Abstract
Numerous firms operate online brand communities (OBCs) in order to build a close consumer–brand relationship. To succeed in realizing this aim, firms must first sustain members’ brand community engagement. While prior studies have examined a series of drivers of brand community engagement, most of them focused on psychological and social motivations. Limited information is available about the role of product, brand and consumer characteristics in driving brand community engagement. Building on the uses and gratifications (UG) theory, the authors investigate the moderation of product complexity, brand symbolism, and extraversion in the relationship between brand community gratification and brand community engagement. With the collaboration of an online shopping site, 462 validated survey responses were collected to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that product complexity positively moderates the impact of information value on brand community engagement and brand symbolism positively moderates the effect of social value on brand community engagement. Finally, the results show that extraversion positively interacts with social value in enhancing brand community engagement. This study advances the understanding of brand community engagement.
Highlights
Brand communities are social groups based on common brand interest [1]
The results indicate that informational value and social value are positively associated with brand community engagement
As our study focuses on how product, brand and consumer characteristics influence brand community engagement, the best target population for us is consumers who have been a member of a brand community
Summary
Brand communities are social groups based on common brand interest [1]. Brand communities enable consumers to exchange product knowledge, share brand stories and build social relationships. Prior studies have extensively examined the psychological motivations for consumers’ participation in an online community [4,17,18,19,20] They provide little knowledge about the link between product, brand and consumer characteristics and brand community engagement, which is surprising given the central role of product, brand, and consumer for an OBC. As a response to this research gap, the paper aims to examine the role of product, brand and consumer characteristics in motivating consumers’ brand community engagement [3]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical study to investigate the impacts of product, brand and consumer characteristics on consumers’ community engagement. We conclude with the theoretical and managerial implications of this study
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