Online promotion cooling? The influence mechanism of consumer loyalty in classic large-scale online social promotions

Consumer loyalty plays a significant role in the sustainable marketing of classic large-scale online social promotions (CLOSPs). However, existing research mainly focuses on the single consumption behavior of consumers, overlooking the exploration of consumer CLOSPs loyalty from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives. This study aims to bridge this gap in the literature by exploring the impact mechanism of environmental factors on consumer loyalty in CLOSPs based on signaling theory and social cognitive theory. We apply a mixed-methods design containing both qualitative and quantitative stages. The research results show that perceived promotional incentives are influenced by three types of environmental signals: social-, product-, and platform-related signals. Subjective norms, relationship benefits, product involvement, and path dependence form consumer loyalty by influencing consumer cognition (including flow experience and satisfaction). Subjective norms and relationship benefits correspond to the passive and active dimensions of social-related signals, respectively. Further, three configurations can lead to high levels of consumer loyalty to CLOSPs. Our findings propose that e-commerce practitioners should leverage environmental signals to stimulate perceived promotional incentives and foster high loyalty to CLOSPs.