I was looking for examples of other researchers applying the combination of Social Network Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling for study of consumer buying behaviour.
Well I have seen some in the field of tourism. If you can narrow down your search to any field (e.g., tourist behavior), it may help you to find some quality papers related to both SNA & SEM in the field.
As we know, social networking sites (SNSs) have attracted increasing attention from brands, which look at the platform as a privileged communication channel to reach their audiences. Despite their growing adoption, few research efforts have been devoted to evaluate SNSs' concrete implications for the brands. A recent research study (Langaro, Rita, & de Fátima Salgueiro, 2018) addresses this opportunity, proposing a model that evaluates the impact of users' participation in SNSs on consumer behavior particularly related to brand awareness and brand attitude, the two main pillars of brand knowledge.
The authors focused on brand like pages in Facebook, the most used SNSs platform for brands. An online quantitative survey with brand like page users of leading brands in Facebook was implemented. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate the measurement model and structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed research hypotheses.
The results identify a significant, positive and direct impact of users' participation on brand awareness. Brand attitude also substantially benefits from users' participation, but this relationship is mediated by brand awareness. The findings help to validate SNSs' significant role on building brand knowledge and to position users' participation at the core of brands' SNSs objectives.
Another research study (Chiang, Wei, Parker, & Davey, 2017) proposes a customer-learning model and analyses 373 online questionnaires using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The empirical results confirm that learning motivation and collaborative learning are two core components of customer learning that have positive influences on satisfaction, which in turn has a positive influence on customer engagement behaviours (CEBs) and loyalty. In addition, learning motivation is the driver of collaborative learning. Finally, CEBs also have a positive influence on loyalty. This study also concludes that the social network brand community is an informative customer-learning platform that is characterised byinteractivity, collaborative learning and co-creation!
Langaro, D., Rita, P., & de Fátima Salgueiro, M. (2018). Do social networking sites contribute for building brands? Evaluating the impact of users' participation on brand awareness and brand attitude. Journal Of Marketing Communications, 24(2), 146-168.
Chiang, C., Wei, C., Parker, K. R., & Davey, B. (2017). Exploring the drivers of customer engagement behaviours in social network brand communities: towards a customer-learning model. Journal Of Marketing Management, 33(17/18), 1443-1464.