Arushi Chandra-Kaushik

How does the nature and intensity of a parasocial relationship with a brand influence openness to and customer satisfaction with said brand?

Started May 25, 2022

Abstract or project description

This article investigates the presence of certain characteristics in mediated corporate online personae as a predictor of the presence and intensity of a parasocial relationship (PSR) developed with that persona. While present research on the topic of parasocial relationships focuses more so on the behaviors and interactive exchange of corporate and media personae with the individual (Labrecque 2014) and the impact of PSRs in general on consumer attitude and behavior, this article elaborates on the impact of anthropomorphic marketing on the intensity of a parasocial relationship. Drawing on the consumer-brand relationship literature with regard to parasociality, this article investigates whether this marketing ultimately affects both individual and group attitude and behavior towards the corporation vis a vis its anthropomorphic social representation. Information is collected from survey participants primarily based in the United States who complete a questionnaire, whose items are adapted from several existing scales well-verified in literature concerning parasociality in consumer-brand relationships. These scales will measure for parasocial interaction, parasocial love, customer citizenship, willingness to provide information, and loyalty intentions of the respondents. We predict that anthropomorphic characteristics will positively predict the strength of parasocial relationships developed with that character, and in turn, intensified parasocial relationships with anthropomorphic brand figures will positively predict positive word of mouth (pWOM) and customer citizenship behavior (CB). Consumer-brand literature has consolidated the relationship between the perceived behaviors and interactions of a media persona as contributing factors to a long-term parasocial association with the persona; critical analyses of the intrinsic characteristics of the personae as predictors of loyalty are less common. With the rapid virtualization of entertainment media, an analysis of the factors that contribute to the strongest parasocial relationships with corporate personae is a topic of interest to marketing researchers in that this understanding allows for creating more effective and impactful corporate media personae in the future.