| Author: | Ho, Ming Wai Celine |
| Title: | The impact of facebook engagements on brand trust and word of mouth : an empirical study of the energy utility industry in Hong Kong |
| Advisors: | Gu, Flora (MM) |
| Degree: | D.B.A. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Social media Internet marketing Branding ,Marketing) Social responsibility of business Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Faculty of Business |
| Pages: | 176 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The evolution of internet has led to new ways of communications. The social media revolution has transformed the marketing communication landscape drastically. Web 2.0 has accelerated the popularity of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and many corporations have leveraged this opportunity to enhance their brand equity and ascertain their public sentiment. The main objective of this study is to examine the causal relationship between Facebook engagement factors and brand trust as well as word of mouth through the influence of perceived quality as the mediating variable and the presence of Corporate Social Responsibility content as the moderator. A Pilot Study in the format of face-to-face and one-on-one interviews have been conducted to help inform the design of the experiments. In the subsequent Main Study, the six hypotheses in the theoretical model are tested through a series of experiments by manipulating different independent variables against the backdrop of the energy utility industry in Hong Kong, which is basically a government regulated monopoly. In order to minimise any potential bias or preconception towards CLP Power Hong Kong and Hong Kong Electric which are the two incumbent electricity companies locally, special experiments have been designed under the name of YY Electricity Company, which is a fictitious brand as the service provider. My research provides empirical evidence to support the proposed conceptual model. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that bigger is always better, a bigger follower size in the Facebook community of the energy utility industry in Hong Kong does not necessarily lead to better brand trust and word of mouth. Through the statistical analysis, it is validated that comment negativity on the brand's Facebook page is negatively related to its brand trust and word of mouth. Besides, the number of followers and the proportion of negative comments on the brand's Facebook page negatively interact to affect the two dependent variables. Moreover, perceived quality mediates the interaction effect of the follower size and comment negativity on its brand trust and word of mouth. Furthermore, the presence of Corporate Social Responsibility content positively moderates the effect of comment negativity on perceived quality, which subsequently affects brand trust and word of mouth. Since most of the extant literatures focus on examining the causal relationship between Facebook engagement factors and purchase intention in competitive business, this thesis helps address the research gap by analysing the correlation between Facebook engagements and brand related attributes including brand trust and word of mouth in the context of a monopolistic business environment. Apart from the theoretical implications, there are also managerial and practical contributions to the field of marketing and management. The empirical findings not only help inform board decisions related to social media management but can also be applied to certain government sectors and eradicate the misconception that the bigger the follower size the better for reinforcing brand value. Instead of chasing more followers, more resources should be invested to manage negative comments properly on the official Facebook brand pages. Social media revolution offers both opportunities and challenges for business entities. In the monopoly domain, social networking sites is like a double-edged sword. Social media should not be embraced by firms because it is "seen to be" associated with modern and progressive image. Marketing teams should establish clear brand goals that support company's vision and mission by optimising the value of both social and traditional media as integrated marketing. Limitations and future research direction have also been discussed. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6347.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.86 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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