Does Culture Matters in Intersection of Individual s Personality and Social Media Engagement?

Personality traits of consumers may be important elements in the increasingly user-generated web for the engagement in this participatory media. Previous studies suggest three personality traitsextraversion, neuroticism and openness to experienceare related to uses of social applications like Facebook. The aim of current research is to evaluate the factors affecting consumer’s social media engagement in terms of liking, commenting and sharing behavior on Facebook brand fan pages, and to evaluate the mediating role of interaction modes and to analyze the moderating role of culture, on relationship between personality traits and engagement behavior of consumers. Data was collected from 748 fans of 15 Facebook brand fan pages of five fast food brands operating in three different countries. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesis. Results revealed that modes of interaction significantly mediate the relationship between personality traits and social media engagement behaviors. While culture moderates this relationship. Results showed the highest impact of personality traits on social media engagement in UK than Australia, while their impact in lowest in USA. It is suggested that consumers of different countries having same personality traits respond differently to Facebook brand page post, specifically when considering the Facebook functions of