Customer Engagement With Internet Service Providers: The Role of Branded Content Marketing

This study aims to examine how long-term customer brand engagement could be influenced by branded content marketing. The theoretical framework is assessed using quantitative data from 300 internet users in Nigeria, collected using a self-administered survey. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The results reveal that branded content marketing dimensions have a significant effect on enduring involvement. Enduring involvement has a significant effect on online engagement behaviour and an insignificant effect on customer brand engagement. Online engagement behaviour has an insignificant effect on customer brand engagement. Ongoing search behaviour was found to have a significant moderating effect between enduring involvement and online engagement behaviour and an insignificant moderating role between enduring involvement and customer brand engagement, and between online engagement behaviour and customer brand engagement. There is an insignificant mediating role of online engagement behaviour in the relationship between enduring involvement and customer brand engagement. The research contributes to the extant literature on CBE. This study is cross-sectional in nature. Thus, future research should consider comparisons between countries with advanced infrastructure as well as other industries to enhance the generalisability of the study’s findings. The role of ongoing search behaviour in shaping the connection between the variables as conceptualised has received little attention in the branding literature. This paper makes a noteworthy contribution to CBE research by empirically testing a holistic framework. The mediation role of online engagement behaviour in the holistic framework is tested.