Sharing is entertaining: the impact of consumer values on video sharing and brand equity

Purpose: The study aims to ascertain the impacts of entertainment, social and functional values on the likelihood of sharing commercial videos online and verify whether consumers' likelihood to share videos impacts brand attachment and brand equity. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted with 368 university students who watched videos of five companies on YouTube Brazil. The electronic form had 24 questions covering the constructs entertainment value, social value, functional value, likelihood to share, brand attachment and brand equity. The structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the survey´s hypothetical model. Findings: The entertainment value and the social value had positive impacts on the likelihood to share commercial videos online. Moreover, the likelihood to share videos positively impacted brand attachment and brand equity. Finally, brand attachment had a positive effect on brand equity. Practical implications: Entertainment and social values affect the likelihood to share commercial videos, stimulating consumer engagement with brands through interactive marketing on SNSs. Therefore, companies should produce fun videos that add social value to consumers to go viral, positively influencing brands. Finally, another contribution is the impact of video sharing on brand attachment. Previous studies have contemplated only the opposite relationship between these constructs. Originality/value: This research adds value to interactive marketing by investigating consumers' behaviors, their interactivity in social networking sites (SNSs) and the impacts on brands. It is the only study that simultaneously contemplates the effects of entertainment, social and functional values on the likelihood to share commercial videos online and demonstrates its impact on brand attachment and brand equity.