Dynamics of social media involvement in building customer engagement and co-creation behavior: the moderating role of brand interactivity

Purpose: Adopting a self-congruence theory (SCT) and service dominant logic (SDL)-informed perspectives; we develop a model that investigates the interface between social media involvement (SMI), self-brand congruence (SBC), customer-brand engagement (CBE), brand co-creation behavior (BCB), brand interactivity and behavioral intentions (BIN) with luxury service hotel–brands. Design/methodology/approach: We test a sample of hotel-customers to probe this matter using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings: The results revealed that SBC and SMI positively impact CBE and BCB and behavioral intentions. The findings also exposed SMI’s and SBC’s indirect effect on customers' BCB and behavioral intentions, mediated through CBE. Finally, the results explored the moderating role of brand interactivity to enhance our model’s explanatory power. Research limitations/implications: We focus on SMI, CBE and BCB. This study contributes to the existing marketing and hospitality management research and spawns rich opportunities for further studies. Practical implications: The study article assists marketers in comprehending the CBE-based antecedents and consequences and facilitates their increasing CBE, BCB and behavioral intentions. Originality/value: While the growing insight into social media, customer engagement and co-creation within the service industries, little remains accredited concerning the link of these and related variables in the luxury hotel-brand context.