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Charting the path between Online

overseas
communication strategies and purchasing

overseas purchasing service

performance in the
e-commerce context Received 16 January 2022
Revised 15 April 2022
5 June 2022
Jiseon Ahn Accepted 9 June 2022
School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea

Abstract
Purpose – Despite the growth of the online overseas purchasing industry, there is a lack of studies addressing
these companies’ communication strategies. Thus, this study aims to examine the impact of customer
experiences with communication via overseas purchasing websites.
Design/methodology/approach – Using data from overseas purchase customers in the United States, this
study examines communication as either firm or customer generated and assesses their effects on brand-
related outcomes.
Findings – The results show that both firm- and customer-generated communication influence brand
awareness, perceived quality, and loyalty. Also, the impact of brand awareness on perceived quality is
supported. Differences in the relationship between communication and behavior across demographic
characteristics (i.e. gender, age, income) are identified, and the impact of firm-generated content on customers is
found to be greater than that of customer-generated communication.
Research limitations/implications – Given the limitations of quantitative surveys to examine overseas
retailing practices, the results of this study provide a starting point for future researchers to conduct more
qualitative studies with customers from various cultures.
Originality/value – Due to the importance of communication marketing in the retail setting, this study
provides useful guidelines for online retail services to enhance customers’ interaction and empowerment.
Keywords Overseas purchasing service, Firm-generated communication, Customer-generated
communication, Brand awareness, Perceived quality
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
With the development of communication and transportation technologies, customers are
getting increasingly familiar with overseas purchases (Son et al., 2017). According to
Statista.com (2022), the global overseas e-commerce market is estimated to be $2.2 trillion in
2026. With the growth of overseas purchases in the e-commerce context, researchers have
examined the influential factors of customers’ behavior (Dai and Lee, 2018; Kim, 2018; Son
et al., 2017). For instance, Dai and Lee (2018) examined the impact of website-related
characteristics such as security, convenience, and information on customers’ satisfaction
with an overseas purchase. Due to the characteristics of online purchases, Kim (2018)
suggested that psychosocial anticipated regret is associated with shopping hesitation.
Customers’ experience with online overseas purchases is different from that with traditional
online shopping in terms of difficulties of a transaction, refund/exchange, unknown vendors,
and differences of the shopping environment, including communication style.
With the development of technology, companies often use communication strategies to
provide information and encourage customer interactions (Dai and Reich, 2022; Zhang and Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing
and Logistics
Lin, 2015). Many overseas purchasing services, such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba, provide © Emerald Publishing Limited
1355-5855
product- and service-related information (e.g. brand, material, item dimensions, product DOI 10.1108/APJML-01-2022-0043
APJML details, instructions) using text, images, and videos via their websites. Also, most of these
types of companies provide customers the opportunity to share their reviews, including
overall rating, rating by feature (e.g. adhesion, durability, value for money, comfort), review
with images, and review comments. Indeed, many companies offer customers incentives to
motivate, encourage, and create online reviews. Research has suggested that successful
communication gives a competitive advantage to companies (Lee and Colarelli O’Connor,
2003; Orakwue et al., 2012) and that the communication between companies and customers
influences customer decision-making processes (Butkevi
cien_e et al., 2008; Cheung et al., 2021)
Those studies suggested that communication activities can serve as a company’s critical
resource to achieve sustainable growth.
There are several gaps in the literature regarding communication strategy management.
First, although it has been shown that communication strategies can influence customers’
experience with services (Huang and Philp, 2021), there have been few studies on how
different types of communication messages influence a company’s performance (Lee et al.,
2002). It is unclear whether customers are more likely to give a positive evaluation when they
receive firm- or customer-generated communication. Second, despite the growth of online
overseas purchasing, there are research gaps on the impact of communication on overseas
purchasing service companies. Furthermore, most research has focused on communication
strategies in the local context (Kim et al., 2019), and only a few studies have examined
customer experiences with overseas websites. Lastly, most studies have focused on the role of
company communication in the formation of customer patronage (Kim, 2011). However, A
handful of studies has examined the role of customers’ characteristics in determining the
effectiveness of communication strategies.
Therefore, this study analyses how firm- and customer-generated communication
influences brand equity as measured by brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand
loyalty in the overseas purchasing service context. Also, given the importance of
understanding customer characteristics in the brand management context (Lin, 2002), the
role of demographic characteristics in the relationship between overseas purchase
experiences and their consequences is examined. The contribution of this study is to
provide a theoretical framework of a communication strategy that (1) identifies the relative
impact of the firm- and customer-generated communication on brand-related outcomes and
(2) examines the role of customers’ demographic characteristics in this relationship.

2. Literature review
2.1 Communication strategy
In the global business context, digital marketing is an important tool to interact with
customers and meet the pace of their changing needs (Wilk et al., 2021; Wymbs, 2011).
Especially for companies based on online platforms, such as Amazon and Airbnb, digital
marketing can be used to create firm-generated messages including the history of the brand,
product, service information, and offers of promotion events to build customer relationships
and increase sales. Also, shopping websites have become important communication media
for influencing customers’ consumption experiences (Gao and Li, 2019). Especially, user-
generated communication, such as online reviews, is a powerful influencer of customers’
behavior as it is associated with trustworthiness and is the most efficacious marketing
intelligence technique (Lou and Yuan, 2019). Thus, many global companies have recognized
the importance of communication and developed strategies to reinforce customer
participation in each company’s online community. Because of increasing globalization,
customer demand for high and online retail services has become more intense during the
COVID-19 pandemic (Yadav et al., 2020). A firm’s communication strategy is critical because
it influences a company’s performance in the global business context. Communication
between customer and company is related to the customer’s perceived brand-related Online
outcomes, such as brand association, brand awareness, perceived quality, and brand loyalty overseas
(Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015; Virvilaite et al., 2015). In particular, user-generated
communication influences customer decision-making toward the brand (Virvilaite et al., 2015)
purchasing
because the communication characteristics are linked to customers’ evaluations of the
message contents. Because a global company’s performance is highly related to its brand, if a
firm creates a positive communication strategy across its marketing channels, it has a great
potential competitive advantage over its competitors.

2.2 Communication strategy and brand equity

A firm’s brand-building investment strategy is important for international companies
because brand equity (brand awareness) functions as a signal to customers (Karanges et al.,
2018; Anees-ur-Rehman et al., 2018). Brand awareness is associated with the ability of
customers to distinguish, recall, recognize, or know a brand (S€ ur€uc€
u et al., 2019; Keller, 2003).
Customer brand awareness is critical as a heuristic that simplifies their decision-making
processes (Ilyas et al., 2020). Brand awareness is linked to business success as customers tend
to rely on recognition when they make a preferential purchase (Thoma and Williams, 2013).
Once a firm develops a strategy that enhances customer awareness, it can enhance brand
loyalty (Bilgin, 2018). As customers are exposed to more overseas purchase platforms, a
higher level of brand awareness is associated with the growing mindset of customers than to
other brands. Using a communication strategy such as advertising, a firm can increase the
probability of turning a customer’s choice into a habit (Yoo et al., 2000). Brand awareness is a
critical factor to success in the international marketplace, and the various types of
communication hold different powers over the creation of brand perception (Schivinski and
Dabrowski, 2015). Therefore, the following hypotheses are formulated.
H1a. Firm-generated communication influences customers’ perceived awareness of
overseas purchased brands.
H1b. User-generated communication influences customers’ perceived awareness of
overseas purchased brands.

2.3 Communication strategy and perceived quality

Perceived quality refers to customer judgments about the overall quality or superiority of a
product or service relative to other alternatives (Zeithaml, 1988). High perceived quality is
associated with customers’ perceived attractiveness of the products or services by recognizing
the differentiation and superiority of the brand. With the current rapid globalization, customers
have more variety and choices between global and local brands. Thus, in the international
business context, perceived quality is vital to the determination of customer preferences (Milberg
and Sinn, 2008). A company’s brand strategy influences customers’ perceived quality of its
products, and they tend to associate higher quality with advertised brands (Yoo et al., 2000). Also,
user-generated communication is an important integral source of information (Riegner, 2007).
Managing perceived quality is important due to the rapid change of the global service market
(Wang, 2017). Customers will judge the quality of overseas purchasing platforms based on firm-
and user-generated communication. Thus, this study hypothesizes that customers’ experiences
with company communication are associated with perceived quality.
H2a. Firm-generated communication influences customers’ perceived quality of
overseas purchased brands.
H2b. User-generated communication influences customers’ perceived quality of overseas
purchased brands.
APJML 2.4 Communication strategy and brand loyalty
Brand loyalty is related to customers’ devotion or attachment to a brand (Jun and Yi, 2020),
and its behavioral perspective is reflected in repeated purchases of that brand (Jayasuriya
et al., 2020). Creating brand loyalty is important to an international business strategy because
it offers competitive advantages for a firm (Banik and Gao, 2020). Brand loyalty is linked with
a greater market share and certain marketing advantages, including reduced marketing
costs, attracting new customers, and greater trade leverage (Assael, 1998). Customer loyalty
toward a retailer provides a means of differentiation from other products or service providers.
A firm’s communication strategy influences customers’ commitment to repurchase behavior
(patronage). Companies can increase brand loyalty by cultivating the relationship between
customers and their brand(s) (Ledikwe, 2020; Lo, 2020). Designing an effective
communications strategy can increase loyalty, and by providing relevant information can
reduce customers need to search for information. Also, regular communication helps
customers to engage with the brand by maintaining consistency, comfort, and gratification
(Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995). Customers’ interactions with brand communications positively
influence brand loyalty so this study also hypothesizes that communication through overseas
purchasing websites influences brand loyalty.
H3a. Firm-generated communication influences customers’ brand loyalty toward
overseas purchased brands.
H3b. User-generated communication influences customers’ brand loyalty toward
overseas purchased brands.
In the brand management context, brand awareness is a critical element for creating brand

equity (Kotler et al., 2016; Switała et al., 2018). As brand awareness influences customers’
ability to identify a brand among others, it is associated with the strength of brand
information (Kotler et al., 2016). Brand awareness also influences customers’ brand loyalty by
increasing purchase intention toward the brand (Dabbous et al., 2020; Lin et al., 2014). Also,
customers’ perceived quality of a brand allows the brand to be differentiated from its
competitors. Similar to brand awareness, the perceived quality or superiority of a brand
impacts a positive image (Biedenbach and Marell, 2010). Therefore, the following hypotheses
are formulated.
H4a. Customers’ perceived awareness influences customers’ perceived quality toward
overseas purchased brands.
H4b. Customers’ perceived awareness influences customers’ brand loyalty toward
overseas purchased brands.
Recently, implementing personalized communication such as email marketing has gained the
attention of practitioners and researchers (Hartemo, 2016). Customer behavior with online
shopping platforms is associated with demographics. For instance, different generations of
customers have different motivations and attitudes toward shopping (Ordun, 2015), such as
Millennial customers’ tending to be open-minded, ambitious, energetic, innovative, and
confident. Also, customer decision-making in the marketplace is related to their gender, age,
and education characteristics (Ahn et al., 2018). Thus, this study hypothesizes the role of
customer demographics in the relationship between communication experience and its
outcomes.
H5. Demographics are associated with the relationship between customers’
communication experiences and brand-related consequences.
In this study, it is proposed that online communication affects customers’ overseas shopping
behavior. More specifically, the primary objective of this paper is to gain a better
understanding of the role of types of communication (i.e. firm-created and customer- Online
generated communication) in driving multiple consequences (i.e. brand awareness, perceived overseas
quality, and brand loyalty). Second, the role of customers’ demographic characteristics (i.e.
gender, age, and income) in the online overseas shopping context. Figure 1 describes the
purchasing
proposed model examining the impact of types of communication on brand-related outcomes
in the overseas retail setting. This study applied partial least structural equation modeling to
verify the causal relationship among the variables in the model.

3. Methods
3.1 Data collection
An online survey was developed and distributed through the online survey platform Qualtrics.
com. Given the increasing growth of overseas shopping in the United States, the voluntary and
anonymous survey was available through the online survey platform in the United States.
According to Statista.com (2022), around 50% of American online shoppers have used
overseas purchasing in the past. The researcher used screening questions to ensure that the
respondents used overseas purchase websites. A pilot test with five researchers and five
graduate students in the business department was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of
the questionnaire. Based on the feedback, some items were corrected or reworded to ensure
content validity. Also, participants were asked to answer their favorite overseas purchasing
service brand, and the answer was embedded in the questionnaire (e.g. I am satisfied with the
Amazon’s communications, I can quickly recall the symbol or logo of Amazon). Upon receiving
approval from the Human Ethics Committee, in all, 212 American participants completed the
survey, 58% of whom were male. The majority of the participants were from 19 to 39 years old,
and 79% had a college degree (Table 1). As suggested in the previous studies, this sample size
was enough to run partial least squares structural equation modeling because it was more than
10 times larger than the largest number of structural paths directed (Hair et al., 2012).

3.2 Measures
Multiple items were used to measure the study constructs. Both firm- and user-generated
communications were measured using elements adapted from previous studies (Tsiros et al., 2004;

Brand loyalty

Firm created
communication

Brand awareness

Customer
generated
communication

Perceived
quality Figure 1.
Proposed model
APJML Variable N (%)

Gender
Male 124 58
Female 88 42
Age
18–29 years of age 65 31
30–39 years of age 102 48
40–49 years of age 21 9
Older than 50 22 10
Education
High school 16 7
Some college/technical training 15 7
College graduate 166 78
Postgraduate school 16 7
Income
Under $39,999 56 26
Table 1. $40,000-$69,999 94 44
Demographic profile of $70,000-$99,999 45 21
the respondents $100,000 and over 17 8

M€agi, 2003; Schivinski and Dabrowski, 2015). Three elements used for assessing brand
awareness were adapted from Sun and Ghiselli’s (2010) study; perceived quality and brad
loyalty were measured with scales adopted from Yoo and Donthu (2001). All the items were
assessed using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 for “strongly disagree” to 7 for
“strongly agree.” Also, the results of principal component factor analysis showed that no
single factor influenced the result by less than 50%, indicating that common method bias did
not affect this study (Podsakoff et al., 2003).

3.3 Analysis
To evaluate the hypothesized relationships, the partial least squares structural equation
modeling (PLS-SEM) approach with the SmartPLS software was performed. PLS-SEM is a
useful method to maximize explained variance and minimize structural errors (Hair et al.,
2017). A two-stage procedure was used to examine the measurement model and structural
model using a bootstrapping technique with SmartPLS (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). This
approach also explains the variance of the endogenous constructs (Hair et al., 2012). First, the
reliability and validity were analyzed. The internal consistency was assessed using
Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (Table 2). The former ranged between 0.72 and
0.78, which showed adequate reliability on all scales (α > 0.70). The values of the composite
reliabilities were greater than 0.7, supporting internal consistency. Convergent validity was
examined as the average variance extracted (AVE) and was greater than 0.5. Last, the square
root of AVE in each latent variable was larger than that of other correlations among the latent
variables, indicating discriminant validity (Table 3).

3.4 Results
The structural model was tested using SmartPLS 3.0. The predictive power of the model
was assessed using variance explained (R2) in endogenous constructs. As shown in Table 4,
the R2 of the dependent variables ranged from 0.55 to 0.62. Chin (1998) explains R2 values of
Variable FL α CR AVE
Online
overseas
Firm-created social media communication 0.75 0.86 0.67 purchasing
I am satisfied with the Brand X’s communications 0.78
Brand X’s communications are very attractive 0.82
Brand X’s communications perform well, when compared with the 0.84
communications of other companies
Customer-generated social media communication 0.78 0.87 0.70
I am satisfied with the content generated by other users about Brand X 0.78
The content generated by other users about Brand X is very attractive 0.85
The content generated by other users about Brand X performs well, when 0.87
compared with other brands
Brand awareness 0.76 0.86 0.68
I easily recognize Brand X 0.75
I can quickly recall the symbol or logo of Brand X 0.86
I can recognize Brand X among other competing brands 0.86
Perceived quality 0.72 0.88 0.78
The likelihood that Brand X is reliable is very high 0.89
Products of Brand X are worth their price 0.87
Brand loyalty 0.77 0.87 0.69
I consider myself to be loyal to Brand X 0.82
Table 2.
I would not buy other brands if Brand X is available at the store 0.84 Cronbach’s alpha and
I try to find Brand X rather than buying other brands 0.83 standardized
Note(s): FL5Factor Loading, α 5 Cronbach’s alpha, CR 5 composite reliabilities; AVE 5 Average Variance regression weight
Extracted scores for variables

Variable FCOM UCOM AWA QUAL LOY

Firm-created social media communication (FCOM) 0.82 Table 3.

Customer-generated social media communication (UCOM) 0.69 0.83 Descriptive statistics
Brand awareness (AWA) 0.70 0.70 0.82 and correlations
Perceived quality (QUAL) 0.70 0.70 0.70 0.88 among the study
Brand loyalty (LOY) 0.68 0.67 0.62 0.66 0.83 variables

Path β t p

H1a: Firm-created communication → Brand awareness 0.42 5.14 0.00

H1b: Customer-generated communication → Brand awareness 0.41 4.84 0.00
H2a: Firm-created communication → Perceived quality 0.30 2.80 0.01
H2b: Customer -generated communication → Perceived quality 0.29 3.01 0.00
H3a: Firm-created communication → Brand loyalty 0.36 3.51 0.00
H3b: Customer -generated communication → Brand loyalty 0.32 2.93 0.00
H4a: Brand awareness→ Perceived quality 0.29 3.94 0.00
H4b: Brand awareness→ Brand loyalty 0.14 1.70 0.09
Total R2
Brand awareness 0.58 Table 4.
Perceived quality 0.62 Summary of results for
Behavioral intention 0.55 the structural model
APJML 0.67, 0.33, and 0.19 as substantial, moderate, and weak, so the proposed model is above
moderate. Hypotheses 1a and 1b posited that both firm-created and customer-generated
communication directly influences brand awareness. As shown in Table 4, the customers’
perceived firm-created (β 5 0.42, t 5 5.14, p < 0.01) and customer-generated (β 5 0.41,
t 5 4.84, p < 0.01) communication had a significant effect on brand awareness. Thus,
Hypotheses 1a and 1b were supported. Hypotheses 2a and 2b stated that customers’
perceived communication leads to perceived quality in the online overseas purchase
context. The results showed that firm-created (β 5 0.30, t 5 2.80, p < 0.05) and customer-
generated (β 5 0.29, t 5 3.01, p < 0.01) communication positively influenced brand
perceived quality, supporting Hypothesis 2a and 2b. Also, both firm-created (β 5 0.36,
t 5 3.51, p < 0.01) and customer-generated (β 5 0.32, t 5 2.93, p < 0.01) communication
leads a strong brand loyalty. Thus, Hypothesis 3a and 3b were supported. Customers’
awareness of overseas purchasing brands significantly and positively influences
perceived quality (β 5 0.29, t 5 3.94, p < 0.01), supporting Hypothesis 4a. However,
brand awareness was not a significant indicator of brand loyalty in this study, rejecting
Hypothesis 4b (β 5 0.14, t 5 1.70, p > 0.05).
Finally, a multi-group analysis with SmartPLS was performed to examine significant
differences between groups of respondents. Demographic variables were dummy variables
measuring, male (1) and female (2), young (1) and old (2), low income (1), and high income (2). A
median split was used to divide the sample into these two categories in terms of age and
income. The results of multi-group analysis showed that the impact of firm-generated
communication on brand awareness was higher among male, young, and low-income
customers. On the other hand, the effect of user-generated communication on brand
awareness was higher among female, old, and high-income customers (Tables 5–7).

Male Female
Path β t p β t p

Firm-created communication → Brand awareness 0.51 4.36 0.00 0.34 2.90 0.00
Customer-generated communication → Brand awareness 0.38 3.79 0.00 0.41 2.76 0.01
Firm-created communication → Perceived quality 0.21 1.45 0.15 0.43 3.69 0.00
Customer-generated communication → Perceived quality 0.38 2.72 0.01 0.14 1.34 0.18
Firm-created communication → Brand loyalty 0.34 2.27 0.02 0.40 2.64 0.01
Table 5. Customer-generated communication → Brand loyalty 0.37 2.32 0.02 0.25 1.95 0.05
Summary of results for Brand awareness → Perceived quality 0.27 2.15 0.03 0.36 3.64 0.00
the structural model Brand awareness → Brand loyalty 0.15 1.13 0.26 0.13 1.26 0.21

Young Old
Path β t p β t p

Firm-created communication → Brand awareness 0.47 6.13 0.00 0.10 0.32 0.75
Customer-generated communication → Brand awareness 0.39 4.36 0.00 0.75 3.56 0.00
Firm-created communication → Perceived quality 0.28 2.46 0.01 0.26 1.32 0.19
Customer-generated communication → Perceived quality 0.26 2.50 0.01 0.51 2.50 0.01
Firm-created communication → Brand loyalty 0.33 2.65 0.01 0.39 3.28 0.00
Table 6. Customer-generated communication → Brand loyalty 0.27 2.12 0.03 0.54 4.03 0.00
Summary of results for Brand awareness → Perceived quality 0.34 3.94 0.00 0.14 0.85 0.40
the structural model Brand awareness → Brand loyalty 0.21 2.20 0.03 0.03 0.25 0.80
 Low income High income
Online
Path β t p β t p overseas
purchasing
Firm-created communication → Brand awareness 0.45 5.16 0.00 0.27 1.24 0.22
Customer-generated communication → 0.38 4.04 0.00 0.60 2.85 0.00
Brand awareness
Firm-created communication → Perceived quality 0.29 2.49 0.01 0.31 1.45 0.15
Customer-generated communication → 0.35 3.31 0.00 0.07 0.39 0.70
Perceived quality
Firm-created communication → Brand loyalty 0.30 2.40 0.02 0.61 3.64 0.00
Customer-generated communication → Brand loyalty 0.34 2.57 0.01 0.18 0.86 0.39 Table 7.
Brand awareness → Perceived quality 0.26 3.09 0.00 0.44 2.48 0.01 Summary of results for
Brand awareness → Brand loyalty 0.19 1.87 0.06 0.02 0.14 0.89 the structural model

4. Conclusion and discussion

4.1 Theoretical implications
This study is the first to explore the effect of both firm-created and customer-generated
content on customers’ behavior toward overseas brands. Despite the importance of online
communication in the overseas purchasing context, this concept has not yet been
investigated in the literature. It would have been expected in managing communication to
enhance company performance by creating positive brand-related outcomes. In fact, previous
research concluded that online communication enhances customers’ evaluation of a brand
(Grewal et al., 2003). However, the results of this study suggest that in the overseas context,
firm-generated communication is not only a driver of customers’ brand-related behavior. The
results demonstrate that both firm-created and customer-generated communication increase
consumers’ ability to identify the overseas purchasing brand. With the increasing demand for
overseas purchasing, most previous studies have focused on firm-generated communication
as the antecedent of customer behavior (Underwood and Klein, 2002). However, this study
evidences that in the overseas purchase context, the impact of both firm-created and
customer-generated communication on customers’ cognitive evaluation of overseas
platforms. Not only company-created information but also content from customers can
promote other customers’ attachment toward the brand. This finding reinforces the
importance of customer-generated content as the consequence of brand marketing (Ghorban
and Tahernejad, 2012).

Similar to previous brand management studies (e.g. Switała et al., 2018), in this study,
customer brand awareness influenced brand loyalty. However, although previous studies
confirmed the impact of perceived awareness on brand loyalty (Torres et al., 2015), in this
study, the customers’ perceived awareness was not enough to influence brand loyalty. While
there was enough evidence to support brand awareness’ having an influence on brand
loyalty, given the characteristics of the online overseas purchasing market, customers
emphasized their previous knowledge about a platform over the quality of its products or
services. Thus, the findings of this study suggested that customers’ brand awareness of
overseas purchasing websites was more important than the superiority of the product quality
in creating customer patronage.
Last, although customers’ characteristics have been investigated as an influential factor in
customers’ behavior in the brand management context (Ordun, 2015), the analysis of its effect
remains in the overseas purchasing area is unexplored. The results demonstrate that the
impact of communication on customers’ behavior varies across their characteristics. The
multi-group analysis showed that the impact of firm-created communication on brand
awareness is higher among male, young, and low-income customers. In contrast, the impact
APJML of customer-generated communication on brand awareness was stronger among female, old,
and high-income customers. Previous research has argued that customers’ demographic
characteristics have influenced their evaluation of brand experience (Ahn et al., 2018).
However, the results suggest that in an overseas purchasing context the mode and types of
online communication exert different effects on customers’ brand behavior across gender,
age, and income groups.

4.2 Managerial implications

For overseas purchasing service companies, this study provides some useful implications.
Both firm- and customer-generated communication can be effective strategies because they
increase customers’ awareness, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. However, the impact of
firm-generated communication on brand-related outcomes was greater than that of customer-
generated communication because customers perceive the contents from the company as
objective and helpful for them to understand product-related information. Thus, based on the
findings of this study, marketers need to recognize the importance of firm-generated content
as a marketing strategy. Marketers can focus on providing more detailed product and service-
related information (e.g. unit price, product ratings, seller ratings, comparison to related
products). Also, given the importance of interaction between customers and service
providers, marketers could offer deeper interactive communication opportunities (e.g. live
chat with sellers, chatbot for general inquiries, sellers’ recommendations). Easy
communication with service providers can also solve customers’ dissatisfaction and issues
related to ordering, shipping, products, and services.
Also, this study highlights the differences in customer behavior across demographic
characteristics. For instance, the impact of customer-generated communication on perceived
quality and brand loyalty was greater among male, young, and low-income customer groups,
whereas firm-generated communication was a more significant determinant of brand loyalty
among female, old, and high-income customer groups. These findings suggest that overseas
purchasing companies need to provide a channel allowing communication across different
customers. As more and more customers use the smartphone for shopping, marketers can use
company mobile pages to allow constantly engagement among customers. Facilitating social-
interactive engagement of mobile pages can increase customers’ positive attitude toward the
service providers (e.g. video/photo reviews, community for customers’ communication).
Marketers can also divide customers’ rating categories based on different product and service
types (e.g. coverage, texture, endurance for cosmetic categories; taste, smell, and expiration
date for food categories). Using various communication platforms, such as TikTok,
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, can motivate those customers to share their shopping
experiences.

5. Limitations and future research

Although this study contributes to the existing communication strategy literature, additional
studies would provide benefits for overseas purchasing companies. First, this study
encompasses one country based on a random sample of customers and uses self-reported
data collected by only one source. Future studies could test the proposed model in other
countries as well as customers’ technology-related characteristics (e.g. technology anxiety).
Additionally, it could be interesting to implement the proposed framework to test different
effects among types of overseas purchases (e.g. luxury products, electronics, foods). This
study has demonstrated that both firm-generated and customers-created content has a
positive effect on their behavior toward overseas purchasing brands. However, differences
across e-commerce platforms were not analyzed. Future studies could distinguish the
e-commerce platform (e.g. online, mobile) in this domain.
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Corresponding author
Jiseon Ahn can be contacted at: jsahn@hanyang.ac.kr

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