What makes fashion consumers “click”? Generation of eWoM engagement in social media

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived exposure of fashion consumers to different types of fashion brands’ social media marketing (SMM) actions in social media, and its relationship with the intention to engage in electronic word-of-mouth (eWoM) behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study uses a survey conducted on a stratified random sample of 241 Indonesian members of fashion social media brand communities (SMBCs). The research design includes 19 types of SMM actions and 3 types of eWoM engagement behaviors, and investigates their relationship using point-biserial correlation.FindingsGeneration of intention to engage in “pass-on” and “endorsement” eWoM has different drivers and serves different purposes. The findings suggest that endorsement engagement is contingent on the consumer’s perceived exposure to marketing action stimuli, while pass-on engagement is driven by cognitive-inducing actions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study extends current theory on SMM strategy and its relationship with eWoM engagement with a theoretically grounded conceptualization of eWoM engagement behaviors through the use of one-click social plug-ins.Practical implicationsThe study offers guidelines for fashion brands to effectively design their SMM strategies by identifying specific drivers of consumers’ intention to engage in eWoM.Originality/valueThis study identifies sources of generation of eWoM engagement behavioral intention from a fine-grained analysis of marketing actions across various fashion SMBCs. Besides, it extends the applicability of the “mere exposure” effect to the SMM context. The research pioneers the study on fashion consumers’ eWoM engagement behaviors in Indonesia, a country with one of the largest social media populations.