Abstract
The Internet is considered as a competitive marketing instrument in advancing business-related information and real-time transaction opportunities (Kumar, 2013). Several brand managers are questioning whether the existent marketing approaches to position their brands, with the purpose to operate in a traditional and online setting, may be enhanced (Liu, 2012). The Internet is recognized as an influential instrument that has changed the manner brands conduct business and the way consumers and businesses interact (Boyland et al., 2013). The distinctive value that the Internet offers over conventional media is the capacity to interact with consumers. This permits practitioners to adjust their presentation to adapt specific consumers’ needs. Contrary to other forms of media, the Internet assists companies to create long-term relationships with its consumers as it allows a distinctive reciprocal communication. This reciprocal communication that distinguishes the latest marketing channels from conventional media is website interactivity (Wang et al., 2013).
a mechanized environment the same way as a company does in a traditional
environment. It includes communicating with consumers directly, generating an
exclusive and individual interaction with them. As a central aspect in
technology-mediated communication, Website interactivity has been identified as a
critical component to create strong brands (Voorveld et al., 2013). Regardless of the
significance of Website interactivity, very limited research was identified in the
branding and marketing literature that investigate the influential role of interactivity
on brand equity. To this date very few researchers have devoted efforts to investigate
the influential impact of Website interactivity on branding constructs. Therefore, this
study closes this gap with the conceptualization and the impact of the two dimensions
of Website interactivity namely social interactivity and system interactivity on brand
equity. Additionally, another contribution is to examine the mediating effect of brand
image and brand awareness in the formation of brand equity in the online
environment.
The study propose a theory-based model of Website interactivity as a precursor to
build online brand equity and to examine the relationships among Website
interactivity, bran image, brand awareness, and brand equity in the context of branded
Websites. Leaning on the fundamentals of branding literature and the Website interactivity theory, a theoretical framework is designed and seven hypotheses are
examined. A two-phase analysis is considered, first a Confirmatory factor analysis
(CFA) and then a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings show that the
dimensions of Website interactivity impact significantly on the brand awareness and
brand image which in turn influence online brand equity. As today limited research
has been focused on studying the impact of Website interactivity as a branding
instrument.
In this study, the authors consider Website interactivity to be the interaction between
Websites and individuals. In this sense, Website interactivity is viewed as an essential
high-tech capability for building brands (Voorveld et al., 2013) as it allows a
reciprocal communication with the system and other users. Current literature indicates
that for a more real illustration of the dual dimensions of Website interactivity, studies
devote user control as an expression of system interactivity and two-way
communication as an expression of social interactivity (Wang et al., 2013). Two-way
communication (social interactivity) refers to reciprocal communication between
individuals. The dimension is perceived as the interaction between the users and the
system (e.g. Website) (e.g. through e-mail, chat or toll-free telephone access to
customer service, etc.). The user control (system interactivity) perspective is more
concerned with the ability of the user to select content and guide the interaction
(Lowry et al., 2006). User control is manifested when individuals are granted the
opportunity to select the content and influence the communication. For instance, Web
users may feel themselves as possessing user control because they have the capacity
to select without restrictions (through an internal search engine).