Investigating the role of identification for social networking Facebook brand pages

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 84; pp. 141 - 152
• Main Authors: Popp, Bastian, Wilson, Bradley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elmsford Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2018; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Brand loyalty; Customer loyalty; Diagnostic systems; Facebook; Identification; Partial least squares path modeling; PLS-PM; Social media; Social networks; Target recognition; Word of mouth advertising; Customer loyalty; Identification; PLS-PM; Facebook; Social media; Partial least squares path modeling
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.033

This study highlights the multiple roles of identification in a Facebook context. We differentiate and monitor the impacts of three key targets of identification, specifically, the identification with: a brand’s Facebook page, other users of this Facebook brand page, and identification at the conventional consumer-brand level. In this study, the relevance of each target was investigated with its impact on the level of loyalty to a Facebook brand page and word-of-mouth in favor of this page. Another level was examined at the broader brand level with the constructs of brand loyalty and word-of-mouth brand being integrated. The findings clearly illustrate that each target of identification has varying impacts on overall brand loyalty and word-of-mouth. Additionally, in some cases there is more of a mediated effect through loyalty and word-of-mouth towards the brand’s social networking page. Future researchers should include separate identification targets in new studies. Also, the inclusion of loyalty and word-of-mouth allows numerous managerial diagnostic benefits to be assessed. •This study highlights the multiple roles of identification in a Facebook context.•Identification is targeted at: a brand’s Facebook page, the users, and the brand.•The targets of identification have differential effects on brand page and brand.•Separating identification targets has numerous managerial diagnostic benefits.