Purpose

Although previous research emphasized the importance of inspiration in influencing consumer behavior, there is no categorical response to how social-media inspirational content inspires consumers across cultures. This paper aims to take on this agenda through a vignette experimental study.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper devised a vignette study involving subjects (n = 370) recruited from Nigeria and South Africa. The structural equation modeling procedure, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis aided the examination of the scale psychometrics and hypotheses testing.

Findings

Among other findings, this study shows that: inspirational content (utilitarian vs hedonic) exerts a positive differential effect on customer inspiration (CI) such that the effect of hedonic content is more pronounced than utilitarian content; collectivistic consumers are inspired more than individualists; CI triggers customer engagement behaviors (CEBs) and purchase intention, and an inspired-to component of CI mediates the effect of inspired-by on CEBs and purchase intention.

Research limitations/implications

While this study makes significant contributions to knowledge on CI, the focus on firm-generated content limits the scope of this study. Future research should examine the effect of consumer-generated content on CI. Additionally, the likely contextual influence of product type on CI and its triggers in the context of the foote, cone and belding grid creates the room to further interrogate the research model under conditions of high/low involvement products.

Originality/value

By showing how social-media inspirational content and cultural orientation separately influence and interact to influence CI which consequently triggers CEBs and purchase intention, the findings highlight the psychological mechanisms through which CEBs and purchase intention can be simultaneously triggered.

中文翻译：

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客户灵感的行为后果：社交媒体灵感内容和文化取向的作用

目的

尽管先前的研究强调了灵感对影响消费者行为的重要性，但对于社交媒体的鼓舞性内容如何激发跨文化的消费者并没有绝对的回应。本文旨在通过小插图实验研究来实现这一目标。

设计/方法/方法

本文设计了一个小插图研究，涉及从尼日利亚和南非招募的受试者（n = 370）。结构方程建模程序，方差分析（ANOVA）和回归分析有助于对量表心理计量学和假设检验的检查。

发现

除其他发现外，本研究还表明：鼓舞性内容（功利主义与享乐主义）对客户灵感（CI）产生正的差异影响，使享乐主义内容的影响比功利主义内容更为明显；集体主义的消费者比个人主义者更受启发。CI触发客户参与行为（CEB）和购买意愿，CI的受启发组成部分调解受启发对CEB和购买意愿的影响。

研究局限/意义

尽管这项研究对CI的知识做出了重大贡献，但对公司生成内容的关注限制了这项研究的范围。未来的研究应检查消费者生成的内容对CI的影响。此外，在高/低参与度产品的条件下，产品类型对CI及其触发因素（在脚，锥体和焊接网格中）的可能的背景影响，为进一步审视研究模型创造了空间。

创意/价值

通过显示社交媒体的鼓舞性内容和文化取向如何分别影响和相互作用以影响CI，从而触发CEB和购买意向，这些发现凸显了可以同时触发CEB和购买意向的心理机制。