| Abstract | The media landscape has witnessed a noticeable transformation over the past decade (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Social media are playing an increasingly important role in communication. Due to the intense competition in the marketplace, nowadays, customers are exposed to numerous brands from across the world, and, therefore, building brand equity has become an important source of differentiation. According to Schema theory (Eysenck, 1984), communication stimuli can lead to a positive impact on consumers’ perception of a brand. As a result, brand communication is positively related to brand equity as long as the communication stimuli contribute to a favourable attitude towards the branded product (Seo and Park, 2019). China has become the world’s second largest economy since 2012, with the world’s largest population of 1.4 billion (The World Bank, 2019). Understanding the behaviour of young Chinese consumers is crucial to international high street fashion brands targeting this market.
Based on the existing literature, this research aims to fill three research gaps. First, few researchers consider co-creation of social media brand communication as a dimension of social media brand communication, second, only a few researchers examine the effect of brand communication on consumer-based brand equity through social media platforms instead of traditional mass media, and third, few researchers investigate the communication about international high street fashion brands through Chinese social media among young Chinese consumers. Accordingly, five research questions were posed: first, from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers, what are consumers’ motivations to engage in user-generated social media brand communication, second, from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers, how does each dimension of social media brand communication affect each dimension of consumer-based brand equity, third, from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers, what are the causal relationships among consumer-based brand equity dimensions, fourth, from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers, how does each dimension of consumer-based brand equity affect purchase intention, and fifth, from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers, how does brand country-of-origin affect consumer-based brand equity dimensions?
This research adopts a mixed-methods approach, utilising qualitative methods in the early stage and predominant quantitative methods in the following stages of the research. The conceptual framework was developed on the basis of existing literature and qualitative research. In the second phase, a self-administered questionnaire was designed, aiming to elucidate the relationship between social media brand communication and consumer-based brand equity, the causal relationships between dimensions of consumer-based brand equity, the relationships between consumer-based brand equity and purchase intention, and the relationship between country-of-origin and consumer-based brand equity dimensions from the perspectives of young Chinese consumers. Pilot study, including reliability test and exploratory factor analysis, was conducted to reduce the items and refine the measurement scales of the questionnaire. Followed by a main survey consisted of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.
Based on the relevant literature, qualitative research (thirteen in-depth interviews and three focus groups, total of eighteen participants), and the statistical results, this study obtains a number of implications, which are especially valuable for marketing managers of international high street fashion brands who want to enhance brand equity among young Chinese consumers with the help of brand communication on Chinese social media. The findings identify that firm-generated social media brand communication can positively influence young Chinese consumers’ brand awareness and brand loyalty. User-generated social media brand communication is found to have a positive impact on young Chinese consumers’ perceived quality. Co-creation of social media brand communication is proven to have a positive effect on young Chinese consumers’ brand association. Besides, the findings also identify that brand awareness can positively influence young Chinese consumers’ brand association and brand loyalty. Brand association has a positive effect on young Chinese consumers’ perceived quality. Perceived quality has a positive impact on young Chinese consumers’ brand loyalty. Furthermore, altruism is proven to be a motivation for young Chinese consumers to engage in user-generated social media brand communication, which is considered to be an antecedent of this research model. Moreover, brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty are found to have a positive influence on young Chinese consumers’ purchase intention, which is regarded as the outcome of this research model. Finally, the results indicate that country-of-origin has a positive impact on all the hypothesised dimensions of consumer-based brand equity (brand association, perceived quality, and brand loyalty).
However, some unexpected outcomes appeared, comprising the following relationships: venting motivation, self-enhancement, and economic motivation were not positively related to user-generated social media brand communication. User-generated social media brand communication and co-creation of social media brand communication did not positively affect brand awareness. Firm-generated social media brand communication and user-generated social media brand communication were not positively related to brand association. Firm-generated social media brand communication, co-creation of social media brand communication and brand awareness had no positive impact on perceived quality. Co-creation of social media brand communication, and brand association were not positively related to brand loyalty. Brand awareness was not positively related to purchase intention.
This research is one of the first empirical studies integrating social media brand communication, consumer-based brand equity, purchase intention, and country-of-origin into one conceptual model in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of the aforementioned relationships. Besides, it is the first to investigate the relationships between social media brand communication and consumer-based brand equity for international high street fashion brands targeting young Chinese consumers through the Chinese social media WeChat; hence, it contributes to testing the generalisation of the brand equity theory in the setting of China. In addition, it is the first to propose the co-creation of social media brand communication as a dimension of social media brand communication. This dimension was proven to be validated by the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Furthermore, this research also contributes to the literature in that it demonstrates that standard learning hierarchy theory can be applied in China for young Chinese consumers. Therefore, the findings are of academic and managerial relevance, since this research not only extends the existing knowledge but also provides deeper insight into the way of developing a favourable international high street fashion brand in the setting of China. |
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