摘要 : Franchisor efforts to increase brand value by connecting and interacting with current and potential customers on social media platforms benefit the franchisor as well as franchisees in a franchise network and strengthen franchisor... 展开 Franchisor efforts to increase brand value by connecting and interacting with current and potential customers on social media platforms benefit the franchisor as well as franchisees in a franchise network and strengthen franchisor-franchisee relationships by stimulating customer-to-customer interaction, word of mouth (WOM) communication, and co-creation of value in social media networks. This study examines how the size of a franchise network impacts WOM communication in social media networks. It empirically investigates hypotheses linking franchise network size to WOM in social media networks via two types of customer engagement behavior: (1) loyalty to the brand, and (2) liking of the brand. Structural equation models are estimated for franchise networks in the top 200 U.S. restaurants with data from Twitter for two samples: restaurants with tweets during a fixed time period, and restaurants with a fixed number of tweets. The results indicate that loyalty and liking mediate the relationship between franchise network size and WOM in social media networks. Franchise network sales has a positive relationship with loyalty, which has a positive relationship with liking, which has a positive relationship with WOM communication. Split-sample analysis indicates that franchise network units matters only when the proportion of restaurants in the network owned by franchisees exceeds 75%. Growing the franchise network enhances loyalty and provides an opportunity for bespoke communications that customers like and spread, generating buzz about the brand. 收起