Cultural differences in motivation for consumers’ online brand-related activities on Facebook

Given the increased relevance of social networking sites (SNSs) for consumers around the globe, companies face the challenge of understanding motivations underlying consumers’ interactions with online brand-related content. Cross-cultural research on consumer motivations for online brand-related activities on SNSs, however, is limited. The present study explored, via in-depth interviews, reasons why Facebook users from individualistic (the Netherlands, the United States) and collectivistic (South Korea, Thailand) cultures engage with brand-related content. The findings provide in-depth insights, in particular, with regards to collectivistic consumers, to the varied interpretations of the motivations for COBRAs identified in previous literature. We also identified a new motivation specifically for collectivistic cultures: the desire to share an intention to purchase or try a product. Moreover, while collectivistic motivations were driven by the wish to express a sense of belonging to the social group, individualistic cultures appear to engage with brands mainly for obtaining advantages for themselves.