Effects of branded e-stickers on purchase intentions: The perspective of social capital theory

•This study investigates the impacts of branded e-stickers on brand attitudes and purchase intentions.•Brand attitudes and majority ties directly influence the intentions.•The structural, relational, cognitive, and situational dimensions of social capital affect purchase intentions.•This study also elucidates gender differences.

This study investigates the impacts of branded e-stickers on brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Analysis of the survey data indicates that featured character-brand fit, intensity, self-disclosure, sociability, and referent ties indirectly influence purchase intentions through brand attitudes. Brand attitudes and majority ties directly influence the intentions. The findings demonstrate that social capital must be considered when applying social innovations for marketing. Theoretical contributions: The findings support the model for examining effects of branded e-stickers, indicating that the structural, relational, cognitive, and situational dimensions of social capital critically affecting purchase intentions. This study provides a notable contribution to the social capital theory, addressing several detailed dimensions and critical antecedents of the intentions. We propose to revise the social capital model by adding situational dimension to the original three dimension of social capital to enhance our practical and theoretical understanding of BES impacts. This study advances our knowledge of BES communication and their effectiveness. This study also elucidates gender differences.