Abstract
Drawing from the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), this study explores the influences of the gratifications derived from the use of the WeChat on Chinese consumers’ purchase intention for South Korean brands. A total of 2,276 respondents from ten cities in China—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Ji’nan, Nanjing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Xi’an—were part of this study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and PROCESS analysis was applied to examine the data. Gratifications that Chinese consumers receive from the WeChat, such as functional information, entertaining information, social interaction, brand interaction, and self-concept, positively influence their brand identity. In addition, the identity of South Korean brands positively correlated with consumer’s purchase intention in China. More importantly, by using a moderated mediation model, this research finds that the relationship between SNS (social networking service) content marketing and purchase intention is influenced by consumers’ regulatory focus and CSR performance of South Korean enterprises for COVID-19 in China. This study’s findings could extend the existing theoretical framework on applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to social media. In addition, results are in line with those authors who suggest that local social media use may positively affect foreign brand promotion. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
Highlights
Diversified new media is developing rapidly due to information technology, while the traditional media is losing the impact on consumers
Consumers in ten cities in China were investigated to analyze the influences of the gratifications derived from the use of the WeChat on their purchase intention for South Korean brands
Dimensions of content marketing, including functional information value content, entertainment information value content, social interaction, brand interaction, and self-concept, are positively correlated with brand identity. These results are in line with studies in the extant literature, such as Barker, who suggested that information content, entertainment content, and emotional content are the main factors influencing consumer purchase intention in marketing content (Barker, 2009)
Summary
Diversified new media is developing rapidly due to information technology, while the traditional media is losing the impact on consumers. Powerful Internet broadband, can-beskipped digital advertising, the popularity of smartphones, etc., has made marketing practitioners pay more attention to new media, especially social media. As the traditional content creation and dissemination model has converted dramatically, the content-focused social media communication strategy helps the company strengthen customer relationships and build its brand reputation. An average monthly active user of the WeChat platform has exceeded 1.1 billion, which has become a base for content marketing by many multinational companies. They hope to achieve more advertising and sustainable development of China’s brand (CINIC, 2019)
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