Humanizing brands in social media: The impact of anthropomorphism on brand identification, engagement, and advocacy

In the fast-developing ambiance of social media, brand anthropomorphism has emerged as an important strategy for consolidating consumer-brand relationships and enhancing identification, advocacy, and engagement. This study investigates these associations using the lens of Social Identity Theory (SIT), employing a sample of 256 consumers who selected brands with anthropomorphic traits. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), the findings show that brand anthropomorphism significantly influences consumer brand identification, partially mediating its impact on engagement and advocacy. Consumer brand engagement exerts a modest but significant influence on consumer brand advocacy. Moreover, a perceived level of brand anthropomorphism is a necessary condition for consumer brand identification. These findings suggest that brand anthropomorphism strategies, when well implemented, can be beneficial for managing brand-consumer relationships, especially within the social media digital landscape. This study expands the literature on brand anthropomorphism by combining three brand-related constructs and indicates that anthropomorphism exerts a stronger effect on identification and advocacy, but a less intense effect on engagement. These findings demonstrate the importance of brand anthropomorphism as a brand relationship strategy, leading to positive consumer behaviour and optimising performance in an increasingly omni-channel retail milieu, thus strengthening brand equity and brand ambassadors.