Title: Examining the role of brand experience in understanding the influence of social media on brand equity

Authors: Amel Pintol; Nereida Hadziahmetovic

Addresses: International Burch University, Ilidža, 71210, Bosnia and Herzegovina ' International Burch University, Ilidža, 71210, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: This research examines the impact of social media marketing activities (SMMA) and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) on brand equity, as is the case of bottled water brands. Moreover, this study provides a research model which examines the direct and indirect effects of SMMA and E-WOM on brand equity, where brand experience is used as a mediator. This research uses a quantitative method to investigate the most famous domestic and foreign brands of bottled water in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the respondents, 340 of them are both water consumers and users of social media. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis is performed to assess the reliability of scales, whereas structural equation modelling utilises to evaluate the proposed research hypotheses. The obtained measurement results revealed that brand experience mediates the relationship between SMMA and brand equity, as well as E-WOM and brand equity.

Keywords: social media; SM; social media marketing activities; SMMAs; electronic word-of-mouth; E-WOM; brand experience; brand equity; bottled water.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2024.139746

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2024 Vol.18 No.3, pp.289 - 313

Received: 02 Jan 2023
Accepted: 09 Nov 2023
Published online: 05 Jul 2024 *

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