Customer's Transition from Conventional Brand Advocacy to Online Brand Advocacy: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Purpose : This research paper explored the evolution of brand advocacy, focusing on the shift from conventional brand advocacy dominated by traditional word-of-mouth (WOM) to online brand advocacy (OBA) reflected in the user-generated content (UGC). The study also brought into focus the shift in the major themes that underlie the concept of brand advocacy while crossing over the paradigm to a modern and more relevant form of brand advocacy in the digital context. In addition, the role of reviews and ratings in enhancing brand advocacy was also explored in the current study.

Methodology : A content analysis of the peer-reviewed papers published between January 2010 and February 2025 was conducted using the Scopus database. The articles were filtered based on the ABDC 2024 Journal Quality List (A*, A, and B categories) across relevant business disciplines to carry out the comprehensive review. The articles were then subjected to thematic analysis to extract key insights into the two forms of brand advocacy: conventional and online.

Findings : The study found that the shift from conventional brand advocacy to OBA had significantly altered how customers expressed brand preferences and influenced others. The OBA has a clear edge over conventional forms of advocacy, reflected by its greater reach, higher brand visibility, broader communication potential, and unbounded by time and capability of sharing virtual cues. OBA, therefore, would significantly impact business growth, especially through organic marketing methods like UGC. The findings emphasized the increasing role of OBA in enhancing consumer engagement and brand loyalty in the digital landscape. The study proposed cognitive, emotional, relational, experiential, and behavioral dimensions as important drivers of brand advocacy behavior.

Practical Implications : The study offered a structured approach to understanding the dynamics of brand advocacy, with implications for corporates, marketers, and academia. Insights from this study could be leveraged by marketers in order to develop strategies that capitalize on OBA, especially through UGC, to enhance brand visibility and foster meaningful customer relationships.

Originality : While earlier authors have presented their manifestations of brand advocacy in terms of its antecedents and relationships with various marketing outcomes, this study provided a new lens to visualize the concept of brand advocacy as a continuum from traditional WOM to brand advocacy in the digital era. Various conceptual themes in the context of two forms of advocacy emerged as a result of thematic analysis performed on identified articles that were published in a specific time period.