The mediating role of consumer engagement in the effect of social media marketing on electronic word-of-mouth intention

With the increase of usage in social media channels, individuals interact much more with each other. For this reason, word of mouth communication activities between individuals using social media emerges as a phenomenon that companies should not ignore. However, the mediating role of consumer engagement and word-of-mouth intention has not received enough attention in the studies of social media marketing activities up to now. This study examines whether social media marketing affects e-WOM intention and whether consumer engagement has a mediating role in this effect. An online questionnaire form was sent to individuals using social media and mobile communication applications. The usable data obtained from 464 individuals were analyzed with the help of the AMOS package program. The hypotheses tested using structural equation modelling reveal that social media marketing has a positive and significant effect on consumer engagement and e-wom intention. Besides, based on the test results, it can be argued that consumer engagement has a positive and significant effect on the intention of electronic word-of-mouth communication. Finally, through this study, it was found that consumer engagement has a mediating effect between social media marketing and electronic word-of-mouth intention. Therefore, this present study has a remarkable contribution to the social media marketing literature.