The impact of social media on consumer-brand loyalty: A mediating role of online based-brand community

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the mediating role of online based-brand community (OBBC) through social media platforms (SMP) given the interplay of consumers’ purchasing attitude in a virtual space. To do this, an online survey was used to gauge the views of online consumers so as to establish the relationship between social media usage and consumer-brand loyalty (CBL) via the online based-brand community. A total of 122 social media users affiliated to at least one online brand community took part in the survey. The findings generated through the partial least square and structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) showed that OBBC on the social media platform positively initiates consumer-brand engagement and user-brand relationship. While SMP indirectly stimulates consumer-brand promise and trust (CBPT), towards CBL via OBBC. For the purpose of brand management and the firm’s profitability, this paper offered a conceptual model that depicts a connection between SMP and CBL. The managerial implication of this research was to help practitioners and industry players to harness the usefulness of social media platform in their quest to increase market share in the medium to long-term goals.