Enhancing brand relationship performance through customer participation and value creation in social media brand communities

Extant research highlights novel opportunities in co-opting customers to co-create value through their participation in the brand experience. However, relatively little is known about how customer participation (CP) affects value creation and brand relationship performance outcomes in social media brand communities in the retailing sector. This study applies Service Dominant Logic and the consumption value theory to examine how retail customers derive value from CP in social media brand communities. Empirical results from 584 consumers confirm the CP influence on functional value, emotional value, relational value and entitativity value, which translate to brand relationship performance outcomes. The theoretical framework provides novel insights to marketing managers in understanding how CP can contribute to a retail brand's value creation efforts, and how these value creating efforts contribute to brand building for retailers.