Modelling the significance of social media marketing activities, brand equity and loyalty to predict consumers’ willingness to pay premium price for portable tech gadgets

In order to sustain business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all industries have to adopt online technology and social media marketing activities (SMMAs). Globally, portable tech gadgets are rapidly expanding, but empirical studies on SMMAs in relation to portable tech gadgets in Malaysia have remained scarce. Therefore, this study examined the elements of SMMAs and their influence on brand equity in terms of brand awareness (BBA) and brand image (BBI) as well as brand loyalty (BRL) and willingness to pay premium price (WPP) among Malaysian consumers of portable tech gadgets users. Five components of SMMAs, namely entertainment (ENT), interactivity (INT), trendiness (TRE), customisation (CUS), and electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM), were examined to understand how SMMAs influence BBA, BBI, BRL, and WPP. An online survey was conducted with 1332 Malaysian youths who used social media platforms maintained by portable tech gadget brands as their marketing strategies. The gathered data were evaluated using structural equation modelling. The study's results indicated the significant and positive effects of TRE, CUS, and EWOM on BBA and BBI. INT was revealed to have no significant impact on BBA and BBI. Furthermore, BBI and BBA partially mediated the relationships of the components of SMMAs with WPP. As for the theoretical underpinning, this study used the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to connect SMMAs (as stimuli), brand equity (as organism), and BRL and WPP (as responses). This study was the first to use the S-O-R model to explore the effects of SMMAs on BRL and WPP in this sector of portable tech gadgets. The study's findings can guide portable tech gadget brands in Malaysia in redesigning and developing the most efficient strategies of SMMAs, which should be tailored to maximise revenues, even during any crisis period (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) when physical marketing activities are deemed difficult.