The Effects of Brand Community Identification on Consumer Behavior in Online Brand Communities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Changiz Valmohammadi ◽  
Roghayeh Taraz ◽  
Rasoul Mehdikhani
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Community Identification

scholarly journals An Empirical Study of Brand Fan Page Engagement Behaviors

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Hui Chen ◽  
Kune-Muh Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Repurchase Intention ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Hedonic Value ◽  
Utilitarian Value ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Positive Effect

Nowadays, numerous companies present themselves on social networking sites (SNSs) by establishing brand communities to maintain continuous interaction with existing and potential customers to influence their brand choices, promote the products and services, and cultivate brand loyalty. However, the research into online brand communities is mainly centered on that utilizing the platforms of websites instead of using social media platforms. Thus, it calls for more studies to investigate consumer brand fan page engagement behavior to increase their fan base and further induce a fan’s purchase behavior. By adopting the perspectives of co-production and social identity theory, this study endeavors to investigate the impact of customer perceived value derived from engaging in brand fan pages on their identification with and stickiness to an online brand community in the SNS-based context. The target population of this study is consumers who have ever participated in an online brand community. Data was collected through a web-based survey. After deleting 36 incomplete responses, 524 usable responses remained for further analysis, with an effective sample rate of 93.57%. The results revealed that utilitarian value, hedonic value, and monetary value separately exerted a significantly positive effect on community identification. Utilitarian value and hedonic value also had significantly positive effects on community stickiness. Moreover, community identification was positively related to community stickiness. Community identification was found to have significantly positive influences on both word-of-mouth and repurchase intention. Furthermore, community stickiness exerted a significantly positive effect on word-of-mouth and repurchase intention. This study confirms the importance of perceived value on enhancing consumers’ identification with and their stickiness to online brand communities. Therefore, businesses should provide consumers with the value they desired to cultivate customer loyalty to their brand fan pages.

Online brand communities’ contribution to digital business models

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wioleta Kucharska
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Online Brand Community

Purpose There is limited research examining social drivers and mediators of online brand community identification in the context of business models development. This study aims to identify them behind the social mechanisms and present essential factors which should be applied in business models to foster value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a convenience sample of 712 cases gathered among young European Facebook users via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method. Findings Customer–other customers’ identification is a pivotal factor in influencing brand community identification. Practical implications If companies want to implement online brand communities into business models effectively and co-create brand value, they need deliver brand content useful for customer self-expression and social interaction to enhance consumer-brand identification and customer–customer social bonds which enable to transform the audience into a community. Focusing on the constant reinforcement of online brand community by supporting customer–customer relationships is critical for voluntary value co-creation. Originality/value The main contribution of this study to the literature on online brand communities is the presentation and empirical verification of pivotal social mechanisms of online brand community identification considered as a starting point to potential co-creation and capturing value based on the social presence theory.

Enhancing Consumers' Stickiness to Online Brand Communities as an Innovative Relationship Marketing Strategy

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-hui Chen ◽  
Kune-muh Tsai ◽  
Yi-An Ke
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Customer Relationships ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Final Sample ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Positive Word Of Mouth

With the popularity of social networking sites, enterprises start to establish their own brand communities to manage and maintain customer relationships. Consumer stickiness is regarded as one of the critical determinants for the success of a brand community. Enhancing consumers' stickiness to online communities can lead to repurchase behavior and positive word-of-mouth and thereby increase sales volume and customer recruitment. This study endeavors to explore the antecedents of consumers' stickiness to a SNS-based online brand community from the aspects of enterprises and consumers. Data were collected through online questionnaires conducted on Do-Survey website with a hyperlink posted on the PTT, the largest BBS website of Taiwan. After excluding non-usable data, the final sample size was 516. The results indicated that information quality, perceived value, and community identification have positive effects on consumers' stickiness to online brand communities. Moreover, stickiness to online brand communities has positive impacts on customer loyalty.

Online brand communities as heterogeneous gatherings: a netnographic exploration of Apple users

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuğba Özbölük ◽  
Yunus Dursun
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Online Brand Community

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the different types of members based on their roles within an online brand community dedicated to Apple. Design/methodology/approach Design/methodology/approach Data are drawn from an 18-month netnographic study, including participant and non-participant observation. Findings Findings reveal that members of the online brand community share a common goal but they are heterogeneous in many respects. In this research, five different types of brand community members are identified: learner, pragmatist, activist, opinion leader and evangelist. These findings emphasize the heterogeneity of the brand community or the differences of members and subgroups they form in the community. Practical implications This paper offers some insights for brand managers. There are different sub-tribes in online brand communities and these sub-tribes develop their own meanings of the brand. This means that online brand communities do not form one single homogenous target group and can be segmented into subgroups. Findings also offer a deeper understanding of negative characteristics of online brand community members. The role “activist” found in this study may be crucial for marketers, as activists can represent the negative side of online brand communities. Originality/value The literature on brand communities has focused predominantly on the homogeneity of these communities. This paper extends the literature by demonstrating the heterogeneity in an online brand community. The paper contributes to the brand community literature by substantiating that online brand community members can be segmented into subgroups based on their roles within the community. In addition, the paper extends the existing literature on brand communities that has overlooked the destructive consumer roles.

scholarly journals Consumer Engagement in Online Brand Communities: Community Values, Brand Symbolism and Social Strategies

10.28945/4536 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 065-090
Author(s):  
Haili Pan
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Symbolic Value ◽  
The Relationship

Aim/Purpose: This study examines the kind of community value companies should provide when strengthening the relationship between customers and brands through the establishment of an online brand community, and how this kind of community value promotes customers’ sense of community engagement and willingness to spread brand reputation. The paper also discusses how an enterprise’s brand symbolism affects the relationship between community value and customers’ engagement in online brand community. This study explored the important role of brand symbolism in the establishment of an online brand community. Background: Many companies want to create online brand communities to strengthen their relationships with consumers as well as to provide better service and value to consumers, for example, Huawei’s Huafen community (club.huawei.com), Apple’s support community (support.apple.com/zh-cn), and Samsung’s Galaxy community (samsungmembers.cn). However, these brand communities may have different interests and consumer engagement about the kind of community value to offer to their customers. Methodology: This study uses data collection from questionnaire surveys to design a quantitative research method. An online questionnaire survey of mobile phone users in China was conducted to collect data on social value, cognitive value, brand symbolism, customer community engagement, and brand recommendation. The brands of mobile phone include Apple, Huawei, Samsung, OPPO, VIVO, MI, and Meizu. The researcher purchased a sample service of WJX, an online survey company (www.wjx.cn), and WJX company distributed the questionnaire to research participants. The WJX company randomly selected 240 subjects from their sample database and then sent the questionnaire link to research participants’ mobile phones. Among the 240 research participants, the researcher excluded participants who lacked online brand community experience or had invalid data to qualify for data collection. After the researcher excluded participants who did not qualify for data collection, only 203 qualified questionnaire surveys advanced to the data collection and analysis phase, which was the questionnaire recovery rate of 84.58%. For the model analysis and hypotheses testing, the researcher used statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics and AMOS 21 and Smartpls3. Contribution: This study deepens the body of literature knowledge by combining online brand community value and brand symbolic value to explore issues that companies should consider when establishing an online brand community for their products and services. This study confirms that brands with high symbolic value establish communities and strengthen social values in the online brand community rather than reducing brand symbolism. Online brand community involves a horizontal interaction (peer interaction) among peers, which can have an effect on the symbolic value of brand (social distance). Findings: First, online brand community value (both cognitive and social value) has a positive impact on customer community engagement. Second, customer community engagement has a positive impact on customers’ brand recommend intention. Third, the customer community engagement is a mediator between the online brand community value and the customer brand recommend intention. Most importantly, fourth, the symbolic value of the brand controls the relationship between community value and customer community engagement. For brands with high symbolic value, the community value should emphasize cognitive value rather than social value. For brands with a low symbolic value, the community provides cognitive or social value, which is not affected by the symbolism of the brand. Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can share best practices with the corporate sectors. Brand owners can work with researchers to explore the characteristics of their online brand communities. On this basis, brand owners and researchers can jointly build and manage online brand communities. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can explore different perspectives and factors of brand symbolism that involve brand owners when establishing an online brand community to advance consumer engagement, community value, and brand symbolism. Impact on Society: Online brand community is relevant for brand owners to establish brand symbolism, community value, and customer engagement. Readers of this paper can gain an understanding that cognitive and social values are two important drivers of individual participation in online brand communities. The discussion of these two factors can give readers and brand owners the perception to gain more understanding on social and behavior activities in online brand communities. Future Research: Practitioners and researchers could follow-up in the future with a study to provide more understanding and updated research information from different perspectives of research samples and hypotheses on online brand community.

scholarly journals “No piracy talk”: how online brand communities work to denormalize controversial gaming practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1103-1122
Author(s):  
Daiane Scaraboto ◽  
Stefânia Ordovás de Almeida ◽  
João Pedro dos Santos Fleck
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Alternative Practices ◽  
Normalization Process

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explain how online brand communities work to support the denormalization of controversial (i.e. illegal yet normalized) gaming practices.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study was characterized by long-term immersion in an online brand community for Brazilian Xbox gamers. The dataset includes online and offline interactions with community members, interviews, and online archival data.FindingsThis study shows how online brand community members promoted legal gaming in a market where piracy was prevalent. It demonstrates how community members worked to establish coherence; engaged in cognitive participation; developed collective action that extended beyond the community; and reflected on their own work.Research limitations/implicationsThis study identifies online brand communities as a potential ally in combating controversial practices in online gaming; complements individual and behavioral approaches in explaining why consumers adopt controversial practices in online environments; and adds a normalization framework to the toolkit of Internet researchers.Practical implicationsThis study identifies ways in which the potential of online brand communities can be leveraged to reduce consumer adherence to controversial gaming practices through denormalizing these and normalizing alternative practices that may be more desirable to companies and other stakeholders.Originality/valueThis long-term, qualitative study inspired by normalization process theory offers an innovative perspective on the online practices of consumers who engage with a brand in ways that create value for themselves and for the brand.

Understanding customer brand engagement in user-initiated online brand communities: antecedents and consequences

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Matute ◽  
Ramon Palau-Saumell ◽  
Nicoletta Occhiocupo
Keyword(s):  
Affective Commitment ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Brand Engagement ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Community Identification ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences

Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of customer brand engagement (CBE) by proposing and empirically testing a model of antecedents and consequences of CBE for user-initiated online brand communities (OBCs). Design/methodology/approach The model is tested using a sample of 584 participants in two relevant OBCs created and managed by brand fans. Specifically, data were collected from two communities in the photography products category: Nikonistas and Canonistas. Findings The results indicate that community and brand identification positively and significantly influence CBE. Furthermore, the supporting role of OBCs’ moderators facilitates CBE and moderates the influence of community identification on CBE. Regarding the outcomes of CBE, the results show that higher levels of engagement are positively, directly and significantly associated with favorable intentions towards the brand and the community. These effects are then mediated by brand affective commitment. Research limitations/implications The study has been conducted in two Spanish OBCs of two specific high-involvement products category: it is cross-sectional and focuses on a limited number of antecedents and consequences. Practical implications Evidence from this research supports and emphasizes the potential that these platforms have for brand management such that firms’ resources could be best allocated on those elements that lead to superior CBE. Originality/value The study endorses the role of CBE in fostering brand and community-related favorable outcomes in the context of user-initiated OBCs. It shed lights on the potential that these online platforms have for brands and on the role that brand management should play in digital contexts that are outside the direct control of the company.

Exploiting online environment to engage customers: social commerce brand community

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-361
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Cuomo ◽  
Alice Mazzucchelli ◽  
Roberto Chierici ◽  
Francesca Ceruti
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Case Study ◽  
Social Commerce ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Multiple Case

Purpose Taking jointly into account social commerce and online brand community, this paper aims to investigate how the growth of social commerce and the fast adoption of online brand communities have given firms the opportunity to establish a new kind of community, namely, the social commerce brand community. Adopting a managerial perspective, the research aims to identify the core dimensions of social commerce brand community and shed light on how they contribute in engaging customers and transform them into brand advocates. Design/methodology/approach Five social commerce retailers operating into five different sectors of activity have been involved in a multiple case study. Data retrieved from semi-structured interviews have been triangulated with information gathered from different sources to provide depth to the cases and enhance data validity. Findings This study substantiates the rise of social commerce brand community as a new phenomenon that differs from traditional online brand communities and provides firms with concrete support in selling activities and in managing relationships with customers. The multiple case study allows also to detect social commerce brand community core pillars, namely, participants’ identification, participation, conversation and social support. These four elements turned out to be crucial to develop an effective social commerce brand community. Research limitations/implications This study extends existing theory on social commerce and online brand community by investigating the social commerce brand community as a new phenomenon and clarifying the fundamental pillars on which it relies. Originality/value This study extends existing theory on social commerce and online brand community by investigating the social commerce brand community as a new phenomenon and clarifying the fundamental pillars on which it relies.

The Effects of Fan Personality on Participation in Social Media Based Brand Community

2015 ◽  
pp. 155-177
Author(s):  
Ali Balapour ◽  
Amir Khanlari
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
New Variables

Facebook as the greatest social network has offered a new marketing tools for companies, agencies, organizations and even people like celebrities. We are witnessing a growing trend in emergence of online brand communities both in and out of social media. However, one of the important aspects that needs to be magnified is how brand's fans participate in their favorite brand pages? This study tries to answer questions like this. We introduce new variables which should be counted in the 3M model of personality in order to stimulate brand fans to participate on the brand page more than before. Entertainment, monetary and normative incentives are introduced as potential variables which affect situational traits of participants. Finally, we advise brand managers to not forget about entertainment mixed with promotions or representation of products over their online brand community; entertainment along with monetary and normative incentives can motivate fans to participate.

Online customer engagement

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 777-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wafa Hammedi ◽  
Jay Kandampully ◽  
Ting Ting (Christina) Zhang ◽  
Lucille Bouquiaux
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
Core Brand

Purpose – The emergence and success of online brand communities in the marketplace have attracted considerable interest; this study seeks to determine the conditions in which people create social environments by investigating the drivers of connections to a focal online brand community and other brand communities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the composition of multi-community networks, focussing on the density and centrality of brand communities. Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of insights from prior literature, the proposed model examines customers’ social relationships with multiple brand communities. A survey of 290 participants spans eight brand communities. The modeling process used structural equation modeling; the analysis of the social relationship among brand communities relied on an ego network approach. Findings – Two drivers prompt connections to other online brand communities. First, personal identification with a core brand community enhances connections to other communities. Second, some core brand members choose a functionality-driven approach in creating social environments. Practical implications – For marketers, this study highlights the importance of positioning the brand community as part of a social environment. To strengthen customer-brand relationships, marketers should focus on community members’ multiple memberships. Originality/value – This paper extends understanding of online brand community members’ motivations to participate in a focal brand community. It also explains the creation of a social environment, through a careful consideration of participation in different brand communities and their relationships.

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