From Social Media Platform Identification to Brand Evangelism: Unveiling the Mediating Role of Brand Affinity among Fashion Clothing Brands’ Followers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-iv.259Keywords:
Brand Affinity, Brand Evangelism, Consumer Brand Advocacy, Fashion Marketing, Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM), Social Identity Theory, Social Media Platform Identification (SMPI), Social CommerceAbstract
Despite the growing popularity of social media in influencing consumer-brand interactions, little is known about the mechanisms through which social media platform identification (SMPI) translates into the most committed degree of consumer advocacy i.e. brand evangelism within the fashion clothing brands. This study addresses this research gap by focusing on the mediating effect of brand affinity in the SMPI-evangelism relationship. Grounded in Social Identity Theory, this research uses a survey of active followers of major fashion clothing brands with the use of PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4. The findings show that SMPI increases both brand affinity and evangelism, with affinity having a strong direct impact and acting as a complementing mediator. What is critical is the fact that cognitive identification alone does not suffice to produce evangelism; the follower needs to have an emotional connection with the brand. In essence, by expanding Social Identity Theory to the domain of social media platform identity, the study contributes to both theory and management practice.
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