Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales DOCTORAL DISSERTATION The antecedents of the intention to forward online company generated contents (CGC) and online user generated contents (UGC) via Facebook Mahmoud N. M. Yasin Supervised by Dr. Francisco Liébana Cabanillas Dr. Lucia Porcu Universidad de Granada 2020 Editor: Universidad de Granada. Tesis Doctorales Autor: Mahmoud N. M. Yasin ISBN: 978-84-1306-768-1 URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10481/66665 Index 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 14 1.1 The emergence of Online Brand communities (OBCs) ............................................................... 14 1.2 Problem approach and research objectives ................................................................................ 17 1.3 Structure of the doctoral thesis ................................................................................................... 20 1.4 References ................................................................................................................................... 24 2 Chapter 2: Online brand communities, customer engagement, and experience ............................. 27 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 27 2.2 Online brand communities .......................................................................................................... 28 2.3 Online brand customer engagement in the social media context................................................ 32 2.4 Brand customer experience and its application in the banking sector ....................................... 51 2.5 References ................................................................................................................................... 63 3 Chapter 3: Social Media environment and Facebook ...................................................................... 72 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 72 3.2 Social Media environment .......................................................................................................... 72 3.2.1 Social Media Statistics in Palestinian Territory ................................................................. 74 3.3 Facebook and online brand community engagements ................................................................ 78 3.4 References ................................................................................................................................... 84 4 Chapter 4: The Palestinian banking sector ....................................................................................... 87 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 87 4.2 Palestinian Financial and Banking Sector ................................................................................. 89 4.3 Differences between Islamic Banking and Conventional Banking ............................................. 93 4.4 Social Responsibility of the Palestinian Banking Sector ............................................................ 97 4.5 Online banking services provided by the Palestinian baking sector .......................................... 99 4.6 References ................................................................................................................................. 102 5 Chapter 5: Customer’s intentions, UGC and CGC in the context of social media & online banking 107 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 107 5.2 Company-Generated Content (CGC) and User-Generated Content (UGC) in the Context of Social Media ......................................................................................................................................... 109 5.3 References ................................................................................................................................. 122 6 Chapter 6: The Role of Customer Online Brand Experience in Customers' Intention to Forward Online Company-Generated Content: The Case of the Islamic Online Banking Sector in Palestine. 126 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. 127 2 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 127 6.2 Theoretical background ............................................................................................................ 130 6.2.1 Brands and Branding ........................................................................................................ 130 6.2.2 Brand Communities........................................................................................................... 132 6.2.3 Social Media and Financial Institutions ........................................................................... 134 6.2.4 Brand Experience .............................................................................................................. 138 6.2.5 Consumer Intention ........................................................................................................... 143 6.2.6 Mediating Factors ............................................................................................................. 144 6.3 Research Methodology .............................................................................................................. 147 6.3.1 Data Collection and Sample Design ................................................................................. 147 6.3.2 Measurements ................................................................................................................... 148 6.4 Data Analysis and Results......................................................................................................... 151 6.4.1 Reliability and Validity ..................................................................................................... 151 6.4.2 Structural Equation Model ................................................................................................ 153 6.4.3 Hypotheses Testing ........................................................................................................... 154 6.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 155 6.5.1 Theoretical Implications ................................................................................................... 155 6.5.2 Practical Implications ....................................................................................................... 157 6.5.3 Limitations and Avenues for Future Research .................................................................. 159 6.6 References ................................................................................................................................. 160 6.7 Appendix 6-1: Questionnaire 1 ................................................................................................. 168 7 Chapter 7: Antecedent effect of brand experience on customers' engagement behavior within the context of online brand communities: the impact on intention to forward online company-generated content. ..................................................................................................................................................... 170 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. 171 7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 171 7.2 Literature review ....................................................................................................................... 172 7.2.1 Brand Experience .............................................................................................................. 174 7.2.2 Customer engagement within social media settings ......................................................... 176 7.2.3 Consumer Intention ........................................................................................................... 180 7.2.4 Mediating Factors ............................................................................................................. 180 7.3 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................................. 184 7.3.1 Data Collection and Sample Design ................................................................................. 184 7.3.2 Measurements ................................................................................................................... 185 3 7.4 Data Analysis and Results......................................................................................................... 188 7.4.1 Reliability and Validity ..................................................................................................... 188 7.4.2 Structural Equation Model ...............................................................................................