Consumer and brand value formation, value creation and co-creation in social media brand communities
| Date | 08 March 2024 |
| Pages | 477-492 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2023-4299 |
| Published date | 08 March 2024 |
| Author | Magdalena Marchowska-Raza,Jennifer Rowley |
Consumer and brand value formation,
value creation and co-creation in social
media brand communities
Magdalena Marchowska-Raza
Department of Marketing, Retail and Tourism, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK and
Digital Marketing at Salford Business School, University of Salford, Salford, UK, and
Jennifer Rowley
Department of Marketing, International Business and Tourism, Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Abstract
Purpose –Social media has significantly impacted the value creation processes within the consumer–brand relationship. This study aimsto examine
value formation processes within a cosmetics social media brand community and to establish the types of value formation associated with different
categories of interactions within a social media brand community.
Design/methodology/approach –The research adopted a netnographic approach and followed the operational protocols of netnography.
Conversations in one large cosmetics social media brand community were observed and downloaded for analysis over a two-month period.
Examples of value-creation and formation processes were identified using netnographic interpretative procedures to develophigher-order themes.
Findings –The findings supported the creation of a “Consumer and brand value creation and co-creation framework”highlighting disparate value
types within the following interactions: consumer-to-consumer; brand-to-consumer; and consumer-to-brand. The identified value types were spe cific
to the actors (i.e. consumers and brands) involved in value formation processes. The analysis also revealed consumers’ability to independently
generate value through direct interaction with a social media brand community and the brands’role in supporting consumers invalue formation
through value facilitation.
Originality/value –The pivotal role of disparate actors’interactions in value formation processes is highlighted, alongside the auto nomous ability
to form value with the aid of resources stored and shared within the social media brand community. The network of interactions and value-creation
processes contribute to a holistic understanding of the interactions in a social media brand community. Furthermore, the research explores and
highlights the emerging role of social media brand communities as “value vestiges”.
Keywords Brand value, Co-creation, Value formation, Value creation, Cosmetics sector, Social media, Brand communities, Netnography,
Value co-creation, Consumer value
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Value is created through the meaningful interactions between
consumers and brands (Echeverri and Skål
en, 2021;Vargo
and Lusch, 2008). Social media brand communities are
increasingly becoming important platforms for value creation
(Veloutsou and Liao, 2023;Ardley et al., 2020). There are several
different value types that can be created. The most prominent and
long-established are functional value, social value, emotional value
and epistemic value (Sheth et al., 1991). These value types remain
central to current research (e.g. Han and Kim, 2020;Zhang et al.,
2020). Less explored and emerging more recently are personal
meaning value (Holbrook, 2005) and self-expression value
(Woodall, 2003), both of which are particularly relevant within the
social media environment (Ardley et al.,2020).
Whilst there is a growing body of recent work that has
examined the dimensions of value (e.g. Echeverri and Skål
en,
2021;Holmqvist et al., 2020;Payne et al., 2020), few studies
have used an approach that simultaneously explores a range of
value types and the processes of their creation and co-creation
within a specific area of investigation. In other words, a
comprehensive perspective that considers the formation of
value and the co-creation processes between different
stakeholders, as well as the value types that emerge from both
collaborative and autonomous activities, is still a relatively
unexplored area in the current researchlandscape.
Social media brand communities stem from online brand
communities, which are often referred toas “specialized, non-
geographically bound community based on a structured set of
social relations among admirers of a brand”(Muñiz and
O’Guinn, 2001, p. 412). Social media brand communities are
The current issue and full text archiveof this journal is available on Emerald
Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
33/4 (2024) 477–492
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-01-2023-4299]
Received 12 January 2023
Revised 25 June 2023
10 November 2023
2 January 2024
29 January 2024
Accepted 29 January 2024
477
fertile grounds for observing the interplay between brands and
consumer groups (Habibiet al., 2014a). Social networking sites
have been acknowledged for their impact on consumer behaviour
(Stephen, 2016;Veloutsou, 2023) and cultures (Kozinets,
2022). In particular, social media have significantly transformed
how consumers interact with brands (Valmohammadi et al.,
2023)andinfluenced the consumer decision-making process
(Voramontri and Klieb, 2019). These increasingly important
digital communication platforms offer an opportunity to generate
tangible value (Conti and Lexhagen, 2020). They also offer
virtual spaces which can contribute to the development of
knowledge repositories (Habibi et al., 2014a). The present study
focuses on value creation in a social media brand community in
the cosmetics sector. It seeks to understand value formation
within the social media brand community environment,
constructing a framework that illustrates the modes of value
associated with the various types of interaction.
This study contributesto knowledge on three levels by:
1the creation of a conceptual framework that draws together the
processes associated with consumer and brand value formation;
2identifying the different manifestations of value in brand-
to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and
consumer-to-brand (C2B) dynamics; and
3clarifying the understanding of value creation (Holmqvist
et al., 2020;Sashi, 2021) within the growing social media
context (Patel, 2021).
In this context, the role of disparate actors’interactioninvalue
formation processes is important, as is the autonomous capacity
to form value through the resources stored and shared within
the social media brand community. The complexity of the
interactions and the nature of value-creation processes are
central to a holistic perspective of the interactions in a social
media brand community. This research also proposes and
explores the emerging role of social media brandcommunities as
“value vestiges”.“Value vestiges”provide a multidimensional
view of value and knowledge within social media s paces.
2. Literature review
2.1 Introduction
Value formation is a concept associated with customer-
dominant logic (Heinonen and Strandvik, 2018). There are a
number of types of value formation, including, most
significantly, value co-creation, which is considered to be an
important marketing concept (Boysen Anker et al.,2015).
Value formation is a comprehensive notion that includes
various processes, for example, when value emerges and is not
actively sought (Heinonen and Strandvik, 2018). In the
marketing literature, the terms “creation”and “co-creation”
suggest that the emergence of value is a result of conscious
actions. However, value formation does not necessarily arise
from the pursuance of value, and neither doesvalue necessarily
emerge through action (Echeverri and Skål
en, 2011). This
viewpoint is supported by customer-dominant logic which
states that value can emerge through a process or as a planned
activity. Furthermore, value formation can be partially hidden
from the provider, and, therefore, is frequently outside of their
control (Heinonenand Strandvik, 2018).
Despite the concepts of value formation and creation being
widely used, they still present challenges as different theories adopt
different viewpoints including, for instance, the adoption of a
customer-grounded view or a provider-grounded vie w (Grönroos
and Voima, 2013). The introduction of customer-dominant logic
placed the consumer at the centre of the value-creating process as
well as highlighting possible conflicts or differences of interest
between consumers and providers (Heinonen and Strandvik,
2018). Customer-dominant logic also argues that value does not
necessarily need to be co-created. For example, it has been
suggested that the value process consists of value creation before
and after consumer–brand interaction (Holmqvist et al., 2020).
In other words, value can be created individually but also at
differentstages of the consumption process.
2.2 Value types
Value is defined as an “interactive relativistic preference
experience”(Holbrook,2005, p. 46) and is characterised by its
uniqueness to each consumer, conditional or contextual
dependence, relativeness (to alternatives) and dynamism
(constant change over time) (Smith and Colgate, 2007). The
concept of customer value is fundamentally an interactive
construct that occurs between the consumer, who acts as
the subject, and the product, which serves as the object
(Holbrook, 2005). Within the domain of customer value
research, two paradigms are particularly applicable to this
research. The interpretivist view focuses on subjective and
situational experiencesbetween subjects and objects, whilst the
social constructionist view seesvalue as subjective but socially
constructed (Zeithaml et al.,2020). There are similarities
between these two perspectives, as both have an emphasis
on the interactive nature of customer value. However, the
interpretative tradition of customer value is more relevant to
this research because it focuses on understanding the
emergence of customer value. Therefore, the context of social
media brand communitiesplays a pivotal role in broadening the
knowledge of consumer value formation. Furthermore,
the unique interactive context of social media has been
acknowledged as an environment enabling a multitude of
co-existing value-creation processes (Alexander et al.,2018).
However, the full scope of the impact of social media
environments on consumer behaviour is yet to be determined
(Stephen, 2016)as it is ever-evolving.
Early research identified customer value types (Sheth et al.,
1991) which have been developed and expanded over time
(Payne et al,2020;Smith and Colgate, 2007;Zhang, et al.,
2020). Subsequent studies on value creation within brand
communities looked at practices or collective actions that
facilitate participation and valuecreation (Schau et al.,2009).
The concept of linking value within brand communities was
proposed as a value that extendsbeyond the product or service
to embrace social interaction, in a way that satisfies consumers’
needs for a connection with like-minded people (Cova, 1997).
Linking value is jointly created by consumers and producers
(Cova and White, 2010), and is attained through social bonds
that are activatedby products or services (Dalli, 2021).
The value types that are most evident inthe literature are:
social value, emotional value, functional value and epistemic
value (Han and Kim, 2020;Mingioneet al., 2020;Zhang, et al.,
2020) (see Table 1). Social value is defined as a value derived
from association with others(Sheth et al.,1991;Zainuddin and
Gordon, 2020) that enables the enhancement of self-concept
Consumer and brand value formation
Magdalena Marchowska-Raza and Jennifer Rowley
Journal of Product & Brand Management
Volume 33 · Number 4 · 2024 · 477–492
478
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