Brand community integration and customer satisfaction of social media network sites among students

• Main Authors: Hayford Amegbe, Henry Boateng, Farouq Sessah Mensah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Growing Science 2017-11-01
• Series: Management Science Letters
• Subjects: Brand community (BC); Customer satisfaction; Social media network sites (SNSs)
• Online Access: http://www.growingscience.com/msl/Vol7/msl_2017_31.pdf

The aim of the study was to examine how consumers integrate into brand communities on social media network sites (SNSs) and how it affects overall satisfaction of social media sites users among students. The study depends on the service-dominant logic (SDL) to develop the constructs for hypotheses testing. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design. The data were col-lected using a web-based survey of university of Nairobi Students. In all, a total of 608 students participated in the survey. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. The results revealed that frequency of usage of SNSs and duration of usage positively affect the self –perceived relevance of SNSs. Also, the self-perceived relevance leads to building brand community which finally leads to customer satisfaction. The research was limited to only students of Nairobi and selecting students in itself, which is a limitation as well as limiting it to uni-versity of Nairobi. The younger or the millennial are not the only users of SNSs. We have older generations as well, who also use SNSs for various activities such as professional development among others. Understanding why consumers of social media network site would integrate brand community is seminal for both local and foreign firms doing business in a developing country. This would enable marketing practitioners to craft marketing strategies best for community brand build-ing.