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.

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.

An exemption for strong brands: the influence of brand community rejection on brand evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 1029-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Wang ◽  
Ying Ding
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Community Research ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Consumer Evaluations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Brand Evaluations ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Focusing on firm-initiated brand communities, the purpose of this paper is to systematically examine the influence of brand community rejection on consumer evaluations and document the underlying mechanism involved. Design/methodology/approach Four empirical studies were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Using a similar 2 × 2 study design, different subject samples and different product categories, Studies 1-3 investigated whether a brand community rejection strategy impacted strong brands differently than weak brands. Furthermore, Study 3 measured reactance as a moderator to explore the underlying process of the impact of a brand community rejection strategy on brand evaluations for different types of brands (i.e. strong vs weak). Study 4 used a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects design to examine whether justification would eliminate the negative impact of brand community rejection on subsequent brand evaluations for a weak brand. Findings Across the four studies, the findings consistently suggest that rejection from firm-initiated brand communities harms weak brands but not strong brands. In addition, by incorporating psychological reactance as a moderator of this effect, the authors uncover the process underlying the interaction between brand community rejection and brand strength. Furthermore, the paper examines the reasons that justify rejection to find a solution that eliminates the negative impact of brand community rejection on brand evaluations for weak brands. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research provides the first investigation of the effects of a brand community rejection strategy for different brands. The findings could advance the social exclusion literature and shed new light on brand community research.

Sponsorship image transfer theory in virtual brand communities

2018 ◽  
Vol 118 (6) ◽  
pp. 1287-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Alonso Dos Santos ◽  
Francisco Rejón Guardia ◽  
Ferran Calabuig Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Purchase Intentions ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Community ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the influences and efficiency of a sports sponsorship in an online brand community. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted through interviews with 609 social network users of a Spanish first league soccer team. The partial least squares (PLS) methodology was applied with a posteriori segmentation (PLS prediction-oriented segmentation (POS)). Findings The attitude toward the sponsor helps to assess the efficiency of sponsorships between companies. This variable is particularly relevant for evaluating sponsorship efficiency in online brand communities. Improving trust and assessing the sense of membership directly improves attitudes toward the team and the sponsored brands. The attitude toward the sponsor has a direct and positive impact on the purchase intentions. The use of a posteriori segmentation with the PLS–POS technique helps discriminate between groups. Research limitations/implications Among the limitations encountered, further study would require using a sample of various sports disciplines and cultures. Practical implications Specific actions and communication strategies are defined for each segment and in general to adapt communication strategies that improve identification with virtual brand communities. The study has revealed involvement-related differences resulting from the impact that engagement with the sponsored team may have on the assessed relationships. Originality/value The study of the effects of sponsorship and the use of a posteriori variables user segmentation in an online brand community are used.

The impact of switching costs and brand communities on new product adoption: served-market tyranny or friendship with benefits

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Thompson ◽  
James M. Loveland ◽  
Katherine E. Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Product Category ◽  
New Product ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Product Adoption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Main Effects ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competing effects of brand community participation, which should enhance loyalty to both the brand and to already-owned products, against switching costs, which should make consumers sensitive about the financial costs associated with new products. Design/methodology/approach Using the participation and weekly adoption data from 7,411 members in two brand communities and one product category forum over a six-month period, switching costs were computed for each member using 10 years of product release and pricing data. Findings Consistent with prior research, switching costs had a significant effect on reducing product adoption. Brand community participation also had a significant effect on overcoming switching costs. However, these main effects were qualified by an interaction, such that the most active participants were more likely to buy the new product when switching costs were higher. Originality/value Most importantly, these findings provide unique insights into financial switching costs and demonstrate ways in which brand community participation provides a way to mitigate switching costs for consumers who would most be affected by them.

Do brand communities benefit objectively under-performing products?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Thompson ◽  
Andrew M. Kaikati ◽  
James M. Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
New Product ◽  
Product Knowledge ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Product Adoption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Industry Standards ◽  
Under Performing ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of brand community participation on new product adoption when the new product is the one which clearly under-performed compared to industry standards. Design/methodology/approach The data on participation behavior, membership duration and adoption behavior of 5,893 members of three different online communities (two brand forums, one general product forum) were gathered and assessed using a Cox PH model. Findings Results show that higher participation in a brand community leads to a greater likelihood of adopting objectively under-performing products, while also reducing the likelihood of purchasing rivals’ products. This occurs despite the higher levels of product knowledge possessed by these consumers. The findings also identify a key limiting condition for oppositional loyalty, that it is driven by membership duration, rather than by active participation in the brand community. Originality/value Prior research on the impact of brand community participation on product adoption has tended to focus on the adoption of products that are objectively superior to competing products. Unfortunately, only one product can be the performance leader in a given market at any time. Thus, managers do not know if brand communities are powerful enough to enhance the likelihood of adopting objectively under-performing products. This manuscript thus provides important insights for managers wishing to launch new products in categories where there are active brand communities.

Soccer and Twitter: virtual brand community engagement practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 791-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Tulio Zanini ◽  
Fábio Carbone de Moraes ◽  
Vitor Lima ◽  
Carmen Migueles ◽  
Carlos Lourenco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Original Proposal ◽  
Content Development ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify how consumer engagement practices shape the dynamics of a soccer club virtual brand community. Design/methodology/approach A netnographic approach was employed. Using a Python script, more than 7,000 tweets about São Paulo FC soccer club on Twitter were collected and analyzed using the Virtual Brand Community Engagement Practices typology. Findings The dynamics of engagement relies on two types of practices: those that comprise the actions of tweeting, retweeting, replying to, mentioning and liking messages from and about the São Paulo FC soccer club profile and those derived from the proposition of Hollebeek et al. (2017). Given the dynamics of Twitter, some practices have performed differently than the original proposal, resulting in a slight adaptation of the framework. Research limitations/implications Given the length and the netnographic nature of this study, its findings should be considered exploratory. Future studies can build upon the ideas presented here by researching different contexts and focal objects of engagement. Practical implications This paper provides the refinement of social media strategies and content development to make them more efficient and to establish a relevant communication channel with audiences. This knowledge can contribute to a better understanding of goals and metrics. Originality/value This paper is based on the behavioral nature of engagement in virtual brand communities, which is an increasing topic of interest. To date, few studies have examined online engagement using a practice approach specifically in the sports marketing context.

Leveraging marketer-generated appeals in online brand communities

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Welf H. Weiger ◽  
Hauke A. Wetzel ◽  
Maik Hammerschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Brand Equity ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Online Brand Communities ◽  
Matched Data ◽  
Entertainment Value ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The proliferation of online brand communities has shifted control over brands from firms to consumers. Demonstrating how marketers can stimulate consumers to use these opportunities and engage with the brand in such communities, the purpose of this paper is to address the effectiveness of normative and utilitarian appeals commonly employed in practice for enhancing engagement intensity and brand equity in turn. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents two studies at an individual user level. The first study builds on matched data on marketing actions, user behavior, and user perceptions from a Facebook brand community. The second study uses an experiment with members of a firm-hosted online brand community. The authors employ seemingly unrelated regressions while controlling for self-selection. Findings Marketer-generated appeals have a positive effect on brand equity that is mediated by engagement intensity. However, the strength of these effects depends highly on community, user, and relationship characteristics. Practical implications Generally speaking, marketer-generated appeals are effective tools for marketers to build brand equity through enhanced user engagement. However, their effectiveness can be improved when managers use a targeted approach. To offer precise managerial guidance, this paper shows how entertainment value, content consumption asymmetry (e.g. whether a user prefers user-generated content over marketer-generated content), and membership duration increase or lower the impact of appeals in building the brand through engagement intensity. Originality/value The authors provide evidence that appeals designed to drive user engagement in online brand communities are effective tools for boosting brand equity.

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 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.

scholarly journals Millennial cultural consumers: co-creating value through brand communities

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Vaux Halliday ◽  
Alexandra Astafyeva
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Knowledge Development ◽  
Brand Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Communities ◽  
Art And Culture ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Community Theory ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Research Propositions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise millennial cultural consumers (MCCs) to bring together strands of consumer theory with branding theory to consider how to attract and retain younger audiences in arts organisations. Within that the authors single out for attention how “brand community” theory might apply to MCCs. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a conceptual paper that reviews and comments on concepts relevant to helping arts organisations develop strategies to attract and retain younger consumers in their audiences. Findings – Thoughtful conceptual insights and four research propositions for further work by academics and/or practitioners on Millennials and the art and culture world are derived from this review and commentary. Managerial implications are also drawn out. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the knowledge development of such concepts as value and brand communities. It also provides an explanation of these concepts conncecting academic thought on value with pressing management challenges for arts organisations, suggesting ways to apply brand community thinking to innovatiely conceptualised MCCs.

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