The role of social and parasocial relationships on social networking sites loyalty

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) have become mainstream and increasingly attract research and managerial attention. However, there is a lack of research on the social factors that determine consumers' loyalty to SNSs. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to develop and estimate a conceptual model of how different aspects of social and parasocial relationships developed in social networking sites influence consumers' loyalty. The paper examines how parasocial relationships consumers developed with SNSs members precede and contribute to the creation of social relationships expressed as (a) identification with the SNS group and (b) engagement with the SNS group which in turn lead to (c) SNS related behavioral intentions and (d) SNS loyalty. This is one of the few studies available in the literature that takes a social approach in the study of SNSs and examines the applicability of theories developed offline in the online social environment of SNSs. The proposed hypotheses are tested by estimating a structural equation model with survey data from a convenience sample of 320 members of various online social networks. The findings of the study partially confirm the proposed conceptual sequence of effects and provide important theoretical and practical implications. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.