۱- Theoretical background

۲- Conceptual framework and hypotheses

۳- Method

۴- Results

۵- Discussion

References

Abstract

Understanding how and why consumers engage with mobile apps is critical to the success of ubiquitous mobile marketing. This study proposed and tested a structural model to investigate the antecedents and consequences of mobile app engagement. Results show that time convenience, interactivity, and compatibility positively influenced mobile app engagement, in turn leading to strong relationship commitment and self-brand connections. Furthermore, informational and experiential mobile apps moderated the effects of time convenience, interactivity, and compatibility on mobile app engagement. Theoretical and practical implications for effective app engagement strategies are discussed.

Theoretical Background

Mobile App Engagement as a Motivational Experience: Considerable attention has been paid to consumer engagement from various perspectives (Tarute, Nikou, & Gatautis, 2017). In the interactive advertising literature, consumer engagement has been understood as an umbrella term for digital media mechanisms that contribute to the generation of brand value (Mollen & Wilson, 2010). As suggested by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), engagement is turning on a potential consumer to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context (Elliott, 2006). From a behavioral perspective, Van Doorn et al. (2010) viewed customer engagement as “a customer’s behavioral manifestations that have a brand or firm focus, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers” (p. 254). However, consumer engagement can be characterized as a psychological process that evolves from an ongoing experience with a focal agent or object (e.g., Bowden, 2009; Brodie, Ilic, Juric, & Hollebeek, 2011). The notion of engagement—being involved, occupied, and interested in something —is recognized as the sum of motivational experiences (Higgins, 2006, p. 442). According to Calder, Malthouse, and Schaedel (2009), engagement is manifested through consumer experience with a particular media channel (i.e., a consumer’s beliefs about how media fit into his or her life). Extending this proposition, the current study conceptualizes mobile app engagement as the quality of motivational experiences that consumers have when connecting with a mobile app and how those experiences satisfy their functional, experiential, and social expectations.