More gain, more give? The impact of brand community value on users’ value co-creation

Abstract

Users' value co-creation behaviors contribute to the prosperity of brand communities as well as brand performance. This article aims to answer a basic question: are brand community users who obtain more value from the brand community more willing to co-create value? If so, why and under what conditions? Drawing from reciprocity theory, this study proposes that information value and social value lead to value co-creation by evoking users' reciprocity norm, and this effect depends on their self-presentation in the community. Results based on structural equation modeling combining survey data and archival data largely validate this framework, revealing that the reciprocity norm mediates the influence of brand community value on value co-creation. Additionally, information value increases value co-creation only when the level of self-presentation is high, and the positive effect of social value is not altered by self-presentation. By uncovering the mechanism and boundary conditions of how brand community value affects users’ value co-creation behaviors, this study extends the current literature on value co-creation and provides important practical implications.