Does human value-expressive brand anthropomorphism on social media lead to greater brand competitiveness?

Abstract

Integrating human values into social media messages affects brand competitiveness through enhanced engagement. Using Schwartz's ten human values, signaling theory, and contagion theory, this study examines the differential impacts of human value-expressive brand anthropomorphism messages for generating social media engagement. The study analyzed 80,551 tweets from 97 brands using advanced LIWC-based dictionaries and revealed a clear pattern: Social media engagement increases for tweets that express high levels of human values, and several moderating variables, such as message complexity, emotionality, and posting time, influence the degree of engagement. Managers should adopt deliberate, and informed strategies for integrating human values into brand messaging, to drive engagement and cultivate stronger brand-consumer relationships.