Does human value-expressive brand anthropomorphism on social media lead to greater brand competitiveness?

Abas Mirzaei, Dean Charles Hugh Wilkie*, Amelie Jay Burgess

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Integrating human values into social media messages affects brand competitiveness through enhanced engagement. Using Schwartz's ten human values, signaling theory, and contagion theory, this study examines the differential impacts of human value-expressive brand anthropomorphism messages for generating social media engagement. The study analyzed 80,551 tweets from 97 brands using advanced LIWC-based dictionaries and revealed a clear pattern: Social media engagement increases for tweets that express high levels of human values, and several moderating variables, such as message complexity, emotionality, and posting time, influence the degree of engagement. Managers should adopt deliberate, and informed strategies for integrating human values into brand messaging, to drive engagement and cultivate stronger brand-consumer relationships.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104032
Pages (from-to)1-15
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Retailing and Consumer Services
Volume81
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • Brand competitiveness
  • Brand purpose
  • Human value-expressive brand anthropomorphism
  • Human values
  • Social media engagement
  • Social responsibility

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