Experiencing Brand Relationships Online : Understanding Consumer Experiences of Parasocial Brand and Influencer Relationships in a Digital Customer Engagement Environment

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines how consumers construct and experience parasocial relationships with brands and influencers on social media, and how these relationships are shaped through cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement practices. The thesis draws on foundational theories, including Parasocial Relationship research (Fetscherin & Heinrich, 2015; Yuan et al., 2016) and the Digital Customer Engagement (DCE) framework (Brodie et al., 2011; Hollebeek et al., 2014). Using qualitative interviews, the thesis shows that consumers experience brand relationships as emotionally meaningful yet primarily one-sided, with brands functioning as symbolic and identity-relevant sources (Holt, 1995; Fournier, 1998). Influencers, meanwhile, evoke stronger parasocial closeness due to their perceived authenticity and reliability (Leite & Baptista, 2021), even as consumers remain aware of commercial motives and critically negotiate trust. Across the DCE dimensions, the findings show that cognitive engagement appears as a filtering mechanism through active information seeking and evaluative reflection, while emotional engagement is driven by joy, recognition, and value alignment, and behavioral engagement is expressed through liking, sharing, and purchasing actions (Brodie et al., 2013; Dessert et al., 2016). Overall, the findings highlight a triadic relational dynamic in which parasocial mechanisms and engagement practices intertwine, shaping how consumers construct and experience relationships with brands and influencers online.