Engagement Marketing: the Innovative Perspective to Enhance the Viewer’s Loyalty in Social Media and Blogging E-Commerce Websites

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of three dimensions of Blog service innovation (system operation, social technology & diversification) on website viewers' online loyalty through the intervening effect of two aspects of online relationship quality (trust & satisfaction) in the context of social media and blogging websites. A sample of 251 social media and blogging sites users responded to a structured questionnaire adapted from existing literature. First, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, and then data were analysed through structural equation modelling using the bootstrap methodology in AMOS 24. The findings indicated that two innovations (system operations & diversification) indirectly affect the website viewers' online loyalty through both Trust and Satisfaction. In contrast, Social Technology related innovation affects website viewers' online loyalty only through Trust. Further, none of those mentioned above innovations has a direct relationship with the website viewers' online loyalty. This paper explains the loyalty pattern of social media and blogging website users following the changes in services provided by organizations in their websites, which is explicitly mediated through online relationship quality factors. From a managerial perspective, the study does only provides the vital information on user's behaviour in relationship to the innovations in services introduced by organizations in their websites but also reveals that it can help them to minimize their cost and maximize their profits through value creation to the target audience. This paper is first of its kind to investigate the relationship between different dimensions of blog service innovations and website viewers' online loyalty mediated through two dimensions of online relationship quality. Although different studies focused on the enhancement of online loyalty factors through trust and satisfaction, no study was afforded to the blog service innovation perspective which includes innovations related to System operations, Social technology and Diversification especially in the context of social media and blogging website users. Keywords service innovation, social media, blogging, online relationship quality, trust, satisfaction, online loyalty, e-loyalty.