Abstract

This thesis, comprised of three essays, examines the critical roles in driving consumer engagement on social media. Essay 1 explores the role of personification in consumer engagement. Drawing on the literature on personification in advertising, the Stereotype Content Model (SCM), and well-being theory, the essay demonstrates that compared with a non-personification appeal, a personification appeal featured in the brand posting leads to a higher level of consumer engagement. Across three studies, the findings show that a personification (vs. non-personification) appeal triggers consumers’ perceived warmth of the brand, which in turn heightens their need for social belongingness, thus leading to a higher level of consumer engagement. Further, hedonic motive from the perspective of consumers is identified as a boundary condition to such an effect. Specifically, the results show that hedonic motive enhances the serial mediation effect driving consumer engagement. Essay 2 draws on the literature on self-brand connections and advertising creativity, examining the downstream consequence of consumer engagement triggered by a personification appeal and identifying a moderator such as brand familiarity. Across two studies, the results demonstrate that a personification (vs. non-personification) appeal strengthens self-brand connections via perceived warmth and consumer engagement. Further, the effect of personification appeals on consumer engagement is amplified when the brand is unfamiliar rather than familiar. Essay 3 draws on autonomy-connectedness literature, self-construal theory, and self-congruity theory, exploring the interactive effect of autonomy-connectedness appeals and self-construal on consumer engagement. Across two studies, the results reveal that compared with connectedness-appeal content, autonomy-appeal content leads to higher engagement among consumers primed with independent self-construal, whereas connectedness-appeal (vs. autonomy-appeal) content leads to a higher level of engagement among consumers primed with interdependent self-construal. Further, the essay uncovers the underlying mechanism such that content self-congruity mediates the interactive effect of the appeal type and self-construal on consumer engagement. General discussions, theoretical contributions, and managerial implications are provided, respectively, in these three essays. Limitations and future research are also discussed, respectively.