Virtual brand community engagement practices: a refined typology and model

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda D. Hollebeek ◽  
Biljana Juric ◽  
Wenyan Tang
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Component Model ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Four Component Model ◽  
Online Brand Communities

Purpose Despite Schau et al.’s (2009) pioneering research addressing consumers’ community engagement practices, scholarly understanding of the nature and dynamics characterizing consumers’ engagement practices in virtual (online) brand communities, and their inter-relationships, is limited to date. Building on these authors’ study, this paper aims to develop a refined typology and process model of virtual brand community engagement practices (VBCEPs). Design/methodology/approach Using the netnographic methodology, the authors analyze 20 luxury handbag community members’ entries posted on the brand’s particular section of The Purse Forum. Findings The authors develop an eight-component VBCEP typology that refines Schau et al.’s (2009) four-component model of brand community engagement practices. The model comprises “greeting”, “regulating”, “assisting”, “celebrating”, “appreciating”, “empathizing”, “mingling” and “ranking”. These practices contribute to and maintain the community’s vision and identity, and strengthen shared community consciousness. Research limitations/implications A key limitation of this research lies in its findings being generated from a single, luxury virtual brand community. Future research may thus wish to validate the VBCEP typology and model across different contexts. Practical implications The authors provide strategic managerial recommendations designed to leverage virtual brand community performance, which center predominantly on the social (altruistic) and achievement-based VBCEP sub-processes. Originality/value The eight-component VBCEP typology refines Schau et al.’s four-component model of brand community engagement practices with particular applicability to virtual brand communities.

The impact of external social and internal personal forces on consumers’ brand community engagement on Facebook

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 409-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Simon ◽  
Tim Oliver Brexendorf ◽  
Martin Fassnacht
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Consumer Engagement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Consumer engagement has been designated as an approach to describing online interactions that more comprehensively reflects the nature of consumers’ interactive relationships in online brand communities. This paper aims to explore consumers’ brand community engagement in the context of Facebook brand pages. This research puts forth the hypothesis that consumers’ brand community engagement on Facebook is dependent upon two overarching themes: external social forces and internal personal forces. Design/methodology/approach Based on social impact theory, social identity theory and social exchange theory, a conceptual research model is developed and empirically tested through structural equation modelling using cross-sectional data of 460 Facebook brand fans. Findings The empirical results suggest that internal personal forces primarily positively influence brand community engagement, while external social forces can even impact consumers’ brand community engagement negatively. Research limitations/implications Future research should test and validate the proposed model for specific categories and brands. Practical implications This paper offers help to online brand marketers to trigger meaningful engagement of consumers in a brand community on Facebook. Originality/value This paper examines the consumer engagement construct from a behavioural perspective in a defined social media context and highlights the peculiarities of online brand communities on Facebook that distinguish them from traditional brand communities. The research uses a strong theoretical foundation to develop a model that investigates the prevalent variables that influence consumers’ brand community engagement on Facebook.

The role of personalization, engagement, and trust in online communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minjeong Kang ◽  
Dong-Hee Shin ◽  
Taeshik Gong
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Perceived Familiarity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether brand community characteristics (perceived personalization and familiarity among members) affect brand community engagement through customer-to-customer (C2C) interaction. Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire was distributed to members of online brand communities to test the research hypotheses. Findings – The findings showed that the relationships among the brand community constructs are significant. C2C interaction mediates the relations between the characteristic variables and brand community engagement. Furthermore, the findings revealed that brand community trust moderates the effects of perceived personalization on the quality of C2C interaction and on brand community engagement. It also moderates the relations between perceived familiarity among community members and each of brand community engagement and the quality of C2C interaction. Practical implications – Marketers should utilize a brand community’s C2C interaction for its marketing strategies. Moreover, managing brand communities by focussing on perceived personalized service and the familiarity of members can also ultimately increase community engagement by enhancing the quality of C2C communication. Originality/value – This study argues that firms need to manage online brand communities intuitively in order to increase members’ community engagement. To do so, they need to allocate spaces in which C2C communication can actively occur within brand communities, for example, in a discussion forum.

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 “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.

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.

Understanding customer participation in online brand communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shampy Kamboj ◽  
Zillur Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Customer Participation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of customer participation research specifically in online brand communities and summarize a number of basic issues as important research gaps that future research should address. Design/methodology/approach By using the content analysis method, this paper explores, analyses and presents a literature review by closely examining 113 articles published during 2001-2016, primarily from the leading marketing and management journals. Findings The findings of this review show that regardless of the plenty of studies in this area, a conceptual framework for customer participation is undetermined. This review presents a framework describing various antecedents, mediators, moderators and consequences of online brand community participation. Apart from this, various theories and models used in the reviewed articles are being depicted. The literature classification presented in this paper portrays the current trends and patterns of research in this area. This review also addresses research gaps in this area and presents them in the form of future research directions. Research/limitations/implications This review of literature carried out by the authors suggests that customer participation in online brand communities needs more focused conceptual research and the implications of this study will help researchers in this direction. Moreover, the managers can use the identified variables as a checklist to their online brand communities’ activities. Originality/value This paper is the first to provide a systematic review of customer participation in online brand community area that presents a comprehensive knowledge regarding the current state of research in this area on a single platform and provides a conceptual framework.

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 Unveiling heterogeneous engagement-based loyalty in brand communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 1854-1881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Dessart ◽  
Joaquín Aldás-Manzano ◽  
Cleopatra Veloutsou
Keyword(s):  
Brand Loyalty ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Brand Engagement ◽  
Equation Modelling ◽  
Behavioural Engagement ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Although recent research appreciates that consumers increasingly interact with brands in brand communities and that brand engagement is an important and complex phenomenon in brand communities, little is known about the nature of individuals’ brand engagement in brand communities. This study aims to identify brand community members’ segments in terms of their brand engagement within the community; help us understand if these segments use a different approach in the development of brand loyalty; and develop mechanisms that can be used to identify members of these segments. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a quantitative approach and uses a total of 970 responses from members of Facebook brand pages in three popular languages on Facebook (English, French and Spanish). Data are analysed with structural equation modelling, integrating FIMIX-PLS and POS-PLS. Findings The results reveal that cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement dimensions play a different role in driving brand loyalty. Three different segments of engaged consumers exist (emotional engagers, thinkers and active engagers). Variables related to the perceived value of the brand community provide initial explanations as to the differences of the consumer groups. Research limitations/implications The data were collected from a specific type of brand communities (Facebook-based, company-managed brand communities) and are self-reported. Practical implications This work demonstrates the heterogeneity of brand community members in terms of their brand engagement profile and the effect of this profile on the formation of behavioural brand loyalty. Suggestions on identifying members of these segments based on the value that they get from the community are offered. Originality/value This work extends the brand engagement and brand community literature. It is the first work that provides this nature of actionable suggestions to the teams supporting brands with brand communities.

Brand community motives and their impact on brand community engagement: variations between diverse audiences

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Haverila ◽  
Caitlin McLaughlin ◽  
Kai Christian Haverila ◽  
Julio Viskovics
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
North American ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Sample Population ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to compare two different sample populations (student and general) to determine the impact of brand community motives on brand community engagement.Design/methodology/approachTwo samples were drawn for the purpose of the current research. The first sample was drawn among the members of various brand communities from a general North American population sample (N = 503). The second sample was drawn purely from students, belonging to a variety of brand communities, from a middle-sized Canadian university (N = 195). Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the strength, significance and effect sizes of the relationships between brand community motive and engagement constructs.FindingsThe findings indicate that the impact of brand community motives varied by sample population. The information and entertainment motives were significantly related to brand community engagement in both sample populations with roughly equal effect sizes. The social integration motive was again significantly related to the brand community engagement construct in the student sample population – but not for the general North American general population sample. Further, the self-discovery motive and status enhancement motives were significantly related to brand community engagement in the North American sample, but not for the student sample. This indicates significant differences between the two sample populations.Originality/valueThe results of the current research demonstrate that student populations are significantly different from the general population regarding their motives towards brand communities. This indicates that brand community managers need to be aware of the motives of different brand community members and also that they need to exercise caution about utilizing purely student data to make decisions about brand community management.

Examining brand communities among children and adolescents: an exploratory study

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Ann Flurry ◽  
Krist R. Swimberghe ◽  
Janna M. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Community Involvement ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Membership ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Panel

Purpose – Online communities designed to appeal to children are on the rise. The success of this marketplace phenomenon indicates that adolescents are likely candidates for brand community membership; however, the literature has yet to examine this trend. This research aims to address this gap and establish the likely existence of brand community involvement among adolescents. It further seeks to explore the characteristics which may differentiate children who are more likely to become involved in brand communities and examine what impact their involvement may have on adolescents' psychological well-being. Design/methodology/approach – A national online panel was employed to collect survey data from respondents aged 7-18 and their parents. Findings – The results support the existence of a high brand community involvement segment among adolescents. Adolescents high in brand community involvement are found to display noteworthy differences in attitudes, values, and marketplace behaviors. Several interesting avenues of future research are proposed. Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge this is the first study attempting to measure differences between adolescents who measure high and low in brand community involvement. Of particular interest are the results indicating that adolescents involved in brand communities may have important distinguishing attitudes and values and exhibit noteworthy differences in their marketplace behavior.

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