Abstract:
هدف این پژوهش، ارائۀ مدلی جامع از عوامل مؤثر بر همآفرینی برند در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی است. در این پژوهش از نمونهگیری دردسترس بهروش تصادفی استفاده شد و از 384 دانشجوی دانشگاه مازندران که عضو دستکم یکی از رسانههای اجتماعی بودند، پرسشنامه تکمیل و جمعآوری شد. برای تجزیهوتحلیل دادهها از مدلیابی معادلات ساختاری و نرمافزار ایموس استفاده شده است. نتایج پژوهش نشان داد متغیرهای مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی و حمایت اجتماعی بر متغیر میانجی کیفیت ارتباط تأثیر مثبت و معناداری دارد و کیفیت ارتباط برهمآفرینی برند تأثیر مثبت و معنادار دارد. ازطرفی حمایت اجتماعی و مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی با وفاداری به برند تأثیر مثبت معنادار دارد و وفاداری به برند بر متغیر وابستۀ همآفرینی برند تأثیر مثبت و معنادار دارد و رابطهای معنادار بین کیفیت ارتباط و وفاداری وجود ندارد. نوآوری این پژوهش، طراحی مدلی جدید با درنظرگرفتن متغیرهایی است که در مدلهای پیشین بهطور یکجا در نظر گرفته نشده است. یافتههای این پژوهش نشان می دهد حمایت اجتماعی و مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی به کیفیت ارتباط منجر میشوند و بر وفاداری به برند نیز تأثیر مثبت دارند. همچنین، وفاداری به برند بهطور معناداری با همآفرینی برند رابطه دارد.
The purpose of the present study is to present a comprehensive model of factors affecting brand co-creation in the social media brand community. In this research, random sampling was used and a questionnaire was completed and collected from 384 students of Mazandaran University who were members of at least one social media. Structural equation modeling and Imus software were used to analyze the data. The results of the research showed that the variables of customer participation in the brand community of social media and social support have a positive and significant effect on the mediating variable of communication quality, and the quality of communication has a positive and significant effect on brand co-creation. On the other hand, social support and customer participation in the social media brand community have a significant positive effect on brand loyalty, and brand loyalty has a positive and significant effect on the dependent variable of brand co-creation. Moreover, there is no significant relationship between the quality of communication and loyalty. The innovation of this research is the design of a new model by considering the variables that were not considered in the previous models. The findings provide new insights for managers to review the various characteristics of their brand community, with an emphasis on increasing two-way communication. IntroductionCo-creation is a management initiative or a type of economic strategy that is used to bring together different stakeholders (for example, a company and a group of customers) with the aim of jointly producing a result that has value for both parties (Rajab Ali Baglo, 2016). Companies have many ways to co-create with their customers, an example of which is product improvement, process improvement, marketing content, implementing and launching solutions, and brand management. For example, the Converse Shoe Company encourages its fans to get a chance to be featured on the brand’s social network channels by sharing how to pair the brand’s shoes with their clothes. The Converse Company, with the campaign "What is yours?" "You made", praised the work of his fans and, in return, the fans felt that they were valuable and that their work was appreciated. The shoes were featured in various campaigns of this brand, and the name and signature of the "creator" of each pair of shoes were shown on it. It could be said that co-creation makes companies provide more appropriate goods and services to consumers and can encourage them to participate more (Nadim et al., 2020).Although there are many studies about brand and co-creation in general, few studies have been done in the field of brand co-creation in the social media brand community. Virtual co-creation is an emerging phenomenon that has not been studied much, especially in Iran, which is about a decade old. Therefore, with regard to more and more companies and customers turning to virtual space and the valuable opportunities available in this space, the need for more research in the field of co-creation in social media brand communities and the factors affecting it is necessary. The aim of the present study is to address this research gap. This goal is pursued by explaining the role of brand loyalty and the quality of brand co-creation communication in social media brand communities and preparing and testing a comprehensive model that describes the factors influencing brand co-creation in social media brand communities. MethodologyThis research is included in the descriptive and survey research group. The statistical population of this research is Mazandaran University students who were members of at least one social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Since the aim of the study was not in a specific field, the available random sampling method was used. Morgan's table was used for sampling according to the size of the population, which is the students of Mazandaran University. Based on the fact that the size of the community is high (approximately 13,000 people), then the minimum sample size was calculated as 373 people based on Morgan's table. For more accuracy, the sample size of the study was 384 people. In this research, a standard questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire of the current research was taken from the articles ‘Examining Brand Co-Creation in Social Media Brand Communities: Using the Stimulus-Organization-Response Paradigm’ (Kamboj et al., 2018) and ‘Brand Co-Creation through Social Business Information Sharing: The Role of Social Media’ (Tajveidi et al., 2018). Analysis of the model has been done by means of structural equations using Imus software to test the hypotheses. The measurement and structural models were checked based on different criteria and the necessary corrections were made to improve the fit of the model. FindingsDemographic findings state that out of a total of 384 people, 66% of the respondents were women and 34% were men. Moreover, 70.05% of the respondents were between 18-24 years old, 24.74% were 25-30 years old, and 5.21% of the other respondents were 30 years old and above. Also, the most membership in social media was Instagram with 326 respondents. Other social media were YouTube (124 people), Facebook (45 people), Twitter (42 people), and LinkedIn (22 people). In addition to the above media, 41 of the respondents were members of other media such as WhatsApp. In the inferential data analysis section, we first checked the precondition of the normality of the data distribution and evaluated the factor loading of the questions, and after confirmation, we checked the fit of the model. Various fit indices were used to check the fit of the research model. Then, these indicators were summarized along with the acceptance level of each factor. According to the appropriate value of the fit indices, the research model can be considered suitable and the hypotheses can be tested. ConclusionBased on the findings of this research, it can be said that social support in social media brand communities leads to communication quality. In fact, social support can increase commitment, trust, and satisfaction. Another finding of this research is that social support in social media brand communities has a significant positive effect on brand loyalty.In this study, there is a relationship between brand community communication quality and brand loyalty, but this relationship was not confirmed. As a result of this relationship, it was removed from the final model. Another finding of the current research is that customer participation in social media brand communities leads to communication quality. Also, the results showed that customer participation in social media brand communities leads to brand loyalty. In this research, the relationship between communication quality and brand co-creation has been confirmed. Another finding of the study is that brand loyalty is significantly related to brand co-creation.Overall, the findings provide new insights for managers to review the various characteristics of their brand community, with an emphasis on increasing two-way communication. These findings include various implications for marketing, brand management, and managers. This study shows that customer participation in social media brand communities has a significant impact on the quality of communication, brand loyalty, and, in turn, brand co-creation. Also, social support in brand communities affects the quality of communication and brand loyalty, and in turn, brand co-creation.
Machine summary:
یافتههای این پژوهش نشان می دهد حمایت اجتماعی و مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی به کیفیت ارتباط منجر میشوند و بر وفاداری به برند نیز تأثیر مثبت دارند.
سؤالات مربوط به متغیر وفاداری به برند و مشارکت مشتری از مقالۀ کمبوج و همکاران (2018) و سؤالات مربوط به متغیر همآفرینی برند، کیفیت ارتباط و حمایت اجتماعی از پرسشنامۀ مقالۀ تجویدی و همکاران (2018) گرفته شده است.
در این پژوهش فرضیههایی مطرح شده است و از یک مدل مفهومی جدید استفاده شد و تأثیر مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند و حمایت اجتماعی بهعنوان متغیرهای مستقل و وفاداری برند و کیفیت ارتباط بهعنوان متغیرهای میانجی بر همآفرینی برند بررسی شده است.
یافتۀ دیگر این پژوهش این است که حمایت اجتماعی در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی بر وفاداری به برند تأثیر مثبت معنادار دارد (فرضیۀ 2).
یافتۀ دیگر پژوهش حاضر این است که مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی به کیفیت ارتباط (فرضیۀ 4) منجر میشود.
پژوهش هاجلی و همکاران (2017) بیان کرده است که مشارکت اجتماعی مشتریان با برندهای موردعلاقۀ خود در جوامع برند آنلاین به توسعۀ کیفیت ارتباط و تقویت روابط مشتری و برند کمک میکند که این ادعا با نتیجۀ پژوهش حاضر همسو است.
یافتۀ دیگر این پژوهش این است که مشارکت مشتری در جوامع برند رسانههای اجتماعی به وفاداری به برند (فرضیۀ 5) منجر میشود.
این پژوهش نشان میدهد مشارکت مشتریان در اجتماعات برندهای رسانههای اجتماعی تأثیر چشمگیری بر کیفیت ارتباط، وفاداری به برند و همآفرینی برند دارد.
Brand value co-creation in social commerce: The role of interactivity, social support and relationship quality.