant relationship between brand trust formed their online purchases than those who are unfamiliar. In keeping with
through active participation in a brand’s social media pages and brand numerous precedents about brand familiarity as being a prominent
commitment. A more recent study done by Schivinski and Dabrowski factor in the consumer decision-making process, we speculated that
(2016) also revealed that consumers’ brand attitudes formed from their brand familiarity might lead to brand involvement within the realm of
communications in a brand’s social media pages have a significant and social media. Thus, the following research hypothesis is developed.
positive influence on purchase intention from the brand. Thus, we
H4. Consumer’s brand familiarity will influence their involvement
attempt to examine the relationship between attitude and future pur­
with a brand on social media.
chase intention in the context of social media and develop the following
hypothesis.
H3. Consumers’ attitude towards a brand’s social media presence will 3.3. Information quality of social media content
influence future purchase intention from the brand.
Earlier studies revealed that consumer’s commitment to an online
store is highly related to information on the website (Park and Kim
3.2. Brand familiarity 2003, 2006). In 2010, Jones and Kim found that the information quality
of the website significantly influences online shopping intention from
Alba and Hutchinson (1987) noted that brand familiarity serves as an the website. Previous research has examined information quality and
essential source of information about a brand, which is enhanced by credibility in Internet discussion forums. Savolainen (2011) states, “The
accumulated experiences within a brand or frequent exposure to the issues of information quality and credibility are gaining importance,
brand. Consumers tend to consider a brand as familiar when the brand is particularly in the World Wide Web context. The WWW provides a
frequently advertised in the media. Thus a well-known brand is more unique information seeking environment, but often lacks quality control
familiar to consumers and easier to recall and recognize than an un­ mechanisms.” (p. 1243). Savolainen also suggested that future research
known brand (Kent and Allen, 1994). In Campbell and Keller (2003) should investigate information quality in other Internet platforms aside
noted that brand familiarity refers to the degree of a consumer’s direct from discussion forums and how this information quality may impact
and indirect experience with a brand. Brand familiarity examines a the use of other online platforms. Social media is a platform for the
consumer’s brand knowledge structure and leads to processing exchange of content between individuals; thus there must be a level of
behavior. Familiar and unfamiliar brands are stored differently in a quality from that content to enhance consumer involvement with the
consumer’s memory. Familiar brands fall into a category where con­ brand on social media. In a study done by Yang (2012) investigating
sumers have had prior experience with a brand, frequent exposure decision behaviours on Facebook, it was found that as individuals were
through the brand’s advertising, or when consumers may know in­ exposed to messages containing a higher level of utilitarian and recre­
dividuals who have recommended the brand. ational values, the factors of involvement, advertising attitude, brand
Previous research posits that well-established brand names serve as a attitudes, and purchase intention increased. Researchers also agreed
powerful cue that influence purchase decisions (Maheswaran et al., that a feeling of social media based brand community positively influ­
1992). Earlier studies suggested that consumers often use brand name or ence consumers’ involvement in that brand’s social media page (Chris­
related cues as a basis for product choice (Adaval, 2003; Brady et al., todoulides et al., 2012; Habibi et al., 2014). More recently, Chung and
2008) and brand familiarity plays a crucial role in consumers’ percep­ Muk (2017) found that consumers’ attitude toward messages on social
tions towards brand or products, and in purchase intentions from the media is strongly correlated to interactivity and information on the so­
brand (Gefen, 2000; Laroche et al., 1996). A study done by Doong et al. cial media page. They also suggest that active interaction and useful
(2011) indicated that enhancing brand familiarity leads to consumer’s information on social media pages produce positive perceptions of the
offline brand loyalty and higher shopping intentions. Fen et al. (2012) company’s social media page, which leads to their impulsive shopping
explored the effects of perceived risks, quality, and familiarity of store behavior from the company. Based on prior studies, we suggest that
brands and found brand familiarity had the strongest overall influence information quality on the brand page of social media might have an
on the perceived quality and purchase intention of store brand items. incremental effect over brand familiarity on consumer involvement with
Seock and MacBride (2012) also found that consumers’ knowledge and a brands social media page. Thus, we developed the following
familiarity with a brand is a major determinant in shaping their per­ hypothesis:
ceptions of and preferences for the brand, thus suggesting the more
consumers know about a brand and the more familiar they are with the H5. There will be an incremental effect of information quality of a
brand, the more positively consumers view them. The aforementioned brand’s social media content over brand familiarity in determining the
earlier studies suggest that when consumers are more frequently effect on consumer’s involvement with a brand on social media.
exposed to a brand, whether through actual usage, advertising, or pro­ Fig. 1 shows the proposed model with research hypotheses.
motional efforts through various media, they may view the brand more
positively and develop preference over other brands. Srivastava and 4. Research method
Kamdar (2009) investigated the link of the brand image and brand fa­
miliarity with involvement finding that brand familiarity is more salient 4.1. Participants
for high versus low involvement among consumers.
Complexity in an online environment may cause purchase avoid­ Data were collected from 159 US college students at a large south-
ance; however, familiarity with a brand may increase customers’ eastern university using a structured questionnaire. The population for
participation in the brand’s social media community seeking informa­ this research is representative of female college students age 18 to 25. A
tion from both the company and users. Previous studies in the context of convenience sample of female undergraduates was invited in their
online shopping show that brand unfamiliarity is a greater disadvantage classes to participate in the survey. This specific sample is appropriate
online than offline especially with products that need sensory experi­ for the study as 67% of all Internet users are said to be active on social
ence (Degeratu et al., 2000; Danaher et al., 2003; Saini and Lynch, networking sites, and of these, 83% are between the ages of 18 and 29
2016). On the contrary, Simonson (2015) speculated that brands matter with 71% being women (Duggan and Brenner, 2013; Brenner, 2013).
less online than offline because the Internet provides superior infor­ Based on VanVoorhis and Morgan (2007) the sample size (N ¼ 159) was
mation about quality to offline shopping via online reviews. Van Der appropriate for the data analysis method used in the study.

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Fig. 1. Proposed Research Model. Note: Dotted line indicates incremental effects of information quality over brand familiarity on involvement on brand’s social
media pages.

4.2. Measures
Table 1
Cronbach’s alpha, means and standard deviations for all variables.
The questionnaire began by asking the participants about their prior
experience of using social media to screen out individuals who did not Cronbach’s alpha Mean Standard Deviation

have any experiences using social media. Participants were then asked Brand familiarity 0.72 6.24 0.83
to list the top three social media sites they frequented and to identify a Information quality 0.93 5.67 0.97
Involvement 0.92 2.93 1.28
brand they had recently interacted with on social media. Participants
Attitude 0.94 5.89 1.08
were instructed to recall the identified brand when answering the Purchase intention 0.97 6.41 1.08
remainder of the survey. Survey participants were then asked questions
regarding their brand familiarity, perceived quality of the brand’s social
media content, involvement with the brand on their social media pages, intentions were computed by summating the items in each scale. The
attitude towards a brand’s social media presence and future purchase means and standard deviations for all variables were also calculated as
intention from the brand. All scales were measured on a 7-point Likert- shown in Table 1.
types scale (1 – strongly disagree; 7 – strongly agree). A principle component of factor analysis with varimax rotation was
To measure brand familiarity, four items were adapted from Doong conducted to identify the constructs of information quality of social
et al. (2011), and Ha and Perks (2005). Participants were asked to rank media. To set the criteria for the factor analysis, factors with eigenvalues
how they agree or disagree with statements such as “I am familiar with greater than 1.0 and items with rotated factor loadings of 0.50 or greater
this brand,” “I know what this brand stands for,” “I have a clear un­ were used. With the total 11 items, only one construct was identified,
derstanding of the person who would use this brand,” etc. The infor­ and a total of 60.67% variance was explained by this one factor. Thus, a
mation quality of brand’s social media content was measured with summated score for information quality items was used in the analysis.
eleven items adapted from Savolainen (2011), which contained adjec­
tives such as useful, specific, valuable, factual, comprehensive, reliable,
variety, and so on. Brand involvement on social media was measured 5.1. Hypothesis testing
with ten items from Huang et al. (2010). The questionnaire contained
statements such as “I am actively involved in the brand’s social media,” Bivariate regression analyses were implemented to examine the
“I spend a lot of time engaging in the brand’s social media,” “I enjoy relationship between social media involvement and attitude towards
interacting with other members on the brand’s social media,” etc. social media presence (H1) and future purchase intention (H2) and the
Attitude towards the brand’s social media presence was measured with relationship between attitude towards social media presence and future
five items adapted from Huang et al. (2010). The questions included in purchase intention (H5). The regression model for the relationship be­
the scale were “I like this brand’s social media,” “I think this brand’s tween involvement with brands through social media and attitude to­
social media sites are reliable,” “I think this brand’s social media sites wards brands’ social media presence (H1) was significant, wgith F (1,
are valuable,” etc. Purchase intention was measured with three items 156) ¼ 26.77, p < .001, indicating that 14.6% of the variance in attitude
from Hu et al. (2011), which included “In the future, I am very likely to towards a brand’s social media presence was explained by involvement
purchase from this brand,” “I expect I will purchase from this brand in with a brand on social media (see Table 2). However, the regression
the future,” “I intend to purchase this brand in the future.” Demographic model for the relationship between involvement with brands through
items such as age, race, and college standing were collected. Question­ social media and future purchase intention from the brands (H2) was not
naire items can be found in the Appendix. To ensure clarity of survey significant, with F (1, 158) ¼ 2.11, p > .05 (see Table 2). The regression
items and statements the questionnaire was pre-tested and corrections results for hypothesis 1 and 2 are reported in Table 2.
were made as appropriate. The regression model for the relationship between attitudes toward
brands’ social media presence and future purchase intention (H3) was
5. Results significant, with F (1, 158) ¼ 32.36, p < .001, indicating that 17% of the
variance in future purchase intention from the brands was explained by
Data gathered from the survey was analyzed using the Statistical attitude towards brands’ social media presence (see Table 3). Given the
Package for Social Science (SPSS) program. The data analysis consisted
of descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and hierarchical Table 2
regression analysis and bivariate regression analysis. Cronbach’s alpha Bivariate regression analyses for H1 and H2.
values were computed to assess the internal consistency aspect of reli­ Attitude Purchase Intention
ability of the multi-item scales measuring brand familiarity (0.72), in­
B (SE) β B (SE) β
formation quality (0.93), Involvement (0.92), Attitude (0.94) and
Involvement .16 (.031) .38*** .03 (.020) .12
further purchase intention (0.97) (see Table 1). The respective alpha
R2 .146 .01
values for all the variables included in the study deemed sufficiently F 26.77*** 2.11
reliable for use. In preparation for testing hypotheses, scores for brand
Note: Independent variable is involvement and dependent variables are attitude
familiarity, involvement toward social media, attitude and patronage
(H1) and purchase intention (H2);***p < .001.

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results from H1, H2 and H3, a Sobel’s test was conducted to examine the Table 4
power of the indirect effect of involvement on social media pages on Hierarchical regression analyses for H4 and H5.
future purchase intention from the brand, as being mediated by attitude Variables Social Media Involvement
toward the brand’s social media page, and found a significant mediation
Model 1 (β) Model 2 (β)
in the model (z ¼ 3.84, p < .001). The regression analysis result for hy­
pothesis 3 is reported in Table 3. Brand Familiarity .299*** .128*
Information Quality .235**
To assess the impacts of brand familiarity and information quality of R2 .089 .130
social media pages on consumers’ involvement (H4 and H5), a hierar­ R2 Change 0.089 0.040*
chical regression analysis using the enter method was conducted. F 15.39*** 11.62***
Derived from the Associative Network Theories of Memory and the Note: Independent variables are brand familiarity and information quality and
previous literature, brand familiarity was first entered into the regres­ dependent variable is involvement; *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.
sion equation in hierarchical regression analysis (H4), and then infor­
mation quality was entered into the equation (H5). In this way, the
brand.
correlations between brand familiarity and information quality variable
In this study, we found that both brand familiarity and information
were partialled out of the regression analyses, allowing the researcher to
quality of a brand’s social media content did significantly influence
examine a significant incremental increase in R2 after controlling the
consumers’ involvement with the brand’s social media pages, while
effect of brand familiarity on the dependent variable, social media
information quality had a greater impact on social media involvement
involvement. Thus, we can understand how much additional variance in
than brand familiarity. Also, the results showed that an individual’s
social media involvement can be explained by information quality. In
involvement with that brand on social media is a significant factor in
this analysis, brand familiarity and information quality were indepen­
forming and facilitating attitude towards the brand’s social media pages,
dent variables, and social media involvement was the dependent vari­
which eventually leads to future purchase intention. Interestingly, this
able. The hierarchical regression analysis results for hypothesis 4 and 5
study revealed that familiarity with a brand had less impact than in­
are reported in Table 4.
formation quality on being involved with the brand’s social media
The regression model (model 1 for H4) was significant, with F (1,
pages. These findings suggest an opportunity for brands to gain potential
157) ¼ 15.39 and p < .001, indicating that 8.9% of the variance in the
followers and eventual customers by targeting those who are not
involvement with a brand on social media was explained only by brand
familiar with their brand. By presenting quality information through the
familiarity. H4 was supported. Then information quality of social media
social media content to individuals unfamiliar with the brand this may
pages was entered into the regression equation to determine its incre­
facilitate consumers’ involvement with the brand’s social media pages.
mental effect over brand familiarity on involvement with a brand on
This finding aligns with a study by Mersey et al. (2010) in that social
social media (H5). The overall regression model (model 2 for H5) was
media provides an opportunity for companies to engage and interact
significant, with F (2, 156) ¼ 11.62 and p < .001, indicating that 13% of
with potential customers and build relationships with them.
the variance in the involvement with a brand on social media was
For this study, respondents were asked to recall a brand they inter­
explained by both brand familiarity and information quality of the social
acted with on a social media platform. This brand recall inherently es­
media page. In this hierarchical regression model, significant F change
tablishes a sense of familiarity with the brand, since the respondents
was p ¼ .000, suggesting significant incremental effects of information
were required to remember a brand they had recently interacted with on
quality over consumer brand familiarity in determining the effect on
social media. Our findings suggest that brand familiarity may initially
social media involvement. Thus, Hypothesis 5 was supported. When
prompt an individual to seek out the brand’s social media pages. Thus,
testing the relative contributions of independent variables to explain
while familiarity may attract an individual to a brand’s social media
consumers’ involvement with a brand on social media, information
page, the information quality of the brand’s social media content plays a
quality of social media pages (β ¼ 0.235, p < .01) was the stronger in­
more significant role in enhancing consumers’ involvement to the
dicator of the social media involvement than brand familiarity, although
company’s social media page. Our finding is consistent with the prior
both variables had the significant influence on social media
studies which have found connections between information quality and
involvement.
involvement (Yang, 2012; Zaichowsky,1986). Our study suggests that if
customers find social media content relevant, important, and notable,
6. Discussion and conclusions then they may be more willing to get involved with the brand’s social
media pages. Those interested in or familiar with a brand may find
The results of our study displayed the antecedents and outcomes of themselves on a brand’s social media pages, but it is a matter of quality
involvement on social media from the perspective of the Associative of the content which will influence their involvement with the brand’s
Network Theories of Memory (ANT) and the theory of reasoned action social media pages. This also implies that new customers, individuals
framework and provided valuable insights about involvement on social unfamiliar with the brand, and even those outside of the brand’s ex­
media. The findings offer meaningful implications for interactive mar­ pected target market may be prompted to become involved with the
keting practitioners, online advisers, and social media website opera­ brand on its social media pages just by the quality of content the brand
tors. Besides, the contribution of our findings to consumer behavior crafts for social media.
literature in academia is that involvement on social media is becoming Further, it was found that involvement with a brand’s social media
increasingly relevant in consumer shopping and purchase behavior and page significantly influences the attitude towards the brand’s social
can significantly influence newcomers’ attitude toward the company or media. This relationship follows from other studies which have estab­
lished the relationship between involvement and attitude (Bosnjak et al.,
Table 3 2007; Huang et al., 2010; Kang et al., 2014; Schivinski and Dabrowski,
Bivariate regression analysis for H3. Note: Independent variable is Attitude and 2016; Yang, 2012; Zaichowsky, 1986). Unlike previous research (Jones
dependent variable is purchase intention; ***p < .001. and Kim, 2010; Kang et al., 2014; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2016), the
Purchase Intention result of our study indicated that involvement with a brand’s social
B (SE) β
media does not directly influence future purchase intention from the
brand. Although involvement did not directly lead to future purchase
Attitude .247 (.043) .412***
intention, the result of the mediation test showed that it has a significant
R2 .170
F 32.36*** indirect effect on future purchase intention from the brand, as mediated

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by the attitude toward the brand’s social media, supporting a mediating build a greater rapport with the brand. Brands can also leverage their
effect of brand trust (attitude) between social media participation and social media pages by providing value-added content to their users
brand commitment revealed in Kang et al. (2014) study. That is, con­ through how-to videos, tutorials, or contests. Social media managers
sumers’ active social media involvement drives their future purchase may, in turn, see more followers on their social media platforms or a
intention from the brand through attitude toward the company’s social spike in involvement on their social media pages. Based on the findings
media pages. Our finding implies that companies’ active interactions of this study, brands should be poised to offer directives towards selling
with the people through a brand’s social media pages will bring a strong channels as this involvement may impact future purchase intention. It
trust and commitment toward the brand. This also supports previous would be important for these social media pages to include web links
literature that states that social media community involvement has a with more details about how and where to purchase or be ready to
significant effect on the purchase decision-making process and customer answer users’ questions about making future purchases from the brand.
relationship management (Hajli, 2013; Hutter et al., 2013; Laroche
et al., 2013). Also, our study shows that attitude towards the brand’s
social media pages influences future purchase intention from the brand. 6.1. Limitations and future research
From the results of the study, we suggest that companies should be
particularly concerned with the content on their social media pages as The findings of this study were significant and add to the body of
this leads to greater involvement on the social media pages, which could knowledge about involvement and the brand’s social media pages, but it
influence future purchase intention. As companies are in control of the is not without limitations. First, the demographics and location of par­
content they publish on their social media pages managers should un­ ticipants in the study limit the generalizability. Future studies could
derstand what type of information people want to obtain from their expand the target audience and consider various age ranges as it is no
social media page, and further need to know how consumers want to longer just millennials who are active users of social media platforms.
interact with the company and other people through the social media Further analysis among other demographic characteristics and social
pages. Social media managers who oversee information flow on their media behaviors should be considered in future studies. Additionally,
branded social media pages should use analytics software to track items this study was limited by the respondent’s recall in identifying a brand
most viewed, liked, re-shared, or otherwise notable to their users. From they had recently interacted with on social media. While a necessary
this, brands can determine the points of information their users find of prompt to establish a threshold of familiarity as respondents completed
the highest quality. They should then leverage this content to encourage the questionnaire, future studies should consider a focus on particular
higher involvement on their social media pages, potentially through brands or product categories. In a social media context, the information
promotions, product specifics, or pulling content from their users to features of the pages are identified to be a crucial factor in determining
facilitate a reciprocal connection between brand and user. Besides, consumers’ page involvement and decision-making in terms of whether
providing feedback through various social media platforms could be or not they will shop the brand. This emphasizes the importance of in­
essential in making social media a viable communication channel for formation quality and user interface design in the social media page
customer relationship management. development, such as emotional and aesthetic elements of the page
As social media creates a platform for brands to reach out to their design. Thus future research should investigate what specific content or
customers, it is increasingly of interest how the brands might influence information on a brand’s social media pages do consumers find favor­
their customers through this medium. This study indicates that of utmost able and noteworthy. It can be a balancing act as to how much infor­
importance is the quality of social media content on the brand’s social mation consumers want on social media pages. Thus other studies
media pages. Brands are always interested in more likes or shares on should determine not only the type of information consumer’s view as
Facebook and followers on Twitter and Instagram. To establish this type quality content but also the frequency and invasiveness of this infor­
of involvement is it necessary for the brand to use the content published mation. Future studies could also investigate relationship-oriented
on their social media pages to facilitate this involvement from customers interactive communication through social media and its influence on
and general followers. While users may be hesitant to engage on a perceptions and transaction activities for the brand.
brand’s social media pages and instead remain an observer, brands
should encourage comfortable and natural engagement with their users Funding
by providing useful and interesting information that has variety. Ex­
amples include: posing a question that facilitates a conversation with This research did not receive any specific grant from funding
users, giving fun facts about the brand, re-posting users comments to agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.101975.

Appendix

Construct Operational Definition Reference

Brand familiarity Customer’s set of knowledge based on experience with a brand Doong et al. (2011); Ha and
� I have heard of this brand before Perks (2005).
� I have made a purchase from this brand
� I know what this brand stands for
� I am familiar with this brand
� I have a clear understanding of the person who would use this
brand
Information quality Customer’s positive or negative evaluation of informational content Savolainen (2011)
I find the quality of content on the brand’s social media site to be: presented on a brand’s social media
� Useful
(continued on next page)

6
C. McClure and Y.-K. Seock Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 53 (2020) 101975

(continued )
Construct Operational Definition Reference

� Correct
� Specific
� Objective
� Valuable
� Factual
� Comprehensive
� Interesting
� Reliable
� Official
� Good Variety
Involvement on brand’s social media Customer’s participation with a brand’s social media driven by personal Huang et al. (2010)
� I frequently interact with other members of this brand’s social needs, values, and interests
media sites
� I have an interactive communication with other members of this
brand’s social media sites
� I cooperate with other members of this brand’s social media sites
� I am actively involved in the brand’s social media sites
� I spend a lot of time engaging in the brand’s social media sites
� I provide feedback related to participation in the brand’s social
media sites
Attitude toward brand’s social media Customer’s perception of the brand’s social media Huang et al. (2010)
� I like this brand’s social media sites
� I think this brand’s social media sites are reliable
� I think this brand’s social media sites are friendly
� I think this brand’s social media sites are valuable
� I think this brand’s social media sites are of good quality
Future purchase intention Customer’s intention to make a purchase from the brand Hu et al. (2011)
� In the future, I am very likely to purchase from this brand
� I expect I will purchase this brand in the future
� I intend to purchase this brand in the future

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