Do Social Media and E-Mail Engagement Impact Reputation and Trust-Driven Behavior?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of customer social media engagement (SE) and e-mail engagement (EE) on online service providers’ reputation, customer trust, and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on an online survey of 271 customers of an online service who have social media accounts and could be connected with the loyalty data in the vendor’s customer relationship management (CRM) system in the two years after the survey. Structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data. Findings and implications – EE positively influences a service provider’s reputation and consumer trust in the online service, while the effect of SE is indirect through its positive impact on EE. Trust has a positive impact on loyalty, while the observed loyalty of customers is related to their self-reported loyalty. Limitation – This research focused on an established online service that enjoys a certain level of trust among customers, which can be further enhanced through EE and SE. This study cannot be applied to online services in the early phase of market entry, where trust and reputation are preconditions for EE and SE.