Customer engagement and sharing behaviors: Toward a contingent curvilinear perspective

Abstract

There is growing recognition of a linear relationship between customer engagement (CE) and sharing behavior intention (SBI) within firm-hosted online brand communities (OBCs) in social media. This study examines a negative quadratic nonlinear relationship among consumers of OBCs on Facebook brand pages in the United States, in which higher CE levels have a detrimental effect on SBI. Two moderators (perceived OBC interactivity and perceived OBC innovativeness) are considered to mitigate this effect. Hierarchical regression modelling tests a theoretical framework with data from 595 users of OBCs on Facebook. Results confirm a negative quadratic curvilinear relationship between CE and SBI and that perceived OBC innovativeness and perceived OBC interactivity mitigates the curvilinear effect. The results provide insights into the curvilinear effects of CE in firm hosted OBCs. These findings inform the optimization of digital content marketing activities to enhance sharing behaviors amongst actors to maintain a vibrant OBC in social media.