| Abstract [eng] |
The rapid evolution of technology has caused a continuous change in consumer habits. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the consumer shift from physical to the virtual environment has grown exponentially thus virtual environment became the usual and, in most cases, the only way for brands to reach their consumers. Since consumers became enabled to actively co-create brands instead of only being content receivers, brands usually develop online brand communities to create and nurture this phenomenon of co-creation. Though consumer self-brand connections are already academically acclaimed as one of the main antecedents of the online brand community engagement it is crucial to keep testing if this relation is still valid in the current circumstances and what are the possible consequences of this relation. The relations between consumer self-brand connections and online brand community engagement are significant to marketing theorists and practitioners due to the already proven impact on brand trust, commitment, loyalty, purchase intent, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication and the assumed impact on brand advocacy as well, further research recommended. Yet brand advocacy is commonly mistaken as an equivalent of eWOM or brand evangelism, the frequently used methods of the construct measurement are limited, equal in both physical and virtual environments. In 2020, researchers refined a multidimensional online brand advocacy measurement methodology that has created an opportunity for in-depth research. As a result of this research, positive impact of consumer self-brand connection and online brand community engagement on brand advocacy was determined. Results of the further in-depth analysis of dimensional relations between the studied constructs disclosed that absorbent, emotional and behavioral online brand community engagement has a greater impact on brand advocacy dimension – brand knowledge and positivity sharing, while social online brand community engagement has a greater impact on the following dimension of brand advocacy – brand defense. |
