Abstract/Summary

Purpose - The purpose of this comparative study is to explore how personal values embedded in cultural backgrounds in China and the UK influence customer engagement in an online brand community context from cognitive, affective, and behavioural perspectives. Design - This thesis adopts netnographic approaches that comprise two phases of data collection. The first phase uses non-participatory observation to collect 5,689 textual posts from the Keep (China) and 4,875 textual posts from the MyFitnessPal (UK) online brand-hosted communities. Based on the first phase of observation, forty users from both communities are selected for the second phase laddering interviews. Findings - Through observations, similar practices are identified in both communities with respect to cognitive engagement in the manifestations of attention and absorption, while distinct differences are found with respect to affective and behavioural engagement in the selected communities. Through laddering interviews, four themes, namely sharing, socialising, helping others, and self-advancement, are summarised to demonstrate the complexity of online brand community engagement from multiple CE dimensions namely cognitive, affective, and behavioural. Within each theme, comparisons are made between Chinese and UK respondents regarding multiple attributes, consequences, and values identified to account for how personal values influence individuals’ engagement performance in. Practical implications – This thesis offers valuable insights to international marketing professionals regarding the engagement of individuals from both collective and individualistic cultural background within an online brand community context. Armed with this knowledge, managers from multinational corporations can effectively design and customise an online brand community to suit the specific needs and preferences of these two distinct cultures. Originality - By adopting a means-end approach, this study identifies the underlying values driving customers’ engagement from a micro perspective, thus enriching existing frameworks of customer engagement in a cross-cultural context.