Global Journal of Management and Business Research, E: Marketing, Volume 22 Issue 3

firms and customers (Carlson et al., 2019; Merz et al., 2018). Technology encourages buyers to interact with fashion businesses (Kim & Ko, 2012). The fashion genius Coco Chanel said, "Fashion is not just clothing." Fashion is in the sky, on the street, and in ideas, lifestyles, and events (Brogi et al., 2013). Asian fast fashion brands are overgrowing. Fashion sector spending is expected to rise nearly 10% annually (Bashir et al., 2020). Asian fashion is predicted to expand by 8.80% (2022-2027) to US$626.20 billion in 2027. Fashion sales reached US$410.80 billion in 2022 (Statista Digital Market Outlook, 2022). Bangladesh's fashion income reached US$1.81 billion in 2022. By 2027, revenue is predicted to climb 17.37% (CAGR 2022-2027) to US$4.03 billion (Statista Market Forecast, 2022).It boosts competitiveness and profits in the Bangladeshi fashion sector. This research uses "Fashion Brands," "Retail Fashion Brands," and "Luxury Fashion Brands" interchangeably. OBCs, allow fashion businesses and buyers communicate without time, place, or topic limits, changing one-way engagement into intuitive and user-friendly two-way direct conversation (A. J. Kim & Ko, 2010). Online shoppers may buy anytime. They can instantly exchange brand experiences and have access to many stylish things (Brogi et al., 2013). Researchers examined brand value based on customer brand understanding (Dew & Kwon, 2010). Businesses increasingly use social media to build brand awareness, making it a hot issue (Hudson et al., 2015). Brand awareness is how much customers link a brand with the desired product (Sasmita & Mohd Suki, 2015). In previous years, companies looked cautious about using social media for marketing, but they now invest heavily in brand design and firm-related social media marketing, for instance, in interactive websites and brand communities (Bashir et al., 2020; Hudson et al., 2015). Companies use popular social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter for engaging clients. On these platforms, consumers create brand communities, and businesses utilize these communities to promote their products (Bashir et al., 2020; Islam et al., 2018). When a person contemplates information regarding the product and identifies with its subsisting brand knowledge more densely, the brand association will be more intense. Association with feelings, features along with advantages can create a brand association. All these components assist in building up brand image (Lee, Goh & noor, 2019; Enjelina & Dewi, 2021). Moreover, the brand image tells the story of what consumers think and feel about the company (D. Lee et al., 2011; Roy & Banerjee, 2007). Faircloth (2005) states brand image is the “overall mental image that consumers have of a brand and its uniqueness compared to the other brands”. It helps customers understand their wants and desires and distinguishes them from the competition (Anwar et al., 2011; Lien et al., 2015). Social media is a prevalent issue because companies use it to promote their brands (Bashir et al., 2020; Hoang et al., 2019). Thus SMBBC enhances customer happiness, connection skills, and corporate performance, according to a study (Clark et al., 2017). Several studies investigated the relationship between SMBBC’s commitment to brand awareness and brand loyalty. Besides, a few researchers studied online brand community participation on brand awareness, brand association, and perceived quality of luxury fashion items (Bashir et al., 2020; Hoang et al., 2019). However, hardly any researchers have examined the influence of social media-based brand community engagement on fashion brand image in Bangladesh. To answer the above questions, the theoretical background of SMBBC participation has been developed through a literature review. We have also clarified all the keywords and built up our model and hypotheses. Besides, to simplify the research, the phrases "consumer involvement," "community participation," and "brand community engagement" are used as synonymous. Additionally, the words "Social Media Based Brand Community (SMBBC)," "Virtual Brand Community (VBC)," and "Online Brand Community (OBC)" have been used interchangeably. "SMBBC participation" and "Facebook brand page involvement" are considered synonyms. To evaluate our hypotheses, we designed a questionnaire and gathered data before putting the model to the test. Finally, we examined the results and recommended future research directions. II. L iterature R eview and H ypotheses D evelopment Social media is one of the biggest channels for brand-related information exchange since its interactive features allow users to participate, collaborate, and share knowledge (Cheung et al., 2020; © 2022 Global Journals Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue III Version I Year 2022 ( ) E 72 RQ 1: How does Participation in an SMBBC Influence the Brand Image of Fashion Brands? RQ 2: How does Brand Association Mediate the Relationship between SMBBC Participation and Brand Image? RQ 3: How does Brand Association Mediate the Relationship between Brand Awareness and Brand Image? RQ 4: How does Brand Awareness Mediate the Relationship between SMBBC Participation and Brand Association? Thus, this research work considered customers participation in the social media-based brand community of prominent fashion brands and sought to respond to the following research questions: a) Theoretical Underpinning Impact of Social Media-Based Brand Community Participation on Brand Image in Bangladesh: Mediating Role of Brand Association and Brand Awareness