An examination of social media advertising features, brand engagement and purchase intention in the fast food industry

Purpose
This study aimed to investigate the impact of social media advertising features (interactivity, perceived relevance, informativeness and entertainment) on brand engagement in the fast food industry. It was also designed to identify the effect of brand engagement on purchase intention.

Design/methodology/approach
The data was gathered from 258 customers of fast food restaurants in United Arab Emirates using an online survey. The collected data was analyzed via the partial least square approach (PLS-SEM) to verify the hypotheses and reach at conclusions.

Findings
The findings indicated that social media advertising features have positive effects on brand engagement. In particular, it was found that interactivity, perceived relevance, informativeness and entertainment are positively associated with brand engagement. The results also confirmed that brand engagement has a positive effect on purchase intention.

Originality/value
This study provides a noteworthy contribution to the literature by examining the effect of four unique social media advertising features on consumer engagement. By looking at previous studies, it can also be observed there is a limited empirical research on the effect of perceived relevance and informativeness on brand engagement. It further focuses on covering existing gaps in the literature concerning the effect of brand engagement on purchase intention in the fast food industry setting. This is one of the earlier studies that collectively examined these factors in model; particularly, in fast food industry setting with empirical data from a Middle East country.