Consumers’ Motives for Engaging with Company Social Media Accounts: Comparing Western and Chinese Users

Many companies recognize the promises of social network sites (SNSs) for building and maintaining stakeholder relationships. Understanding SNS users’ motives for following company accounts is essential for their SNS strategies. This article investigates cultural differences between Western and Chinese users regarding SNS dependency, motives for following company accounts, and company SNS-related behaviors (following, consuming, engaging). An online survey (N = 388) was conducted in Western-Europe and China. Results show that Chinese users have a stronger SNS dependency and are more inclined to engage with company SNSs than Western users. While transactional motives are important for both groups of users, Chinese users have more relational motives than Western users. In the relation between cultural background and company SNS-related behaviors, two mediation effects were found: SNS dependency and the prominence of the social integration motive are significant mediators. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.