Background: In the advent of multi-sided platforms defying traditional business models, sustaining long-term scale and success of platforms remains a great challenge to date. At the same time, customer engagement prevails as a superior factor enhancing customer loyalty in the current relationship marketing theory. Hence, utilizing customer engagement as a social tool to attract and sustain users could pose an appropriate answer for the struggles of platform businesses. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to validate context-specific relationships of customer engagement within a nomological network for multi-sided platform settings. By doing so, we particularly want to investigate context- specific antecedents in MSP settings leading to customer engagement and subsequently test its potential outcome of the continued use of the platform. Approach: By employing the pioneering example of Korea’s ubiquitous multi-sided platform KakaoTalk, we constructed a context-specific nomological network around customer engagement based on the platform’s perceived functionalities and characteristics. Applying structural equation modeling, we investigated our theorized path relationships between the major constructs of our research model. Findings: Our results suggested that the theorized context-specific nomological network around customer engagement can be validated in multi-sided platform settings. Hereby, customer engagement functioned as a strong predictor of user loyalty without being influenced by other relational constructs represented by relationship commitments. Additionally, a platform’s utility and especially its social experience embodied substantial factors that initially lead to customer engagement in the first place. Conclusion: Implications for this study contribute to both practitioners and scholars. While platform managers are guided with practical ideas to exploit customer engagement, the general literature of customer engagement is supported with a contextual study validating the applicability of the nomological network around customer engagement in the setting of multi- sided platforms.

Social media is widely expanded worldwide with increasing number of users in social networks. Social media allows the consumers to connect directly with companies, which has led to a shift from traditional one-way communication to a two-way communication between both consumer to company and consumer to consumer. A successful two-way communication on social media engages both the consumers and the company. The rise of social media has quickly changed the marketing approach, as it creates new opportunities for the consumer to connect and communicate in a greater rich. In a two-way communication, the communication needs to create engagement from the consumers even though the consumer may not want to engage, contributing to a challenge for companies to communicate to customers in order for them to engage. It could be argued that companies should in some way get their customers to be more engaged even though the engagement can generate several outcomes in this complex communication approach. Furthermore, customer engagement could have an impact on the purchase intention for the consumer. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to investigate motives that create customer engagement with fashion brands on social media and the relation between customer engagement motives and purchase intention with a fashion brand. According to previous research, personal interest, entertainment, rewards and information acquisition and sharing are the most encouraging motives for customer engagement. Due to that fact, these motives were in focus in the study and the motives were also put in relation to their effect on purchase intention. The research was conducted by a quantitative study through a survey, in order to gather an overviewing perspective in customer engagement on social media towards fashion brands. The sample size reached a valid number of 109 respondents. The findings of this thesis give the impression that overall customer engagement is still low even for the investigated motives. This indicates that the respondents do not usually take part of the two-way dialog. The reliability seems to lie with other consumers rather than fashion brands on social media when searching for information. In addition, information acquisition was ranked as the most encouraging motive while personal interest is the motive that most encourage to purchase intention.

Abstract- A study of interaction between real estate companies and their customers for sustainability purpose. Date: 2017-05-23   Level: Degree Project in Industrial Engineering and Management, 30 ECTS   Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, EST, Mälardalen University   Authors: Ivan Kertan, Oskar Manninen              1992-07-03         1993-06-29                            Title: A study of interaction between real estate companies and their customers for application of sustainability key figures  Tutor: Peter Ekman Keywords: Communication medium, Customer engagement , CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Study Question: What is the view of real estate companies about their impact on society and their ways to work sustainably? How should the real estate companies communicate with commercial tenants in order to apply the sustainability key figures that are developed by the KPI2030 research project? What view do the studied companies have regarding customer engagement and how is a strong customer engagement valued?   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to achieve a deeper understanding regarding an elaborately interaction between the real estate owners and tenants concerning sustainability work.          Method: In this study an abductive approach has been used. A case study was conducted at a limited number of real estate companies with the intention of obtaining qualitative data. This was done through semi-structured interviews with each company. An analysis of the theoretical reference frame and the collected data was conducted which led to conclusions.   Conclusion: The studied companies felt some kind of a responsibility towards society. No specific actions could however be mentioned by most of the companies in order to meet the demand for CSR with regards to social and economic aspects. The study showed a clear connection between customer engagement and communication medium, where stronger communication medium lead to more engaged customers. Strong communication medium as face-to-face is required as the concept of sustainability was perceived as complex and needed to be concretized. The concept of engagement was not highly valued as engagement did not seem to be understood well enough by any studied company. Nevertheless, the potential to make use of engaged customers clearly could be done by the right use of improved communication.

Previous research on lead generation has ignored the perceived benefits that buyers receive when exchanging information for firm-generated content. This research contends that digital content offered in a content marketing strategy contains specific benefits that drive the customer to participate in information exchange with the firm. Drawing on the social exchange theory (SET), this work examines how business-to-business (B2B) buyers’ perceived benefits of information exchange affect customer social networking site (SNS) engagement, consequently fostering lead generation. The author argues that content appeal (rational versus emotional) and content focus (buyer versus firm) are critical conditions that influence the relationship between buyers’ perceived benefits of information exchange on their engagement levels. The results of the present study support these statements by uncovering that potential buyers rely on more subjective evaluations (such as perceived benefits as source’s credibility, emotional appeals, and content focus). These subjective evaluations thus spur their behaviors (SNS engagement behaviors and disclosure of information) that ultimately impacts firm performance (sales lead generation). This research has important implications for theory, including the use of source credibility, as a construct for the particularism dimension, to analyze how specific benefits of digital content drive customers to participate in information exchange, and engage with the content. Also, results suggest that potential buyers will be more willing to interact and engage with emotional appeals and buyer focused content. This is relevant because it provides insight on how potential buyers, engaged with B2B content marketing, are willing to disclose information in return for digital firm-generated content. This research also has strong implications for managers. The author offers practical guidance to help marketers implement appropriate combinations of content material that increases the customers’ perceived benefits of the information exchange as a way of fostering customer engagement that leads to information disclosure and successful lead generation.

With an ongoing development in technology, retailers faces new challenges in terms of higher customer expectations. To meet these expectations, retail companies can use in-store technology to enhance the shopping experience and to create more value. This study aims to provide an understanding of in-store technology and how retailers can work with these tools in order to create customer value and improve the customer experience. The purpose of this study will be to investigate the Swedish market and see how Swedish retail companies work with in-store technology.   In this context, the following research questions were formed: (1) How do retail managers use in-store technology to create value for the customers? and (2) How do in-store technology affect frontline employees within retail? In order to answer these questions, a qualitative method was used, where five different retail companies were interviewed, which all have implemented in-store technology. Before the empirical gathering, we chose to keep the companies and the respondents anonymous in order for us to reduce the risk for complications later on in the thesis. This study aims to provide theory and to get an understanding of in-store technology and how companies can use it to develop their business. A conceptual framework was made to clarify which concepts that was used in order to answer these questions. These concepts were in-store technology, customer value creation, convenience, frontline employees, customer engagement and improved customer experience.   The empirical findings generated theory in which the authors developed two models: (1) The value dynamics, which describe how in-store technology and the interplay between managers, frontline employees, and customers generate value to each other. (2) A three step model where the authors have several suggestions of what retail companies should think of when they implement new technology.  The results of this study conclude how retail companies can use in-store technology in order to create customer value to improve the customer experience. In-store technology has created more value for the customer in terms of a more convenient shopping experience, and in-store technology provides the customer with more information which makes the shopping experience more independent as well. In-store technology has also contributed, in some extent, to a better working environment for frontline employees.

The aim of this study is to investigate how self-employed entrepreneurs create and manage their brands and how the entrepreneurs engage customers to their brands in online and offline contexts. Furthermore, the viewpoints of entrepreneurs towards branding will be explored To answer the research question, a qualitative, multiple case study was conducted. The primary data was collected by semi-structured interviews and the secondary data was obtained by studying the entrepreneur´s social media behaviour. This study found that entrepreneurs build their brands by utilizing their own personalities and characteristics. The brands created have loyal following and the customers are positively engaged. The engagement process itself is due to the relationships built between the company and the customers. Even if the brands are effective, there is not much strategic elements to them but are rather very organic.

E-commerce is a business model that allows firms and individuals to buy and sell things over the internet. In the last few years, with the rise in telecommunications accessibility, e-commerce has experienced a vital boom, facilitating the growth of local economies in many countries and communities worldwide. Unfortunately, Peru is a country that has yet to develop a strong e-commerce market due to many shortcomings. This research discusses some of the key issues identified, such as deficient governmental support, insufficient business guidance, and lack of trust in online payment methods. Regardless, some Peruvian entrepreneurs have taken steps to find success within the e-commerce industry by implementing particular customer engagement strategies. As such, this study aims to identify some of the customer engagement strategies that have proved to be successful among Peru's e-commerce entrepreneurs, which are not well-known among the entrepreneurial community in Peru. This will be done by drawing on a set of 10 interviews that were conducted with local Peruvian entrepreneurs from diverse industries. As a result, this research offers insights into e-commerce businesses' strategies to increase customer engagement in Peru, potentially increasing their odds of success.

Implementing an effective social media marketing strategy campaign to engage customers and increase sales is a challenge for owners of small retail business owners The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the social media marketing strategies owners of small retail businesses used to increase sales. The conceptual framework for this study was the social media marketing strategy theory. Data were collected from 5 small retail business owners in North Carolina through semistructured, face-to-face interviews and a review of company documents, websites, and social media sites. Data analysis through Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding data resulted in 3 emergent themes: social media engagement strategy, outsourcing strategy, and target market strategy. Owners of small retail businesses might benefit from the findings of this study to increase sales by understanding how to integrate a mix of social media marketing platforms, improve customer engagement, use third-party social media experts to improve advertising, and target customers using social media. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential for small business owners to increase job opportunities, lower local unemployment rates, and improve local economic growth and stability.

Background: The leisure and recreational sports market, a multibillion-dollar industry, isexperiencing a transformative shift. With increased competition and changing consumerdemographics, businesses and facilities are seeking innovative strategies to ensure customerretention and maintain profitability. Golf, as a key player in this sector, has seen a resurgencein popularity due to its adaptability during social distancing measures. Amid this growth, theindustry faces challenges to engage and retain a new demographic of golfers. To address this,experiential marketing, emphasizing immersive and interactive customer experiences, hasbecome increasingly critical. This approach focuses on creating memorable experiences ratherthan simply providing product or service information. Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of experiential marketing oncustomer engagement and loyalty within the golf industry, specifically analyzing howdifferent golf course dimensions affect consumers' emotional responses and willingness toreturn. This research will provide valuable insights for the development of effectiveexperiential marketing strategies in participation sports. Method: Ontology - Constructivism; Epistemology - Interpretivism; Methodology - Multiplecase study; Data collection - 10 semi-structured interviews; Sampling - Criterion sampling,which followed the criteria: (1) recent experience, participants must have played at both golfcourses during the 2023 season, ensuring that their experiences and feedback are current andrelevant to the present-day amenities offered by the clubs, while also minimizing theinfluence of any seasonal effects. (2) geographic location, participants must reside within theJönköping region, as this helps ensure that their experiences are not biased due to traveling toa new region or country, which could potentially lead to biased conclusions. (3) time played,the golfers must have completed at least 18 holes of golf as to ensure that they get the fullexperience at both of the selected golf courses.; Data Analysis – Content Analysis (creation ofa tree-diagram based on quotes, sub-categories, generic categories and main categories) Conclusion: This research offers insights into how experiential marketing dimensions likeamenities, atmosphere, and customer service influence golfer satisfaction and returnintentions. Key findings indicate that these elements elicit strong emotional responses, drivinggolfer loyalty. A holistic approach that addresses both tangible and intangible elementsenhance overall satisfaction. This study underlines the need for continued research into thesefactors to support the development of effective strategies for the golf industry.

The purpose of this study is to examine and investigate if there has been a growth within the second hand industry during the pandemic and if so, investigate what factors there are that have contributed to the growth. The target group of this study is within generation Z and their view on second hand. The study is based on the number of gaps that had been identified with help on earlier research on the subject. Numerous people in the literature and articles are eager to present that the second hand market has increased, but why it has increased and what has caused generation Z to shop more second hand is more challenging to answer. Furthermore, an analysis has been conducted in order to cover the gaps that have been identified. The study is based on a quantitative study with generation Z as respondents. The results from this study shows that the generation has begun to shop more second hand over the last years than they have been doing before. This is due to the fact that the generation is very active on social media where second hand has become a trend. New websites have emerged and it has become increasingly accessible to find good second hand bargains. It has also become increasingly common to seek inspiration on social media to find a foundation where they can express themselves with clothes and products. The results also show that there is a growing interest in products that are sustainable and environmentally conscious. It can be said that there are a number of factors that have played a major role in the growth of the second hand industry.