First and foremost, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Narsingh Deo, for his excellent guidance and encouragement, and also for introducing me to this wonderful science of complex networks. Without his support this dissertation would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the members of my research committee, professors Charles Hughes, Ratan Guha, Mainak Chatterjee and Yue Zhao for their advice and guidance during the entire process. I am indebted to the faculty and the staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for providing me the resources and environment to perform this research. I am grateful to my colleagues in the Parallel and Quantum computing lab for the stimulating discussions and support. I would also like to thank Dr. Hemant Balakrishnan and Dr. Sanjeeb Nanda for their valuable suggestions and guidance. My heartfelt thanks to my parents, Vasudevan and Raji, who have always been supportive of my decisions and encouraged me with their best wishes. I would also like to thank my sister Gomathy, for her words of care and affection during tough times. Special thanks to my friends in Orlando for being there when I needed them

The term of "consumer engagement" is extensively used in the digital era. It is believed that engaged consumers play an important role in products/services referral and recommendation, new product/service development and experience/value co-creation. Although the notion of consumer engagement sounds compelling, it is not fully developed in theory. Different interpretations coexist, resulting in confusion and misuse of the concept. This study attempts to define consumer engagement and develop a conceptual framework of consumer engagement, addressing antecedents of consumer engagement in online context. Moreover, some situational and social media usage-related factors are incorporated into the framework. A set of propositions are presented based on literature review and the conceptual framework to illustrate the relationship between consumer engagement and related factors. To provide empirical evidence for the conceptual model, an online survey is conducted. Participants complete the self-administered survey by answering questions concerning their online experience with the travel-related social media website they visit most. Two-step structural equation modeling is employed to analyze the data. The results show that both community experience and community identification have significant and positive relationship with consumer engagement. Community experience is also a strong predictor of community identification. Attitude toward using social media and travel involvement influence the relationship between consumer engagement and its antecedents. With focus on the interactive and experiential nature of consumer engagement, this study expands current understanding of consumer engagement and provides insights for hospitality and tourism businesses regarding how to engage consumers through travel-related social media.

The use of online brand communities and its effect on brand loyalty has been heavily researched in previous studies. However, online brand communities in the context of motorsport, which is inherently different from other sports, has not been thoroughly researched previously and currently remains unknown. The study aims to understand how motorsport followers become brand loyal within their brand communities and if their identification with the brand has an influence on the process. The following research questions were developed to find these answers: RQ1: "How does involvement in online brand communities affect brand loyalty among motorsport fans?" RQ2: "How do online brand communities influence brand identification for motorsport enthusiasts?" RQ3: "How does member participation in online brand communities contribute to the connection between online brand communities and brand loyalty in motorsport?" A quantitative research design was followed, using a survey with questions developed based on previous research. The final sample size was 403 after the data was cleaned. The findings from the survey suggest that concepts such as brand community engagement had a direct effect on the development of brand loyalty. Other findings also showed that brand identification had a mediating role between certain brand community belonging characteristics and brand loyalty. Additionally, the study found that brand community participation had no moderating effect between brand community belonging characteristics and brand loyalty, however did have a direct link between brand identification and brand loyalty. Further research includes testing the study’s model in other brand communities within the motorsport context to provide more information into this unknown field of sport and its members. / Användningen av online varumärkesgemenskaper och dess effekt på varumärkeslojalitet har undersökts noggrant i tidigare studier. Online varumärkesgemenskaper inom motorsport, som är fundamentalt annorlunda från andra sporter, har dock inte tidigare undersökts ingående och är för närvarande okända. Studien syftar till att förstå hur motorsportföljare blir varumärkeslojala inom sina varumärkesgemenskaper och om deras identifiering med varumärket har inflytande i processen. Följande forskningsfrågor utvecklades för att hitta dessa svar: FF1: "Hur påverkar deltagande i online varumärkesgemenskaper varumärkeslojalitet bland motorsportfans?" FF2: "Hur påverkar online varumärkesgemenskaper varumärkesidentifiering för motorsportentusiaster?" FF3: "Hur bidrar medlemsdeltagande i online varumärkesgemenskaper till kopplingen mellan online varumärkesgemenskaper och varumärkeslojalitet inom motorsport?" En kvantitativ forskningsdesign följdes med hjälp av en enkät med frågor utvecklade utifrån tidigare forskning. Den slutliga provstorleken efter att data rengjorts var 403. Resultaten från undersökningen tyder på att begrepp som engagemang i varumärkesgemenskap hade en direkt effekt på utvecklingen av varumärkeslojalitet. Andra resultat visade också att varumärkesidentifiering hade en medierande roll mellan vissa egenskaper för varumärkesgemenskap och varumärkeslojalitet. Dessutom visade studien att deltagande i varumärkesgemenskap inte hade en modererande effekt mellan egenskaper för varumärkesgemenskap och varumärkeslojalitet, men hade en direkt länk mellan varumärkesidentifiering och varumärkeslojalitet. Vidare forskning inkluderar att testa studiemodellen i andra varumärkesgemenskaper inom motorsportkontexten för att tillhandahålla mer information om denna okända sport och dess medlemmar.