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Aalto University School of Business Master's Theses are now in the Aaltodoc publication archive (Aalto University institutional repository)
School of Business | Department of Marketing | Marketing | 2011
Thesis number: 12719
Motivations behind liking: Implications of Facebook brand community behavior on purchase intentions
Author: Malmivaara, Tuuli
Title: Motivations behind liking: Implications of Facebook brand community behavior on purchase intentions
Year: 2011  Language: eng
Department: Department of Marketing
Academic subject: Marketing
Index terms: markkinointi; marketing; psykologia; psychology; motivaatio; motivation; kuluttajakäyttäytyminen; consumer behaviour; internet; internet; sosiaalinen media; social media
Pages: 32
Full text:
» hse_ethesis_12719.pdf pdf  size:545 KB (557220)
Key terms: consumer behavior, brand community, social media, social commerce, hedonic, utilitarian
Abstract:
Companies’ Facebook pages have emerged as a commonly used marketing channel but consumers’ underlying motivations to use these pages and their effect on members’ intentions to purchase the host company’s products are currently unclear. The present study examines consumers’ hedonic and utilitarian motivations to use company-hosted Facebook pages in relation to the community usage behavior (browsing vs. contribution), and the relationship between usage behavior and purchase intentions. By using data collected from 1161 members of a travel agency’s Facebook page, the author finds that hedonic motivations indicate a higher propensity to contribute to the community while utilitarian motivations relate more strongly with only browsing the community page. The results also demonstrate that browsing has a stronger relationship with purchase intentions than contribution. The results offer insight into interpreting consumers’ behavior in brand communities and give implications on what kind of content induces purchase intentions the most.
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