Brands on social media: A meta-synthesis on the social media value chain
(A2020-62141)

AUTHORS

Georgia Liadeli, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Francesca Sotgiu, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics; Peeter Verlegh, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of business and Economics

KEYWORDS

owned social media; earned social media; meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This paper uses meta-analyses to quantify the chain of effects in the social media value chain, in which owned social media affects earned social media and brand image, which, in turn, impact consumer buying behavior. The authors conduct a three-step meta-analysis, which encompasses 1,504 effects collected across 124 papers published between 2009 to 2018, covering 40 platforms, 15 industries, and 61 countries. The results show that owned social media has a substantial and significant effect on earned social media, and that both types of social media have a direct and significant influence brand image. Furthermore, earned social media has an effect on consumer buying behavior while the impact of owned social media on consumer buying behavior is established only through indirect effects. Interestingly, these effects are dependent on platform-industry-country combinations, as outlined in the paper.