Project – Brand Community Engagement and Customer Advocacy among Smartphone Users: A Study of Selected Apple Consumers in Lagos Metropolis

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

The contemporary marketplace has increasingly shifted from a transaction-oriented approach to one in which consumers participate actively in relationships surrounding brands. Customers are no longer only recipients of products and promotional messages; they can interact with other customers, exchange experiences, create brand-related content, provide feedback and publicly express their attachment to particular brands. This development has made customer engagement an important issue in contemporary marketing. Brodie, Ilic, Juric, and Hollebeek (2013) explain that consumer engagement in online brand communities is multidimensional and may involve cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes through which consumers interact and co-create value. Their findings indicate that engagement can involve activities such as sharing, learning, socialising, co-developing and advocating. Thus, customer relationships can extend beyond the point of purchase to include ongoing participation in communities surrounding a brand.

Brand communities constitute an important mechanism through which these continuing relationships are developed. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) conceptualised a brand community as a specialised, non-geographically bound community based on structured social relationships among admirers of a brand. They identified consciousness of kind, shared rituals and traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility as important markers of brand communities. These communities allow consumers who may never meet physically to develop a sense of connection based on their shared interest in a particular brand. The concept is particularly relevant to contemporary digital marketing because social media, online discussion platforms and messaging applications enable consumers to communicate about brands continuously. Consequently, consumers may become members of communities in which they exchange product information, provide advice to other users and develop shared meanings around their consumption experiences (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).

Brand community engagement refers to the extent to which consumers actively participate in interactions and activities associated with a brand community. Engagement can involve reading and sharing information, commenting on brand-related discussions, assisting other members, creating content, participating in community events and communicating personal experiences. Brodie et al. (2013) describe engagement as a dynamic process involving interactive experiences and value co-creation among community participants. Similarly, research by Casaló, Flavián, and Ibáñez-Sánchez (2017) found that engagement plays an important role in explaining consumers’ participation in online brand communities and is influenced by factors such as community experience, trust and identification. Their study of 628 consumers belonging to more than 260 online brand communities, including technology brands such as Apple, Samsung and Sony, demonstrates the relevance of online communities to consumer participation. This suggests that engagement is not simply a passive awareness of a brand but an active form of consumer involvement.

Customer advocacy represents another important outcome of consumer-brand relationships. Advocacy occurs when customers voluntarily communicate positive information about a brand, recommend it to others, defend it when appropriate, provide favourable word-of-mouth and encourage other consumers to consider the brand. Customer advocacy is particularly significant because recommendations from existing consumers may be perceived differently from conventional advertising. Haenlein and Libai (2017) demonstrate that consumers can engage in role behaviours that create value for brands and strengthen brand identification. Their research also shows that some consumers engage in behaviours beyond their basic consumption role, including activities that benefit the brand and other community members. Muñiz and Schau (2007) similarly documented consumer-created communications in the Apple Newton community, showing how committed consumers can independently produce and distribute brand-related materials even without direct incentives from the company.

The relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy is particularly important because participation in a brand community can create social and psychological conditions that encourage consumers to speak positively about the brand. Research by Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Herrmann (2005) established the importance of identification and community engagement in brand community relationships, while later research has examined how community-based relationships can develop into stronger relationships with the brand itself. Rather, than viewing consumers simply as buyers, brand community research recognises them as participants who can contribute information, experiences and promotional communication. A study by Prentice, Han, Hua, and Hu (2019), for example, found that customer brand engagement can mediate the relationship between brand community engagement and loyalty intentions, illustrating how community experiences can translate into stronger consumer-brand relationships. This relationship provides a useful basis for examining whether active engagement among smartphone users is associated with their willingness to advocate for the brands they use.

Smartphone brands provide an especially relevant context for studying brand community engagement because smartphones are highly personal, frequently used and socially visible consumer products. Smartphone users routinely interact with digital platforms, application ecosystems, online forums, social media and other users, creating numerous opportunities for brand-related interaction. In the specific case of Apple, the company’s products and ecosystem have generated identifiable communities of users whose activities extend beyond simple product ownership. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) included Macintosh users in their foundational examination of brand communities, while Muñiz and Schau (2005) examined the Apple Newton community and documented the enduring communal meanings developed around the discontinued product. More recently, Cova and Pace (2018) examined online brand communities involving Apple users and identified different types of community members, including learners, pragmatists, activists, opinion leaders and evangelists. These findings demonstrate that Apple consumers do not necessarily constitute a homogeneous group and may participate in brand communities in different ways.

The Nigerian and Lagos consumer environment provides an important setting for examining this phenomenon. Lagos is a major commercial and technological centre where consumers have extensive exposure to smartphones, social media and digital marketing activities. Recent research specifically examining Samsung and Apple iPhone users in Lagos State found that social media marketing is relevant to smartphone users’ purchase decisions and examined platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, celebrity endorsements and brand choice. Alaneme and Adegoke (2024) used a quantitative survey of smartphone users in Lagos and specifically included Apple iPhone users in the study population. More broadly, recent research on customer engagement in Nigeria has also used Lagos as a setting because of its large and technologically active consumer population and high level of internet use (Ologundudu & Erdil, 2026). These developments suggest that Lagos provides a relevant environment for investigating the interaction between consumers and technology brands.

Despite the growing importance of digital communities and consumer-generated communication, brand community engagement does not necessarily result in advocacy among all consumers. Research on Apple online communities has demonstrated that members can have different motivations and roles, while some may be highly active advocates and others may participate primarily to obtain information or solve practical problems (Cova & Pace, 2018). Similarly, Brodie et al. (2013) explain that engagement occurs at different levels of intensity and involves different cognitive, emotional and behavioural processes. Therefore, the existence of an Apple user community does not by itself establish that users will advocate for Apple. It becomes necessary to examine whether and to what extent engagement with the brand community is associated with advocacy behaviours among consumers. This study consequently focuses on brand community engagement and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis, with particular attention to consumers’ interaction, participation, information sharing, community identification and advocacy behaviours.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The increasing use of online communities has changed the way customers relate to brands, but the existence of a brand community does not automatically mean that consumers will actively participate or advocate for the brand. Brodie et al. (2013) describe consumer engagement as a multidimensional and dynamic process that can occur at different levels of intensity, while Casaló et al. (2017) found that online brand community engagement is influenced by community experience, trust and identification. This creates a practical problem for marketers because a large number of customers may use a particular brand without necessarily contributing to its online community, sharing brand-related information or recommending the brand to others. For Apple, where consumers have access to extensive online communities and digital platforms, it is therefore necessary to determine whether active community participation is associated with customer advocacy rather than assuming that ownership or usage automatically produces advocacy.

A second problem concerns the diversity of consumers within brand communities. Although brand communities are built around shared interest in a brand, members may have different motivations, levels of participation and behavioural roles. Cova and Pace (2018), in their study of Apple users, identified different categories of online brand community members, including learners, pragmatists, activists, opinion leaders and evangelists. This suggests that consumers who use the same smartphone brand may not engage with the brand community in the same manner or demonstrate the same level of advocacy. Some consumers may participate primarily to obtain technical information, while others may create content, assist other users or actively promote the brand. Understanding these differences is important because treating all Apple consumers as equally engaged could obscure the relationship between community participation and advocacy.

A third problem relates to the limited context-specific evidence concerning the relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy among Apple smartphone users in Lagos Metropolis. Existing studies have examined brand communities generally, online communities involving Apple users, and smartphone marketing in Lagos, but these studies have focused on different aspects of consumer behaviour. Cova and Pace (2018) examined the heterogeneous nature of Apple online communities, while Alaneme and Adegoke (2024) examined social media marketing and purchase decisions among Samsung and Apple iPhone users in Lagos State. These studies provide useful foundations but do not specifically establish the relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis. The absence of such context-specific evidence creates a research gap that warrants empirical investigation.

A further problem is that consumer advocacy has become increasingly important in an environment where customers can easily create, share and distribute brand-related information independently of formal marketing communications. Muñiz and Schau (2007) demonstrated through the Apple Newton community that consumers could independently create commercially relevant communications around a brand, while Haenlein and Libai (2017) showed that consumers can perform extra-role behaviours that create value for brands and strengthen brand identification. However, customer-created communication can vary from simple recommendations to more sustained advocacy activities. Consequently, marketers need empirical evidence concerning the factors that encourage consumers to move from being ordinary users to active participants and advocates. The present study therefore seeks to examine the relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to examine brand community engagement and customer advocacy among smartphone users, with particular reference to selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis.

The specific objectives are to:

1. examine the relationship between brand community participation and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis;
2. determine the relationship between brand community interaction and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis;
3. examine the relationship between brand community identification and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis; and
4. determine the relationship between brand-related information sharing and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions will guide the study:

1. What is the relationship between brand community participation and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis?
2. What is the relationship between brand community interaction and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis?
3. What is the relationship between brand community identification and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis?
4. What is the relationship between brand-related information sharing and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis?

1.5 Research Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis will be tested at the 0.05 level of significance:

H₀: There is no significant relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy among selected Apple consumers in Lagos Metropolis.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study will be significant to marketing managers and brand managers because it will provide empirical evidence on how consumers’ involvement in brand communities relates to their advocacy behaviours. Understanding this relationship may help marketers develop community-based strategies that encourage meaningful customer participation rather than relying exclusively on conventional promotional communication.

The study will also be significant to Apple-related retailers, distributors and service providers in Lagos Metropolis. Knowledge about the relationship between community participation and customer advocacy may assist these businesses in understanding how consumers communicate about Apple products and how peer-to-peer interactions may influence the visibility and reputation of the brand.

The study will be useful to Apple consumers because it will provide greater understanding of the different ways users participate in communities surrounding the brand. Existing research indicates that Apple communities can contain different categories of participants with different motivations and behaviours (Cova & Pace, 2018). The study may therefore help explain the social and interactive dimensions of smartphone consumption.

The study will contribute to marketing and consumer-behaviour literature by providing evidence on the relationship between brand community engagement and customer advocacy within a Lagos consumer context. Previous studies have established important relationships between online brand communities, engagement, identification and consumer behaviours, but context-specific research involving Apple smartphone consumers in Lagos remains comparatively limited (Casaló et al., 2017; Alaneme & Adegoke, 2024).

Finally, the study will be useful to future researchers and students interested in customer engagement, brand communities, electronic word-of-mouth, customer advocacy, smartphone marketing and digital consumer behaviour. It may provide a basis for comparative studies involving other smartphone brands such as Samsung, Tecno, Xiaomi and Google Pixel, as well as studies across different Nigerian cities.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study is titled “Brand Community Engagement and Customer Advocacy among Smartphone Users: A Study of Selected Apple Consumers in Lagos Metropolis.”

The geographical scope of the study is Lagos Metropolis, Lagos State, Nigeria. The study will focus on selected locations within the metropolis where Apple smartphone users can be accessed.

The content scope covers two major variables: brand community engagement and customer advocacy. Brand community engagement will be examined through four dimensions: brand community participation, brand community interaction, brand community identification and brand-related information sharing.

Customer advocacy will constitute the dependent variable and will focus on consumers’ willingness to recommend Apple products, speak positively about the brand, defend the brand where appropriate, share favourable experiences and encourage other consumers to consider Apple products.

The population scope will consist of selected adult Apple smartphone consumers in Lagos Metropolis. The study will focus on consumers who have experience using Apple smartphones and who can provide information about their participation in brand-related communities and their advocacy behaviours.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

Brand: A name, symbol, design, product identity or combination of elements used to distinguish a company’s products or services from those of competitors.

Brand Community: A specialised social community formed around consumers’ shared interest in and relationships with a particular brand.

Brand Community Engagement: The cognitive, emotional and behavioural involvement of consumers in interactions, activities and relationships within a community associated with a brand.

Brand Community Participation: The extent to which consumers actively take part in discussions, activities, events and other activities associated with a brand community.

Brand Community Interaction: Communication and exchange between consumers and/or between consumers and the brand within a brand community.

Brand Community Identification: The degree to which a consumer feels connected to, identifies with and perceives a sense of belonging to a brand community.

Brand-Related Information Sharing: The process through which consumers exchange information, experiences, advice, reviews and knowledge concerning a brand or its products with other consumers.

Customer Advocacy: Voluntary customer behaviour involving positive recommendations, favourable word-of-mouth, promotion, defence and encouragement of others to consider or use a brand.

Smartphone User: An individual who uses a smartphone for communication, internet access, applications, entertainment, business or other activities.

Apple Consumer: An individual who currently uses or has experience using an Apple smartphone, particularly an iPhone.

Lagos Metropolis: The urban metropolitan area of Lagos State within which the selected Apple consumers for this study will be identified.

Project – Brand Community Engagement and Customer Advocacy among Smartphone Users: A Study of Selected Apple Consumers in Lagos Metropolis