In recent years, consumer engagement has risen to occupy a prominent position in brand management research and practice. Consumer engagement has been heralded as pivotal in fuelling sales growth, referrals, competitive advantage, and loyalty.
Consumer engagement is central to Teresa Fernandes’ (ORGMAN) research journey. She was recently named as one of the world’s top 25 authors in the field. Traditionally, the literature focused on engagement with brands, a topic on which Teresa has done significant work. For instance, in a recent award-winning collaboration with Mariana Moreira (FEP.UP), the authors delve into the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of consumers’ engagement with brands. Their findings reveal that the impact of engagement on loyalty goes beyond what mere satisfaction with a brand can explain. In Teresa’s words, “satisfaction is increasingly becoming a basic, minimum requirement of being in the game; simply satisfying customers is no longer enough to make them loyal, and engagement may be a competitive advantage”.
Yet, consumers may engage with several actors beyond brands. Together with Elisabete Oliveira (FEP.UP), Teresa has studied consumers’ acceptance and engagement with the rapidly expanding AI-based digital voice assistants. They find that individuals are primarily driven by the usefulness of these assistants when compared with their humanlike features. These findings have clear managerial implications: businesses may find it more effective to prioritize reliability and the range of tasks performed, rather than striving to make digital assistants closely resemble human counterparts. As Teresa notices, “some consumers may even find humanlike features rather creepy…it is the so-called Eliza effect”.
Consumers also connect and engage with social media influencers, an intriguing realm into which Teresa has also delved. In an article with Heather Nettleship (FEP.UP) and Luísa Pinto (ORGMAN), Teresa explores the impact of unconventional appearance on influencers’ credibility and effectiveness, especially among younger followers. Their research uncovers a ‘tattoo premium effect’ for influencers, challenging common stereotypes. “We conclude that social media influencers with tattoos are actually more effective, even in unexpected domains such as beauty-related products. This contrasts with previous research in more traditional channels (e.g., TV), where this may still not apply”.
Currently, Teresa is moving her research focus on consumer engagement to encompass these two domains, AI voice assistants and influencer marketing.
