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What do Consumers Tweet about? The Role of Product Type and Brand Belief Type on User-Generated Content


Affiliations
1 Fairfield University, United States
2 Quinnipiac University,, United States
3 Sacred Heart University,, United States
     

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The present study examines brand-related user-generated content (UGC) by focusing on a specific social networking site, that is, Twitter. In two studies focusing on services (Study 1) and respectively goods (Study 2), we show, based on content analysis of tweets, that there are significant differences between utilitarian and hedonic products with regard to the type of brand beliefs included in the tweets. Specifically, for hedonic products, the discussion is dominated by experiential beliefs, whereas for utilitarian products, it is dominated by functional beliefs. Symbolic beliefs play an important role in UGC neither for utilitarian products, nor for hedonic products. The paper concludes with discussions, managerial implications, and directions for future research.


Keywords

Twitter, Utilitarian and Hedonic Products, Functional, Experiential, Symbolic Beliefs.
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  • What do Consumers Tweet about? The Role of Product Type and Brand Belief Type on User-Generated Content

Abstract Views: 361  |  PDF Views: 2

Authors

Camelia C. Micu
Fairfield University, United States
Tilottama Chowdhury
Quinnipiac University,, United States
Anca Micu
Sacred Heart University,, United States
Arjun Chaudhuri
Fairfield University, United States

Abstract


The present study examines brand-related user-generated content (UGC) by focusing on a specific social networking site, that is, Twitter. In two studies focusing on services (Study 1) and respectively goods (Study 2), we show, based on content analysis of tweets, that there are significant differences between utilitarian and hedonic products with regard to the type of brand beliefs included in the tweets. Specifically, for hedonic products, the discussion is dominated by experiential beliefs, whereas for utilitarian products, it is dominated by functional beliefs. Symbolic beliefs play an important role in UGC neither for utilitarian products, nor for hedonic products. The paper concludes with discussions, managerial implications, and directions for future research.


Keywords


Twitter, Utilitarian and Hedonic Products, Functional, Experiential, Symbolic Beliefs.

References