Brand Community Commitment Research Articles

Why do consumers engage in a social media brand community: investigating the effect of psychological empowerment on commitment and loyalty

Purpose This study aims to use empowerment theory to examine the relationship between a user's engagement type (active or passive) and psychological empowerment (intrapersonal and interactional) in the context of a social media brand community (SMBC). This study also looks at the impact of psychological empowerment on brand community commitment (CC) and brand loyalty. Design/methodology/approach Convenience and snowball sampling were used to select respondents from mobile phone brand communities in India. The conceptual model was tested using structure equation modelling. Findings According to the study findings, active user involvement in SMBC is strongly associated to both intrapersonal and interactional empowerment (IE), but passive user engagement is weakly related to IE. Furthermore, customer empowerment and CC have a strong impact on brand CC and brand loyalty. Practical implications SMBC is now a significant point of contact for building strong consumer–brand relationships. SMBC members who are actively involved in the community have greater emotional bonding, trust and commitment to the brand. Therefore, social media marketers should encourage their customers to get involved in a brand community and empower them by involving them in brand related decision, etc. This will help the community grow and thrive. Originality/value This study addresses a research gap by examining how active and passive members of an SMBC facilitate both focal points of psychological empowerment (intrapersonal and interactional), which increase the brand community's commitment and brand loyalty.

Effects of brand community social responsibility: roles of collective self-esteem and altruism

The social responsibility of brands and consumers within brand communities is a new phenomenon that can have important implications for brands, communities, and consumers. However, previous research on the relationship between brand community social responsibility (BCSR) and brands/communities is still in its infancy and the effects of BCSR are unclear. Based on the theories of social responsibility, collective self-esteem, altruism, and brand relationship, this study explores the effect of BCSR on brand loyalty behavior (i.e., purchase and recommendation intentions) to a brand community. The empirical results of partial least squares modeling reveal that BCSR is a new way of forming brand community commitment that enhances brand loyalty behavior (purchase and recommendation intentions). Moreover, collective self-esteem partially mediates the relationship between BCSR and brand community commitment, and altruism moderates the relationship between BCSR and collective self-esteem. The findings enrich the literature on social responsibility and brand community and point out the managerial implications.

Love the star, love the team? The spillover effect of athlete sub brand to team brand advocacy in online brand communities

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the antecedents of brand passion and brand community commitment, namely, self-congruity and athlete attraction, as well as their effects on online brand advocacy in online brand communities.Design/methodology/approachThe sample comprises members of a Facebook football fan club brand community. An online survey measuring athlete-level factors, team-level factors and online brand advocacy provides data to test the conceptual framework using structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe findings of this paper support the positive spillover effect from athlete subbrand to team brand advocacy, as self-congruity exerted positive effects on brand passion and brand community commitment, while athlete attraction influenced brand community commitment, leading to online brand advocacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings validate the dimensions of online brand advocacy and advance research on sports brand hierarchy in brand architecture by establishing the transference effect from athlete to the team brand.Practical implicationsTo effectively manage their brands online, brand managers need to pay attention to the powerful and multifaceted tool of online brand advocacy. Brand managers can capitalize on their active advocates by working closely with them to co-create uplifting and authentic brand stories that are worthwhile for sharing, especially in times of crisis.Originality/valueBuilding on the developmental trajectory of brand love and vicarious brand experience, the findings verify the directionality of the spillover effect and offer insights into the development of brand advocacy across different brand levels.

Impact of brand community supportive climates on consumer-to-consumer helping behavior

PurposeThis paper aims to explore whether or not and how brand community supportive climates (information- versus emotion-supportive climates) have an impact on consumer-to-consumer helping behavior.Design/methodology/approachA survey of users of cell phone brand communities was conducted, and data from 413 participants were used to validate the hypotheses of this study.FindingsResults indicated that emotion- and information-supportive climates enhance consumer-to-consumer helping behavior through consumer–community relationships (i.e. brand community identification and brand community commitment).Research limitations/implicationsTo enhance the external validity of this research, future studies could investigate other settings (e.g. social media-based brand communities and brands of other product types) in countries with different religious beliefs.Practical implicationsMarketers should create an environment where consumers feel informationally and emotionally supported within the brand community, thereby enabling the former to enhance their relationships with their brand communities and ultimately increase consumers' helping behavior.Originality/valueBy dividing the supportive climate into two parts, the current study enriched the literature on community climate. Moreover, the authors complemented and expanded the literature on consumer helping behavior.

Determining Factors of Community Commitment in Automotive and Sneaker Communities

This study to examine the effect of brand community integration and perceived benefits on community commitment as moderated by type of community. This study uses a quantitative approach with a hypothesis testing approach. The sample of this research is the automotive and sneaker communities. The data analysis used was SEM analysis using PLS software. Variable Brand Community Integration (x1) does not have the effect of significantly at variable community commitment (Y) and the perceived benefit (X2 ) effect is significant to the variable community commitment (Y). The study explains how importance of brand community integration and perceived benefits have a contribution to building brand community commitment. Companies can pay attention to community involvement in increasing their commitment to continue using the product. Besides, Members of communities will tend to pay attention to the benefits that they get to follow the community, It is can be used by companies to improve the provision of benefits to the members, and will give benefits for the company to increase the commitment of the customers.

On the relationship between online brand community and brand preference in political market

Seeing the rising growth of online brand communities, an increasing number of political parties are investing time, money, and resources into designing and managing online brand communities to gain voters’ attention. Although online brand communities have been recognized as a powerful relationship-building medium, there is a limited study of online political brand community impact in shaping voter behavior. This study has examined relationships among electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) about a political brand, online political brand community participation, online political brand community commitment, political brand love, and political brand trust in voters’ political brand preferences. The result shows that eWOM about a political brand significantly influence online political brand community participation. Participation strength in online brand communities increases community commitment. The enhanced awareness and knowledge motivate members toward a higher level of preference for the political brand. Political brand love and brand trust mediates the relationship between the brand community and brand preference. The findings may help political marketers understand the role of online political brand communities in shaping voters’ party brand preference and resultant voting behavior. It may further help political marketers to strategize their brand community pages for a better outcome.

PERAN BRAND COMMUNITY OPTIMIZATION DAN DEPENDENCE TERHADAP REPURCHASE INTENTION PADA KOMUNITAS JASA TRANSPORTASI BUS

This research aims to figure out and analyze the effects of Brand Community Optimization, which is formed by 4 dimensions (namely: Brand Affect, Brand Trust, Brand Self-Congruity and Brand Social Identification) and Dependence towards Brand Community Commitment and Repurchase Intention. The research was done on Inter-city Inter-province (Antar Kota Antar Propinsi – AKAP) bus transportation services. The data was collected by distributing questionnaires to 300 AKAP bus community members as the samples by using the Purposive Sampling technique.. The research discovered that Brand Community Optimization is formed by 3 dimensions, which are: Brand Affect, Brand Trust and Brand Social Identification. It was found that Brand Self-Congruity is not part of the dimension that formed the Brand Community Optimization. Brand Community Optimization, in the context of the AKAP bus community, is a new variable that is proposed to take part in optimizing a certain brand to be on top of the mind of the community and create its members’ commitment to that AKAP bus brand. This study found that Brand Community Commitment acted as the Mediating Effect in the relationship between the Brand Community Optimization, Dependence with Repurchase Intention.

Brand community integration, participation and commitment: A comparison between consumer-run and company-managed communities

In the past two decades there has been a growth in the rate at which consumers join, companies use, and researchers study brand communities. Given the expansion of brand communities, scholars insistently analyze why individuals join and stay in them. However, no study concurrently examines the links among the members’ integration, participation and commitment to a brand community. Furthermore, research conceive brand communities as homogenous. Whether the feelings and behaviors of members of different kinds of communities, and specifically consumer-run and company-managed brand communities, are comparable is unknown. Using a sample of 2167 consumers of a leading motorcycle brand, this study examines the members’ integration, participation and commitment to consumer-run and company-managed communities. The findings reveal that consumer-run communities stimulate higher levels of integration, participation and commitment than the company-managed communities, but that the mechanisms connecting integration, participation and commitment are invariant across the two types of community.

The Effect of Brand Trust and Brand Community Commitment on Online Brand Evangelism Behaviour

In line with social media development, the online brand community becomes an alternative media that could contribute to overall brand success or vice versa. Among others, the online brand community could significantly affect brand evangelism behaviors. This study attempts to extend the understanding on how members’ brand community commitment influences brand evangelism which is considered as an extra-role behavior from the members. The study among 167 members of the online brand communities revealed that brand evangelism is explained by the unidimensional construct. The result indicates that trust towards the online brand community and brand community commitment significantly affect brand evangelism. Implication and future research direction are also highlighted at the end of this article.

Drivers of brand community engagement

Brand community engagement is evolving as a prominent relationship marketing variable that yields promising outcomes for the firms. Drawing upon the relevant premises of social exchange theory, this paper proposes a theoretical model portraying the role of online brand community based benefits (experience based and self-esteem based) and the community relationship investment in predicting the levels of brand community engagement.Data collected through a survey questionnaire technique from 925 members of the firm created online brand communities was employed to test the measurement and structural theory using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling respectively. The empirical results reveal that the customers’ experiential and self-esteem based benefits drive their brand community engagement. The perceived community relationship investment of the members also drives their brand community engagement positively. The sequential structural model also supported a positive impact exerted by brand community engagement on brand community commitment and brand loyalty. Additionally, it is observed that the focal brand ownership moderates the effect of community benefits and community relationship investment on brand community engagement.This study contributes to the nascent academic research on online brand communities and to the existing understanding of the brand community managers in managing customer engagement in online brand communities, thereby of profound theoretical and managerial relevance.

Brand equity in social media-based brand community

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of social media-based brand community (SMBBC) markers on customer-based brand equity (CBBE). Moreover, this research evaluates the mediating effect of brand community commitment and the moderating effect of customer gender.Design/methodology/approachThis research collected data from a questionnaire survey with participants who are members of the Xiaomi Community in Vietnam on Facebook (XCVF). Finally, 512 valid and usable questionnaires were tested by applying the structural equation modeling approach.FindingsOn the basis of social identity theory, results showed that three components of brand community markers significantly affect two aspects of CBBE. Moreover, brand community commitment plays a mediating role in the relationship of shared consciousness, ritual and traditions, and CBBE. In addition, the influence of SMBBC on CBBE is stronger for women than for men.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample selected is limited to only members of XCVF, so the results may have an inadequate view in comparison with other brand communities. This research can eliminate other important variables that can contribute to this relationship.Originality/valueThis research is among the first studies that have focused on the importance of SMBBC markers on CBBE, the mediating role of brand community commitment and the moderating effect of customer gender.

The relationships among community experience, community commitment, brand attitude, and purchase intention in social media

The brand community built by social networking sites (SNSs) promotes efficiency in modern marketing. However, building consumer-brand relationships through an SNS brand community to improve marketing performance has always presented a challenge. Thus, this study aims to identify and test the main factors related to SNS brand communities that can predict purchase intention. The conceptual model includes community experience, community commitment, brand attitude, and purchase intention. The results of the structural equation modeling (SEM) using a sample of 278 Korean consumers reveals that in addition to information experience, other experiences (entertainment, homophily, and relationship-based) have a positive influence on community commitment. Relationship-based experience as constructed in this study has the largest impact on community commitment. SNS brand community commitment has a positive influence on brand attitude. However, SNS brand community commitment has no significant impact on purchase intention. Finally, the results show that SNS brand community commitment has a partial mediation effect on the relationship between SNS brand community experience and brand attitude. This study suggests that companies should strategically manage consumers’ SNS brand community experiences and commitment. Other theoretical implications and managerial implications are also discussed.

The Links Between Social Motivational Engagements, Brand Community Commitment and Repurchase Intention Across Online Brand Communities

The study focuses on the relationships between social motivational engagements, brand community commitment and repurchase intentions across marketer-generated and customer-generated online brand communities. The current study demonstrates that online brand community commitment mediates the effects of all the six motivational engagements (self-expression, connecting, helping, like-minded discussions, seeking assistance, and validation) on repurchase intention. The type of online brand community does not moderate any relationships between social motivational engagements and brand community commitment as expected. However, the current study demonstrates that the moderator affects the link between brand community commitment and repurchase intention indicating moderated mediation. In other words, the relationship between the two constructs becomes stronger in the marketer-generated online brand community. Consequently, the type of online brand community affects the links between the six social motivations and repurchase intention. Specifically, the effects of the six motivations on repurchase intention become stronger in the marketer-generated online community.

The bright side and dark side of group heterogeneity within online brand community

PurposeDespite the increasingly common view that online brand community (OBC) members are heterogeneous, knowledge concerning the impact of group heterogeneity on community and brand level outcomes is lacking. In response and drawing from organization research, this paper aims to study the consequences of two types of group heterogeneity (i.e. visible heterogeneity and value heterogeneity) on brand community commitment and brand commitment. The moderating role of tenure in a community is also examined.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 467 members of OBCs was conducted, and structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that perceived visible heterogeneity positively affects brand community commitment, whereas perceived value heterogeneity has a negative effect on it. Brand community commitment positively relates to brand commitment; it also mediates the effect of perceived visible heterogeneity and perceived value heterogeneity on brand commitment. Further, the positive effect of visible heterogeneity on brand community commitment is stronger for short-tenure members, but the negative effect of value heterogeneity is stronger for long-tenure members.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that managers should make efforts to foster visible heterogeneity and reduce value heterogeneity. In addition, managers are advised to emphasize the characteristics that carry different appeal for members of different tenure.Originality/valueThis research is one of the first few quantitative studies to examine the influence of brand community heterogeneity on community, and especially brand level outcomes. It extends the literature on the effect of brand community on brands and adds to the emerging heterogeneity view of OBCs.

Exploring the impact of brand community identification on Facebook: Firm-directed and self-directed drivers

The interaction between consumers and brands has become more dynamic and powerful through online brand communities. Although brand communities commonly use Facebook as virtual platform, yet little is known about potential antecedents of identification. This paper presents two new concepts as antecedents named firm-directed and self-directed drivers by expanding the social identity approach to Facebook in the context of brand community identification. Specifically, this study explores the impact of drivers on community members' WOM communication and purchase intention for a new product through brand community identification and commitment. An exploratory research has been conducted to understand the brand community drivers, followed by a quantitative study to reveal the relationships in the proposed research model. The findings demonstrate how differing levels of opinion leadership or opinion seeking can shift attitude toward brand community on Facebook by highlighting the role of firm-directed and self-directed drivers in identification.

Influence of Celebrity Credibility on Brand Community Commitment towards Disaster Management Programs in Sri Lanka

Celebrities act as a credible communication source for many marketing and community-related communications. Community commitment for brands has been researched across the countries. Commitment of communities is an important matter for brands to meet desired responses within community-based brand building programs. Community commitment within disaster management is one of the national level priorities in many countries including emerging economies in Asia. Celebrities are used as a credible source to educate and motivate communities to get aware or actively participate in disaster management activities. This paper employed a quantitative survey method aiming the communities who actively engaged with disaster management programs sponsored or endorsed by celebrities in Sri Lanka, a country extendedly applies community-based disaster management strategies. Hypotheses were formed on how celebrity credibility influences brand community commitment to engage with disaster management activities whilst mediating effect of brand community trust is also hypothesized. A size of 230 sample was contacted for the survey. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was executed testing the hypotheses by using AMOS 20 software. Results verified celebrity credibility influences brand community commitment. Analysis proved brand commitment trust acts as a mediator on the effect made by celebrity credibility on brand community commitment within disaster management programs.

The path from brand communities through word of mouth to the intentions to adopt video streaming services: a two-stage framework

Word of mouth has been praised as a marketing tool that fosters business growth. This paper analyses the links between brand communities, word of mouth, and intention to adopt online services. We first model word of mouth as a consequence of users' interaction into brand communities, that is, the WOM sender's perspective. Afterwards, we analyse the influence of word of mouth on consumer attitudes and further behavioural intention to adopt an interactive service, i.e., the WOM receiver's perspective. Through the use of two samples and structural equations, we test the two-stage framework for the product category online video streaming platform. Results show that word of mouth is explained by the brand community commitment on the sender's perspective and that word of mouth has a more prominent role than perceptions on innovation attributes in influencing user's attitudes and intentions to continue using the video streaming platform. Implications for marketing managers are offered.

Dimensions of brand commitment – case of higher education

The paper consists of two parts and focuses on brand community commitment in higher education, its dimensions and relationship with students’ loyalty. The first part presents the literature review on brand community and commitment. In the second part of the paper, results of quantitative study are presented and discussed. The study objectives include the verification of three-dimensional brand community commitment model in higher education (consisting of affective, continuance and normative components) and the relationship between its dimensions and the student loyalty towards a university.

Gratifications of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat to follow brands: The moderating effect of social comparison, trust, tie strength, and network homophily on brand identification, brand engagement, brand commitment, and membership intention

Applying uses and gratifications theory (UGT), this study examined consumers’ use of one of four social networking sites (SNSs): Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat, for following brands, and their influence on brand community-related outcomes. Results (N=297) indicated Snapchat users scored highest for passing time, sharing problems, and improving social knowledge, while Instagram users scored highest for showing affection, following fashion, and demonstrating sociability. Twitter users had highest brand community identification and membership intention, while Instagram users had highest brand community engagement and commitment. Attention to social comparison, SNS trust, tie strength, and homophily also significantly moderated the relationship between frequent use of each SNS to follow brands, and brand community-related outcomes. Implications for future research on SNS users’ goal-directed consumption behaviors are discussed.

The Effect of Utilization Motivation and Commitment regarding Brand Community on Brand Fanship

As recently increased penetration of internet and smart phones, various brand communities are appearing. The brand communities are being used as a means of corporate marketing to introduce product and service contents, and many consumers have been using them. Thus this study try to reveal that brand community have positive effect for company and consider how company can foster the customers with brand fanship. In this study, we analyzed how a variety of utilization motivation of brand community have impact on the commitment of brand community and attempted to figure out brand fanship as an important consequence of brand community commitment. This study gathered 214 users from broadcasting and movie contents communities targeting American dramas and Hollywood movies. For the survey results, basic statistics, reliability and validity analysis was carried out through SPSS 18.0 and structural equation model analysis was conducted by using AMOS 18.0. As a result of this study, we observed that the two components of utilization motivation increased brand community commitment, with a high degree of brand community commitment increasing brand fanship. That is, consumers’ emotional motivation and social motivation about using brand community makes customers’ brand community commitment increase, and the strong commitment can foster customers’ fanship about the brand. Therefore, if companies encourage the customers to have commitment of brand community through focusing on customers’ motivation, they will have valuable fans and good marketing performance.