Social media communication influences sustainability awareness through brand equity, brand preference and student satisfaction: Evidence from China within a stimulus– organism–response framework

Social media communication influences sustainability awareness through brand equity, brand preference and student satisfaction: Evidence from China within a stimulus– organism–response framework | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Social media communication influences sustainability awareness through brand equity, brand preference and student satisfaction: Evidence from China within a stimulus– organism–response framework Yuhua Xie, Xingcheng Ji, Kenzhetay Maksat, Shuwu Li, Gulzhakan Mynzhanova This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015895/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 15 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Guided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study aims to explore how social media communication in higher education institutions influences students’ sustainability awareness by examining the organic connection mechanism of brand equity, brand preference, and student satisfaction. Data were collected from 472 students in Guangxi's colleges and analyzed using by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results demonstrate that social media communication has a direct and indirect positive effect on sustainability awareness through brand equity, brand preference and student satisfaction, presenting a sequential mediating mechanism. This study extends the application of the S-O-R framework to the context of higher education and sustainable development. These findings provide empirical evidence for university administrators to understand how social media communication supports sustainability awareness. Business and commerce/Business and management Social science/Business and management Humanities/Cultural and media studies Social science/Cultural and media studies Business and commerce/Information systems and information technology Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Social science/Science technology and society Social media communication Brand equity Brand preference Student satisfaction Sustainability awareness Higher education institutions Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 06 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 13 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 04 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 23 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 23 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 15 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 13 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 13 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 13 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 13 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 10 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 10 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9015895","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":606384149,"identity":"e7b67f6b-c59d-49d1-9ab5-03b34c827ce1","order_by":0,"name":"Yuhua Xie","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guangxi University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuhua","middleName":"","lastName":"Xie","suffix":""},{"id":606384150,"identity":"45e9eedf-c354-4d9a-9b12-2472e4518a38","order_by":1,"name":"Xingcheng Ji","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Guilin Institute of Information Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xingcheng","middleName":"","lastName":"Ji","suffix":""},{"id":606384151,"identity":"7faf88d6-2be6-430a-ba39-a32bbc845ada","order_by":2,"name":"Kenzhetay Maksat","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"KIMEP University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kenzhetay","middleName":"","lastName":"Maksat","suffix":""},{"id":606384152,"identity":"bba9977b-3a8a-4d72-b2ad-2c8993df4ccb","order_by":3,"name":"Shuwu Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC+/aGxAcfKmp4gAwitRjwHHhsOOPMMRkgg1gtEonPpHnbmG0MJBKI1GLOkJwgwdvGxmMu+XjjDYYam2iCWiwbjiUYSJyT4bGcnVZswXAsLbeBoJ6DPQkJBmVsPAy3c8wkGBsOE6HlMP+HAwlszDwMN88QqcXgGENiw4E2Zh6DGzxEapHsYUhmbDhzjEeyB+iXBGL8wi//IP33n4oae372wxtvfKixIcIvyI4kOmqQtJCqYxSMglEwCkYGAACqr0EWnrNTSgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Al-Farabi Kazakh National University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shuwu","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":606384153,"identity":"fdbecf63-96f8-40b7-99f6-870e2bd7fb36","order_by":4,"name":"Gulzhakan Mynzhanova","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gulzhakan","middleName":"","lastName":"Mynzhanova","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-03 04:54:46","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015895/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015895/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104782562,"identity":"0b0903be-a50b-43c9-8740-5d52cacedc9f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-17 07:57:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":526453,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RevisedManuscriptMainText.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9015895/v1_covered_c45445c8-6dcc-4073-a198-a5a1ecbe6b3c.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Social media communication influences sustainability awareness through brand equity, brand preference and student satisfaction: Evidence from China within a stimulus– organism–response framework","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Social media communication, Brand equity, Brand preference, Student satisfaction, Sustainability awareness, Higher education institutions","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015895/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9015895/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eGuided by the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this study aims to explore how social media communication in higher education institutions influences students\u0026rsquo; 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