企业微博如何提升消费者忠诚度--基于社会认同理论的实证研究

How Can Enterprise Microblogging Improve Consumer Loyalty? An Empirical Study Based on Social Identity Theory

随着越来越多的企业使用微博,对企业微博价值的研究成为学术界和企业界非常关心的问题,但是很少有文章系统地研究企业微博如何影响消费者忠诚度,进而为企业创造价值。本文从品牌社区角度,基于社会认同理论和使用—满足理论,建立了企业微博对消费者忠诚的影响模型;根据对一家企业微博粉丝的预调查和对新浪企业微博粉丝的随机抽样调查,采用LISR EL检验了模型。实证研究结果表明,消费者感知的微博价值会促使其产生微博认同乃至企业认同,进而影响他们对企业和产品的关系感知,并最终影响其未来的购买意愿和推荐意愿。该模型刻画了消费者参与企业微博后的心理和行为,从消费者忠诚度角度揭示了企业微博的价值产生机理。

With more and more firms adopting enterprise microblogging as a new platform for information diffusion and consumer management, the business value of enterprise microblogging has become an important concern for both managers and scholars. Compared to traditional virtual brand communities, enterprise mieroblogging is a new type of virtual brand community that possesses some distinct features. However, studies on how enterprise microblogging can improve consumer loyalty and bring business value to firms are still lacking. Based on social identity theory and usage and gratifications theory, we proposed a model to describe the influence of enterprise microblogging on consumer loyalty from the perspective of brand community. We first conducted a pre-survey of the fans of an enterprise microblog to validate the quality of measurements. After that, we conducted a random sample survey of fans of enterprise microblogs on Sina Weibo. Based on 563 valid questionnaires from the random sample survey, we tested the proposed model with LISREL. Our results show that consumers＇ perceived values, including perceived purposive value, perceived social value and perceived entertainment value, can strengthen their identification with the enterprise microblog （i.e., microblog identification）. Microblog identification will influence consumers＇ perceived relationship with the enterprise and its products both directly and indirectly through the mediation of enterprise identification. Moreover, perceived relationship can influence consumers＇ future purchasing intention and future recommendation intention. This model describes consumers＇ psychology and behavior after they get involved in enterprise microblogging, and reveals how enterprise microblogging can create value for firms in the view of consumer loyalty. This study helps managers to understand the role of enterprise microblogging as a social-media based virtual brand community. The conclusion of this study can provide guidance for how to improve consumer loyalty through the effective operation of enterprise microblogging. At last, we discussed the limitations of the study and further research directions.