The Impact of Social Media Engagement and E-WOM on Brand Loyalty: The Mediating Role of Social Media Influencer and Moderating Effect of Brand Credibility

Abstract

In current market that is more competitive and digitally oriented, brands are persistently exploring how to create a better type of consumer loyalty and involvement. Social media has become one of the useful brand communication tools, and social media participation and e-WOM are determined as the key elements of consumer attitudes and behaviors toward brands. Although it is generally accepted that social media engagement and e-WOM in conjunction have a significant impact on brand loyalty, there is insufficient knowledge concerning the interaction between them, particularly in regard to the contribution of intervening and modulating variables. In order to test the direct effect of Social Media Engagement (SME) and Electronic Word-of-Mouth (e-WOM) on Brand Loyalty (BL). To determine whether Social Media Influencers (SMIs) mediate the connection between Social Media Engagement, e-WOM, and Brand Loyalty. In order to determine the moderating influence of Brand Credibility on the connection among the social media engagement, e-WOM and Brand Loyalty. Quantitative research study is suitable because it enables objective measurement of the variables which are expressed in numerical data that can be evaluated to draw patterns, relationships and statistical significance. Users of social media in Pakistan who utilize a brand and influencer on different social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube) are the target audience of this research. In particular, it targets those people who are between 18-40 as this group is identified to be very active in terms of online activities such as social media interactions and usage of electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM). The research question aims at investigating the impact of the interest and usage of social media by this group on brand loyalty and the factors affecting this segment are social media influencers and brand credibility. In this research, the sample size is calculated according to the statistical power analysis as to be able to have adequate power to identify any meaningful relationships between the variables. The sample size selected is 407 respondents which is sufficient to obtain a margin of error of about +-5% at a confidence level of 95 percent. To analyze the data, the study involves the use of the most recent version of the SPSS (Statistical Package) which is the powerful statistical software. The presentation of descriptive statistics, reliability analysis (Cronbach alpha), correlation, and multiple regression, and structural equation modeling (SEM) can be used to evaluate the research hypotheses proposed in this research using SPSS.