L. Zailskaitė-Jakštė “Consumers engagement behavior in social media communication impact on brand equity” doctoral thesis defence

Author, Institution: Ligita Zailskaitė-Jakštė, Kaunas University of Technology

Science area, field of science: Social Sciences, Management, 03S

Scientific Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Rita Kuvykaitė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, 03S)

Dissertation Defence Board of Management Science Field:
Prof. Dr. Jūratė Banytė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, 03S) – chairwoman;
Prof. Dr. Viltė Auruškevičienė (ISM University of Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Management, 03S);
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Žaneta Piligrimienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, 03S);
Prof. Dr. Viktoriia Riashchenko (ISMA University, Riga, Latvia, Social Sciences, Economics, 04S);
Prof. Dr. Asta Savanevičienė (Kaunas University of Technology, Social Sciences, Management, 03S).

 The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio St. 20, Kaunas).

Annotation:

The aim of the research – to determine the impact of consumer engagement behaviour in social media communication on brand equity by linking the antecedents of consumer engagement behaviour, engagement behaviour levels and the dimensions of brand equity in social media. The first part of the dissertation defines the social media concept and presents the changes caused by social media in marketing communication, which enabled consumers to become active participants of communication. Then, the construct of consumer engagement behaviour in social media communication was disclosed through consumers engagement levels, the antecedents of engagement behaviour and the consequences of consumer engagement were identified and systematized, the conceptual meaning of the brand equity, the relationship between the consumer engagement behaviour antecedents of social media communication, engagement behaviour levels and brand equity dimensions were presented and revealed. Finally, by using the theoretical modelling method, the conceptual model of consumer engagement behaviour in social media communication impact on brand equity was presented. In the second part of the dissertation, the methodological empirical research access to the consumer engagement behaviour in social media communication impact on brand equity was justified. In the third part, by linking the results of theoretical and empirical research, a developed model allowed to evaluate the consumers’ engagement motives and marketing communication impact on consumer engagement behaviour – lurking, participation and creating in social media communication, to evaluate the impact of mentioned consumer behaviour on brand equity dimensions such as awareness, association and loyalty.