ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Advertising and Marketing Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1702657
The psychological mechanisms through which digital content marketing by online influencers affect customer loyalty: Evidence from multiple countries
Provisionally accepted
Qin Zhang1
Firdaus Abdullah2*- 1Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
- 2Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak - Kampus Mukah, Mukah, Malaysia
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This study examines the impact of digital content marketing on customer loyalty in the context of a rapidly evolving consumer environment marked by rising national income levels and shifting consumption patterns. Drawing on relationship marketing theory (RMT) and self-determination theory (SDT), the study explores how emotional attachment and emotional commitment moderate the relationship between digital content marketing and customer loyalty. By investigating emotional mechanisms in digital content marketing, this study expands the explanatory power of RMT in digital contexts and enriches the application of SDT in consumers' emotional motivations and loyalty. Using a quantitative research approach, based on multinational sample mainly from Asia (996 valid responses), the study employs partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse the proposed model. The findings reveal that high-quality digital content marketing significantly enhances customer loyalty, and this relationship is strengthened by both emotional attachment and emotional commitment. This study innovatively integrates emotional drivers into digital marketing, addressing the existing gap in exploring emotional mechanisms in this field. It not only enriches theoretical research at the intersection of digital marketing and relationship marketing but also offers practical insights for marketing managers and digital strategists, particularly in highly dynamic and emotionally driven consumer markets. This paper advances the understanding of how emotional mechanisms interact with digital marketing strategies to foster long-term customer relationships, offering implications for both theory and practice. Although the sample mainly from Asia, a leading region for digital marketing and e-commerce, the findings provide valuable insights into the emotional impact of digital content marketing within a global context.
Keywords: Digital marketing1, Customer loyalty2, Emotional attachment3, Emotionalcommitment4, quantitative research5
Received: 18 Sep 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang and Abdullah. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Firdaus Abdullah, fir@uitm.edu.my
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