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Facebook ‘friendship’ and brand advocacy

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Abstract

This study tests hypotheses integrating relational aspects of social networks, self-expressive brands and consumers’ brand advocacy. We explore the relationship between homophily and social ties, and the extent to which strong ties are associated with Facebook users’ incorporation of self-expressive brands in their personal profiles by ‘Liking’ them. We also examine the relationship between self-expressive brands ‘Liked’ on Facebook, and consumers’ brand advocacy in online and offline settings. A survey of 265 Facebook users reveals stronger social ties influence consumers to ‘Like’ brands that express their inner and social selves. Self-expressive brands reflecting one's inner or social self encourage consumers to offer positive WOM on social networks. Further, self-expressive brands ‘Liked’ on Facebook positively influence consumers’ brand acceptance, and their willingness to forgive ‘Liked’ brands for wrongdoing. Managerial implications along with implications for theory development are explored.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Research Development Initiative, Strand 2 (Ref: RCS 258) from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the I+D+I project (Ref: ECO2009–08283) from the Government of Spain and the project ‘GENERES’ (Ref: S-09) from the Government of Aragon and the European Social Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lecturer in Marketing, J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland

    Elaine Wallace, Isabel Buil & Leslie de Chernatony

Authors
  1. Elaine Wallace
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  2. Isabel Buil
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  3. Leslie de Chernatony
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elaine Wallace.

Appendix

Appendix

Table A1

Table A1 Brand categories ‘liked’ on Facebook
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Wallace, E., Buil, I. & de Chernatony, L. Facebook ‘friendship’ and brand advocacy. J Brand Manag 20, 128–146 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/bm.2012.45

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