CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT WITH SPECIFIC BRAND AND AS A GENERAL MEASURE: RELATIONSHIP AND BENEFITS FOR COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS

Resumo

In this article, we jointly analyze two streams of study of engagement in marketing literature: consumer engagement with a specific brand and brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) as a generalized tendency to include brands as a part of the self-concept. More specifically, our objective is to test a nomological network in which BESC represents an antecedent of the consumer engagement, and the latter has consequences for companies (corporate reputation) and consumers (perceived value) in social media. To validate this nomological network, we conducted two studies, one in the United States and one in Brazil, followed by a multigroup analysis to check the cross-cultural group invariance of the structural model. As a result, we showed that BESC is discriminant and an important antecedent of consumer engagement, and that consumers engaged with brand on Facebook generate benefits for companies, improving their corporate reputation, and for consumers, improving their perceived value.