IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joinma/v39y2017icp104-116.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Second Person Pronouns Enhance Consumer Involvement and Brand Attitude

Author

Listed:
  • Cruz, Ryan E.
  • Leonhardt, James M.
  • Pezzuti, Todd

Abstract

Online brand messaging, e.g., blogging or posting on social media platforms, has an important role in digital marketing strategy. Such messaging is largely text based and provides an opportunity for brands to interact with many consumers simultaneously. The marketing literature, however, has yet to provide sufficient guidance on effective online brand messaging strategies. In particular, research has yet to address how the inclusion of second person pronouns in online brand messaging affects relevant consumer outcomes. The present research proposes that second person pronouns should work to enhance consumer involvement and brand attitude as a result of increasing the extent that consumers engage in self-referencing. A field study involving actual brand posts on Facebook and two subsequent experiments provide support for this hypothesis. In addition, drawing on cultural dimensions theory, individual levels of collectivism are identified as a boundary condition. The presence (vs. absence) of second person pronouns in online brand messaging enhances involvement and brand attitude for consumers that are lower, but not higher, in collectivism. The results provide marketers with needed guidance for creating effective online brand messaging.

Suggested Citation

  • Cruz, Ryan E. & Leonhardt, James M. & Pezzuti, Todd, 2017. "Second Person Pronouns Enhance Consumer Involvement and Brand Attitude," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 104-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:39:y:2017:i:c:p:104-116
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2017.05.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996817300348
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intmar.2017.05.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hollebeek, Linda D. & Glynn, Mark S. & Brodie, Roderick J., 2014. "Consumer Brand Engagement in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 149-165.
    2. Soares, Ana Maria & Farhangmehr, Minoo & Shoham, Aviv, 2007. "Hofstede's dimensions of culture in international marketing studies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 277-284, March.
    3. Aner Sela & S. Christian Wheeler & Gülen Sarial-Abi, 2012. "We Are Not the Same as You and I: Causal Effects of Minor Language Variations on Consumers' Attitudes toward Brands," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 644-661.
    4. Mittal, Banwari & Lee, Myung-Soo, 1989. "A causal model of consumer involvement," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 363-389, November.
    5. de Vries, Lisette & Gensler, Sonja & Leeflang, Peter S.H., 2012. "Popularity of Brand Posts on Brand Fan Pages: An Investigation of the Effects of Social Media Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 83-91.
    6. Zaichkowsky, Judith Lynne, 1985. "Measuring the Involvement Construct," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 12(3), pages 341-352, December.
    7. Richins, Marsha L & Bloch, Peter H, 1986. "After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(2), pages 280-285, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daniele Dalli & Annamaria Tuan & David D?Acunto, 2018. "How online reviewers and actual customers evaluate their shopping experiences. Evidence from an international retail chain," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(3), pages 163-180.
    2. Razzaq, Ali & Shao, Wei & Quach, Sara, 2024. "Meme marketing effectiveness: A moderated-mediation model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Todd Pezzuti & James M. Leonhardt, 2023. "What’s not to like? Negations in brand messages increase consumer engagement," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 675-694, May.
    4. Aleti, Torgeir & Pallant, Jason I. & Tuan, Annamaria & van Laer, Tom, 2019. "Tweeting with the Stars: Automated Text Analysis of the Effect of Celebrity Social Media Communications on Consumer Word of Mouth," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 17-32.
    5. Giandomenico Domenico & Annamaria Tuan & Marco Visentin, 2021. "Linguistic drivers of misinformation diffusion on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2021(4), pages 351-369, December.
    6. Pezzuti, Todd & Leonhardt, James M. & Warren, Caleb, 2021. "Certainty in Language Increases Consumer Engagement on Social Media," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 32-46.
    7. Annamaria Tuan & Sebastiano Grandi, 2018. "Emerging trends in qualitative research. A focus on Social Media," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(4), pages 17-26.
    8. Leonhardt, James M. & Pezzuti, Todd & Namkoong, Jae-Eun, 2020. "We’re not so different: Collectivism increases perceived homophily, trust, and seeking user-generated product information," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 160-169.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abhishek Dwivedi & Dean Wilkie & Lester Johnson & Jay Weerawardena, 2016. "Establishing measures and drivers of consumer brand engagement behaviours," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(5), pages 41-69, September.
    2. Muhammad Waqas & Zalfa Laili Hamzah & Noor Akma Mohd Salleh, 2022. "Branded content experience in social media settings: a consumer culture theory perspective," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(2), pages 225-240, March.
    3. van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & Castaldi, Carolina & Dijst, Martin J., 2012. "In what sequence are information sources consulted by involved consumers? The case of automobile pre-purchase search," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 343-352.
    4. Kumar, V. & Pozza, Ilaria Dalla & Ganesh, Jaishankar, 2013. "Revisiting the Satisfaction–Loyalty Relationship: Empirical Generalizations and Directions for Future Research," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 246-262.
    5. Harrigan, Paul & Evers, Uwana & Miles, Morgan P. & Daly, Tim, 2018. "Customer engagement and the relationship between involvement, engagement, self-brand connection and brand usage intent," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 388-396.
    6. Keyoor Purani & Krishnan Jeesha, 2022. "Community based brand equity as brand culture: advancing brand equity conceptualization for a connected world," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 12(1), pages 52-70, June.
    7. Banik, Shanta, 2021. "Exploring the involvement-patronage link in the phygital retail experiences," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Neuninger, Rosemarie & Mather, Damien & Duncan, Tara, 2017. "Consumer's scepticism of wine awards: A study of consumers’ use of wine awards," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 98-105.
    9. O'Cass, A., 2000. "An assessment of consumers product, purchase decision, advertising and consumption involvement in fashion clothing," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 545-576, October.
    10. Bruneau, Virginie & Swaen, Valérie & Zidda, Pietro, 2018. "Are loyalty program members really engaged? Measuring customer engagement with loyalty programs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 144-158.
    11. Coelho, Pedro Simões & Rita, Paulo & Santos, Zélia Raposo, 2018. "On the relationship between consumer-brand identification, brand community, and brand loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 101-110.
    12. Tony Cooper & Constantino Stavros & Angela R. Dobele, 2019. "The levers of engagement: an exploration of governance in an online brand community," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 240-254, May.
    13. Whang, Haesung & Yong, Sunghwa & Ko, Eunju, 2016. "Pop culture, destination images, and visit intentions: Theory and research on travel motivations of Chinese and Russian tourists," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 631-641.
    14. Tibert Verhagen & Daniel Bloemers, 2018. "Exploring the cognitive and affective bases of online purchase intentions: a hierarchical test across product types," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 537-561, September.
    15. Mark Heitmann & Andreas Herrmann, 2007. "Die Zufriedenheit mit dem Entscheidungsprozess als Determinante der Kundenbindung," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 530-566, August.
    16. Raed S. Algharabat & Nripendra P. Rana, 0. "Social Commerce in Emerging Markets and its Impact on Online Community Engagement," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    17. Waqas, Muhammad & Salleh, Noor Akma Mohd & Hamzah, Zalfa Laili, 2021. "Branded Content Experience in Social Media: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Validation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 106-120.
    18. Franziska Rumpel & Michael Knuth & Micheal Schaefer, 2008. "Neural correlates for price involvement in purchase decisions with regards to fast-moving-consumer-goods," FEMM Working Papers 08033, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    19. Bosul Yoo & Sotaro Katsumata & Takeyasu Ichikohji, 2017. "The Impact of Customer Orientation on Quantity and Quality of User-Generated Content: A Multi-Country Case Study of Mobile Applications," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 17-12, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    20. Katarzyna Żyminkowska, 2018. "Hedonic and Utilitarian Drivers of Customer Engagement," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(4), pages 15-33.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joinma:v:39:y:2017:i:c:p:104-116. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-interactive-marketing/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.