The Interplay of Social Commerce, Consumer Engagement, and Brand Value Co-Creation: A Study of South African Markets
(A2025-123399)

AUTHORS

Siphiwe Dlamini, University of Cape Town; Rogan Muirhead, University of Cape Town; Mia van Aardt, University of Cape Town

ABSTRACT

Due to the emergence of social media technologies, social commerce has gained attention over the years. This study aims to investigate the use of social commerce as a brand-management tool and its impact on consumer engagement, brand value co-creation and social-commerce intent on South African consumers over 18. A single cross-sectional survey of 231 respondents was conducted with a descriptive research design. Multiple linear regression and bivariate correlation were used to test the study’s hypothesis. Positive relationships were discovered between social value, ratings and reviews, recommendations, and referrals on consumer engagement. Furthermore, consumer engagement strongly impacted social-commerce intent and brand value co-creation. Lastly, brand value co-creation was discovered to have a strong positive relationship with social-commerce intent. Brand strategies that consider social value, recommendations, referrals, ratings and reviews in their social-commerce tactics will positively impact consumer engagement with their brand and, therefore, increase brand value-co creation and social commerce intent. Subsequently, they may also increase consumer purchase intent, thus, improving the gains of their brand. This study proposes a comprehensive model that explains user experience and s-commerce factors in s-commerce intention platforms and provides insights into the factors of customer engagement in the s-commerce context. The study improves the current understanding of s-commerce intent by proposing and validating a conceptual model mediated by customer engagement in s-commerce.