UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF GHANA BUSINESS SCHOOL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND ADVERTISING MESSAGE STRATEGY: AN APPLICATION OF THE STIMULUS ORGANISM RESPONSE MODEL BY ANNE AKUA RENNER (10225962) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN MARKETING DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP JULY 2020 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis, which I now submit for examination for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, is entirely my own work and has not been presented by anyone for �y academic award in this or any other university. All references used in the work have been fully acknowledged. This thesis has been prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by the University of Ghana. ��o, ......... ���0 ........... .. ANNE AKUA RENNER (10225962) . . 3..1 f 1,.???:: .\ ........ . DATE 1 CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that this thesis was supervised in accordance with procedures laid down by the University of Ghana, Legon. Professor Ernest Y. Tweneboah-Koduah (Co-Supervisor) Dr. Kobby Mensah (Co-Supervisor) 11 Date Date Date iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my darling husband, Dr. Douglas Coleman and our precious daughter, Dael Kuukuwa Coleman. Thank you for your love, patience and encouragement throughout my period of study. Thank you, my dear, for putting up with me all this while as I worked on this thesis. I would not have been able to make it without your support. God richly bless you. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being so merciful toward me. If it had not been for Your mercy and grace, I surely would have given up along the way. Many special thanks to my supervisors, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson, Professor Ernest Yaw Tweneboah-Koduah and Dr. Kobby Mensah for your guidance, counsel direction and correction. Thank you so much for the various hands-on opportunities you gave me to learn. I am highly indebted to you. Special thanks also go to all the Faculty at the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship for their support in diverse ways throughout my PhD journey. Most especially Dr. Thomas Anning Dorson for always making time whenever I needed to discuss challenges I was facing and helping bring clarity with what I wanted to do. This work would not have been possible without the help, encouragement and prayers of the following friends of mine, John Paul Kosiba, Mrs. Irene Bokpin (looking after Dael so I could work), Ps. Enyonam Ewoade, Mrs. Linda Agyeman for helping around the house and attending to Dael, Mrs. Shereece Temeng Osei, for your encouragement, Ms. Abigail Quaye, for being the most amazing roommate and for your encouragement. Thank you, Ps. Michael Hagan for your kind words and prayers. Thank you, Angela Alu for our times of sharing. I enjoyed our times together as I was guaranteed to leave refreshed and strengthened to plod on. To my colleagues, I say thanks for your support. Thanks, especially to Drs. Akpabli, and Nutsugah for regularly checking up on me and for the mutual encouragement. v To my parents, Mr. O’Neil George Renner and Prof. Lorna Renner, what can I say? You have always been there for me. God bless you above and beyond for your support, concern, love, in fact for everything. Thank you for stepping in to help look after Kuukuwa when I needed some help. Dr. Jeanette Ewurefua Renner, God bless you and prosper you for your support as well. I love you all! I am profoundly grateful to my in-laws, especially Madam Esther Oppong and Ms. Amanda Coleman, for showing me love and support in my academic pursuits. I can’t thank you enough for being there to baby-sit Kuukuwa whilst I worked. I love you! Finally, I’d like to thank my amazing husband who beat me to the title of Doctor: Dr. Douglas Coleman. I am immensely grateful for your support, keen interest, rebukes (haha) and encouragement. God bless you lots. I love you. To Dael Kuukuwa Coleman, my PhD baby gem, I love you. You sure kept my hands full this past year but I wouldn’t trade you for anything. Thanks for being you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................................ i CERTIFICATION ......................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ............................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... xii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 1.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY .................................................................... 1 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RESEARCH GAPS ......................... 4 1.2.1 Gaps in Theoretical Approaches ....................................................................... 6 1.2.2 Gaps in Context ................................................................................................. 8 1.3 RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES ....................................................................... 9 1.4 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY ......................................................................... 9 1.5 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THIS STUDY .... 11 1.6 SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS AND STRUCTURE OF THESIS ....................... 12 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................... 14 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 14 2.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 14 2.1 THE CONCEPT OF ADVERTISING ............................................................... 14 2.1.1 Defining Advertising ....................................................................................... 14 2.1.2 Social media advertising ................................................................................. 15 2.1.3 Advertising Message Strategy ......................................................................... 19 2.1.4 Taylor’s (1999) Six Segment Message Strategy ............................................. 21 2.2 CONCEPTUALISING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT ................................... 27 2.2.1 The Concept of Engagement ........................................................................... 27 2.2.2 Emergence of Engagement Research in Marketing Scholarship .................... 34 2.2.3 Customer Engagement on Social Media ......................................................... 37 vii 2.2.4 Pansari & Kumar’s (2017) Conceptualisation of Customer Engagement ....... 39 2.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................... 44 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES ................................................. 44 3.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 44 3.1 THEORIES EMPLOYED IN THE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT LITERATURE ......................................................................................................... 44 3.1.1 Relationship Marketing Theory ...................................................................... 44 3.1.2 Service Dominant Logic .................................................................................. 45 3.1.3 Social Exchange Theory .................................................................................. 47 3.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY- THE STIMULUS- ORGANISM-RESPONSE (S-O-R) MODEL .......................................................... 48 3.2.1 Tenets of the Stimulus-Organism-Response Model ........................................ 52 3.2.2 Applying the S-O-R Model to the Current Research ...................................... 56 3.3 HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .... 62 3.3.1 Conceptual Framework ................................................................................... 62 3.3.2 Hypotheses Development ................................................................................ 65 3.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................ 71 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY ...................................................................................... 71 4.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 71 4.1 BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE GHANAIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY .................................................................................................................................. 71 4.1.1 Key Developments in the Ghanaian Automobile Industry ............................. 72 4.2 BACKGROUND TO THE GHANAIAN FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS INDUSTRY ............................................................................................... 73 4.2.1 Market Trends of the Personal Care Industry ................................................. 74 4.2.2 Mercedes-Benz ................................................................................................ 75 4.2.3 Pepsodent Toothpaste ...................................................................................... 76 4.3 ADVERTISING IN GHANA ............................................................................ 77 4.3.1 Social media advertising among firms in Ghana ............................................ 78 4.4 CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AMONG FIRMS IN GHANA........................ 80 4.4.1 Customer Engagement on social media among firms in Ghana ..................... 80 4.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................... 81 viii CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................... 83 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 83 5.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................... 83 5.1 RESEARCH PARADIGMS AND PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS ........ 83 5.1.1 Common Paradigms in Management Research .............................................. 83 5.2 RESEARCH APPROACH ................................................................................. 85 5.2.1 Research Approach used in this Study ............................................................ 85 5.3 QUASI-EXPERIMENT AS A RESEARCH DESIGN ..................................... 87 5.4 DATA COLLECTION ....................................................................................... 88 5.4.1 Advertising Message Strategies ...................................................................... 88 5.4.2 Data Collection Instrument ............................................................................. 89 5.4.3 Sampling.......................................................................................................... 91 5.4.4 Data Collection Procedure .............................................................................. 93 5.5 MODE OF ANALYSIS ..................................................................................... 93 5.5.1 Multivariate Analysis Techniques ................................................................... 94 5.5.2 Analytical Instruments Employed ................................................................... 98 5.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................. 102 CHAPTER SIX .......................................................................................................... 104 RESULTS/FINDINGS .............................................................................................. 104 6.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 104 6.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ......................................................................... 104 6.1.1 Profile of Respondents .................................................................................. 106 6.2 RESULTS OF THE ONE-WAY MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE (MANOVA) ...................................................................................... 107 6.2.1 Homoscedasticity of the Dependent Variables ............................................. 107 6.2.2 Estimation of the MANOVA Model ............................................................. 107 6.3 RESULTS OF THE STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING ................ 112 6.3.1 Confirmatory Factor Analysis ....................................................................... 112 6.3.2 The Structural Model .................................................................................... 115 6.4 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................. 120 CHAPTER SEVEN ................................................................................................... 122 DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS ............................................................ 122 7.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 122 7.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 122 ix 7.2 ADVERTISING MESSAGE STRATEGIES, EMOTIONS AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE ADVERT .................................................................................. 124 7.2.1 Ritual Message Strategies, Emotions and Attitude towards the Advert ....... 124 7.2.2 Transmission Message Strategies, Emotions and Attitude ........................... 126 7.2.3 Effects of Pleasure, Arousal and Attitude towards the Advertisement on Customer Engagement ........................................................................................... 127 7.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY .................................................................................. 129 CHAPTER EIGHT .................................................................................................... 131 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .......................................... 131 8.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW ................................................................................. 131 8.1 SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH AND MAJOR FINDINGS..................... 131 8.2 REFLECTIONS ............................................................................................... 133 8.2.1 Reflection on Theory (Stimulus-Organism-Response Model) ...................... 134 8.2.2 Reflection on Research Framework .............................................................. 135 8.2.3 Reflection on Methodology ........................................................................... 136 8.3 CONTRIBUTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE RESEARCH .............. 137 8.3.1 Theoretical Implications ................................................................................ 137 8.3.2 Implications for Management/Practice ......................................................... 138 8.4 CONCLUSIONS, RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 139 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................... 142 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 180 APPENDIX A – QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................... 180 APPENDIX B – ADVERTISEMENT AD 01 ....................................................... 182 APPENDIX C – ADVERTISEMENT AD 02 ....................................................... 183 APPENDIX D – ADVERTISEMENT AD 03 ....................................................... 184 APPENDIX E – ADVERTISEMENT AD 04 ....................................................... 185 APPENDIX F – ADVERTISEMENT AD 05........................................................ 186 APPENDIX G – ADVERTISEMENT AD 06 ....................................................... 187 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Six Segments Message Strategies ............................................................. 24 Figure 3. 1: Mehrabian and Russell's (1974) theoretical framework, as modified for this study. .................................................................................................. 62 Figure 3.22 The research model. .................................................................................. 65 Figure 4. 1: Most used social media platforms in Ghana as of the third quarter of 2020 .......................................................................................................... 79 xi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Summary of studies .................................................................................... 18 Table 2. 2: Engagement Conceptualisations across Disciplines .................................. 33 Table 2. 3: Summary of Engagement Terms in Marketing ......................................... 36 Table 5. 1: Summary and comparison of four main research paradigms in management research. .............................................................................. 84 Table 6. 1: Descriptive Statistics ............................................................................... 105 Table 6. 2: Profile of Respondents ............................................................................. 106 Table 6. 3: Levene's Test of Equality of Error Variances .......................................... 107 Table 6. 4: MANOVA Results for Transmission Advertising Message Strategies ... 108 Table 6. 5: MANOVA Results for Ritual Advertising Message Strategies .............. 109 Table 6. 6: Tests of Between-Subjects Effects .......................................................... 110 Table 6. 7: Descriptive Analysis ................................................................................ 111 Table 6. 8: Multiple Comparisons (Scheffe) .............................................................. 111 Table 6. 9: Model Fit Measures ................................................................................. 113 Table 6. 10: Standardised Factor Loadings ................................................................ 114 Table 6. 11: Reliability and Validity .......................................................................... 115 Table 6. 12: Model Fit Measures for SEM Model ..................................................... 116 Table 6. 13: SEM Model – Hypotheses Testing ........................................................ 117 Table 6. 14: Summary of Major Results/Findings .................................................... 119 xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AMOS - Analysis of Moments of Structures ANOVA - Analysis of Variance AVE - Average Variance Extracted B2B - Business to Business B2C - Business to Consumer C2C - Consumer to Consumer CFA - Confirmatory Factor Analysis CFI - Comparative Fit Index CR - Composite Reliability DVLA - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority FCB - Foote, Cole and Belding FDA - Food and Drugs Authority G-D Logic - Goods-Dominant Logic GDP - Gross Domestic Product GNA - Ghana News Agency MANOVA - Multivariate Analysis of Variance Mercedes-AMG - Mercedes Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach MSI - Marketing Science Institute MSV - Maximum Shared Value PAD - Pleasure, Arousal, Dominance S-D Logic - Service-Dominant Logic SEM - Structural Equation Modelling S-O-R - Stimulus-Organism-Response SRMR - Standardised Root Mean Residual SSAL - Silver Star Auto Limited WOM - Word of Mouth xiii ABSTRACT It has been documented in the literature that customer engagement, defined as “customers’ behavioural manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers”, leads to increased profits, sustained differentiation and superior competitive advantage. There is a call for the growth of research into advertising and customer engagement (Islam & Rahman, 2016b; Barger et al., 2016; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Kim, Ahn, Kwon & Reid, 2017; Gavilanes, Flatten & Brettel, 2018). Limited extant scholarly work enables us understand that customer engagement can be a precursor to advertising effectiveness (e.g. Calder, Malthouse & Schaedel, 2009). However, with regard to advertising’s impact on customer engagement on social media, not much work has been carried out, except for a few studies (see Roberts & Alpert, 2010; Islam & Rahman, 2016b). Though these report that advertising has an effect on customer engagement, scholars have called for more research into this particular area to generate further understanding (Brettel et al., 2015; Khang, Ki & Ye, 2012; Okazaki & Taylor, 2013) particularly with regard to message strategies that are employed in advertisements on social media (Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Tafesse & Wien, 2018; Gavilanes, Flatten & Brettel, 2018). This study therefore sought to examine customer engagement and advertising message strategy within the Ghanaian context. Specifically, the study draws on the stimulus- organism response model and Taylor’s (1999) advertising message strategy and aims to provide insights into the most effective advertising message strategies for both hedonic (luxury) and utilitarian (functional) products. Through an extensive literature review, a conceptual framework and empirical results from over 400 individuals in top to middle-level management, the study employs a within-subjects quasi experimental research, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), confirmatory factor analyses along with structural equation modelling. The findings of the research show that for hedonic products, the most effective ritual message strategy is a social strategy, which has the most effect on emotions and attitude towards the advertisement. This is followed by ego and then finally the sensory message strategies. In addition, the findings also show that for utilitarian products, all transmission message strategies have virtually the same effect on attitudes and emotions. Finally, regarding the relationship between emotions, attitude towards the advertisement and customer engagement, the study finds that pleasure and attitude towards the advertisement have a significantly positive effect on customer engagement. Previous research in customer engagement focuses on its antecedents and consequences. This study is the first, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, to incorporate different message strategies available to firms, and show what are the most effective strategies for luxury (hedonic) and functional (utilitarian) products, as far as generating customer engagement is concerned. 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter discusses the background to the study, research problem, research aim and objectives and research questions. The study’s significance and organisation are further discussed in subsequent paragraphs. 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Competition within the global economy is reaching heightened levels of fierceness and myriad companies “battle” for virtually the same markets. The breakdown of trade barriers in some countries and the onset of technology in the form of e-commerce has meant the customer now has a wide range of product and service providers from which to choose (Cuillierier, 2016). Not only are the customers exposed to similar products and services from their home countries, they now have the luxury of making purchases overseas at the simple touch of a button. Hence, for firms to stand out, relying on the elements of the traditional marketing mix and on the management practices of years gone by can no longer suffice (see Gronroos, 1997). Even more startling is the reality that merely seeking to satisfy the customer does not necessarily provide sustained immunity from the pressures of competition (Pansari & Kumar, 2017). Pansari and Kumar (2017, p. 294) put it this way: …both managers and academicians understand that over the course of time, it is not enough to simply satisfy the customer to make him/her loyal and profitable. Profitable loyalty and satisfaction need to be evolved to a higher level, a level of desired differentiation and of sustainable competitive advantage. 2 In a bid to mitigate against the current pressures of competition, management seems to have shifted from a preoccupation with selling and the benefits of relationships to now carrying out activities that enable “engaging” with actual and potential customers on all fronts and in every way possible (Sawhney, Verona & Prandelli, 2005; Wang, 2006; Kumar et al., 2008; Wang, 2010). The aim now is to emotionally connect with the customer in such a way that (s)he becomes bonded with the firm, remains loyal, makes repeat purchases, and ultimately on their own becomes a brand ambassador (Kumar & Pansari, 2016). According to Pansari and Kumar (2017, p. 295): Firms have been slowly shifting their focus from the objective of selling to emotionally connecting with their customers with the hope of generating sales and ultimately ensuring a lifetime of profitable loyalty. In other words, a firm’s focus is shifting to personalising interactions, delighting its audience, and understanding customers’ unique challenges to make their lives better and involving them as spokespersons of the firm. It is this bonding (engagement), that scholars have discovered, leads to sustained differentiation, cost reduction (Thomas, 2011), sales growth (Neff, 2007 as cited in Hollebeek, 2012), profitability (Voyles, 2007) and superior competitive advantage (Sedley, 2008). Engagement, according to Pansari and Kumar (2017), is “the mechanics of a customer’s value addition to the firm, either through direct or/and indirect contribution” (pg. 295). Research indicates that business executives in both public and private sectors throughout the world are working towards increased levels of customer engagement and many are resorting to social media to do just that. Businesses utilise social media (SM) to support and expand their already existing social or business networks and to 3 create new ones (Lorenzo-Romero et al., 2011). In fact, it is documented (see Markman, 2012; Smith, 2017) that approximately 65 million and between 50%-70% of business to business (B2B) firms respectively, are present on the most popular SM platform (Facebook). This is not surprising, considering the overwhelming statistics that indicate the popularity of the platform among individuals. Facebook has 1.32 billion active users (Facebook, 2017; Oviedo-Garcia et al., 2014) who collectively spend nearly 10 billion minutes uploading 250 million pictures and creating 4 billion pieces of content (Tsotsis, 2011; Rusli, 2012). Ghanaian firms also make use of social media, predominantly Facebook (Karikari et al., 2017; Gyampo, 2017). SM has transformed the manner in which firm/brand-related content is consumed, distributed and produced and many opportunities for targeting stakeholders and the general public online have arisen in more precise ways than is possible with traditional media (Ofcom, 2008; Kelly et al., 2010). For example, with brand-related content such as advertisements, firms are able to see, almost immediately, the reactions of actual or potential customers. The number of Facebook likes, comments, and shares per social media advertisement, some scholars have argued, is a rich source of data for possible strategic decision-making and is said to be an indication of the degree of customer engagement (Gavilanes et al., 2018). Facebook is the most-used social network for corporate advertising (Statista 2017); therefore, this study follows recent research (Gavilanes et al., 2018) and uses Facebook as its focal social media network. 4 A number of studies have been conducted on social media advertisement and customer engagement. In particular, research has focused on uncovering effective message strategies that can generate customer engagement (Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Gavilanes, Flatten & Brettel, 2018; Kim, Ahn, Kwon & Reid, 2017). Though these are indicative of engagement towards the advertisement, arguably, they do not necessarily provide a concrete idea when it comes to what type of message strategy works best for certain products (for example hedonic and utilitarian products) when advertising on social media. Utilitarian products are effective, helpful, functional, necessary, and practical, whereas hedonic products are fun, exciting, delightful, thrilling, and enjoyable (Lu et al., 2016). 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND RESEARCH GAPS Generally speaking, there is a call for the growth of research into advertising and customer engagement (Islam & Rahman, 2016b; Barger et al., 2016; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Kim, Ahn, Kwon & Reid, 2017; Gavilanes, Flatten & Brettel, 2018). This is because despite the fact that advertising plays a central role in business, it generally is not an area that has received much attention in the customer engagement literature. Limited extant scholarly work enables us understand that customer engagement can be a precursor to advertising effectiveness (e.g. Calder, Malthouse & Schaedel, 2009). However, with regard to advertising’s impact on customer engagement on social media, not much work has been carried out, except for a few studies (see Roberts & Alpert, 2010; Islam & Rahman, 2016b). Though these report that advertising has an effect on customer engagement, scholars have called for more research into this particular area 5 to generate further understanding (Brettel et al., 2015; Khang, Ki & Ye, 2012; Okazaki & Taylor, 2013) particularly with regard to message strategies that are employed in advertisements on social media (Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Tafesse & Wien, 2018; Gavilanes, Flatten & Brettel, 2018). Although some prior research has examined the link between advertising message strategy and customer engagement (e.g. Swani et al., 2013; Araujo et al., 2015; Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Kim et al., 2015; Swani et al., 2016; Gavilanes et al., 2018), insights that have emerged from these few studies have been far from consistent. This, according to Tafesse and Wien (2018), is due to the diverse ways in which the message strategies have typically been defined and conceptualised in the extant literature. Theory-based approaches that in a comprehensive manner define and conceptualise message strategy have for the most part been lacking (Tafesse & Wien, 2018). Literature makes it clear that advertising message strategies generally take two basic approaches (1) transmission/informational and (2) ritual/transformational which are further broken down into sub-strategies (see Carey, 1975; Wells, 1980; Laskey et al., 1989; Taylor, 1999). The type of product/service to be advertised typically determines the approach to be used (Holbrook & O’Shaughnessy, 1984; Johar & Sirgy, 1991; Shavitt, 1990, 1992; Rodgers & Thorson, 2012; Ahn et al., 2013; Behboudi et al., 2014). Specifically, scholars have stated that for products that are purchased for hedonic (pleasure/luxury) purposes, a ritual/transformational approach should be used (Ahn et al., 2013; Lynn, 2015; Klein & Melnyk, 2016) whereas a transmission/informational approach is to be employed for those that are purchased mainly for utilitarian (functional) reasons (Ahn et al., 2013; Behboudi et al., 2014; Kleinc & Melnyk, 2016). 6 Most studies to date, however, and to the best of this researcher’s knowledge, seem to overlook this and are equivocal in showing which transmission and ritual strategies are the most effective in generating customer engagement as far as hedonic and utilitarian products are concerned. Specifically, most studies conclude that strategies that fall within the transformational approach are most effective, regardless of product type. This arguably is not practical, considering the fact that this “one-size fits all” approach propounded by previous studies does not take into account the fact that not all products and services can be advertised with one particular approach. This study was poised to contribute to literature by taking main advertising message strategies traditionally used for hedonic and those for utilitarian products and seeing which of them is a greater generator of customer engagement. 1.2.1 Gaps in Theoretical Approaches The customer engagement literature seems to majorly rely on (1) relationship marketing (e.g. Bowden, 2009; Brodie et al., 2011, 2013; Hollebeek, 2011b; Vivek et al., 2012, 2014; Cambra-Fierro et al., 2013, 2015; Islam & Rahman, 2016b) and (2) service dominant logic theories to explain the concept of customer engagement (e.g. Brodie et al., 2011, 2013; Hollebeek, 2011b; Breidbach et al., 2014; Chathoth et al., 2014; Vivek et al., 2014). In recent times, however, there seems to be a slight shift towards adopting other theories, particularly personal behaviour theories (see Islam & Rahman, 2016b). According to Islam and Rahman (2016b), these theories exemplify customer behaviour (from intent to actual deed) at the individual or personal level. Notable among this group of theories is Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) stimulus-organism-response (S-O- 7 R) model. According to it, stimuli in the environment provoke the emotional (pleasure and arousal) and attitudinal responses of an individual, which then drive a behavioural response (Donovan & Rositer, 1982). In the literature it has been employed to explain the effect of (1) online environmental characteristics (Mollen & Wilson, 2010; Zimmerman, 2012; Melton, 2013; Demangeot & Broderick, 2016; Sahoo & Pillai, 2017; Carlson et al., 2018; Claffey & Brady, 2014; Islam & Rahman, 2017), and (2) company strategies (Palmet & Ghasemi, 2019; Choi & Kandampully, 2019) on customer engagement. It has, arguably, not been applied to study the impact of advertising message strategy on customer engagement. Aside these studies, fairly none of the empirical works on advertising and customer engagement have been situated on the foundations of the stimulus-organism-response model at the time of this review. Despite the fact that there has been some work (though scant) in relation to the application of this theory in the broader customer engagement literature, the question of how message strategy acts as a stimulus to generate customer engagement remains to some extent unexplored. This research approaches the study of customer engagement from the perspective that stimuli in the form of advertising message strategies affect the internal emotional and attitudinal states of the individual customer and as a result, elicit customer engagement. In light of this, the more popular theories of relationship marketing and service dominant logic are not suited for this work. The use of the stimulus-organism-response model is in addition a response to the call for the further application of personal behaviour theories in customer engagement research (see Islam & Rahman, 2016b). 8 1.2.2 Gaps in Context The current customer engagement research stream mostly emanates from Europe, North America (particularly the United States of America), and Australasia (Australia and New Zealand). Very few works originate from Asia, particularly China, India, Korea and Singapore. With regard to developing regions (i.e. Africa, Middle East and South America), research is scarce, to say the least. An internet search of extant customer engagement studies emerging from Africa using Science Direct, Emerald, Scopus, JSTOR and Google Scholar academic databases, for instance, yielded very few results. Additionally, what emerged centred on the effect of trust (Kosiba et al., 2018), brand attachment (Hinson et al., 2019) and relationship marketing (van Tonder & Petzer, 2018) on customer engagement. Engagement is contextual in nature (Sprott et al., 2009 as cited in Hollebeek, 2011b; Verhoef, Reinartz, & Krafft, 2010), and in fact, as van Doorn et al. (2010) reveal, contextual factors (e.g. political, legal and economic climate) have an impact on it. Prior research having been conducted mainly in regions which arguably bare some semblance to each other in terms of the aforementioned contextual factors could mean that to some extent, extant customer engagement research is somewhat biased to those contexts. As a result, and for the purpose of enriching “the emerging research area of customer engagement” (Islam & Rahman, 2016b), calls have been made for the emergence of studies from largely unexplored regions, particularly Africa, South America, and the Middle East (Barger et al., 2016; Islam & Rahman, 2016b). Many opportunities for multinational enterprises abound in these developing markets and insights from same would prove useful. 9 1.3 RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES The central question posed for the current study is “What advertising message strategy is most effective in enabling firms realise customer engagement on social media?” Using both the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model as the theoretical lens and Taylor’s (1999) conceptualisation of message strategy to view and explain the advertising message strategy and customer engagement phenomenon, this research seeks to provide insights into the most effective advertising message strategies for both hedonic and utilitarian products. The S-O-R model argues that individuals react behaviourally to stimuli in the environment because of the emotions of pleasure and arousal as well as the attitude they have towards the stimuli when they come into contact with the stimuli. With this understanding, this current research seeks to contribute to existing literature by achieving the following objectives: 1. To determine which transmission message strategy used in social media advertisement has the greatest impact on customer emotions and attitude 2. To highlight the specific ritual message strategy used in social media advertising that has the greatest impact on customer emotions and attitude 3. To ascertain if the emotions of pleasure and arousal, derived from an advertising message strategy stimulus on social media, lead to customer engagement. 4. To uncover if attitude towards social media advertisement is a determinant of customer engagement. 1.4 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY From an academic standpoint, there have been calls for research on the effect of advertising, with particular reference to message strategy, on customer engagement as 10 highlighted in previous paragraphs. This is because to a large extent it has been ignored in the literature (Brettel et al., 2015; Khang, Ki & Ye, 2012; Okazaki & Taylor, 2013; Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Tafesse & Wien, 2018; Gavilanes et al., 2018). This study, in that regard, is a response to this academic call. The current study in its uniqueness will also contribute to existing literature on customer engagement by providing evidence from a developing country, which has been scant, and for which reasons scholars have made calls for same (Barger et al., 2016; Islam & Rahman, 2016b). This study employs both the S-O-R model and Taylor’s (1999) conceptualisation of message strategy in order to address some of the gaps identified. It is positioned to add on to the body of knowledge in marketing and in particular enhance the customer engagement discourse regarding advertising message strategies. This study is not only relevant but also timely, given the importance of advertising to a firm’s long-term survival (Park & John, 2012). Recent developments in Ghanaian industry, with particular reference to the creation of new portfolios in the form of customer engagement officers/managers (Ghana Guardian, 2018) and firms’ drives to create opportunities to engage with customers (thebftonline, 2019) show the growth in interest among industry players in engaging customers. In recent times there has also been a mass adoption of social media in Ghana and firms upload brand-related content and advertisements in a bid to directly engage with their customers (GhanaWeb, 2014; Amponsah-Twumasi, 2016). Recently, there was a call for the development of social media guidelines in order to help Ghanaian firms navigate social media to achieve business goals (Ansah, 2014). This study is thus 11 significant in attempting to provide some guidelines regarding company advertisements on social media that will ultimately lead to the achievement of corporate goals. In respect of policy, this study will create more awareness on the most suitable message strategy for customer engagement for both hedonic and utilitarian products. 1.5 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF ENGAGEMENT FOR THIS STUDY From a scholarly standpoint, there is as yet no agreed-upon definition of engagement in marketing literature and this may be related to the fact that there are inconsistencies regarding its nature and dimensionality (Dessart et al., 2015, 2016). Some authors opine that the concept is one-dimensional (e.g. Sprott et al., 2009), whereas others maintain that it is multidimensional, comprising either two or three dimensions (e.g. Bowden, 2009; Mollen & Wilson, 2010; van Doon et al., 2010; Brodie et al., 2011; Hollebeek, 2011b; Vivek et al., 2014; Bowden et al., 2015, 2017). According to Mollen and Wilson (2010), for instance, engagement is “the cognitive and affective commitment to an active relationship with the brand as personified by the website or other computer- mediated entities designed to communicate brand value”. Additionally, Bowden (2009) defines engagement as an emotional and cognitive psychological process. Hollebeek (2011b, p. 790) also views engagement as “the level of a customer’s motivational, brand-related and context-dependent state of mind characterised by specific levels of cognitive, emotional and behavioural activity in brand interactions”. Sedley (2007 in Chaffey, 2007) additionally define engagement as “repeated interactions that strengthen the emotional, psychological (cognitive) and physical (behavioural) investment a customer has in a brand.” 12 Despite the existence of other definitions and conceptualisations of the concept as indicated above, for the purposes of this study, Pansari and Kumar’s (2017) definition and multi-dimensional conceptualisation of engagement is adopted. According to this conceptualisation, engagement comprises buying/purchase, referring, influencing and feedback and is “the mechanics of a customer’s value addition to the firm, either through direct or/and indirect contribution” (pg. 295). Other definitions tend to exclude transactional customer behaviour (e.g. purchase), which, this study opines, is fundamental to the existence of the firm. For instance, van Doorn et al. (2010, pg. 254) define engagement as ‘‘customers’ behavioural manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers”. This implies the exclusion of purchase as a customer engagement behaviour manifestation. Just as this definition indicates, engagement arises from certain motivational triggers, which, we agree. However, to exclude purchase from customer engagement is somewhat erroneous. First of all, it is only natural to consider purchase as one of the means through which a customer interacts or engages with a firm and secondly, it is a behavioural manifestation that can follow motivational drivers (Kumar et al., 2010). Subsequent chapters will discuss this conceptualisation in detail. 1.6 SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS AND STRUCTURE OF THESIS After this introductory chapter, this is how the remainder of the research is structured: chapter 2 is the context of the study. It is devoted to discussions on Ghana, a hedonic product (Mercedes-Benz) and utilitarian product (Pepsodent toothpaste). Issues outlined here include a brief overview of the Ghanaian economy (including demographic information); key developments in same, and a discussion on the two 13 brands in question. Chapter 3 is a review of literature on the engagement concept. It begins with a brief synopsis of the concepts from across disciplines and then narrows to the marketing literature. This is done to examine the current state of literature in order to identify existing gaps this thesis is to fill. Following from this, Chapter 4 provides an overview of theories that have characteristically underpinned engagement research and culminates in discussions on the selected theory for this study. It then proceeds with a discussion culminating in a set of testable hypotheses. This is designed to guide the analysis and collection of empirical data for the study. Chapter 5 discusses the methodological considerations related to this research. It examines the research design, and the empirical data collection approach employed in this study. Chapter 6 is the data presentation chapter. Chapter 7 is a comprehensive discussion of findings based on the various hypotheses and objectives outlined in this introductory chapter. Finally, chapter 8 discusses the managerial and theoretical contributions of the study. It also includes the limitations of the study and directions for future research. 14 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 CHAPTER OVERVIEW This chapter discusses the concept of advertising, then progresses to discussions on social media advertising and message strategies. It then proceeds to talk about the concept of customer engagement, beginning with the origins of the concept, before narrowing the discussion to various conceptualisations of the concept, and then the conceptualisation selected for the study is finally presented. 2.1 THE CONCEPT OF ADVERTISING 2.1.1 Defining Advertising The term ‘advertising’ originates from the Latin verb “clamare”, meaning “to call” (Boateng, 2019). According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), advertising is the placement of announcements and messages in time or space by business firms, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and individuals who seek to inform and/or persuade members of a particular target market or audience regarding their products, services, organizations or ideas (American Marketing Association, 2021). The basic objectives of advertising are to inform, persuade, remind or reinforce. According to Chunawalla and Sethia (2008), advertising is a powerful instrument that is capable of reaching multitudes at once. Fill (2009) states that advertisements can be placed on six distinct mediums, including outdoor (street furniture, billboard & transit), digital media (digital TV & Internet), print (magazines & newspapers), broadcast (radio 15 & television), in-store (packaging & point-in-purchase) and other medias (product placement, cinema & exhibition). In recent years, due to the rise in popularity of the internet and social media, many companies have taken to online advertising and more especially, advertising on social media (Appel et al., 2020). In fact, it is argued that the rise in social media use has resulted in less viewership and readership among traditional media, such as the television and their impact as advertising channels has declined (Asiedu, 2017). This is mainly due to the fact that the technology allows for companies to reach a wide audience at a cheaper cost than traditional media (i.e. television, radio, print). 2.1.2 Social media advertising Today’s advertising is somewhat different from that of 20 years ago. Media spending patterns and advertising formats have changed dramatically, and so have the functions and behaviours related to advertising (Dahlen & Rosengren, 2016). Two decades ago, majority of advertising was carried out on media such as the television, radio, and print, in what currently are referred to as “traditional media”. Recently, however, more companies are increasingly adopting non-traditional media, specifically social media, for the dissemination of their advertisements. According to Appel et al. (2020, p. 80), social media can be thought of as “a collection of software-based digital technologies— usually presented as apps and websites—that provide users with digital environments in which they can send and receive digital content or information over some type of online social network”. Many companies use social media because (1) it costs less to advertise than on traditional media; (2) the firm is able to directly reach actual and potential customers; and (3) social media provides a more reliable way of tracking 16 advertising return on investment through technologies such as “Facebook metrics” (Breuer, Brettel, & Engelen, 2011; Faber, Lee, & Nan, 2004; Ha, 2008; Alhabash et al., 2017). Social media advertising, according to Taylor, Lewin and Strutton (2011, p. 259) refers to “all forms of advertising—whether explicit (e.g. banner advertising and commercial videos) or implicit (e.g. fan pages or firm-related ‘tweets’)—that are delivered through [social network sites]”. Social media advertising can be grouped into paid, owned, and earned media (Hurrle & Postatny, 2015). Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, offer advertisers numerous ways to pay social media platforms in exchange of targeting consumers through display ads, promoted content, and various applications and plug-ins, among others. On the other hand, advertisers may resort to strategic tactics using organic presence, wherein the company directly disseminates content to their followers online (Alhabash et al., 2017). While the benefits of social media have been touted in the literature (Gavilanes et al., 2018), research into what constitutes a social media advertisement that is the most effective in generating behaviour are few, where behaviour refers to customer engagement. Some scholars have argued that the message strategy that is employed within the advertisement influences customer enagagement (Bertrand et al., 2010). While this study agrees that the message strategy to a large extent affects customer responses, one drawback of past studies, however, has to do with the way in which message strategy has been conceptualised. 17 Whereas in earlier instances studies created an oversimplified content typology of message strategies comprising transactions, entertainment and information (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013; De Vries et al., 2012), other studies advanced more complex typologies which distinguish between brand-related, informational and emotional message themes (Araujo et al., 2015; Ashley & Tuten, 2015;). That said, though, these more complex typologies are lacking in consistent conceptual development. In addition, the irregularity of their nature means it is a challenge drawing clear conclusions with respect to the effect(s) of advertising message strategies on customer engagement. In addition, although some studies ascertain certain message strategies as being key determinants of customer engagement, their findings seem not to be replicable elsewhere. For instance, as can be seen from the table below, there are inconsistencies regarding the effects/impact of entertainment, informational and emotional strategies on customer engagement (Table 3.5). Further, the proposed content typologies that have typically been used appear to lack consistent theoretical development and hence the resulting conclusions from such studies run the risk of being subjective and hence ambiguous. While typologies of message strategies have long been developed by scholars in the advertising literature, they have been surprisingly and to a large extent ignored by research on social media (Taffesse & Wien, 2018). These strategies were developed from content analyses of print as well as television (TV) commercials (Puto & Wells, 1984; Laskey et al., 1989). They serve as a solid basis from which to conduct a study of advertising message strategies on social media. Additionally, they have been confirmed across numerous online and offline environments and are assimilated into advertising practice and theory (Golan & Zaidner, 2008). Both online and traditional advertising possess the same fundamental creative principles (Golan & Zaidner, 2008; Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Taffesse & Wien, 2018). Table 2.1 presents a summary of previous studies and their conceptualisation of message strategy. 18 Table 2.1: Summary of studies Message strategy Studies Customer engagement Significant findings Transactional Informational Entertainment De Vries et al. (2012) Number of comments and likes Whereas transactional had a positive relationship with both comments and likes, entertainment had a negative relationship with likes and comments Informational affected neither comments nor likes Remuneration Information Entertainment Cvijikj and Michahelles (2013) Number of likes, comments and shares Of the three, entertainment was more potent in generating likes, comments and shares. Information was linked to comments and likes and finally remuneration was positively related to comments Informational Brand Emotional Araujo et al. (2015) Number of retweets Findings revealed that more retweets occurred as a result of informational content as compared with emotional content Exclusivity appeal, user-image appeal, functional appeal, experiential appeal, emotional appeal, social causes, animation, resonance, and incentives to share content Ashley and Tuten (2015) Klout score and engagement score Resonance, social causes, experiential appeals, animation, and incentives were to a significant extent related with Klout score. while incentives and experiential appeal each had positive relationships with Engagement Score Interaction- oriented Task- oriented Self-oriented Kim et al. (2015) Number of likes, comments and shares As compared to interaction- oriented and self-oriented messages, task-oriented messages generated more comments, shares and likes Entertainment Informational Transactional Tafesse (2015) Number of shares and likes Content that was entertaining garnered more shares as well as likes than informational and transactional content. In addition, people were less likely to share transactional content than informational content Social currency Emotional Yuki (2015) Number of shares Consumers were more likely to share content that 19 Functional (practical usefulness) Story telling had an emotional element and were functional Action-inducing Emotion-evoking Information- sharing Taecharungroj (2016) Number of favourites and retweets Consumers were more likely to retweet and favourite action-inducing tweets than emotion- evoking tweets. On the other hand, information- sharing tweets were less likely to be retweeted and favourited compared to emotion- evoking tweets Transformational Informational Interactional Tafesse and Wien (2018) Number of like and shares The strongest predictor of customer behavioural engagement was the transformational strategy. There was no significantly major difference between informational and interactional message strategies. Source: Gavilanes and Brettel (2018). With this gap now highlighted, it is important to progress to discussions on advertising message strategy and subsequently customer engagement. 2.1.3 Advertising Message Strategy Message strategy/creative strategy generally refers to what is said in an advertising or marketing communications campaign (Taylor, 1999). In times past, both terms were used interchangeably. However, in recent times, scholars seem to favour the former when narrowing their discussions to the “nature” of content (see for instance Huang et al., 2013; Leung et al., 2017; Tafesse & Wien, 2018). This is because “creative strategy” seems to possess a broader connotation than message strategy, encompassing both message content and execution, whereas the latter is limited to message content 20 (Laskey, Day & Crask, 1989; Taylor, 1999; Ashley & Tuten, 2015). For the purposes of this study, “message strategy” is used as the study’s main focus is on message content. According to Puto and Wells (1984), message strategy is a guiding principle that defines the content domain of a branded content and aligns the latter with consumers’ precise needs (Taylor, 1999; Laskey et al., 1989). To be more specific, it merges what the consumer needs to hear with what brands want to communicate or put across (Laskey et al., 1989; Taylor, 1999; Tafesse & Wien, 2018). Advertising message strategies require the crafting of marketing communications content in such a way that a company is able to achieve its desired effects in the target audience, where desired effects could mean purchase, creation of awareness, brand familiarity, brand preference, etcetera (Puto & Wells, 1984; Tafesse & Wien, 2018). As such, this research does not test for the link between both. It however departs from extant research in that it seeks to establish the most effective advertising message strategy for hedonic and utilitarian products. To be specific, it purports to show that not all advertising message strategies are the same in their ability to generate customer engagement. Some may have a higher propensity than others. Carey (1975) was among the first people to propound a dichotomous view of advertising message strategy (Taylor, 1999). He noted that most advertisements merely transmitted information, with the aim of controlling distance and people. In addition, he found that a second group of advertisements existed, whereby the aim of communication was not to send across or transmit information, but rather to create 21 drama. These two he termed (1) the transmission view and (2) the ritual view, respectively. These have also been referred to as informational and transformational in the literature (Wells, 1980; Laskey et al., 1989; Tsai & Lancaster, 2012; Ahn et al., 2013; Ashley & Tuten, 2015). According to Puto and Wells (1984), while transmission/informational messages appeal to one’s cognition, ritual/transformational messages appeal to senses or emotions. Although the contributions of the aforementioned studies regarding the two major categories of message strategy are appreciated, the study contends they are rather generic and therefore do not provide a detailed, sophisticated, and analytical approach to message strategy (Ahn et al., 2013). As such, the study opines that such an unclear, generic approach to message strategy may not necessarily provide the needed information for the comparison of different message strategies implicitly contained within each category. Therefore, for the purposes of this research, a typology which overtly details specific message strategies within each category is needed. The subsequent section discusses that. 2.1.4 Taylor’s (1999) Six Segment Message Strategy In 1999, Ronald E. Taylor developed a six-segment message strategy model to remedy the shortfalls of previous conceptualisations of advertising message strategies. Specifically, previous conceptualisations had been criticised for the lack of inclusion of social factors that affect purchasing decisions. Taylor’s (1999) strategy has become widely accepted and employed not only in the extant advertising literature, but also in the broader management literature (see, for instance, Hwang et al., 2003; Golan & 22 Zaidner, 2008; Lee et al., 2011; Tsai & Lan.caster., 2012; Ahn, Wu & Taylor, 2013; Ju & Park, 2015). In order to aid advertising executives to create effective advertising messages, Taylor (1999) advanced a six-segment message strategy wheel. His model builds on previous theorisations of message “strategies”, in particular (1) Kotler’s (1965) buying models, (2) Carey’s (1975) “transmission and ritual” models, (3) Vaughn’s (1980, 1986) Foote, Cole and Belding (FCB) model, and (22) Laskey et al.’s (1989) “dichotomy of transformational and informational message strategies”. Taylor’s model provides a more detailed, sophisticated analytical approach to message strategy than previous conceptualisations (Ahn et al., 2013). This is mainly due to the addition of six sub categories to the conventional binary conceptualisation of message strategies proposed in earlier studies (Tsai & Lancaster, 2012). Specifically, his model proposes three sub categories under each of the two transmission and ritual classifications. The Transmission View Under this view, communication is largely focused on delivering information, knowledge and ideas to others. As such advertising based on this view, to a large extent, appeals to consumers’ intellect (Carey 1975; Puto & Wells, 1984). According to Taylor (1999), sub sections under this view comprise “routine”, “acute need” and “ration”. “Routine” is focused on the mundane part of human behaviour. As a result, adverts that fall within the ambit of this segment seek to remind consumers to persist in purchasing products so that they maintain consumption habits. Product satisfaction, ease of use and convenience are among the more popular appeals used. The “acute need” segment describes the circumstances where a product need suddenly arises. In such situations, consumers are likely faced with time restraints preventing them from seeking as much 23 information as they would have desired prior to making the purchase. Hence, product choice is based on availability and familiarity. The aim of advertising in this case is to ensure that the consumer retains the product/brand in their subconscious, ready to emerge once the opportunity arises. This can be achieved via creating and maintaining consumer trust, brand recognition and brand familiarity. In the final segment (ration), consumers are more concerned with information about products. Hence they search for information on price, warranties and product quality and make purchase decisions from a rational perspective. Advertisements that are created from this are therefore informative in nature and employ positioning strategies, generic, pre-emptive, unique selling proposition (USP) and comparative appeals. This category is mainly used for utilitarian products (Ahn et al., 2013). The Ritual View The second view, ritual, appeals to people’s perceptions, self-image, attitudes and beliefs. Hence, advertisements tend to be based on the senses or emotions (Puto & Wells, 1984). The belief here is that people make purchases based on their emotions. Sub sections under this view as per Taylor’s conceptualisation include “ego”, “social” and “sensory”. According to the first ritual segment, the “ego” segment, consumers make purchases and employ products that they feel are a reflection or an enhancement of how they perceive themselves. As a result, purchase decisions made based on ego and the consumer’s emotional bonding with the product. Advertisements are therefore developed with the intent of showing to the consumer how the product corresponds to or improves their self-image. Ego-based advertisements would typically include, but would not be limited to appeals to (1) personal feelings, (2) self-actualisation, (3) image, and (4) vanity. The second ritual sub segment, social, on the other hand, is 24 focused on the consumer. In this particular segment, the consumer is said to seek affection from people, signify that they belong to a specific social crowd, respect, approval and attention from others. As a result, purchase decisions are made with others in mind. Resonance is usually used as an appeal. The final sub segment of the ritual view, sensory, includes appeals to sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. The aim of advertisements in this case is to show how consumers can enjoy “moments of pleasure” by using the products being advertised (Taylor, 1999, p. 13). Figure 2.1: Six Segments Message Strategies Source: Taylor, R. E. (1999). A six segment message strategy wheel. Journal of Advertising Research, 39(6), 7-17. Under Taylor’s model, advertisers are at liberty to use a single advertising approach (e.g. social) or a combination of approaches (e.g. ration and routine). Taylor’s strategy is of value to this present study since in comparison to prior conceptualisations, it is more wide-ranging and sophisticated for analysing a wider array of brand communications. In addition, the strategy wheel is argued to be successful at capturing various purchase decisions across varying advertising platforms (see Tsai & Lancaster, 2012). The model combines existing literature about message strategy into a single Ration Routine Acute NeedEgo Social Sensory Message Strategies Ration Routine Acute Need Ego Social Sensoty 25 applicable model for professionals that they can easily employ in their advertising practices (Yurittas, 2020). It is, arguably, one of the most significant and comprehensive models in advertising from the last two decades of advertising and communications research (Jenkins, 2018). Taylor’s model has been tested by various scholars concerning advertising messaging (Golan & Zaidner 2008; Porter & Golan 2013; Kim, McMillian, & Hwang 2005). In addition, Taylor’s model has been used in corporate website strategies (Hwang, McMillian, & Lee 2003). Kim et al. (2005) assert that Taylor’s model is extremely important for two reasons. The authors base the first reason on the model handling the issue from the perspective of how people make purchasing decisions and how advertisements operate. The second reason is that the model pays equal attention to both transformational and informational advertisements and that a sophisticated reasoning is presented for defining the sub-segments. Morrison and White (2000) used Taylor’s model to conduct an analyses of television commercials during the Super Bowl advertisements of the year 2000. Super Bowl is an annual American football tournament between the winners of the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference each January or February (Carroll, 2019). Their study found that most of the commercials utilised ration and ego message strategies. Again in 2005, in a similar study, Kim, McMillan and Hwang looked at the creative, message as well as overall strategies, which were used in both television commercials and websites during the 2003 Super Bowl. Their findings reveal that out of fifty-five (55) television advertisements and 40 websites, the former were more likely to feature ritual strategies whereas the latter mostly employed transmission approaches. 26 In their study on the use of company websites as a type of corporate advertising, Hwang et al. (2003) concluded that Taylor’s strategy wheel was beneficial in helping to identify the message strategies of websites. They found that high revenue firms mostly used social and ego strategies, whereas low revenue firms were more likely to use a routine strategy. In another instance, Golan and Zaidner (2008) similarly applied the strategy wheel to viral advertising. They established that an overwhelming majority of viral videos utilised ego strategies whereas 24% employed ration-based strategies. In more recent studies, Ahn et al. (2013) applied the strategy wheel to websites that advertised cosmetic surgery and discovered that ration was the only strategy used by websites which adopted a transmission approach. They additionally found that websites that employed the ritual approach used all three strategies (sensory, social and ego). Finally, in a 2017 study on brand content on social media, Tafesse and Wien (2018) discovered that both approaches (transformational and informational) and all six message strategies were used in all 270 brand posts they studied. Each of these shows that Taylor’s strategy wheel is a flexible tool which may be applied across diverse media. This study adopts Taylor’s (1999) message strategies. With this definition, the current study can now address the research gap regarding advertising message strategy and customer engagement (Brettel et al., 2015; Taffesse & Wien, 2018; Gavilanes et al., 2018). For this, it is necessary for customer engagement to be conceptualised. 27 2.2 CONCEPTUALISING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 2.2.1 The Concept of Engagement The term “engagement” surfaced in the English language around the 17th century (Brodie et al., 2011) from the French word “engager” and described numerous concepts denoting obligation such as a “pledge”, a “legal/moral obligation”, “formal promise”, “tie of duty”, “betrothal”, “employment” and/or “military conflict” (van Doorn et al., 2010; Brodie et al., 2011). Recently, however, more volitional and/or discretionary meanings (e.g. Frank, Finnegan, & Taylor, 2004; Jennings & Stoker, 2004) have surfaced. These include, for instance, “connection” “attachment” “emotional involvement”’ and/or “participation” (e.g., London, Downey, & Mace, 2007). According to Axelson & Flick (2011), modern engagement research can be traced to the 1984 student involvement research of Alexander Astin (Axelson & Flick, 2011). Astin (1984, p. 528) argued that the greater a student's involvement (“the quantity and quality of physical and psychological energy that students invest in the college experience”) at the university, the higher the level of personal development and student learning. As a concept, engagement has in the last two decades, been studied across diverse disciplines ranging from psychology, sociology, organisational behaviour/management, information systems, education and finally to practitioner literature (Hollebeek, 2011b; Brodie et al., 2011; Vivek et al., 2012; Kumar & Pansari, 2016). However, each discipline possesses a unique perspective on the domain and definition of the concept, resulting in a variety of conceptual approaches (Ilic, 2008; Hollebeek, 2011b). 28 Engagement in Psychology Research on engagement within the field of psychology exists both in mainstream psychology and educational psychology. In the former, engagement is referred to as “social engagement” (Huo, Binning, & Molina, 2009; Achterberg et al., 2003), “occupational engagement” (Bejerholm & Eklund, 2006; Bejerholm & Eklund, 2007) and less commonly as “task engagement” (Matthews et al., 2010). Social engagement is a person’s participation and involvement in the activities of a social group (Prohaska, Anderson & Binstock, 2012). It is defined severally in literature as “a high sense of initiative, involvement and adequate response to social stimuli, participating in social activities, interacting with others” (Achterberg et al., 2003), “the extent to which an individual participates in a broad range of social roles and relationships” (Avison, McLeod, & Pescosolido, 2007, p. 333) or “the commitment of a member to stay in the group and interact with other members” (Zhang, Jiang, & Carroll, 2011). Occupational engagement has been defined in the literature as “a lifestyle characteristic that describes “the extent to which a person has a balanced rhythm of activity and rest, a variety and range of meaningful occupations/routines and the ability to move around society and interact socially” (Bejerholm & Eklund, 2007, p. 21). Task engagement, according to Matthews et al. (2010, p. 189), “reflects neural arousal systems linked to approach behaviour”, and corresponds to “vigilance performance on a particular task; attentional resource availability, sustained attention, and alertness”. With regard to educational psychology (Bryson & Hand, 2007a; Bryson & Hand, 2007b; Hu, 2010), engagement is referred to as “student engagement” and is defined as the degree to which a student is committed, motivated, academically invested in, psychologically connected to and feels a sense of belonging to an academic institution (London et al., 2007). It is 29 also known as “school engagement” and comprises (a) cognitive, e.g. the desire to perfect particular skills; (b) emotional, e.g. positive/negative reactions to tutors, & (c) behavioural; (e.g. participating in academic/extracurricular activities). Engagement in Organisational Behaviour/Management Literature In the organisational behaviour/management literature, engagement is termed “employee engagement” (Schaufeli et al., 2002b; Catteeuw et al., 2007; Crawford, LePine & Rich, 2010) or occupational engagement (Bejerholm & Eklund, 2007); “stakeholder engagement” (Greenwood, 2007; Noland & Phillips, 2010). According to Schaufeli et al. (2002b), employee engagement is a positive, satisfying state of mind related to work activities. Catteeuw et al. (2007) also define employee engagement as how much satisfaction employees derive from their work, and feel a sense of partnership, trust and appreciation. On the other hand, occupational engagement refers to a lifestyle characteristic which involves occupational performance and an interplay among personal, occupational & environmental factors (Bejerholm & Eklund, 2007). Table 2.2 contains a sample of various definitions of the concept across various disciplines. 30 Discipline Concept Author(s) Definition/Key Findings Themes/Dimensionality Sociology Civic Engagement Jennings and Zeitner (2003) Behaviours and attitudes concerning (quasi-) political processes/institutions Multidimensional: Media attentiveness Trust Political involvement Jennings and Stoker (2004) Engagement refers to participation in volunteer work and the fostering of social networks Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Mondak et al. (2010) The level of civic engagement is majorly determined by extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Not disclosed Metzger et al. (2018) Civic engagement encompasses the prosocial values, skills, behaviors, and attitudes that orient individuals towards social and political issues and contributions to community Multidimensional Social responsibility Informal helping Political beliefs Civic skills Environmental behaviours Volunteering Voting intentions News consumption Political Science State Engagement Resnick (2001) Engagement is a repetitive process aimed at influencing the political behaviour of a particular country via sustained interactions spanning a variety of issues Unidimensional Behavioural Comprehensive Engagement Kane (2008) Comprehensive engagement is comprised of possible staff change, mechanism for change and mind-set change, Multidimensional Cognitive Behavioural 31 Psychology Social Engagement Achterberg et al. (2003); Social engagement refers to an active participation in social activities and interaction with others Multidimensional Interaction with others Ability to carry out activities as planned Ability to carry out activities that are self-initiated Involvement Active participation in group activities Huo, Binning, and Molina (2009) Identification with a group and behaviour directed at group Multidimensional Emotional Behavioural Task Engagement Matthews et al. (2010, p. 189) “Vigilance performance on a particular task; attentional resource availability, sustained attention, and alertness” Multidimensional Cognitive Behavioural Occupational Engagement Bejerholm and Eklund (2006) “A lifestyle characteristic including the external/objective & internal/subjective aspects of occupational performance, which involves both anticipation & comprehension thereof, and serves as the basis for an ongoing, cyclical means of maintaining a sense of self & well-being” Multidimensional Initiating performance Routines Extent of meaningful occupations Interpretation Social interplay Social environment Place Occupational variety/range Daily rhythm Bejerholm and Eklund (2007) “A lifestyle characteristic that describes the extent to which a person has a balanced rhythm of activity and Multidimensional Cognitive 32 rest, a variety and range of meaningful occupations/routines and the ability to move around society and interact socially” Levels tend to vary along a continuum Behavioural Educational Psychology Student Engagement Fredricks et al. (2004) Engagement comprises cognitive, emotional and behavioural dimensions. Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Bryson and Hand (2007a,b) Students showcase different levels of engagement towards higher education, modules and tasks Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural London, Downey and Mace (2007) The extent to which a student invests academically, is motivated, psychologically connected and committed to an institution to which they belong Multidimensional Sense of belonging to institution Comfort with institution Perceived psychological connection to institution Commitment to institution Academic Motivation Academic Investment Hu (2010) The extent to which students work hard with school activities Multidimensional Cognitive Behavioural Organisational Behaviour/Management Employee Engagement Frank, Finnegan, and Taylor (2004) How willing employees are to voluntarily apply themselves in their places of work by working overtime and actively thinking about their work Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional 33 Table 2. 2: Engagement Conceptualisations across Disciplines Source: Adapted and extended from Hollebeek, (2011b). Exploring customer brand engagement: Definition and themes. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 19(7), 555-573. Behavioural Luthans and Peterson (2002) Employee engagement comprises the employee is emotionally, cognitively and behaviourally involved with their workplace. Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Saks (2006) How much of an individual’s physical, affective and cognitive resources he/she is willing to dedicate to their work. Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Catteeuw et al. (2007) How much satisfaction employees derive from their work, and feel a sense of partnership, trust and appreciation Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Macey and Schneider (2008) “A broad construct consisting of state, trait, and behavioural forms that connote a blend of affective energy and discretionary effort directed to one’s work and organisation” Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Crawford, LePine, and Rich (2010) How employees use cognition, emotions and behaviour to express themselves as they work. Multidimensional Cognitive Emotional Behavioural Information Systems Customer Engagement Wagner and Majchrzak (2007) The degree to which customers participate with employees and other customers to exchange knowledge Unidimensional Behavioural Erat et al. (2006) “Engagement with customers calls for exchanging information and knowledge with customers and fostering exchanges between customers” (p. 511). Unidimensional Behavioural 34 2.2.2 Emergence of Engagement Research in Marketing Scholarship In the last five to six years, engagement has been gaining grounds within marketing literature (Gambetti & Graffigna, 2010) and this is not surprising. First of all, it has been touted as a promising concept, providing superior explanatory and/or predictive power of focal consumer behavioural outcomes in comparison with other concepts similar to it (Hollebeek, 2012; Hollebeek et al., 2014). Secondly, authorities in the field of marketing have set the precedence of heightened interest in the concept by their calls for research on it (Kumar, 2015). For example, the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) on three occasions listed customer engagement among the top research priorities for the years 2010-2012, 2014-2016 and 2016-2018 (MSI, 2010; 2014; 2016). The MSI publishes a biennial list of pertinent topics for research, garnered from the most pressing research needs and interests of their member companies, in addition to input from academic trustees, executive directors, and young scholars (MSI, 2016). Engagement is a relatively new concept in marketing. Scholars and marketing executives alike opine that it is a powerful force that drives consumers’ behaviour and the making of decisions (Gambetti & Graffigna, 2010). Engagement surfaced in marketing literature in 2005 when Sawhney et al. (2005) penned a paper on “collaborating to create: the internet as a platform for customer engagement in product innovation” (Brodie et al., 2011). In their seminal publication, they argue that the internet possesses unique qualities which help with interaction, increased reach as well as speed and flexibility for persistent dialogue as opposed to episodic, one-way customer interactions. They suggest that these capabilities can be used by firms to engage customers in collaborative product innovation. The concept has in the past five 35 (5) to seven (7) years been steadily gaining traction in marketing research (Hollebeek et al., 2019). Within the field of marketing, the concept is referred to in diverse ways. For instance, whereas some scholars prefer to use “customer engagement” (Patterson, et al., 2006; Brodie et al., 2009), others employ “consumer engagement” (Vivek, 2009; Moreau, 2011; Bain & Fountain, 2010), “customer brand engagement” (Hollebeek, 2011a; 2011b; 2013), “social media engagement behaviour” (Dolan et al., 2016), “advertising engagement” (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2010), “media engagement” (Calder et al., 2009), “audience engagement” (Scott & Craig-Lees, 2010), “customer engagement behaviours” (Jaakkola & Alexander, 2014; Van Doorn et al., 2010), “brand engagement in self-concept” (Sprott, Czellar, & Spangenberg, 2009) and “engagement” more generically (Higgins & Scholer, 2009). Each term falls under either one of what extant literature (e.g. Wang, 2006; Ephron, 2006; Schultz, 2007; Neff, 2007; Kilger & Romer, 2007; Sprott et al., 2009; Heath, 2009; Bowden et al., 2009), essentially refers to as the “five contextual categories of engagement”: consumer, customer, brand, advertising and media (see Gambetti & Graffigna, 2010). In explaining the differences among the terms, Gambetti and Graffigna (2010) reveal that brand, advertising and media engagement focus on the brand and media contexts that have the ability to create engagement, whereas customer and consumer engagement are focused on the individual customer with whom a brand engages and is who can be engaged by a communication medium or advertisement. 36 Table 2. 3: Summary of Engagement Terms in Marketing Engagement Term Definition Reference Audience Engagement Comprises cognitive effort and affective response Scott and Craig- Lees (2010) Brand Engagement in Self Concept The degree to which a consumer includes key brands in their self- perception Sprott et al. (2009) Consumer Engagement How intensely the consumer participates and connects with the offerings and undertakings of a brand Vivek (2009); Moreau (2011); Bain and Fountain (2010) Customer Brand Engagement A customer’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive state in brand interactions. Hollebeek (2011a; 2011b; 2013) Customer Engagement The extent to which a customer is emotionally, cognitively and physically present in their interactions with organisations Patterson, Yu, and De Ruyter (2006); Brodie et al. (2009) Customer Engagement Behaviours A customer’s behaviour toward a brand that goes further than purchase and is as a result of recommendations and word-of-mouth activities Van Doorn et al. (2010); Jaakkola and Alexander (2014); Beckers et al. (2018) Engagement Being engrossed, involved, completely absorbed or occupied with something Higgins and Scholer (2009) Social Media Engagement Behaviour A customer’s behaviour on social media toward a brand that goes further than purchase and is as a result of certain motivational drivers Dolan et al. (2016); Dolan et al. (2019); Pentina et al. (2018); Yasin et al. (2020)/ Media Engagement “Turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context” Calder, Malthouse, and Schaedel (2009, p. 322) Source: Adapted and extended from Hollebeek (2011b), Brodie et al. (2011) and Hollebeek (2012). For the purposes of this current research, the term “customer engagement” is adopted, the reason being that the main focus is on the likelihood of customers being engaged by a brand’s advertisement. 37 2.2.3 Customer Engagement on Social Media The recent developments and increase in technological advancements, especially the introduction of web 2.0, have created many opportunities for firms which were previously non-existent. Web 2.0 is “the current state of online technology as it compares to the early days of the web, characterised by greater user interactivity and collaboration, more pervasive network connectivity and enhanced communication channels” (Haughn, 2017). Along with the arrival of web 2.0 have come social media (Muntinga et al., 2011), defined as “forms of electronic communication for social networking and microblogging, through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content” (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2017). Among the various social media t are (1) social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace; (2) microblogging sites like Twitter; and (3) content communities example YouTube (Sashi, 2012; Tsai & Men, 2013). Businesses and individuals alike utilise social media to support and expand their already existing social or business networks and to create new ones (Lorenzo-Romero et al., 2011). Social media have revolutionised the way consumers interact with brands to such an extent that the former uses them as much as official websites when searching for brand information (Dei Worldwide, 2008). Additionally, the manner in which firm/brand-related content is consumed, distributed and produced has been transformed by social media and many opportunities for targeting stakeholders and the general public online have arisen in more precise ways than is possible with traditional media (Ofcom, 2008; Kelly et al., 2010). This consequently leads to strategic outcomes in the form of “stickiness” (Bowden et al., 2009; Guo et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2017), 38 purchase intentions (Baker et al., 2016; Blasco-Arcas et al., 2016) and brand image (Blasco-Arcas et al., 2016). Research indicates that business executives in both public and private sectors throughout the world are working towards increased levels of customer engagement and many are resorting to social media to do just that. In fact, it is documented (see Markman, 2012; Smith, 2017) that approximately 65 million and between 50%-70% of business to business (B2B) firms respectively, are present on two of the most popular social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter). This is not surprising, considering the overwhelming statistics that indicate the popularity of the two platforms among individuals. According to Aslam (2017), Twitter boasts of approximately 328 million active users per month, 500 million tweets on a daily basis and 100 million active users each day. Additionally, Facebook has 1.32 billion active users (Facebook, 2017; Oviedo-Garcia et al., 2014) who collectively spend nearly 10 billion minutes uploading 250 million pictures and creating 4 billion pieces of content (Tsotsis, 2011; Rusli, 2012). The interactive nature of social media also means it is possible for customer engagement to take place and for customers to be involved in content generation and value creation (Sashi, 2012; Cabbidu et al., 2014; Harrigan et al., 2017; Haughn, 2017). Engagement on social media therefore is in the form of likes, shares, comments and re- posts (Taffesse & Wien, 2018; Gavilanes et al., 2018; Moran et al., 2019). The Facebook ‘like’ is currently one of the most common engagement metrics. The “like” helps consumers to indicate satisfaction or approval toward content on social media (Swani et al., 2013; Gavilanes et al., 2018). A post is considered popular and interesting 39 when it receives an appreciable number of likes. This makes it easier for it to receive more likes (Sabate et al., 2014). Other Facebook engagement metrics, like shares and comments also increase the popularity and reach of a brand post (de Vries et al., 2012). Although the current study acknowledges the engagement metrics of likes, comments and shares, it is not focused on customer engagement behaviours limited to social media, and therefore, it seeks to adopt a conceptualisation of engagement that transcends engagement behaviours limited to the social media space. 2.2.4 Pansari & Kumar’s (2017) Conceptualisation of Customer Engagement This study conceptualises customer engagement as behaviour and relies upon Pansari and Kumar’s (2017) conceptualisation of the concept. According to this conceptualisation, customer engagement is the direct and indirect contribution of the customer to the company, where customer purchases represent direct contribution and customer knowledge/feedback, customer influence and customer referrals. Direct Contribution Customer Purchases When customers purchase the products/services of a company, they make a direct contribution to its value (Gupta et al. 2004; Pansari & Kumar, 2017). They help firms allocate resources efficiently (Pansari & Kumar, 2017). As a result, firms have the ability to increase their revenue by reallocating their resources based on customer purchases (Kumar, 2008). 40 Indirect Contribution Customer Referrals Customer referrals are defined as “the extent to which customers advise other customers (e.g., friends, family, colleagues) to do business with the focal supplier” (Verhoef et al., 2002, p. 203). Referrals have been found to be a powerful tool in influencing consumer decision-making. According to Kumar et al. (2010), consumers often rely on referrals when making product purchase decisions. In fact, it is argued that at times customers trust referrals more than the claims made by brands about their products (Miller, 2020). In addition, those who ordinarily would not gravitate towards a firm’s product offerings just from traditional marketing channels such as print, direct mail, broadcast and telephone, can be attracted via referrals (Kumar et al., 2010; Kumar, 2013; Pansari & Kumar, 2017). Referred customers are more likely to persist in making contributions, remaining loyal to the brand (Van den Bulte et al. (2018) and are more profitable than non-referred customers (Schmitt et al., 2011). As a result, referrals help contribute indirectly to firm performance. Customer Influence Product-related information is increasingly being shared on social media platforms in business to business (B2B) (Chakravarty et al., 2014) business to consumer (B2C) and consumer to consumer (C2C) contexts (Kumar, 2013). Social media enable subscribers to use their posts and activities to influence the actions of others within their social network (Trusov et al., 2009). For instance, Facebook engagement metrics such as likes, shares and comments increase the popularity and reach of a brand post beyond close social networks to a wide group of customers (Hogan et al., 2003). In the end this 41 indirectly impacts the firm’s profits (Lee & Grewal, 2004; Kumar, 2013; Kumar & Pansari, 2017). Customer Knowledge Companies are increasingly realising that knowledge is a key resource and differentiating factor in the current business space (Wu, 2019). In order to meet the demands of the changing business environment, and survive, it is essential for firms to be actively involved in the generation and application of customer knowledge (Kumar & Bhagwat, 2010). Customer knowledge or feedback arises as a result of a current customer being actively involved in enhancing the products of a company by giving feedback or making suggestions (Pansari & Kumar, 2017). A customer adds value when they (1) help a company appreciate customer preferences and (2) participate in knowledge development processes (Kumar & Bhagwat, 2010; Joshi & Sharma 2004). Pansari and Kumar’s (2017) conceptualisation of customer engagement is appropriate for the purposes of this study, as it captures behaviour not only limited to social media, but also behaviours without (e.g. purchase). 2.3 CHAPTER SUMMARY This chapter was a review of studies on customer engagement, the purpose of which was to assess the current state of engagement research and in particular uncover knowledge gaps which need to be addressed. It began by tracing the etymology of the term “engagement” from French and old English, and gave the various meanings the term has had ever since it surfaced in the English language in the 17th century. It then progressed to reveal when the concept first emerged in modern research, and then 42 showed how in psychology and organisational behaviour, engagement is generally treated and conceptualised. It was noted that engagement is referred to in various ways, such as consumer engagement, audience engagement, consumer behavioural engagement, and etcetera. A case was made for the adoption of the term “customer engagement” after which discussions turned to concepts in marketing that are similar to, but are in actual fact, different from the concept of customer engagement. It was shown that there are various schools of thought as it pertains to the nature and dimensionality of customer engagement. However, the argument that a behavioural perspective shows that currently consumers play active roles, as against passively consuming brand communications was made (Javornik & Mandelli, 2012; Coulter et al., 2012). The chapter then progressed to discuss customer engagement on social media. It revealed that many firms are resorting to social media in order to engage with their customers. Further, it was argued that despite likes, comments and shares being popular engagement metrics on social media, this study is focused on engagement behaviours that are not only limited to social media, such as purchase. As a result, Pansari and Kumar’s (2017) conceptualisation of customer engagement was adopted. According to this conceptualisation, customer purchases, in addition to referrals, influencing and knowledge/feedback are engagement behaviours. Subsequently, and in an effort to elucidate the gaps in the literature that this thesis intends to fill, the chapter progressed to a discussion on the various antecedents of customer engagement that have typically been employed in the customer engagement literature. Evidence provided in the review shows that to a large extent, brand/firm-based antecedent factors (for instance advertising), are scant. A review was then carried out on advertising as an antecedent factor, and discussions were further narrowed to advertising message strategies employed in advertisements. The review revealed that messages strategies 43 have been conceptualised in numerous ways. However, those that have been utilised in previous works seem to lack consistent conceptual development. In addition, the irregularity of their nature means it is a challenge drawing clear conclusions regarding what effect(s) advertising message strategies have on customer engagement. As a result of this, it became apparent that in order to fix this, a conceptualisation that is conceptually consistent and