Merchandising/Marketing/Retailing: Branding

Letting Customers Participate: Co-creating with Apparel Brands on Social Media

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Abstract

Customers are increasingly engaging in co-creation behaviors with brands on social media, becoming partners with the brands they love. Based on the social identity theory (SIT), this study aimed to investigate the effect of customers' identities (i.e., social identity and self-identity) on their motivation to co-create content with apparel brands on social media platforms. A total of 353 sample surveys were collected from U.S. social media users following apparel brands. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the measurement model and a structural equation modeling analysis for path analysis. The findings of the study indicated customers' social identity with brand communities can strengthen brands’ presence on social media and self-identity has no significant effect on co-creation behaviors on social media. These insights support that when customers identify themselves as members of a brand community, they are more willing to co-create content for apparel brands on social media.

Keywords: co-creation behaviors, branding, theory comparison, social identity theory

How to Cite:

Recalde, D. M., Jai, T. (., Jones, R. P. & Cuevas, L., (2024) “Letting Customers Participate: Co-creating with Apparel Brands on Social Media”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 80(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.17549