The Effect of Customer Usage Motivation on Customer Trust and Product Evaluation under the Role of Social Media Content Marketing - Using Customer Engagement as a Mediating variable

The Effect of Customer Usage Motivation on Customer Trust and Product Evaluation under the Role of Social Media Content Marketing - Using Customer Engagement as a Mediating variable | 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 Research Article The Effect of Customer Usage Motivation on Customer Trust and Product Evaluation under the Role of Social Media Content Marketing - Using Customer Engagement as a Mediating variable Xi Chen, Wenrui Zhao, Weishun Rong, Jinlong Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6942487/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Today, social media is proliferating rapidly and for companies, social media content marketing has become the leading marketing technique in communication. It leverages customers' perspectives to build relationships by creating and sharing engaging content on social media to enhance their daily lives. Unlike previous research, this study used the U&G model as a theoretical framework to explore the relationship between customer motivation, customer engagement, customer trust, and product evaluation in the context of social media content marketing, and the mediating role of customer engagement between motivation and customer trust. Five hundred and forty-seven participants completed a questionnaire to assess their motivation, and the results were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the study showed that customer motivation had a positive impact on customer engagement and customer trust under the influence of social media content marketing, which in turn had a significant positive impact on the evaluation of the product. In addition, the mediating effect of customer engagement between customer motivation and customer trust is explored. This study adds to the academic literature and has practical implications for companies using social media platforms for content marketing. This study is the first to apply social media content marketing to the study of customer motivation and product evaluation and proposes a theoretical model with customer engagement as a mediating variable. In addition, this study extends the application of the U&G model, which will be useful for future research on customer evaluation of products under the role of social media content marketing. Social media content marketing Customer usage motivation Customer engagement Customer trust Product evaluation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 29 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Sep, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Aug, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Aug, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 20 Aug, 2025 Editor invited by journal 01 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 31 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 31 Jul, 2025 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. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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