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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156 (2014) 479 – 483

19th International Scientific Conference; Economics and Management 2014, ICEM 2014, 23-25
April 2014, Riga, Latvia

Consumer engagement into brand equity creation

Rita Kuvykaitea*, Zaneta Piligrimieneb
a, b
Kaunas University of Technology, K. Donelaiþio g. 73, LT-44029 Kaunas, Lithuania

Abstract

Though there are number of studies about consumer brand engagement, there is still a lack of research, analysing how to engage
consumers in value creation in pursuance of higher brand equity. This article deals with identification of company-related and
consumer-related factors that influence consumer brand engagement; it defines important constructs of consumer engagement
behaviour and objects of consumer brand engagement. Finally, a conceptual model of consumer engagement into brand equity
creation, which indicates what kind of consumers and how they should be engaged into value creation, seeking for higher brand
equity, is provided, which opens some new research and knowledge horizons
© 2014
© 2014 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by Elsevier
ElsevierLtd.
Ltd.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the Kaunas University of Technology.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Kaunas University of Technology.
Keywords: Consumer engagement; consumer engagement behaviour; consumer brand engagement; value creation; brand equity.

1. Introduction

Every company tries to manage strong and well-known brands. The brand offers for consumer the unique
advantages that could not be acquired with other brands. Brand advantages are understood as brand value for
customer. Thus brand equity enhances the likelihood of brand preference, leads to consumer loyalty and protects
from competitive threats. For brands being marketable and creating value for customers, companies have to take into
account the needs and requirements of consumers. One of the approaches is to involve consumers into brand
management. Consumers that are engaged with the brand not only provide the information needed, but help
companies to create brands that correspond to consumer‘s individual needs as well. Consumer brand engagement

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +370 37 300 586.

E-mail address: rita.kuvykait@ktu.lt
1
This research was funded by a grant (No. VP1-3.1-ŠMM-07-K-03-083) from the Research Council of Lithuania

1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Kaunas University of Technology.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.11.225
480 Rita Kuvykaite and Zaneta Piligrimiene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156 (2014) 479 – 483

can create for consumer’s emotional value – they will be delighted by the brand, functional value – brand will
correspond to their specific needs better, and social value – consumers will be willing to engage into brand
community. The more positive associations the brand will create for consumers, the more brand loyalty consumers
will demonstrate and the more positive word-of-mouth will communicate the brand experience, thus increasing the
brand equity.
Consumer is an active partner in creating brand equity. It‘s important to understand that both the consumer and
the company play different roles in value creation. Nowadays not only companies are those that are interested in
consumer behaviour, but the consumers themselves seek for knowledge about products and brands. What kind of
consumers should be involved into brand management? How to engage consumers and persuade them to participate
in brand management for the sake of higher brand equity? For now, these questions are not answered in a commonly
accepted and unambiguous way.
Consumer engagement into brand equity creation is relatively new research field and the existing studies are
somewhat fragmented. There is still a lack of common integrated evaluation of consumer brand engagement and the
process of consumer engagement into brand value creation is not thoroughly examined.
Predominant research is on consumer brand engagement behaviour (Hollebeek, 2011; Higgins & Scholer, 2009),
consumer engagement in brand value creation process (Boyle, 2007; Hatch & Schultz, 2010; Tynan et al., 2010),
and factors, influencing consumer brand engagement (Lockshin & Spawton, 2001; Füller, 2006; Payne, Storbacka,
Frow & Knox, 2009; Tripathi, 2009; Porter, Donthu, MacElroy, & Wydra, 2011; Wirtz, Den Ambtman, Bloemer,
Horváth, Ramaseshan, Van De Klundert, ... & Kandampully, 2013; Tsai & Men, 2013; Brodie, Ilic, Juric &
Hollebeek, 2013).
Analysis of existing studies on the constructs of consumer engagement behaviour, objects of brand engagement,
and factors, influencing consumer brand engagement, bases assumptions for research problem – what kind of
consumers should be engaged and how to engage consumers into brand equity creation.
The main aim of the research provided in this article is to develop a conceptual model of consumer engagement
into brand equity creation, which allows evaluating what kind of consumers has to be engaged and how to engage
consumers in value creation, seeking for higher brand equity.
The problem of consumer engagement into brand equity creation in the study provided in this article was
investigated using common scientific research methods: systematic, comparative, critical and generalising analysis
of scientific literature and modelling.
Consumer engagement into value creation. According to Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2004), in the traditional
market, consumers do not play active role in value creation. Value is created within a company through different
processes and activities. Company and its customers play different roles – those of producer or user respectively.
Thus, consumer is only a receiver of created value. Interaction among company and its customers is not conceived as
a way of value creation.
Recent studies and practice show that the role of consumer has changed. Value creation process with consumers
engaged into value creation, as active participants, has been analysed from the perspectives of Relationship
Marketing and Service Dominant Logic (S-D).
The relationship marketing perspective acknowledges active consumer‘s engagement in value creation. As Louro
& Cunha (2001) state, according to relationship marketing paradigm, brand management is perceived as dialectical
process, where company and consumers could represent different opinions (brand identity and brand image could be
perceived differently). Competitive advantage emerges as the result of interaction between the company and the
consumers, when they together create brand value. Company has an opportunity to use consumer‘s competencies in
brand value creation with an appropriate management of external information.
With reference to Louro et al. (2001), brand relationship management perspective is integral to relationship
between consumer and a brand, on purpose to create brand equity. However, if company wants to engage consumers
into such relationships, it has to be open and continuously being involved into interaction with its consumers.
Relationship marketing perspective, according to researchers, first of all is related to brand communities. Internet
plays here an important role, as it represents the platform for community interaction and enables creation of brand
identity. The impact of communities on brand is strong, because communities have power to angle the essence of the
brand in a different direction, despite the efforts of the marketers. Heding, Knudzen, & Bjerre (2009) suggest that
 Rita Kuvykaite and Zaneta Piligrimiene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156 (2014) 479 – 483 481

through interaction between community and brand, as well as between the members within the community, the
three-party relationships are born and the brand value is created.
According to Louro et al. (2001), company can get benefits from brand communities in several aspects. The
major part of community members represents the brand consumers, whose involvement is related to brand loyalty.
Communities could create value by sharing user experience or recommendations. However, company should assess
the possible risk of brand community, which is related to public information sharing on Internet among community
members, and an exposure of this information to competitors. Moreover, the user experience is not always positive
and it can have negative impact on brand value.
The Service dominant logic perspective reveals that companies should not only monitor market and react to
consumer‘s needs, but have to provide additional services for consumers as well. Gradually, Goods Dominant Logic
(G-D logic) switched to Service Dominant Logic (S-D logic), where consumer is perceived as no longer only passive
user, but as having an active role in value creation.
According to Vargo et al. (2004), S-D logic is based on the main exchange element, which is called value „co-
creation“. The process of co-creation can be passive as well as active. In the case of passive co-creation, company
does not put many efforts into creation and retention of relationships with consumers. The interaction appears only at
the moment of selling products to consumers. Meanwhile the active co-creation involves conscious and continuous
communication with consumers not only at the moment of selling, but also during all the processes of co-creation.
Thus passive co-creation mainly reflects value exchange, whereas active co-creation encompasses not only value
creation, but also its development together with consumers. Active co-creation requires from company to motivate
consumers to engage into value creation. During co-creation, the new products are created, the new marketing
communications are developed and the social experience of consumers is formed (Prahalad et al., 2004). Joint
actions of a company and a consumer could create value for both a consumer and a company.
Dimensions and stages of consumer engagement. Many authors relate the term „consumer engagement” with
some behavioural, emotional and consumers cognition efforts or commitment. Hollebeek (2011) while analysing
consumer brand engagement, distinguishes cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement dimensions. At first
consumer gets familiar with a brand, which later evokes some particular emotions that could be positive or negative,
and eventually these emotions stimulate the consumer to act, i.e., the consumer is not a passive user, but an active
participant, who gives some input into brand value creation. According to Higgins et al. (2009), the more consumers
are engaged, the bigger value is created.
With reference to brand equity dimensions, proposed by Aaker (1991) - familiarity, perceived quality,
associations and brand loyalty – Boyle (2007) identifies 5 stages of consumer engagement in brand equity creation:
1) the development of a new product with unique perceived product attributes, 2) the creation of brand awareness
through marketing and other communications, 3) consumer interpretation of marketing and other communications to
form pre-consumption brand association, 4) consumption of the product and the formation of post-consumption
associations, 5) repurchase and the intensifying perception of unique benefits leading to brand loyalty.
Based on existing research results, it can be concluded that consumers could actively participate in brand value
creation through engagement into the process of new product and brand marketing communications creation, and
brand buying behaviour.
Factors influencing consumer engagement behaviour. The studies of the factors, influencing consumer
engagement behaviour, (Plé, Lecocq & Angot, 2010; Van Doorn, Lemon, Mittal, Nass, Pick, Pirner & Verhoef,
2010) is oriented to the research of consumer motivation and company’s efforts to involve consumers. The research
on consumer motivation is mostly related with personal consumer characteristics, among which customer awareness,
perceived role clarity, customer ability and willingness of the customers to participate are distinguished as the most
important factors, influencing consumer engagement. In the group of company’s efforts to involve consumers, the
main factors are: organizational socialization techniques; help for the customer to understand what its expectations
are, developing its customers’ ability to participate, and motivation of the customer to participate.
The studies on the factors, influencing consumer brand engagement, usually are related with consumer
engagement in new product creation in virtual environment (Füller, 2006), brand communities (Porter, et. al., 2011;
Wirtz et al., 2013) and social network profiles (Tsai et. al., 2013).
482 Rita Kuvykaite and Zaneta Piligrimiene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156 (2014) 479 – 483

Füller (2006) analysed motives for consumer engagement into new product creation in virtual environment and
suggested that first of all consumers are motivated by their personal characteristics, such as interest in innovation,
curiosity and possibility to express own ideas. Monetary incentives are important only when consumer engagement
into new product creation becomes more frequent.
Such motivators, as information, relationship building, social identity/self-expression, helping others, enjoyment,
belongingness, status/influence, which influence consumer engagement in virtual brand community, were mentioned
in Porter‘s et al. (2011) study. Meanwhile Wirtz et al. (2013) emphasize moderating influence of products,
consumers and situational factors on the relations between motivators and consumer engagement in virtual
communities, while stressing the importance of motivation factors (social and functional) for consumer engagement
in virtual brand community.
The research results revealed that even if consumer brand engagement depends on specific factors, they can be
classified into two groups: 1) consumer-related factors (personal consumer characteristics that influence consumer
engagement behaviour), and 2) company-related factors (company‘s efforts to involve consumers).

2. Results

Based on the results of theoretical analysis of existing studies on consumer brand engagement, the conceptual
model of consumer engagement in brand equity creation was developed, which integrates several different
constructs: factors, influencing consumer engagement, levels of brand engagement, objects of engagement and
brand equity dimensions.
The model reflects the relations between the changes in brand equity dimensions (familiarity, perceived quality,
associations and brand loyalty) after engagement, levels of consumer engagement (cognitive, affective and
behavioural) and personal consumer characteristics (awareness, perceived role clarity, ability, willingness to
participate) that are important for identification of consumers, who should be engaged into brand equity creation.
The most attractive actions of consumer engagement (organizational socialization techniques; helping the customer
to understand its expectations; developing its customers‘ ability to participate; motivating the customer to
participate) into different objects (creation of new products and brand marketing communications, brand buying
process), based on the model proposed, could be identified by determining which company’s efforts of consumer
engagement were the most attractive (asking consumers who are strongly engaged with brand) and which were
missing (asking consumers who are less engaged with brand).
The proposed conceptual model for consumer engagement into brand equity creation opens opportunities for
more extended and purposeful cognition and evaluation of the process and the conceptual construct of consumer
engagement into brand equity creation.

3. Conclusions

While seeking for a brand success in the market, it‘s important to understand the consumer‘s, as an active
partner’s, role in brand value creation. Consumer brand engagement allows company to use the consumers’
competencies in brand equity creation. Brand engaged consumers experiences bigger emotional, functional and
social value, brand creates more positive associations for them and leads to increased brand loyalty and brand
equity.
Consumer brand engagement is relatively new research topic and existing studies are somewhat fragmented.
Research is mostly concentrated on consumer brand engagement behaviour analysis, examination of consumer
engagement into brand equity creation process, and exploring factors that have influence on consumer engagement.
But still there is a lack of integrated consumer brand engagement evaluation, consumer engagement into brand
equity creation is not thoroughly explored and the answers are not provided. There is a need for studies that would
provide some answers to questions – what customers should be engaged into value creation and how they should be
engaged into value creation for a purpose of higher brand equity.
 Rita Kuvykaite and Zaneta Piligrimiene / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 156 (2014) 479 – 483 483

The conceptual model of consumer engagement into brand equity creation, proposed in this article, reveals how
to manage consumer brand engagement, based on the relations between the factors, influencing consumer
engagement, levels of brand engagement, objects of engagement and brand equity dimensions.
Despite the fact that model must be tested empirically, it can be treated as a platform for more extensive and
purposeful analysis, cognition and evaluation of consumer engagement into brand equity creation.

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