Developing Consumers' Brand Loyalty in Companies' Microblogs: The Roles of Social- and Self- Factors

This paper aims to explore how socialand self-factors may affect consumers’ brand loyalty while they follow companies’ microblogs. Drawing upon the commitment-trust theory, social influence theory, and self-congruence theory, we propose that network externalities, social norms, and self-congruence are the key determinants in the research model. The impacts of these factors on brand loyalty will be mediated by brand trust and brand commitment. We empirically test the model through an online survey on an existing microblogging site. The findings illustrate that network externalities and self-congruence can positively affect brand trust, which subsequently leads to brand commitment and brand loyalty. Meanwhile, social norms, together with self-congruence, directly posit influence on brand commitment. Brand commitment is then positively associated with brand loyalty. We believe that the findings of this research can contribute to the literature. We offer new insights regarding how consumers’ brand loyalty develops from the two social-factors and their self-congruence with the brand. Company managers could also apply our findings to strengthen their relationship marketing with consumers on microblogging sites.