IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ahh/wpaper/worms2113.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Emojis to conversion on social media: Insights into online consumer engagement and reactions

Author

Listed:
  • Dušan Mladenović
  • Kamil Koštiál
  • Nikolina Ljepava
  • Ondřej Částek
  • Yash Chawla

Abstract

Emojis have become extremely popular in online marketing. Marketers use emojis to humanize their voice and elicit an emotional response from their target audiences. However, little is known about how emojis are perceived and what kind of reactions they evoke in consumers. The aim of this study is to examine whether exposure to emojis leads to an increased purchase intention, and whether its use leads to higher revenue generation and campaign effectiveness. The results show that the use of emojis had a negative effect on purchase intention; however, it was positive when mediated by positive affect. Emojis increased the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for hedonic products and had a strong impact on the return on advertising spend. However, for utilitarian products, the effect was marginal. The findings have theoretical and practical implications, particularly for the type of products emojis are most effective in promoting, gender differences, and real-life consumer behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Dušan Mladenović & Kamil Koštiál & Nikolina Ljepava & Ondřej Částek & Yash Chawla, 2021. "Emojis to conversion on social media: Insights into online consumer engagement and reactions," WORking papers in Management Science (WORMS) WORMS/21/13, Department of Operations Research and Business Intelligence, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology.
    • Handle: RePEc:ahh:wpaper:worms2113
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://worms.pwr.edu.pl/RePEc/ahh/wpaper/WORMS_21_13.pdf
    File Function: Original version, 2020
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cheshin, Arik & Rafaeli, Anat & Bos, Nathan, 2011. "Anger and happiness in virtual teams: Emotional influences of text and behavior on others' affect in the absence of non-verbal cues," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 2-16, September.
    2. McShane, Lindsay & Pancer, Ethan & Poole, Maxwell & Deng, Qi, 2021. "Emoji, Playfulness, and Brand Engagement on Twitter," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 96-110.
    3. Chawla, Yash & Chodak, Grzegorz, 2021. "Social media marketing for businesses: Organic promotions of web-links on Facebook," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 49-65.
    4. Kim, Juran & Kang, Seungmook & Lee, Ki Hoon, 2021. "Evolution of digital marketing communication: Bibliometric analysis and network visualization from key articles," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 552-563.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ana Cláudia Amaro & Luisa M. Martinez & Filipe R. Ramos & Karla Menezes & Silvio Menezes, 2023. "An overstimulated consumer in a highly visual world: the moderating effect of the highly sensitive person trait on the attitude towards the ad," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1429-1458, September.
    2. Lim, Jia Hui & Tai, Kenneth & Kouchaki, Maryam, 2021. "Ambivalent bosses: An examination of supervisor expressed emotional ambivalence on subordinate task engagement," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 139-152.
    3. Vinay Singh & Brijesh Nanavati & Arpan Kumar Kar & Agam Gupta, 2023. "How to Maximize Clicks for Display Advertisement in Digital Marketing? A Reinforcement Learning Approach," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1621-1638, August.
    4. Barasch, Alixandra & Levine, Emma E. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2016. "Bliss is ignorance: How the magnitude of expressed happiness influences perceived naiveté and interpersonal exploitation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 184-206.
    5. Jiang, Zhou & Zhao, Xianbo & Wang, Zhongmin & Herbert, Kendall, 2024. "Safety leadership: A bibliometric literature review and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    6. Nuria Gamero & Baltasar González-Anta & Virginia Orengo & Ana Zornoza & Vicente Peñarroja, 2021. "Is Team Emotional Composition Essential for Virtual Team Members’ Well-Being? The Role of a Team Emotional Management Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-19, April.
    7. Christoph Laubert & Jennifer Parlamis, 2019. "Are You Angry (Happy, Sad) or Aren’t You? Emotion Detection Difficulty in Email Negotiation," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 377-413, April.
    8. Elizabeth Han & Dezhi Yin & Han Zhang, 2023. "Bots with Feelings: Should AI Agents Express Positive Emotion in Customer Service?," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 1296-1311, September.
    9. Yang Chen & Aleksy Kwilinski & Olena Chygryn & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko, 2021. "The Green Competitiveness of Enterprises: Justifying the Quality Criteria of Digital Marketing Communication Channels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Chun Yang & Xuqi Chen & Jie Sun & Wei Wei & Wei Miao & Chao Gu, 2022. "Could Surplus Food in Blind Box Form Increase Consumers’ Purchase Intention?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-19, June.
    11. Li, Ting & Cai, Lanhui & Liu, Yanfeng & Yuen, Kum Fai & Wang, Xueqin, 2024. "From a functional service to an emotional ‘saviour’: A structural analysis of logistics values for in-home consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Federico Mangiò & Giuseppe Pedeliento & Daniela Andreini & Lia Zarantonello, 2024. "How persuasive is woke brand communication on social media? Evidence from a consumer engagement analysis on Facebook," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 31(4), pages 345-381, July.
    13. Avneet Kaur & Sujata Khandai & Jones Mathew, 2023. "Mapping the Field of Social Media Engagement: A Literature Review Using Bibliometric Analysis," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 12(4), pages 368-385, December.
    14. Lauri Valkonen & Jouni Helske & Juha Karvanen, 2023. "Estimating the causal effect of timing on the reach of social media posts," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 32(2), pages 493-507, June.
    15. Jungwoo Lee & Cheong Kim & Kun Chang Lee, 2021. "Investigating the Negative Effects of Emojis in Facebook Sponsored Ads for Establishing Sustainable Marketing in Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-15, April.
    16. Abad-Segura, Emilio & González-Zamar, Mariana Daniela & López-Meneses, Eloy, 2022. "El proceso de toma de decisiones basado en métodos cuantitativos [Analysis of research on decision making-based on quantitative methods]," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 34(1), pages 118-136, December.
    17. Yu, Joanne & Dickinger, Astrid & So, Kevin Kam Fung & Egger, Roman, 2024. "Artificial intelligence-generated virtual influencer: Examining the effects of emotional display on user engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Tobias Maiberger & David Schindler & Nicole Koschate-Fischer, 2024. "Let’s face it: When and how facial emojis increase the persuasiveness of electronic word of mouth," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 119-139, January.
    19. Michael Filzmoser & Patrick Hippmann & Rudolf Vetschera, 2016. "Analyzing the Multiple Dimensions of Negotiation Processes," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 1169-1188, November.
    20. Bashirzadeh, Yashar & Mai, Robert & Faure, Corinne, 2022. "How rich is too rich? Visual design elements in digital marketing communications," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 58-76.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emojis; Online marketing; Social media; Campaign effectiveness; Revenue generation; Return on advertising; Return on investment; Hedonic product; Utilitarian product;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D87 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Neuroeconomics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ahh:wpaper:worms2113. 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: Anna Kowalska-Pyzalska (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/kbpwrpl.html .

    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.