IJBI

Abstract

Considering the increase in popularity and usage of social media, there is no doubt that the potential for e-marketing and other forms of online positioning is growing in equal measure. Consumer socialization through these new types of online communities, especially via social networking websites, has become an important part of contemporary marketing. An online community provides a cost effective mechanism with the ability to target specific types of consumer demographics. However, there is still a gap in the socialization literature regarding the effects of Brand-related User-generated Content (BR-UGC) on users’ intention to purchase branded products/services via their online interactions. Given the increasing exposure to generating and sharing BR-UGD and the prevalence of social networks like Facebook in the lives of today’s users this gap needs to be addressed. This paper marks an exploratory step toward our understanding of the interactive roles BR-UGC content and Facebook play in the formation of socialization agent through the lens of consumer socialization theory and, their effects on users’ attitude towards the brands and purchase intentions. It also addresses the impact of social structural variables and social experience variables as antecedents to generating vs. sharing BR-UGC as consumer socialization agents. The proposed model is valuable for future empirical research whereby user’s interactions via BR-UGC can be enhanced to maximize the influence of social media in purchase intention.