Exploring the Role of Consumer Engagement Style in Digital Brand Equity Formation: Evidence from Sri Lanka

This study explores how consumer engagement style conditions the pathway from observable online actions to digital brand equity in an emerging market. Using survey data from 435 social media users in Sri Lanka, we tested a structural model linking Behavioural Engagement Frequency (BEF) to Cognitive and Attitudinal Engagement (CAE), Brand Perception (BP), and Consumer Behaviour (CB). The full-sample model showed a good overall fit (χ²/df = 3.74, CFI = .914, RMSEA = .079). BEF was positively associated with CAE (β = .222, p < .001), CAE strongly predicted BP (β = .868, p < .001, R² = .753), and BP in turn predicted CB (β = .898, p < .001, R² = .807). To explore differences in engagement style, we segmented respondents into high and low “Deliberate Engagement Style” groups. Multi-group SEM revealed that the path from BEF to CAE was non-significant for the low deliberate group (β = .129, ns) but significant for the high deliberate group (β = .319, p < .001). Moreover, the high deliberate group exhibited much stronger pathways from CAE to BP (β = .924 vs. .817) and BP to CB (β = .954 vs. .831), explaining substantially higher variance in both brand perception (R² = .853 vs. .668) and consumer Behaviour (R² = .910 vs. .691). These findings provide initial evidence that the “value of a like” is not universal but contingent on consumer mindset. As an exploratory contribution, the study highlights engagement style as a potential segmentation lens in digital marketing, while calling for further scale validation and replication across contexts.