International Review of Management and

Marketing
ISSN: 2146-4405

available at http: www.econjournals.com

International Review of Management and Marketing, 2019, 9(3), 87-92.

The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer

Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

Ahmed Suhail Ajina*

Department of Marketing, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.
*Email: a.ajina@psau.edu.sa

Received: 10 March 2019  DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.8060

ABSTRACT
Social media has gained significant popularity in the modern era, as people are spending an increasing amount of time over platforms like Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram. This has instigated the organizations to amend their marketing communication techniques and to invest in the development
of activities which may engage the customers. The aim of this research paper is to determine the role of social media engagement in influencing the
customer loyalty from the perspective of the banking sector of Saudi Arabia. In order to ascertain this role, a combination of quantitative and qualitative
methods has been employed in order to obtain relevant data and to come up with the conclusions. The regression analysis and the in-depth analysis of
the qualitative data have established that the use of social media engagement has influenced the customers’ loyalty in the banking sector. Therefore,
banks should further focus on the social media in enhancing the customers’ loyalty. Moreover, qualitative analysis suggests that customer loyalty gives
strength to the financial position of the banks.
Keywords: Social media, Customers’ loyalty, Banking sector
JEL Classifications: G21, L82

1. INTRODUCTION 2018). According to Skwire and Skwire (2013), the role of social
media is very important to engage the customer with any brand
Consumer engagement is referred to the actions and activities and to win the loyalty as well.
that organizations undertake in order to begin an open line of
communication with the external stakeholders (Palmatier et al., In case of Saudi Arabia, some literature has highlighted the
2017). Instigating the customers to actively engage with the importance of social media in brand development and customers’
organization may enhance the experience which may in turn have a engagement. For example, Alam (2017) investigates the role of
potential to build the loyalty in the customers (Brodie et al., 2015). social media on the brand preferences in the general context of
Owing to the advancements in the information and communication available brands in the Saudi Arabia. He finds some evidences
technology, communication with the masses has become easier in favor of the hypothesized relationship. Al Saud and Khan
and necessary in order to increase awareness of firms’ offered (2013) investigate the role of Facebook and Twitter on the brand
product (Management Association, Information Resources, 2018). development in the Saudi Arabia. They find that both media
The use of social media platforms has become one of the most remain very effective in the brand development. Abduljadail
effective ways to reach the target consumer and to engage them. (2017) investigates the effect of the Facebook on the customer
From the perspective of the banking sector, social media may be engagement in the six sectors of Saudi Arabia including the
used to collaborate and to interact with the customers to develop financial sector. He finds that the advertisement with exploiting the
a favorable and long lasting relationship (Haro-de-Rosario et al., benefit of local culture is found very important in the perception

This Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019 87

 Ajina: The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

of the Saudi customers. Further, both local and global brands have that customer engagement drives the purchase decisions of the
been used the cultural traits in the advertisement on the Facebook consumers in favor of particular brands and also gives strength
which remains very effective for the customer engagement. to the future interactions with the organization (Chu and Kim,
2011; Palmatier et al., 2017). In addition to the management of
The existing global literature has highlighted that customer customer relationship, the companies attempt to raise awareness
engagement is beneficial for banking institutions. It has also been about their products through the process of customer engagement
demonstrated that social media platforms are the most effective by offerings the current schemes and special offers etc. Customer
medium for the communication with the tech savvy customers of engagement is commonly achieved via marketing campaigns and
the modern era. However, there is lack of adequate research on other outreach programs which are mostly conducted over the
the way that consumer engagement activities over social media digital media in the present era.
platforms facilitate in winning the customers’ loyalty from the
perspective of banking institutions in the Saudi Arabia. Though, The rapid advancements in the domain of information and
some literature has investigated the effect of social media on the communication technology have made it easier to engage in
customers’ engagement and brand development but still no study the open line of communication with the decision makers of the
specifically covers this issue in the banking sector of the Kingdom. organization (Management Association, Information Resources,
This present research tries to fill this literature gap. Hence, the 2018). In addition, the consumers are no longer satisfied by playing
aim of this research paper is to determine the role of social media a passive role in the process of marketing communications of the
in determining the customers’ engagement with the brand which organizations. In the modern era, the consumers want to have
may play a constructive role in influencing the customer loyalty an active role through participating in the process of product
in the banking sector of Saudi Arabia. development by providing feedbacks and grievances. Dessart et al.
(2015) claim that the organizations, who have successful adopted
The present research is motivated to investigate the said hypothesis the strategies to ensure the active engagement of the customer
because of three reasons. First, the relevance of social media would in the marketing communication activities, are able to secure a
be evaluated in the process of customer engagement. Second, this competitive advantage in the industry.
research ascertains the way that customer engagement can lead to
the formation of a loyal customers’ base. Thirdly, the relevance of 2.2. Consumer Engagement through Social Media
customer loyalty has been analyzed from the perspective of the Platforms
banking sector. Finally, there has been inadequate research on With the rising popularity of the information and communication
this theme in the context of the baking industry in Saudi Arabia. technology, the general public is spending a substantial part of
Therefore, the present research is conducted in order to bridge their time in the online activities (Chu and Kim, 2011). Therefore,
the gap in the scant marketing literature about the way that banks marketers have realized that digital channels should be used in
may utilize on the social platforms in order to win the consumers’ order to allure the consumers. Digital or online channels are using
loyalty and to ascertain the sound financial conditions. wide arrays of networks like websites, mobile applications, e-mail
and social media platforms in order to attract the consumers of
The rest paper is organized in such a way that second section the target market (Guesalaga, 2016). The rising popularity of
discusses the literature, third elaborates the methodology, forth the use of social media among the younger generation has led
section displays the quantitative and qualitative analyses and last to the emergence of a facet of marketing in favor of the social
section concludes the study. media marketing (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014). In other words,
social media marketing is the aspect of marketing where the
2. LITERATURE REVIEW organizations conduct the marketing communications over social
media platforms. This is also done to assure maximum visibility
This section discusses a comprehensive idea about the concept among the target audience.
of customer engagement and the relevance of such marketing
strategies in the process of enhancement of customer loyalty. To communicate with each and another, people have become
This section also highlights the use of social media platforms increasingly reliant on the use of social networking websites
for engaging the two-way communication with the consumers. (Lin and Lu, 2011). The rising popularity of social media has
Further, the use of such strategies from the perspective of the instigated the organizations to make significant changes to their
banking institutions has also been reviewed. communication strategies. Farook and Abeysekara (2016) have
inferred that people use social media platforms in order to develop
2.1. Consumer Engagement their personal network. Therefore, organizations should use such
Engagement of the consumers is a facet of the discipline of channels in order to reach the target audiences and to cultivate
customer relationship with management of a business. This the long-term relationships with the customers. The participation
marketing strategy enables organizations to facilitate the process in an open line of communication with the organization through
of development of favorable and long lasting relationships the process of expressing grievances and support, a customer
with the consumers. According to Kumar (2013), organizations makes a direct commitment with the firm which facilitates the
utilize various channels both online as well as offline in order to process of relationship-building. The use of social media website
instigate an open line of communication with the consumers and like Facebook has a significant impact on consumer engagement
other external stakeholders. Various academicians have opined which also helps in increasing the market share of the companies.

88 International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019

 Ajina: The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

Maintenance of an active online presence of networking with Khan et al. (2016) propound that the online banking experience
the clientele of the organization, both existing and potential, has plays a crucial role in the mediating the consumer engagement and
favorable impact on the company’s financial condition. loyalty towards the banking institutions. Engagement through the
online banking services is more likely to create a stronger loyalty
2.3. Consumer Engagement in Influencing the towards the banking products’ brand. Therefore, the investment
Customer Loyalty in the improvement of the online banking experience is more
The engagement of the consumer in the business processes plays likely to facilitate the brand loyalty in this modern era (Rather
a significant role in the enhancement of the loyalty (Brodie et al., and Sharma, 2017). Haro-de-Rosario et al. (2018) state that the
2015; Acar and Putoni, 2016). Hence, it is crucial to undertake banks have increasingly adopted the use of social media platforms
a customer focused marketing strategy in order to secure a like Facebook and Twitter in order to post the information about
significant base of loyal customers. In other words, the products their offers which help in building the trust among the customers.
of the organization may change over time but the loyalty helps the
company to secure the higher returns from the customer’s lifetime 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
value. Solem (2016) argues that the consumer engagement leads
to the creation of value through the active participation of the 3.1. Research Philosophy
customers in the marketing communication process. This value The research philosophy chosen for this research is positivism
thereafter leads to the higher levels of satisfaction derived from because a highly structured method has been adopted for testing
the brand which afterward inculcates a sense of loyalty in the the hypothesis. Positivism is the most appropriate philosophy for
minds of the customers. Further, he concludes that the consumers, this research because the data have been obtained through survey
who use social media to participate in the organization’s brand and interviews for further analyses (Mackey and Gass, 2015).
engagement strategies, express higher levels of satisfaction. In fact, Kuada (2012) argues that the positivism approach may enable the
there exists a strong positive correlation between brand loyalty and research to obtain primary data from various sources about the
consumer participation in the short term perspective. Moreover, role of social media channels in the process of enhancing customer
the companies engaged in the service sector business may gain loyalty. Therefore, we also prefer the positivism approach.
substantial customer loyalty by investing in consumer engagement
strategies through the social media platforms. 3.2. Research Approach
We follow the deductive approach because we begin with a
So et al. (2016) inquire the service industry and conclude that the theory to be tested based on the data which have been collected
engagement of the consumer is beneficial for the management via primary collection methods (Panneerselvam, 2014). Green
of the customer relationships. They also establish the strong et al. (2012) elaborate that deductive approach is preferable if
lineages between customer engagement and customer loyalty. a hypothesis is developed from an already existing theory and
In other words, the customer loyalty in service institutions can thereafter conclusions are drawn from data analyses. This present
be strengthened through the utilization of customer engagement research paper also aims at testing a hypothesis from established
tactics as well as though the delivery of a favorable service theory “to test the role of social media engagement in determining
experience. Fernandes and Esteves (2016) propound that the the process of enhancing customer loyalty for a selected sample.”
propensity of the consumers’ engagement varies widely based on So, a deductive approach is the most suitable method here.
the perspective of the service. In the service sector which requires
a high involvement like health care, the propensity of engagement 3.3. Research Method
may be claimed higher than that of low involvement of the retail The research method relies on a combination of quantitative and
sector. They also conclude a positive correlation between the qualitative analyses. For example, primary data has been collected
favorable behaviors of the consumers and the propensity of to ascertain the role of social media engagement in the process
consumption. Therefore, a business needs to invest for ensuring of enhancing customer loyalty through a survey. Further, we
the engagement of the consumers in order to enhance the customer also conduct the interviews with two bank managers. The survey
loyalty and long-term relations with the organization. may form the quantitative data which would be arranged in a
spreadsheet and thereafter transported for the statistical analyses
2.4. Consumer Engagement in the Banking Industry (Miles et al., 2014). On the other hand, the interviews may consider
Khan et al. (2016) state that with the rising popularity of the qualitative data which would be analyzed with respect to the
digital media in the modern era, the younger generation of qualitative methods (Neuman, 2013).
the customers is more likely to be loyal to a bank who offers
the online services. An exploratory study on retail banking 3.4. Questionnaire Design
by Sondhi et al. (2017) propounds that the engagement of the The close ended questions have been drafted in the questionnaire.
consumers may result in building the trust, loyalty, commitment Each question has been associated with a Likert scale, wherein a
and advocacy of the consumers. In addition, the duration of respondent may select the option which is most suitable for him
the relationship with the customers has a significant impact on (Miles et al., 2014). The questionnaire comprises of demographic
the value creation abilities of the engagement strategies. On questions in order to ensure that a wide variety of respondents is
the other hand, Kosiba et al. (2018) conclude that the trust and maintained to reduce the chances of biasness toward a particular
loyalty of a customer towards the financial institutions may sect. Separate questions have been traced for both the dependent
enhance the propensity to engage. and independent variables which may facilitate the process of

International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019 89

 Ajina: The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

testing of the hypothesis afterwards. Our dependent variable is hypothesis is tested if such inference is also valid for our chosen
the customer loyalty (Loyal) and the independent variable is the sample.
social media engagement (Engag). H0: The use of social media channels does not have a positive
impact in enhancing customer loyalty.
3.5. Ethical Consideration H1: The use of social media channels has a positive impact in
The consideration of the ethical factors is essential because it enhancing enhance customer loyalty.
may reduce the probability for the errors to produce the un-biased
results (Choy, 2014). Therefore, the objectives of the research have 4. ANALYSES AND DISCUSSIONS
been explained to the respondents before carrying-out the survey
and the confidentiality of the information has also been assured 4.1. Quantitative Analysis
to them. Further, we have also confirmed that the questions in the In this section, the data obtained from the survey of the consumers
survey and in the interview may easily understand and are also has been analyzed with the help of the statistical software
free of technical jargons. SPSS. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed among the
consumers. However, only 141 of the response-sheets could
3.6. Data Collection and Sampling be found valid for further consideration. This is because; 8 of
In this study, we collect a combination of quantitative and the respondents claimed not to use any social media platform
qualitative data. In order to collect quantitative data, a well- and the remaining 101 could not be considered because of the
structured questionnaire is designed which facilitates the process missing data. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the
of gathering data from a significantly larger number of respondents respondents’ data. The average =1 and standard deviation =0 of
(Neuman, 2013). This also enables us to utilize time in a judicious usage is showing that we only consider the respondents who are
manner. Around 250 questionnaires were distributed but 141 user of social media. Average of gender is 1.3475 and 92 of the
response-sheets with the complete answers were received and respondents were found as male while 49 were female. Average
considered for the analysis. The collected data is analyzed with the of age is 2.7731 which shows that a majority of the respondents
help of the statistical software SPSS. We utilize the non-probability almost 37% is belonged to the age group of 26-35 years whereas
sampling technique wherein the all individuals in the population do the age groups i.e. 36-45 years and 46-55 years made up of 22%
not have the same chance of being selected (Ahmad et al., 2014). and 17% of the respondents respectively. The average of income is
This sampling technique reduces the possibility of an unbiased 2.9078 which is approximately 3 and a majority of respondents is
data set. The convenience sampling has been chosen, wherein the belonged to income group of $ 40,000–$59,000 in the 3rd option of
sample of the study has been selected based on our suitability. the questionnaire. Further, average of number of media is 3.0709
which is close to the 3 and 75% of the population claimed to use 3
The qualitative data have been collected through interviews. Two social media platforms. The average of Platform is 1.9645 which
managers from banking institutions have been interviewed. The is close to 2. Therefore, the response of the question “which was
selected bank managers were asked a series of questions with the preferred mode for receiving updates from the bank” showed
an aim of obtaining detailed information which might enable that about 88% of the respondents claimed that it was Twitter.
us to ascertain the impact of customer loyalty on the financial
performance of the banking organizations (Taylor et al., 2015; Table 1 also shows the average of our two major constructs of
Silverman, 2016). The responses were noted and compared for Social Media Engagement (Engag) and Customer Loyalty (Loyal)
similarities and dissimilarities. in which each construct carries three items. The results shows that
average of the all items of Engag is >3.5 and we may claim that
3.7. Hypothesis customers are inclined to the response of agree (4th Likert scale
In the theoretical predictions, the social media may play a of the questionnaire). Moreover, the overall average of construct
major role in the engagement of the consumers. The following of Engag is also found at 3.72 which is again corroborating that

Table 1: Descriptive statistics

Quality dimensions Number of observations Minimum Maximum Mean±SD
Usage 141 1 1 1±0
Gender 141 1 2 1.3475±0.4779
Age 141 1 5 2.7731±1.2093
Income 141 1 5 2.9078±1.1886
Number of social media web 141 1 5 3.0709±0.6284
Platform 141 1 3 1.9645±0.3466
Engag 1 141 1 5 3.5674±0.9048
Engag 2 141 1 5 3.5745±0.9121
Engag 3 141 1 5 4.0071±0.9373
Average engag 423 1 5 3.7163±0.9181
Loyal 1 141 1 5 3.5248±1.1249
Loyal 2 141 1 5 4.1206±1.1981
Loyal 3 141 1 5 3.8227±0.8305
Average loyal 423 1 5 3.8227±1.0512
SD: Standard deviation, Engag: Engagement

90 International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019

 Ajina: The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

Table 2: Cronbach’s alpha reliability test Table 4: ANOVA*

Number of Constructs Average interim Reliability Source of Sum of df Mean F P
items covariance coefficient variance square square
3 Engag 0.6188 0.8922 Regression 8.798 1 8.798 45.557 0.000
3 Loyal 0.3672 0.5908 Residual 7.532 139 0.193
Total 16.331 140
*Loyal and Engag are the dependent and independent variables respectively
Table 3: Correlation analysis
R R2 Adjusted R2 SE
Table 5: Regression results: Loyal is dependent variable
0.734 0.527 0.527 0.439
Predictor Unstandardized Standardized t P
SE: Standard error
coefficient coefficient
B SE Beta
respondents are inclined towards the response of agree. So, we may Intercept 0.900 0.488 0.734 1.844 0.073
conclude that banking customers are satisfied with social media Engag 0.780 0.116 6.750 0.000
engagement activities of the banks. Further, the average results of SE: Standard error, Engag: Engagement
the all items of Loyal is also found >3.5 and we may claim that
customers are inclined to the response of agree (4th Likert scale the consumers. Further, he discussed that the organization
of the questionnaire). Moreover, the overall average of construct takes measures to ensure the optimum level of quality of
of loyal is also found at 3.82 which is again corroborating that service to satisfy the customers and to win the loyalty. On
respondents are inclined towards the response of agree. Therefore, the other hand, Bank Manager 2 stated that customer loyalty
we may conclude that banks are found successful in winning the helps to predict the profit which the organization may obtain
loyalty of their customers through social media campaigns. throughout the entire duration of the relationship with the
customer. This, in turn, enables the organization to make better
To validate the reliability of our constructs through the specified decisions.
items in each construct, we perform the Cronbach’s Alpha test and 2. Does the increase in loyal customer have a favorable impact
results are reported in Table 2. Results show that average interim on the loans to assets ratios of the bank?
covariance is pretty good for both constructs of Engag and Loyal. Bank Manager 1 stated that the share of loyal customers is
Further, reliability coefficients show that the Engag construct directly proportional to the financial health of the organization,
(approx. 0.9) is a superb and Loyal construct (approx. 0.6) is at which is indicated via the solvency ratio. Hence, an increase
least good for further analysis. in the number of loyal customers would imply that the
organization has a low loan to asset ratio. On the other hand,
In order to analyze the role that social media engagement plays in Bank Manager 2 specified that this ratio indicates that the
the process of enhancing customer loyalty, a regression analysis bank has a low degree of risk, which guarantees the long-term
has been conducted. A significance level of 0.05 has been chosen financial health of the organization. He also opined that the
for the test. At first, we put results of correlation in Table 3. The key to a low loan to asset ratio is due to the higher deposits,
results show that R2 and adjusted R2 are >0.5. So, we may conclude which is only possible through the increase in the number of
a good strength of relationships between the Engag and Loyal. loyal customers.
3. Has investment in activities led to customer loyalty, increasing
Table 4 shows the Analysis of variance table while testing the the current ratio of the bank?
overall goodness of fit of the regressed model, Loyal on the Engag. Bank Manager 1 opined that current ratio indicates the
F-value = 45.557 is reasonably high and P < 0.01. So, we may short-term viability of the bank. Hence, such ratio should
conclude that our model is overall good fit and reliable for further be maintained at a level higher than 1. One of the most
analysis at 1% level of significance. effective way of ensuring this targeted current ratio is through
confirming that the assets of the bank are higher than the
Table 5 is showing the effect of Engag on the Loyal through liabilities which can be the source of confirming a steady flow
regression coefficient. Results show that Engag has positive effect of deposits achieved through loyal customers. On the other
on the Loyal at 1% level of significance. Further, the magnitude hand, Bank Manager 2 specified that a current ratio, higher
of coefficient shows that one-unit increase in perception of Engag than 1, indicates that the bank may be able to honor their
may increase the perception of Loyal by 0.78 units. Therefore, we obligations in the short-run. Therefore, a high current ratio is
may conclude that social media engagement of banking customers dependent on the number of loyal customers. Because, this
is significantly contributing in building the loyalty. may raise the amount of deposits in the bank thereby raise
the cash reserves of the bank.
4.2. Qualitative Analysis
1. Has your bank taken any proactive steps to enhance customer 5. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
loyalty?
Bank Manager 1 opined that the organization ensures that the The statistical results imply that the social media engagement
satisfaction of the customer is of the outmost importance since plays a significant role in the process of enhancing loyalty
it is a crucial element for generating a sense of loyalty among of consumers of banking organizations in the Saudi Arabia.

International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019 91

 Ajina: The Role of Social Media Engagement in Influencing Customer Loyalty in Saudi Banking Industry

Further, the qualitative findings imply that the managers on customer engagement. International Journal of Business and
believe that there is a strong positive correlation between the Management Invention, 5, 115-125.
loyalty of the consumers and the financial performance of the Fernandes, T., Esteves, F. (2016), Customer engagement and loyalty:
banks. Therefore, the banking industry in Saudi Arabia should A comparative study between service contexts. Services Marketing
Quarterly, 37(2), 125-139.
benefit from the use of social media engagement since it has
Green, J.L., Camilli, G., Elmore, P.B., editors. (2012), Handbook of
a positive impact on the enhancement of customer loyalty
Complementary Methods in Education Research. Abingdon:
which may strength the financial position in turn. It is also Routledge.
recommended that banking organizations in the Saudi Arabia Guesalaga, R. (2016), The use of social media in sales: Individual and
should make investment to increase and to improve the social organizational antecedents, and the role of customer engagement in
media activities since it plays a significant role in enhancing social media. Industrial Marketing Management, 54, 71-79.
loyalty of consumers. Twitter is the most preferred medium Haro-de-Rosario, A., Saraite, L., Sáez-Martin, A., del Carmen Caba-Pérez,
of communication in the perception of the majority of the M. (2018), The impact of social media on customer engagement with
respondents in our survey. Therefore, the banking organizations US banks. Social Media Marketing: Breakthroughs in Research and
ought to increase their communications over this platform in Practice, pp. 774-788.
order to increase the level of customer loyalty. Khan, I., Rahman, Z., Fatma, M. (2016), The role of customer brand
engagement and brand experience in online banking. International
Journal of Bank Marketing, 34(7), 1025-1041.
5.1. Limitations and Future Research Direction
Kosiba, J.P., Boateng, H., Okoe, A.F., Hinson, R. (2018), Trust and
The major limitation is the limited scope of the research. Because, customer engagement in the banking sector in Ghana. The Service
we were able to collect the questionnaires with the complete- Industries Journal, 1, 1-14.
response from the 141 respondents. Therefore, the dataset is very Kuada, J. (2012), Research Methodology: A Project Guide for University
limited to determine the role of social media engagement in the Students. Denmark: Samfundslitteratur.
process of enhancing customer loyalty in the banking sector of Kumar, V. (2013), Profitable Customer Engagement: Concept, Metrics
Saudi Arabia. Though, increasing sample size may increase the and Strategies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
validity and generalization power of a future study in this context. Lin, K.Y., Lu, H.P. (2011), Why people use social networking sites: An
Further, we could only interview the two managers owing to time empirical study integrating network externalities and motivation
and resource constraints. Therefore, qualitative analysis has also theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1152-1161.
been faced the constraint and increasing a number of interviewees Mackey, A., Gass, S.M. (2015), Second Language Research: Methodology
and Design. Abingdon: Routledge.
would discover more insight of the banking sector.
Management Association, Information Resources. (2018), Digital
Marketing and Consumer Engagement: Concepts, Methodologies,
REFERENCES Tools and Application. Hershey: IGI Global.
Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M., Saldana, J. (2014), Qualitative Data
Abduljadail, M.H. (2017), Consumers’ Engagement with Local and Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Global Brands on Facebook in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia: Ph. Neuman, W.L. (2013), Social Research Methods: Qualitative and
D Dissertation Submitted to the Bowling Green State University. Quantitative Approaches. London: Pearson Education.
Acar, O.A., Putoni, S. (2016), Customer empowerment in the digital age. Palmatier, R.W., Kumar, V., Harmeling, C.M., editors. (2017), Customer
Journal of Advertising Research, 56(1), 4-8. Engagement Marketing. New York City: Springer.
Ahmad, Z., Shahbaz, M.Q., Hanif, M. (2014), Two Phase Sampling. Panneerselvam, R. (2014), Research Methodology. New Delhi: PHI
Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Al Saud, A.A., Khan, R. (2013), Role of social media in brand Rather, R.A., Sharma, J. (2017), Customer engagement for evaluating
development in Saudi Arabia. European Journal of Business and customer relationships in hotel industry. European Journal of
Economics, 8(1), 4-8. Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 8(1), 1-13.
Alam, M.Z. (2017), Exploring shopper insights of social media use in Silverman, D. (2016), Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Saudi Arabia. International Review of Management and Marketing, Skwire, S.E., Skwire, D. (2013), Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric and
7(2), 326-333. Reader. Toronto: Nelson Education.
Brodie, R.J., Hollebeek, L.D., Conduit, J., editors. (2015), Customer So, K.K.F., King, C., Sparks, B.A., Wang, Y. (2016), The role of customer
Engagement: Contemporary Issues and Challenges. Abingdon: engagement in building consumer loyalty to tourism brands. Journal
Routledge. of Travel Research, 55(1), 64-78.
Choy, L.T. (2014), The strengths and weaknesses of research Solem, B.A.A. (2016), Influences of customer participation and customer
methodology: Comparison and complimentary between qualitative brand engagement on brand loyalty. Journal of Consumer Marketing,
and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social 33(5), 332-342.
Science, 19(4), 99-104. Sondhi, N., Sharma, B.R., Kalla, S.M. (2017), Customer engagement in
Chu, S.C., Kim, Y. (2011), Determinants of consumer engagement in the Indian retail banking sector: An exploratory study. International
electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites. Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 12(1), 41-61.
International Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 47-75. Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R., DeVault, M. (2015), Introduction to Qualitative
Dessart, L., Veloutsou, C., Morgan-Thomas, A. (2015), Consumer Research Methods: A Guidebook and Resource. Hoboken: John
engagement in online brand communities: A social media perspective. Wiley and Sons.
Journal of Product and Brand Management, 24(1), 28-42. Tiago, M.T.P., Verissimo, J.M.C. (2014), Digital markiting and social
Farook, F.S., Abeysekara, N. (2016), Influence of social media marketing media: Why bother? Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.

92 International Review of Management and Marketing | Vol 9 • Issue 3 • 2019