Purpose

This paper fulfills a prominent need to examine some overlooked predictors of consumer engagement in an online setting. This study aims to explore whether and how consumer e-empowerment mediates the influence of social capital (bonding and bridging) on consumer engagement with the Facebook brand page.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an online questionnaire survey, data obtained from 369 Facebook users were analyzed by using structural equation modeling to empirically examine the proposed framework.

Findings

Results support an influential mediating effect of consumer e-empowerment to the social capital -consumer engagement link. Specifically, the effect of both bridging and bonding social capitals on consumer engagement is partially mediated by consumer e-empowerment.

Research limitations/implications

The social capital notion is powerful for managers, as it indicates significant results for the firm due to investments in social media brand pages. Such social capital transmutes into consumer engagement via consumer e-empowerment. Therefore, this paper provides a guideline for managers when investing in social media sites.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how social capital may affect consumer engagement. The paper is a leading study in investigating the direct and indirect (via consumer e-empowerment) effects of bonding and bridging social capitals on consumer brand engagement.

中文翻译：

---

从社会资本到消费者参与：消费者电子赋权的中介作用

目的

本文满足了一个突出的需求，即检查一些被忽视的在线环境中消费者参与度的预测因素。本研究旨在探讨消费者电子赋权是否以及如何调节社会资本（纽带和桥接）对消费者参与 Facebook 品牌页面的影响。

设计/方法/方法

基于在线问卷调查，通过使用结构方程模型对从 369 位 Facebook 用户获得的数据进行了分析，以实证检验所提出的框架。

发现

结果支持消费者电子赋权对社会资本 - 消费者参与链接的有影响力的中介作用。具体而言，桥接和联结社会资本对消费者参与的影响部分是通过消费者电子赋权来调节的。

研究限制/影响

社会资本的概念对管理者来说很强大，因为它表明由于对社交媒体品牌页面的投资，公司取得了重大成果。这种社会资本通过消费者电子赋权转化为消费者参与。因此，本文为管理者在投资社交媒体网站时提供了指导。

原创性/价值

本文满足了研究社会资本如何影响消费者参与的确定需求。该论文是一项领先的研究，研究了社会资本对消费者品牌参与的直接和间接（通过消费者电子赋权）影响。