Social media brand engagement in the context of collaborative consumption: the case of AIRBNB
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Social media brand engagement in the context of collaborative consumption: the case of AIRBNB Bruno Schivinski1 · Daniela Langaro2 · Teresa Fernandes3 · Francisco Guzmán4 Revised: 19 June 2019 © Springer Nature Limited 2020
Abstract This study focuses on social media brand engagement in the context of shared and collaborative consumption businesses, a novel trend in the hospitality industry. By drawing on the concept of brands being defined collectively through an assemblage of heterogonous human and nonhuman actors, and focusing on the brand Airbnb—a peer-to-peer online platform for renting, swapping, and lending accommodations—the current study examines how consumers’ perceptions of Airbnb brand equity mediate the relationship between functional and hedonic brand image and social media behavioral engagement in terms of consumption, contribution, and creation of brand-related content (COBRAs). Results discriminate between direct and indirect effects. Findings reveal that hedonic brand image directly influences behavioral engagement on social media, whereas brand equity fully mediates the relationship between functional brand image and COBRAs. Implications for theory and practice related to shared or collaborative consumption platforms in the hospitality industry are discussed and suggestions for future studies are presented. This research paper provides conceptual and theoretical clarity on issues such as how consumers’ brand perceptions influence their behavioral engagement on social media. Keywords Functional brand image · Hedonic brand image · Overall brand equity · Consumer brand engagement · COBRAs · AIRBNB
Introduction The rise of social media and mobile apps, as well as the increased reliance on e-commerce systems, has facilitated the sharing of goods and services (Lu and Kandampully 2016), privileging access over ownership (Hamari et al. 2016). As a consequence, during the past decade, shared or collaborative consumption practices have gained widespread popularity, with more than two-thirds of consumers worldwide willing to engage in such activities (Liu and Mattila 2017) and revenues being expected to reach $335 billion by 2025 (PwC Global 2015). The concept of shared or collaborative consumption implies that access to goods * Bruno Schivinski [email protected] 1
RMIT University, School of Media and Communication, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2
ISCTE-IUL, Department of Marketing, Operation and Management, Lisbon, Portugal
3
University of Porto, Faculty of Economics, Porto, Portugal
4
University of North Texas, G. Brint Ryan College of Business, Texas, USA
and services is among peers, with exchanges being coordinated through community-based online services (Hamari et al. 2016). Just as Uber has shaken up the traditional taxi industry (Varma et al. 2016), the enthusiasm with this business format has strongly influenced the hospitality industry, with a growing number of peer-to-peer renting, swapping, lending and accommodation services such as Airbnb, VRBO
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