e-mentor, no. 5 (62), pages 77–83, December 2015
Note: the original article was published in Polish, under the title Wpływ aktywności online polskich konsumentów dotyczącej marek na kapitał marki bazujący na konsumencie. This page presents it in English. The English title and abstract are the journal’s own; the hypotheses, tables and scale items were translated from Polish for this page. The citation below gives the original title followed by its English translation in square brackets.
- Open access
- 766 Polish social media users
- 203 brands
- Structural equation modelling
- COBRA and brand equity
- Article in Polish
- consumer’s online brand-related activities
- COBRAs
- consumer-based brand equity
- CBBE
- social media
- brand engagement
- consuming, contributing and creating brand-related content
- brand awareness
- brand associations
- brand loyalty
- perceived quality
- second-order factor
- structural equation modelling
- Mplus
- Polish consumers
- Poland
The more Polish social media users consume, contribute to and create content about a brand, the more they know and like it, the more loyal they are and the higher they rate its quality. A survey of 766 users about 203 brands showed that online brand-related activity has its strongest effect on brand loyalty.
Key findings
- Online brand-related activity raises brand awareness and associations. Consumers’ engagement in consuming, contributing and creating brand-related content (COBRA, modelled as one second-order factor) had a positive effect on brand awareness/associations (β = 0.27, p < .001) (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
- The strongest effect is on brand loyalty. COBRA had a positive effect on brand loyalty (β = 0.42, p < .001), the largest of the three paths (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
- Brand-related activity also improves perceived quality. COBRA had a smaller positive effect on the brand’s perceived quality (β = 0.18, p < .001) (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
- Managers can grow brand equity by tracking how consumers engage. Systematically observing and analysing consumers’ online brand-related activities in social media campaigns can be expected to raise overall brand equity, and in turn sales and profits (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
At a glance
- Design
- Standardised online survey of Polish social media users; the sample reflects the profile of Polish social media users in January 2013 (Gemius)
- Participants
- 766 valid questionnaires from 897 respondents (85.4%); 56.3% women; 57.2% aged 25–30; 203 brands (clothing and accessories, cars, beverages, computers, high tech, mobile operators)
- Measures
- COBRA: 15 items (5 consumption, 4 contribution, 6 creation) on a 7-point frequency scale with a “never” option coded 0; CBBE: brand awareness/associations (4 items), perceived quality (4) and brand loyalty (5) on 7-point Likert scales
- Hypotheses
- COBRA has a positive effect on brand awareness/associations (H1), brand loyalty (H2) and perceived quality (H3); all three supported
- Analysis
- Exploratory factor analysis (SPSS 21), confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (Mplus 7.2, MLM estimator), with COBRA as a second-order factor
- Language
- The article is in Polish; the English abstract is on the journal’s site. The hypotheses, tables and items on this page are translated from Polish.
- Funding
- National Science Centre (NCN), Poland, PRELUDIUM project UMO-2012/07/N/HS4/02790
Figure 1. Structural model with the estimated paths
Effect of COBRA on the dimensions of consumer-based brand equity
Tables
Table 1. Convergent and discriminant validity of the constructs
| Construct | α | CR | AVE | MSV | LOY | CON | CONT | CRE | PQ | AW/AS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand loyalty (LOY) | 0.92 | 0.92 | 0.72 | 0.44 | 0.85 | |||||
| Consumption (CON) | 0.88 | 0.89 | 0.63 | 0.35 | 0.37 | 0.79 | ||||
| Contribution (CONT) | 0.92 | 0.92 | 0.76 | 0.64 | 0.36 | 0.59 | 0.87 | |||
| Creation (CRE) | 0.93 | 0.92 | 0.68 | 0.64 | 0.36 | 0.50 | 0.80 | 0.82 | ||
| Perceived quality (PQ) | 0.85 | 0.86 | 0.60 | 0.53 | 0.66 | 0.20 | 0.15 | 0.16 | 0.78 | |
| Brand awareness/associations (AW/AS) | 0.92 | 0.92 | 0.72 | 0.53 | 0.57 | 0.39 | 0.24 | 0.19 | 0.73 | 0.85 |
α = Cronbach’s alpha; CR = composite reliability; AVE = average variance extracted; MSV = maximum shared variance. Off-diagonal values are correlations between constructs; the square root of the AVE is on the diagonal (in italics). Abbreviations translated from Polish.
Table 2. Results of the path analysis
| Hypothesis | β | t | p | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H1. COBRA → brand awareness/associations | 0.27 | 9.71 | *** | Yes |
| H2. COBRA → brand loyalty | 0.42 | 15.09 | *** | Yes |
| H3. COBRA → perceived quality | 0.18 | 4.88 | *** | Yes |
*** p < .001. MLMχ²(482) = 1429.06, CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI 0.04–0.05), SRMR = 0.06 (as printed).
Table A. Constructs and scale items (Annex A)
| Construct | Item | Loading | SE | t | R² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumption | I read posts published by this brand on social networking sites. | 0.87 | 0.01 | 76.31 | 0.75 |
| Consumption | I view this brand’s pages (e.g., its Facebook fan page). | 0.86 | 0.01 | 62.62 | 0.75 |
| Consumption | I look at photos and other graphics related to the chosen brand. | 0.71 | 0.02 | 35.11 | 0.50 |
| Consumption | I follow blogs related to the chosen brand. | 0.60 | 0.02 | 25.07 | 0.35 |
| Consumption | I follow this brand on social networking sites. | 0.88 | 0.01 | 76.75 | 0.78 |
| Contribution | I comment on posts related to this brand. | 0.84 | 0.01 | 44.30 | 0.70 |
| Contribution | I post comments on this brand’s page (fan page). | 0.88 | 0.01 | 69.45 | 0.79 |
| Contribution | I “like” the chosen brand’s posts. | 0.88 | 0.01 | 62.05 | 0.78 |
| Contribution | I “like” pages (fan pages) related to this brand. | 0.87 | 0.01 | 56.14 | 0.75 |
| Creation | I write reviews of this brand’s products. | 0.72 | 0.02 | 26.81 | 0.52 |
| Creation | I post photos of the chosen brand’s products. | 0.82 | 0.02 | 40.26 | 0.68 |
| Creation | I share posts about this brand. | 0.88 | 0.01 | 69.69 | 0.79 |
| Creation | I share videos that show this brand. | 0.80 | 0.02 | 31.04 | 0.65 |
| Creation | I share entries about this brand on social networking sites. | 0.88 | 0.01 | 73.10 | 0.77 |
| Creation | I post entries about this brand on blogs and/or discussion forums. | 0.80 | 0.01 | 43.70 | 0.65 |
| Brand awareness/associations | I know this brand. | 0.87 | 0.01 | 71.08 | 0.76 |
| Brand awareness/associations | I can easily recognise this brand among other brands. | 0.85 | 0.01 | 52.49 | 0.72 |
| Brand awareness/associations | I have good memories of this brand. | 0.78 | 0.01 | 41.69 | 0.60 |
| Brand awareness/associations | The brand I chose has a good image. | 0.88 | 0.01 | 72.94 | 0.77 |
| Perceived quality | The chosen brand’s products are of better quality than unbranded ones. | 0.75 | 0.02 | 71.08 | 0.57 |
| Perceived quality | Even though other brands’ products are good, I still think the brand I chose is better. | 0.76 | 0.01 | 40.65 | 0.58 |
| Perceived quality | This brand’s products are of good quality. | 0.81 | 0.01 | 49.46 | 0.66 |
| Perceived quality | The products of the brand I chose are reliable. | 0.78 | 0.02 | 35.70 | 0.61 |
| Brand loyalty | I am faithful to the brand I chose. | 0.92 | 0.00 | 131.97 | 0.86 |
| Brand loyalty | I consider myself loyal to this brand. | 0.89 | 0.00 | 97.25 | 0.80 |
| Brand loyalty | I consider myself a fan of this brand. | 0.75 | 0.01 | 47.76 | 0.57 |
| Brand loyalty | I am attached to this brand. | 0.83 | 0.01 | 50.14 | 0.70 |
| Brand loyalty | If someone offers me a competing brand, I will still buy products of the brand I chose. | 0.81 | 0.01 | 48.22 | 0.66 |
Standardised loadings from the confirmatory factor analysis; values as printed. COBRA items rated from 1 (very rarely) to 7 (very often), with “never” coded 0; brand equity items from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Items translated from Polish. Sources: Yoo and Donthu (2001) and Villarejo-Ramos and Sánchez-Franco (2005) for awareness/associations and perceived quality; Walsh et al. (2009) for loyalty.
The question
Research shows that social media communication shapes how consumers perceive brands, but how consumers’ own brand-related activity affects brand equity was less clear. We asked whether Polish consumers’ engagement in consuming, contributing to and creating brand-related content in social media (COBRA) affects the dimensions of their consumer-based brand equity (CBBE).
Implications
Practical implications
Brand managers should build the COBRA model into the management of their social media campaigns: by systematically observing and analysing how consumers consume, contribute to and create brand-related content, they can expect higher brand equity, and in turn higher sales and profits.
Theoretical implications
Treating consuming, contributing and creating as one second-order COBRA construct, the study links consumers’ brand-related social media activity to Aaker’s brand equity dimensions, with awareness and associations combined into one dimension as in Yoo and Donthu (2001).
Limitations and future research
- The sample included only Polish consumers; the study should be repeated in other cultural, social and economic settings.
- Differences between social media platforms were not taken into account.
Questions this paper answers
Does engaging with brands on social media increase brand equity?
In 766 Polish social media users, consuming, contributing to and creating brand-related content had positive effects on brand awareness/associations, brand loyalty and perceived quality (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
Which part of brand equity does online brand-related activity affect most?
Brand loyalty (β = 0.42), followed by brand awareness/associations (β = 0.27) and perceived quality (β = 0.18) (Schivinski & Łukasik, 2015).
What are COBRAs?
Consumer’s online brand-related activities: consuming, contributing to and creating brand-related content in social media (Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011).
Is this article available in English?
The article is in Polish, with an English abstract on the e-mentor website. This page summarises it in English, with the hypotheses, tables and scale items translated.
Key concepts
- COBRAs
- Consumer’s online brand-related activities: consuming (reading, watching, following), contributing (liking, commenting) and creating (posting, sharing, reviewing) brand-related content.
- Consumer-based brand equity
- The value a brand has in consumers’ minds; here measured by brand awareness/associations, perceived quality and brand loyalty (Aaker, 1991).
- Second-order factor
- A latent variable measured by other latent variables; here COBRA is formed by the consumption, contribution and creation factors.
Open science and materials
- Published version (in Polish) e-mentor 5(62), free PDF on the journal’s website
- English abstract e-mentor English page
Study materials
- Scale items
- All 28 items (translated from Polish) with their factor loadings are in Table A below (Annex A of the article).
How to cite
Schivinski, B., & Łukasik, P. (2015). Wpływ aktywności online polskich konsumentów dotyczącej marek na kapitał marki bazujący na konsumencie [The influence of Polish consumers’ online brand-related activity on brand equity]. e-mentor, 5(62), 77–83. https://doi.org/10.15219/em62.1215