Firms' perspectives of customer engagement behaviours. How do fashion SMEs use social media platforms to engage with their customers?

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Ajiboye, T, 2021. Firms' perspectives of customer engagement behaviours. How do fashion SMEs use social media platforms to engage with their customers? PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Customer engagement is a concept that reveals the underlying relationships customers have with firms. The emergence of new forms of media and a rapidly changing business environment has increased the need for firms to engage with their customer base, but to date, there has been little interest in examining the behaviours of customers that leads to the outcome of engagement with firms. A systematic literature review of peer-reviewed articles revealed that three tensions were present; the lack of a clear universal definition of Customer Engagement Behaviour (CEB), an underlying research philosophy, and thirdly methodological pluralism. Guided by these tensions in the literature, a mixed-method research approach was conducted to explore Customer Engagement Behaviour (CEB) from a firm-centric perspective in the context of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) within Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) in the Fashion Industry. The personal nature of relationships, which SMEs have with their customers and the accessibility of social media usage, suggests that social media could be an important means of engaging with their customer base. Following a comparative descriptive analysis of 101 SMEs usage of social media, a further correlation analysis of firm-instigated variables and CEB in the form of consumption, contribution and creation behaviours was undertaken. This second analysis found support for a subsequent framework analysis of small businesses attitudes of Customer Engagement Behaviour engendered on social media. As a final part of the study, social media usage data were revealed to the SME owner-managers in an inductive approach that explored their views of CEB on social media platforms. This thesis contributes to the engagement literature through offering a theoretically grounded view of customer engagement behaviours from a firm-centric perspective and distinguishes the construct from other related constructs in the literature. It also provides small businesses with insights into the effective use of social media.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Ajiboye, T.
Date:	2021
Rights:	This work is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	12 Jan 2022 16:55
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2022 16:55
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/45281