Consumer engagement in social media brand communities: A literature review

With the prevalence of social media, a great deal of research has examined consumer engagement in social media brand communities. However, we lack a holistic understanding of the phenomena. Given the importance and relevance of this topic to Information Systems researchers, this study aims to summarise the current state of research on the topic and identify research gaps. Following the descriptive search approach, this study identifies and analyses 134 articles. Our analysis shows that prior studies adopted various research approaches and methods to study consumer engagement in social media brand communities. In addition, researchers adopted varied definitions and studied consumer engagement using the attitudinal, behavioural, and motivational dimensions. Our analysis also shows that Uses and Gratifications Theory and Social Identification Theory were the most referred theories in prior studies. Finally, we conclude our study by proposing an integrative framework and suggesting research opportunities and future research directions. •Research on consumer engagement in brand communities was reviewed and analysed.•Six groups of variables were identified.•An integrated framework with propositions was proposed.•Future research directions of consumer engagement were discussed.