Examining branding co-creation in brand communities on social media: Applying the paradigm of Stimulus-Organism-Response

This paper examines the antecedents of branding co-creation that include social networking sites'(SNSs) participation motivations, customer participation, brand trust and brand loyalty in social media brand communities by applying the "Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm". The survey method was used to gather data from 407 social media users. Data were analysed using structural equation modeling techniques. The findings reveal that SNSs' participation motivations positively influence customer participation, which in turn significantly affects brand trust and brand loyalty. Consequently, both brand trust and brand loyalty positively influence branding co-creation in brand communities on social media. Furthermore, brand trust contributes as a mediator between customer participation and brand loyalty on social media brand communities. Although studies on relationships examined through the lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm are popular, to the authors' surprise there is scant literature examining the relationships between SNSs' participation motivations, customer participation in social media brand communities, brand trust, brand loyalty and branding co-creation.