Relationship quality,community promotion and brand loyalty in virtual communities: Evidence from free software communities

The Internet has favored the growth of collaborative platforms where marketers and consumers interact to develop more engaging products and services. These platforms are usually centered in a specific brand/product and their members are linked by a shared admiration to that brand. This paper analyzes one of the most powerful online collaborative platforms, the free software (FS) case, which involves a lot of virtual communities developed around products such as Linux or Android, the new Google's mobile operating system. Our purpose is to determine some of the main antecedents and consequences of the consumer involvement in this type of communities. Results have shown that satisfaction with a virtual community may increase the level of consumer participation in that community. At the same time, a greater identification with the virtual community may increase indirectly the consumer participation thanks to the enhancement of his/her satisfaction with the community. We have also found positive and significant effects of consumer identification and participation on the level of community promotion. Finally, positive and significant effects of consumer participation and satisfaction with the community on loyalty to the FS were also found. These findings allow us to conclude some interesting managerial implications.     

Examining branding co-creation in brand communities on social media: Applying the paradigm of Stimulus-Organism-Response

This paper examines the antecedents of branding co-creation that include social networking sites’(SNSs) participation motivations,customer participation, brand trust and brand loyalty in social media brand communities by applying the “Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm”. The survey method was used to gather data from 407 social media users. Data were analysed using structural equation modeling techniques. The findings reveal that SNSs’ participation motivations positively influence customer participation, which in turn significantly affects brand trust and brand loyalty. Consequently, both brand trust and brand loyalty positively influence branding co-creation in brand communities on social media. Furthermore, brand trust contributes as a mediator between customer participation and brand loyalty on social media brand communities. Although studies on relationships examined through the lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm are popular, to the authors’ surprise there is scant literature examining the relationships between SNSs’ participation motivations, customer participation in social media brand communities, brand trust, brand loyalty and branding co-creation.     

Role of brand engagement and co-creation experience in online brand community continuance: A service-dominant logic perspective

Value creation and acquisition are pivotal for continuous participation in online communities and thus have become goals that brand companies strive to develop in online brand communities (OBCs). Prior studies, however, predominately adopted the goods-dominant logic to assess the role of OBC members’ value perceptions in their value experiences. Such an approach overlooks the fact that one's value experiences in OBCs manifest in the co-creation with the brand and with other OBC members, benefiting from technology platforms and one's community motives. We thus draw on the service-dominant logic to formulate a research model with seven research hypotheses. These hypotheses depict relationships among five research constructs, in which (1) OBC continuance intention serves as the ultimate dependent variable, (2) brand engagement and co-creation experience represent OBC members’ value experiences in consumer-to-brand and consumer-to-consumer interactions, respectively, and (3) social media affordances and members’ OBC identification serve as the antecedents of OBC members’ value experiences. We used the Amazon MTurk platform to collect 246 valid samples worldwide that represent general OBC members. We adopted PLS-SEM to assess the measurement model and test the proposed hypotheses. Our findings indicate that co-creation experience and brand engagement are pivotal value experiences that can increase OBC continuance intention. In addition, social media affordances and OBC identification are instrumental to both value experiences through their facilitation of technology-mediated and communal interactions for resource integration and service exchange among OBC members and the brand. This study sheds light on OBC research by identifying the central role of brand engagement and co-creation experience in OBC continuance. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications and provide future research suggestions.     

品牌社群特征维度、顾客归属感与忠诚感研究——基于中国电信行业的实证数据

在国内外文献回顾的基础上,构建用于解释品牌社群特征维度、社群归属感和社群忠诚感之间关系的结构模型,揭示品牌社群本身对社群忠诚的初始驱动。以中国电信行业三大社群的成员为对象收集样本数据,利用L is-rel8.70等软件对数据和结构模型进行分析和检验。检验结果表明:品牌社群特征维度驱动顾客忠诚,其中社群的共同意识直接和间接地驱动社群忠诚感,核心消费者、传统与仪式和道德责任则通过社群归属感间接影响顾客忠诚感的形成。     

顾客参与价值共创与品牌形象塑造的关系研究

伴随着社会化媒体的普及,企业日益注重虚拟品牌社区的建设,借此向顾客展示产品独特价值,以期形成良好的口碑传播效应。通过采用扎根理论研究方法,搜集社区评论信息作为经验资料,并进行编码分析,提炼出互动体验、社区归属感以及品牌定位等范畴,阐释了顾客参与价值共创与品牌形象塑造的关系。研究表明,产品价值共创包括价值认知以及用户需求等核心要素,且有利于形成良好的品牌文化,而品牌形象的塑造则依赖于创新产品及建构以用户价值交互为基础的生态圈,顾客参与价值共创有助于品牌形象的塑造,企业应围绕产品创新打造虚拟品牌社区,强化顾客互动体验,并建立完善的信息沟通机制,引导顾客积极参与价值共创。     

To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media?

There is an ongoing debate over the activities of brands and companies in social media. Some researchers believe social media provide a unique opportunity for brands to foster their relationships with customers, while others believe the contrary. Taking the perspective of the brand community building plus the brand trust and loyalty literatures, our goal is to show how brand communities based on social media influence elements of the customer centric model (i.e., the relationships among focal customer and brand, product, company, and other customers) and brand loyalty. A survey-based empirical study with 441 respondents was conducted. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand communities established on social media have positive effects on customer/product, customer/brand, customer/company and customer/other customers relationships, which in turn have positive effects on brand trust, and trust has positive effects on brand loyalty. We find that brand trust has a fully mediating role in converting the effects of enhanced relationships in brand community to brand loyalty. The implications for marketing practice and future research are discussed.     

自我概念一致性对网商品牌忠诚影响的实证研究——品牌认同及承诺的中介作用

以自我概念一致性为起点,品牌认同、品牌承诺为中介,对网商品牌忠诚的形成过程进行了实证分析,研究表明:真实自我概念一致性对品牌认同没有显著影响,但理想自我概念一致性不仅对品牌认同有显著影响,而且对情感依恋承诺、社会顺从承诺都有显著影响;品牌认同对品牌承诺和品牌忠诚都有积极的正向作用,但品牌认同对品牌承诺的关系强度更大;情感依恋承诺只对重复购买意向有显著正向影响,而社会顺从承诺只对正面口碑相传有显著正向影响。     

How community interactions contribute to harmonious community relationships and customers’ identification in online brand community

As a proxy for the vitality of online brand community, effective interaction has always been viewed as a prerequisite for the formation of harmonious organization atmosphere and high degree of organizational identity. To investigate the process, this study proposes a model delineates the relationship among community interactions, harmonious community relationships, and customers’ community identification. The findings, based on 665 valid samples, reveal that different community interactions (product-information, human-computer, and interpersonal) have different effects on harmonious community relationships (customer-brand and customer-other customers’ relationships), which in turn influences customers’ identification with community. Furthermore, these community interactions have an interactive effect on harmonious community relationships. Based on the analytical results, this study concludes with some managerial and research implications.     

同侪影响对用户贡献行为的作用研究———基于网络客观大数据的分析

本文将同侪影响引入在线创新社区的用户行为研究中,从广度和深度两方面考察同侪影响对用户贡献行为的影响,并分析感知收益的中介作用。研究以小米社区MIUI功能与讨论区的创意集市板块为对象构建S-O-R模型,采用6567名用户发布的8830条创意、5.26万条评论和收到的103.36万条评论数据,利用Mplus8.1分析检验,结果发现：同侪影响广度与深度均有利于促进用户贡献行为,综合收益在同侪影响广度、深度与用户贡献行为间起正向中介效应,情感收益仅在同侪影响广度、深度与主动贡献行为间起正向中介效应,而认知收益则在同侪影响深度与反应贡献行为间起负向中介效应。研究拓展了在线网络情境下知识管理与社会学领域的交叉研究,并为在线创新社区社交网络和知识管理提供重要启示。     

Following too much on Facebook brand page: A concept of brand overload and its validation

As consumers increasingly engage in online brand communities, the demand of brand-related activities (e.g., finding relevant product information and sharing product information) also increases. Consumers may feel overwhelmed by these brand-related activities. To provide an understanding of this phenomenon, we conceptualize it as brand overload and then empirically examine its antecedents and consequences based upon the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework in the context of online brand community. Using two rounds of surveys to collect data from 409 American consumers, our results show that consumer-generated content and social interaction quality are the primary drivers of information and social overload. Consumer-generated content quality has a quadratic effect on information overload following an inverted U shape. Social interaction quality also significantly affects social overload following an inverted U-shaped relationship. Information and social overload are both positively related to brand overload, which in turn leads to brand disloyalty as the negative consequence. In addition, to supplement the quantitative study, a qualitative study was used to test and substantiate the proposed research model. With its mixed-method design, our study contributes to the literature by proposing the concept of brand overload and empirically investigating its antecedents and consequences from the SOR perspective. Practically, our study delivers insights for companies on how to use online brand communities strategically and efficiently to avoid negative impacts.     

Fairness and devotion go far: Integrating online justice and value co-creation in virtual communities

Although building long-term, successful virtual communities is important, rare studies have examined both in- and extra-role value co-creation behaviors from the perspective of social exchange theory and equity theory. Specially, we incorporate five different online justice perceptions into our model and examine the mediating role of “sense of virtual community” between these perceived online justice antecedents and both in- and extra-role online value co-creation behavior (reflected by knowledge contribution and online community citizenship behaviors, respectively). We empirically examine the model using data from 278 members of virtual communities. The results reveal that perceived online justice leads to value co-creation behavior through sense of virtual community. The findings elicit several implications for theory and practice.     

The dual concept of consumer value in social media brand community: A trust transfer perspective

Companies are increasingly relying on social media brand communities to interact with consumers and achieve business values. Thus, it is essential to understand how companies can extract value from consumers in social media brand communities. We develop a model clarifying the dual concept of consumer value and illustrating how consumer-perceived value can be transformed into consumer-generated value from a trust transfer perspective. Specifically, we identify three types of consumer-perceived value: utilitarian, hedonic, and social. We capture consumer-generated value in terms of purchase intention and social media word of mouth. Using a two-wave survey, our results strongly support the research model. Specifically, the three types of consumer-perceived values positively affect consumer trust in social media brand communities, which in turn leads to trust in brand and in social media and, thereafter, consumers’ subsequent social media word of mouth and purchase intentions. Our study makes several contributions to the strategic information systems literature concerning leveraging social media brand communities into business strategies. Theoretically, our study expands the understanding of the dual concept of consumer value in social media brand communities through the trust transfer theory. Practically, our study delivers insights for companies into how social media brand communities can be used as a strategic tool for achieving business values.     

Predicting smartphone brand loyalty: Consumer value and consumer-brand identification perspectives

With the growth and competition of the smartphone industry, developing a better understanding of what drives consumers' loyalty to smartphone brands has become an important issue for academics and practitioners. This study hypothesizes four determinants of smartphone brand loyalty based on the perspectives of consumer value and consumer-brand identification. Furthermore, this study also explores the moderating effects of age and gender differences on the determination process of smartphone brand loyalty. Data collected from 157 respondents was tested against the research model using a partial least squares (PLS) approach. The results indicate that functional value, emotional value, social value, and brand identification have a positive influence on smartphone brand loyalty. Of the two moderators, results show that age enhances the emotional value-brand loyalty and social value-brand loyalty linkages but weakens the brand identification-brand loyalty relationship. However, gender does not play a moderating role in the determination of smartphone brand loyalty. The results of this study provide several important theoretical and practical implications for smartphone brand management.     

Engaging Gen Y Customers in Online Brand Communities: A Cross-National Assessment

Global retail brands find it vital to engage Generation Y (Gen Y) customers through firm-hosted online brand communities (OBCs) for generating actionable insights; this study advances customer engagement (CE) frameworks in this setting. First, we draw on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) theory to introduce OBC website quality (termed OBC-SiteQUAL), alongside brand involvement as a customer resource input, to shape an expanded quadripartite CE conceptualisation. Second, using multi-country data, we test the validity of the OBC-SiteQUAL and CE measurement models, and the theoretical framework. Results indicate that the newly conceived OBC-SiteQUAL construct, underpinned by various web-based cues related to affective elements, brand interaction and customer-to-customer interaction, positively influences CE, whereas brand involvement partially influences CE. Third, we examine how these variables translate to behavioural loyalty outcomes. Empirically, a consistent pattern across the country samples indicates that OBC-SiteQUAL can affect behavioural loyalty by enhancing CE. Thus, we reliably confirm the mediating effect of CE (O) between OBC-SiteQUAL (S) and behavioural loyalty (R). Fourth, we found that the impact of OBC-SiteQUAL and brand involvement on CE differs between younger and older Gen Y consumers. These findings inform the optimisation of precise digital content marketing activities to enhance customer-brand relationships.     

网络社区对企业网络直销电子商务平台品牌忠诚影响因素及传导机理实证研究

随着网络社区理论研究不断深入,越来越多学者发现网络社区对于电子商务平台发展会产生至关重要的影响。在研究网络社区对企业网络直销电子商务平台品牌忠诚影响机理理论模型的基础上,通过对企业网络直销电子商务平台进行实证研究,对所提出的假设进行了验证,同时对所提出的理论模型进行了修正。通过相关分析、回归分析、中介效应分析找出自变量、中介变量与结果变量之间的相互联系,并通过结构方程模型对结论进行了再检验,所得出的结论与之前的分析所得出的结论基本一致,寻找到网络社区对企业网络直销电子商务平台品牌忠诚的影响因素并发现了其传导机理。最后根据研究结果,对企业网络直销电子商务平台社区建设实践提出了相应建议。     

新经济环境下技术创新驱动与品牌关系驱动影响力对比研究

受中国传统文化的影响和关系营销在世界范围内的兴起,品牌关系营销作为中国商业市场的基础变量的地位在全社会形成共识。因此,通过品牌关系驱动顾客忠诚和品牌资产成为客户关系管理和品牌资产管理的基本逻辑与理性认知。然而,随着新一轮科技革命与产业变革的孕育兴起,品牌关系驱动能否成功应对技术创新驱动对品牌关系情感与顾客购买意愿的冲击?品牌资产的基本理论模型是否还能有效地指导新兴市场的商业实践,抑或需要重构?这些问题值得深入探究。本文以手机品牌消费者为样本,研究发现:表性特征层面,消费者逻辑仍遵循"品牌原型—品牌关系情感—购买意愿"的发展路径。本质特征层面,消费者逻辑受到外力的驱动发生改变,且与品牌关系驱动相比,技术创新驱动所发挥的调节作用更大。研究结论在一定程度上颠覆了传统的关系营销理论模型,对企业在新经济环境下的营销战略具有重要启示和指导意义。     

品牌微博中企业-消费者交互对品牌忠诚的影响研究

从服务主导逻辑的视角出发,构建了品牌微博中的企业—消费者交互对品牌忠诚度的影响模型,并考虑了消费者融入在此关系中的中介作用。通过问卷对278名品牌微博关注者进行调查,并使用调查数据对模型进行验证。结果发现,企业与消费者之间的交互关系对品牌忠诚有显著直接的正向影响,消费者融入在此关系中起到部分中介作用。     

Does digital footprint act as a digital asset? – Enhancing brand experience through remarketing

The purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of the marketing adaptability of branded mobile applications (apps) in order to understand the relationship between consumers and their attachment to branded apps. We develop a model grounded in the purchaser-brand relationship theory of remarketing in order to develop the consumer-brand relationship through mediator brand experience (BE) and moderator digital footprint. A survey was conducted with 421 participants from different regions in India. AMOS 21.0 and SPSS plugin called “Process Analysis System” proposed by Hayes (2013) were used to analyze the hypotheses. The results corroborate the proposed research model. It approves brand association with brand connection for those brands that are easily identifiable. The result also confirms that the comprehensive consumption values are the major influencing factors in the adoption of branded apps. The study enhances the comprehension of the impact of brand connotation on consumer behavior in terms of the usage of various branded apps and the practical and non-useful esteem attached to them.     

区域品牌忠诚影响因素及其理论模型构建

区域品牌发展对区域经济产生了重要的影响．但区域品牌在发展过程中很容易出现区域品牌的滥用现象,如何减少甚至杜绝区域品牌的滥用是区域品牌管理的关键问题之一。为此,以区域品牌忠诚作为研究突破口,探讨建立了以企业因素、区域品牌、产业集群、区域因素等四个变量作为自变量,以企业认知评价作为中介变量,以区域品牌忠诚作为因变量的区域品牌影响因素理论模型,并结合变量关系提出了对应的假设。     

跨境电商产业国际集群品牌形成机理研究——基于扎根理论分析

回顾跨进电商集群品牌研究的相关理论,应用扎根理论对跨境电商国际集群品牌的形成进行范畴提炼与模型构建,研究跨境电商产业国际集群品牌的形成机理,揭示跨境电商产业国际集群品牌形成的关键阶段、具体过程、发展格局、环境支撑与决定要素,并提出跨境电商产业国际集群品牌的发展策略。