BUS631: Brand Management

The purpose of this research was to understand user experiences with information interactions on brands' social media pages. In line with theories of cognitive appraisals of emotion in psychology and education conceptually developed in information systems, this study conceptualized a model of information experiences on brand pages and validated the model within the context of fashion brands' social media pages. Specifically, consumers consider a brand's social media page to function as a source of information in which values (usefulness, enjoyment) experienced during information interactions elicit positive emotions, which foster experiential states (satisfaction, cognitive engagement, and elaboration). This study further showed that the effect of values on positive emotions is moderated by curiosity. Based on these results, we argue that a user's engagement toward a fashion brand page can be enhanced when the user has strong and positive information experiences on the brand's page.

This paper contributes to the literature on consumer engagement, information experiences, and appraisals of emotions in several ways. First, the study adds value to the expanding discourse on consumer engagement in the context of social media brand pages. By examining the effects of individuals' information experiences on their consumer engagement intentions with brand pages, the study posits that an individual's information experiences offer an important viewpoint to understand consumer engagement with a service environment, such as brand pages on social media. Carlson et al. addressed values experienced during individuals' interactions with brand pages as drivers of consumer engagement. This study extends their findings by showing that consumer engagement can develop through their information experiences during their interactions with brand pages. In a similar vein, in a netnography study, Brodie et al.  asserted that the need for information is a basic customer need in an online brand community environment and developed a model of customer engagement in which learning is a key sub-process of consumer engagement. Their model is corroborated by our quantitative investigation with consumer surveys that underscores the significance of taking users' information experiences into account regarding customer engagement in interactive and experiential environments, such as brand pages.

Second, to answer our questions, what are information experiences on brand pages, how is information experienced, and why is it important in this context, we developed a model by coordinating theoretical frameworks from different disciplines, including psychology, education, and information systems. The cross-disciplinary approach helped us propose a model of consumer engagement in fashion brand social media pages that centers around the view of information experiences. Specifically, the study demonstrated that information experiences comprise three components - instrumental and non-instrumental values, affective responses, and experiential states - in agreement with the concepts of user experience and information experience. Additionally, the causal relationships among these components are in line with the appraisal perspectives of emotions. Together, this study offers a preliminary insight into what occurs in the intersection between consumers and an online information world managed by fashion brands, opening up new studies on consumer information experiences and engagement in relation to digital fashion marketing.

More specifically, as for antecedents to positive emotions, both instrumental (usefulness) and non-instrumental (enjoyment) values resulting from users' information experiences strongly influence the arousal of positive emotions, consistent with the notions of values in consumer research and information systems and HCIs. Among many types of values, values from information experiences on a brand page are of particular interest to this study. When consumers find browsing, reading, and/or sharing information useful and enjoyable, they are likely to have positive emotions, such as happiness, pleasure, and the feeling of fun. On a brand's social media page, many tangible sources (for example images, verbal content, videos, hashtags, and links by the brand), internal information (such as their feelings, thoughts, and personal experiences), and external information (such as others in the place) can be informative to users. They represent instrumental as well as non-instrumental values and contribute to positive emotions.

Regarding outcomes of positive emotions, this study delineates three prototypical experiential states occurring from information experience on brand pages: satisfaction, cognitive engagement, and elaboration experiences. While the findings indicate that consumers are more willing to engage with brand pages when they are satisfied, cognitively engaged, and elaborating on the information in the process of information interactions on brand pages, the relative magnitude of effects they had on engagement intention was different. That is, among the three experiential states, satisfaction had the strongest impact on engagement intentions, confirming the direct and strong relationships between satisfaction and loyalty discussed in numerous studies. Since satisfaction is associated with the overall evaluation about the quality of experiences, while cognitive engagement and elaboration rather specify individuals' process of cognitive performances, satisfaction is deemed to be the most powerful determinant of consumer behavioral intentions, such as engagement intentions. The dynamics of the experiential states merits future research to deepen our understanding of this phenomenon.

Third, the results from this study support the appraisal theories of emotions from psychology and education by demonstrating the central role of emotions in processing information experiences. Our findings indicate that one's appraisals deriving from an activity are central to the arousal of emotions, which further facilitate the cognitive outcomes of the activity. In this study, values from information interactions are subjectively appraised by consumers based on what they want to achieve through the interaction, which then influences their emotions. Aligning with the literature about information experiences, which explains that the emotional valence of information experience is another information source that motivates a user to continue interacting with information for decision making, this study highlights the significance of understanding emotions to explain information experiences and consumer behavior in the context of social media brand pages.

Fourth, we found that the effect of values on positive emotions is contingent on the level of curiosity an individual experiences while interacting on a brand page. The influence perceived values - both instrumental and non-instrumental - have on inducing positive emotions is stronger for consumers experiencing higher levels of curiosity than others. In line with studies asserting that individuals with a high level of curiosity are more likely to seek and respond to information that is personally meaningful and that curiosity is positively associated with emotions of interest, this study's findings offer evidence that how much of curiosity users experience on a brand's social media page affects the cognitive appraisal–emotions process.

Insights derived from this study also have implications for fashion brands' social media marketing. Despite anecdotal evidence that understanding information experiences in this service environment is a priority, there had been little research. The current study proves that successful information experiences enhance consumer engagement intentions toward a brand page. Consumer engagement on the brand page is the key to loyalty, satisfaction, empowerment, connection, emotional bonding, trust, and commitment, and in this regard, managerial efforts should be made to understand the target customer, how they interact with information, and what information sources they check on the brand page. Characterization of information experiences explored from the users' perspective will enable fashion brand managers and social media marketers to develop more relevant strategies.

This study can also help businesses design brand pages on social media. The findings highlight the role of positive emotions in consumers' interactions with brand pages. Positive emotions are facilitated when consumers perceive their information interactions to be useful and enjoyable. Thus, it becomes important for brand marketers to design their brand pages using posts that are informative, pleasant, and entertaining. In addition to informative sources, such as information about new products, promotions, and sales, other sources for fun and entertaining visits, such as videos, co-creation opportunities, and live streaming events, make customers' visits to the brand page useful, enjoyable, and meaningful. Thus, surveying users' sources of information experiences will allow marketers to analyze what is relevant and perceived to be informative and entertaining yielding positive emotions.

Lastly, the findings on the significant moderating effect of curiosity on the relationship between perceived values and positive emotions suggests that marketers should concentrate on strategies to stimulate users' curiosity when they visit brand pages. For example, designing posts with novel and interesting fashion trends may induce users' curiosity. Marketers may also focus their attention on attracting users with high levels of curiosity to their brand pages.

This study has several limitations. First, this study used a convenience sample collected in South Korea, which may limit the generalization of the findings to other demographics in other countries. Second, the experiential states of information experience presented in this study are based on van der Sluis' conceptual model of IX that has not been empirically validated yet. Since the IX was originally made for information systems, there may be other states of information experiences relevant to fashion brand pages beyond the scope of the present investigation. Therefore, we encourage researchers to explore dimensions of experiential states of information experiences specific to consumer information interactions on fashion brand pages.

Third, our data used self-reported measures relying on respondents' retrospective perceptions of their interactions with information on brand pages that they had selected. Retrospective perceptions may not represent the actual experiences of the moment. Therefore, future research employing techniques that allow the assessment of momentary experiences would be beneficial. For example, considering the nature of subjectivity and context-dependency of information experiences, a phenomenological approach that explores individuals' lived information experiences reflecting their own lifeworld contexts would enable a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Similarly, using survey methods limits one's information sources that may possibly be available in real situations, where individuals are able to interact with and are influenced by different actors near them or on the internet. Thus, future research needs to explore whether and how the different sources of information provided by different actors (brands, other consumers) shapes users' information experiences, and whether and how information experiences can be molded in the presence of users' perceptions.

Finally, while the present study considered curiosity as a moderator that had an impact on the affective responses toward the information interactions, other moderators may also explain user experiences with information interactions. Especially since people experience information differently, future research exploring individual differences (e.g., need for cognition, need for interaction, and processing style) will enrich the understanding of dynamic information experiences.