Digital ecosystem and consumer engagement: A socio-technical perspective

Abstract

This paper develops a technology-centric perspective on consumer engagement in the digital ecosystem. Focusing on engagement with brands on social media-based brand communities, the study argues that consumer engagement is a socio-technical phenomenon that emerges from consumer action with digital technology. The action and the technology are co-constitutive of engagement practice and subject to continuous and mutually recursive change. The empirical findings explore how consumers engage in the digital ecosystem through actions with physical devices, digital haptics, and platforms. The findings highlight how the digital materiality of the engagement ecosystem generates new kinds of engagement practices including uncovering, appropriating, and cultivating. The study advances current thinking on engagement by offering a holistic view of engagement practice that encompasses multiple technologies and rejects technological mediation. This paper offers original theoretical insights into the status of digital technologies in consumer engagement, setting new directions for the future research on engagement.