The impact of social media engagement on customer brand perception: The mediating effect of electronic word-of-mouth

Never before have social media platforms been more powerful in engaging customers in their daily life with the user-generated contents shared by like-minded consumers. However, there have been very few scholarly attempts to identify the impact of social media engagement on customer attitude and behaviour toward the brand. Accordingly, drawing on social information processing theory, the principal focus of this study is to develop the propositions regarding the influence of social media engagement on customer perception toward the brand, and, subsequently, on the intention of purchasing the brand product/services. Further, the study argues the mediating effect of the adoption of electronic Word-of-Mouth on engaged users in driving their brand perception when they utilise the shared information on social media to shape their perception about the brand competence and warmth in deliver its brand promise. In addition, the research also examines the moderating roles of online savviness and social media credibility.