How online exposure to nature affects customer engagement: Evidence from Sina Weibo

The increasing popularity of online information and communication technology (ICT) devices has shifted customers’ contact with nature from offline to online. Online exposure to nature on social media involves information such as bloggers’ social influence, blog image clarity, blog text sentiment, blog length, and online interactions with people, which are inaccessible from offline. This study examines the relationship between online exposure to nature and social media engagement behaviors from the perspective of environmental psychology. We find a significant U-shaped correlation between online exposure to nature and customer engagement on social media. Moreover, this relationship is weakened by social influence and image clarity. Our analysis indicates that online exposure to nature significantly differs from exposure to nature, both theoretically and in terms of results. Our paper enriches the literature on visual content and enhances the understanding of customer engagement on social media. The results also reveal the implementation of social media marketing strategies with images.