A SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY APPROACH TO CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT: THE INFLUENCE OF AUGMENTED REALITY FACE-FILTER APPLICATIONS USAGE

Social media apps are increasingly being used for boosting customer engagement, yet researches that identify the effect of AR face filter apps usage on customer engagement are scarce. Our study aims to analyse identity dimensions of Social Identity Theory (SIT) as motivators for AR face filter apps usage and their relation with Influence Value Customer Engagement (IVCE). Using the snowballing strategy, data was collected online from 406 respondents from the northern region of India. The collected data was used to develop an empirical model for testing the proposed relationships. Findings of analysis on the data indicated that affective identity has the maximum influence on customers' current and future usage of AR face-filter apps which consequently has a positive association with IVCE. The study is novel in its methodological approach depicting IVCE as a consequent rather than antecedent of customer usage behaviour and unearthing the influence of different identity dimensions of SIT on customers' AR face-filter apps usage behaviour. Usage of trendiness as a mediating variable further adds to the originality of the paper.