Online Brand Community Engagement Research Articles

Online brand community engagement and brand evangelism: the role of age, gender and membership number

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the critical role of online brand community (OBC) engagement and brand evangelism: the role of age, gender and membership number.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the study’s objective, 303 active Facebook OBC users were surveyed. The AMOS structural equation modelling (SEM) is used to test the hypothesised model.FindingsThe results indicate that OBC engagement improves brand evangelism. Specifically, the results show that age, gender, and OBC membership number moderate the relationship between OBC engagement and brand evangelism. Interestingly, this study found that female, younger and low-OBC follower consumers more significantly contribute to nourishing brand evangelism than male, older and high-OBC follower counterparts.Originality/valueOBC engagement is validated as a key brand evangelism driver, further substantiating its role as a crucial strategic metric. Moreover, age, gender and OBC membership number as moderating factors in the association between OBC engagement and brand evangelism (word of mouth referral, brand defence and future purchases) have been verified. Although the findings suggest that improved OBC engagement contributes to evangelism, this effect transpires more significantly among female, younger and low-OBC followers than male, older and high-OBC followers.

How Perceptions of Dialogic Communication and Authenticity of CSR Communication Lead to Trust and Brand Loyalty Through Online Brand Community Engagement Intention

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between the perceived quality of dialogic CSR communication and perceived trust and brand loyalty. It explores the potential mediation of online brand community engagement (OBCE) intention and the perceived authenticity of CSR communication in this relationship. A survey was conducted using a representative sample of US adult consumers (N = 1,022). All hypotheses were supported by demonstrating (1) the direct linkage between perceived quality of dialogic communication and perceived authenticity, as well as OBCE intention; (2) the direct connection of OBCE intention to trust and brand loyalty; (3) the indirect linkage between perceived quality of dialogic communication and brand loyalty, which were mediated through OBCE intention and trust. The results affirmed that trust operates as a mediator in the relationship between perceived dialogic communication and brand loyalty. Furthermore, the findings suggest that OBCE intention acts as a catalyst that enhances trust in the company and brand loyalty by heightening the perceived authenticity of dialogic communication.

Driving Brand Evangelism of Fast-Food Brands in Thailand: The Mediator Role of Online Brand Community Engagement

Driving Brand Evangelism of Fast-Food Brands in Thailand: The Mediator Role of Online Brand Community Engagement

Role of customer perceived brand ethicality in inducing engagement in online brand communities

In recent times, ethical consumerism has motivated firms to behave ethically to garner various benefits for their brands. More specifically, firms have become more conscious of consumers' perceptions of brand ethicality. Thus, recent research on this topic attempts to explore the factors that can lead to the formation of perceptions of brand ethicality and its favorable outcomes for the brand. This research contributes to the existing literature on brand ethicality by examining the role of perceived brand marketing communications in engendering perceptions of brand ethicality among consumers. Further, this research explores online brand community engagement as the outcome of perceived brand ethicality. The study's results based on the analysis of 397 responses exhibit that various elements of brand communications tend to generate favorable perceptions of brand ethicality. Such perceptions of the brand ethicality further induce an inclination towards engaging with online communities of such brands. The study offers specific implications for academicians and practitioners.

Intention to repurchase after a data leak on Tokopedia: Mediated by consumer forgiveness

During a brand crisis, this research investigates the impact of brand super-recovery efforts and online brand community engagement (OBCE) on repurchase intention as mediated by consumer forgiveness. The data for this quantitative study was gathered from members of the Tokopedia community in Central Java. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling is the analytical technique used (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that brand super-recovery efforts and online brand community engagement (OBCE) influence repurchase intention directly or indirectly via the mediating variable of consumer forgiveness. The results indicate that when a brand crisis occurs, the presence of a brand super-recovery effort, online brand community engagement (OBCE), and consumer forgiveness can reduce the negative impact of a brand crisis and encourage customers to repurchase. This research results have significant implications for theory and practice.

How to generate customer and firm benefits through online game product and brand community engagement – online and offline perspectives

PurposeThis study aims to provide a conceptual framework for exploring the relationship between online game product engagement and online brand community engagement and how these two types of customer engagement affect subsequent offline benefit for customers and online and offline benefits for firms. This study also investigates the antecedents of online game product engagement from the virtual experience perspective.Design/methodology/approachThis study collected data from online gamers in Taiwan. Of the 580 responses, 548 were valid. Smart PLS 3 was used to test the measurement model and the hypotheses in the research model.FindingsThe conceptual model is supported. First, the findings show that learning, entertainment, flow and social interaction play key roles in explaining online game product engagement. Second, online game product engagement has a positive effect on online brand community engagement. Finally, online game product engagement and online brand community engagement are crucial drivers of customers’ offline benefit and firms’ online and offline benefits.Originality/valueFour contributions are made by this study. First, this study explores firms’ online benefit (virtual item purchase intention) and offline benefits, including licensed product and co-branded product purchase intention. Second, this study explores the customer’s offline benefit (offline skill development). Third, it focuses on two types of customer engagement, including online game product engagement and online brand community engagement, and explores the relationship between them. Finally, the concept of virtual experience is used to explore the antecedents of online game product engagement.

Luxury brand value co-creation with online brand communities in the service encounter

A constant challenge for luxury brands is identifying ways to add value to their offering, compensating for the high price charged. Previous research has highlighted that superior value is added when customers and brands collaborate by co-creating and introducing unique experiences to the offering. However, there is limited research on how brands and their customers co-create value in an online context. Online brand community engagement is central to this process. Drawing upon the service dominant logic and the luxury customer value framework, we conduct fifteen in-depth interviews with managers and fifty with customers of a luxury hotel brand, followed by a netnography of its online community. Τhis results in the development of a typology that supports online value co-creation. The results show that the pleasurable/experiential content provides the highest engagement. The study reinforces the benefit of using the experiential approach to build a successful content strategy within online luxury communities.

How brand-stakeholder dialogue drives brand-hosted community engagement on social media: A mixed-methods approach

The literature has revealed various antecedents of consumers' participation in an online brand community. But it is still unknown how digital brand-stakeholder dialogue (BSD), a type of communicative interaction on social media, impacts online brand community engagement (OBCE) such as likes, shares, and comments. This study unpacked how BSD affected OBCE on Facebook by revealing the underlying behavioral mechanisms and boundary conditions. Using mixed methods to analyze large-scale Facebook data (N = 75,969), we identified both direct and indirect effects of BSD on OBCE, and the indirect effects were through reciprocal communication, replacement (a community member's response to other members' brand-related questions), and sentiment. We also found that high-BSD brands' posts of higher modality received more positive sentiments. High-BSD brands' posts about products had higher reciprocity. Our findings provide important implications regarding how to maximize the positive effects of dialogue in a social-mediated brand community.

The Role of Online Brand Community Engagement on the Consumer–Brand Relationship

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of online brand community (OBC) engagement on strategic aspects for the brand supporting the community. A total of 628 valid responses were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. The authors tested the proposed model using structural equation modeling. The results show that OBC engagement directly favors participation in the community, willingness to co-create with the brand, and positive sord-of-mouth (WOM); it also has an indirect positive influence on brand loyalty. At the same time, OBC engagement is directly influenced by OBC identification and, through this, indirectly influenced by brand identification. Likewise, brand trust directly influences brand co-creation, loyalty, and positive WOM. However, OBC participation has been shown to have no significant effect on brand co-creation and positive WOM.

A consumer engagement systematic review: synthesis and research agenda

Purpose This paper aims to review the existing literature about consumer engagement, provide an accurate mapping of this research field, propose a consumer engagement typology and a conceptual framework and offer a research agenda for this domain. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review using several quality filters was performed, producing a top-quality pool of 41 papers. After that, a text mining analysis was conducted, and five major research streams emerged. Findings This paper proposes five distinct research streams based on the text mining analysis, namely, consumer engagement, online brand community engagement, consumer-brand engagement, consumer engagement behaviours and media engagement. Based on this, a consumer engagement typology and a conceptual framework are suggested and a research agenda is proposed. Originality/value This paper presents scientific value and originality because of the new character of the topic and the research methods used. This research is the first study to perform a systematic review and using a text-mining approach to examine the literature on consumer engagement. Based on this, the authors define consumer engagement typology. A research agenda underlining emerging future research topics for this domain is also proposed.

Managing the product-harm crisis in the digital era: The role of consumer online brand community engagement

This research examines the influence of consumer online brand community engagement (OBCE) at a time of product-harm crisis on consumers’ cognitive responses and behavioral reactions toward the affected brand’s super-recovery effort. Data were collected from members of Samsung’s online brand community in China during the brand’s Galaxy Note 7 battery crisis. The results show that OBCE has a direct as well as indirect effect on repurchase intention through the mediation of consumer forgiveness. In contrast, brand super-recovery effort has a weak direct effect on repurchase intention, and its effect is mainly indirect through consumer forgiveness. The findings suggest that higher levels of consumer brand engagement and forgiveness can offset the negative consequences of brand scandals, highlighting the importance of fostering customer engagement in the brand’s online communities. The findings have important implications for both theory and practice.

The impact of customer personality and online brand community engagement on intention to forward company and users generated content: palestinian banking industry a case

Personality five characteristics are playing crucial role on intention to forward Online Company Generated Content and user generated content mediated by online brand community engagement. This paper is applied on a case of banking industry in order to perceive a long run relationship between banks operating in Palestine and their customers. The total of 685 valid questionnaires were collected from online banking sector in Palestine, who is member of online brand community in Facebook. Moreover, the data were analysed and processed by structural equation model. The results reveal that personality traits (extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness) have positive influence on online brand community engagement. It also found that online brand community engagement plays vital role in inducing clients to forward CGC and UGC. Simultaneously, the results provide banks with a valuable implication on how banking industry can attract more customers in online brand community website and perceived trust of banks services and products.

Engagement in the Online Brand Community: Impacts of Cultural Traits

Although online brand community (OBC) is gaining interest in the decade of social commerce, few studies have investigated the determinants of consumer engagement in an OBC and the relationship between their cultural traits and engagement behavior. Based on the service-dominant theory, this study developed an extended research framework to identify the relationship between individual cultural values and determinants of OBC engagement, including resource integration, perceived knowledge quality, and personal outcome expectation. The results from an online survey of 138 respondents from various cultural backgrounds indicated the role of resource integration and perceived knowledge quality on OBC engagement. Cultural values such as collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation were found to have an impact on OBC engagement through its drivers.

The role of customer online brand experience in customers' intention to forward online company-generated content: The case of the Islamic online banking sector in Palestine

The purpose of this study is twofold: Firstly, to assess the impact of customer online brand experience (COBE) with online banking on customer's intention to forward online company-generated content (CGC). Secondly, to explore the role of online brand community engagement (OBCE) and the perceived trust of brand community page (BCP) as mediating variables between COBE and the intention to forward online CGC. This research conducted an online survey among various Islamic bank customers in Palestine who were members of online brand communities (fan pages) on Facebook. 375 valid responses were collected and results revealed that COBE exerts a dual influence on intention to forward CGC. This study is a pioneering empirical research on the role of OBCE in customers' intention to forward online CGC within the fast-growing Islamic banking industry. This study contributes to fill this research gap by assessing the effect of COBE on OBCE and intention to forward online CGC within the context of the Islamic online banking sector in Palestine. In this sense, this study is a first-of-its-kind research on the role of experience on customer engagement with regard to online brand communities of Islamic banks.

A Study of the Effect of Service Recovery on Customer Loyalty Based On Marketing Word Of Mouth in Tourism Industry

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The role of online brand community engagement on positive or negative self-expression word-of-mouth

The aim of this research is to explore how online engagement influences positive versus negative consumption-focused self-expression word-of-mouth. Three brands are selected to be the focus of the ...

Antecedents and consequences of cause related online brand community engagement

Antecedents and consequences of cause related online brand community engagement

Online brand community engagement: Scale development and validation

In a quest for connecting with customers, the world's largest brands have gone online to develop communities to interact with consumers. Despite widespread adoption less is known about what motivates consumers to continually interact in these communities. Across six studies, we develop and test a typology of online brand community engagement (i.e., the compelling intrinsic motivations to continue interacting with an online brand community). We identify 11 independent motivations and test the scale's predictive power for participation in an online brand community. This study provides a much needed refinement to the disparate conceptualizations and operationalizations of engagement in the literature. As a result, academic researchers can now rely on a diverse set of motivational measures that best fit the context of their research, adding to the versatility of future research studies. The results provide managers with new insight in the motivations for and impact of interacting in online brand communities.

The Impact of Online Brand Community Type on Consumer's Community Engagement Behaviors: Consumer-Created vs. Marketer-Created Online Brand Community in Online Social-Networking Web Sites

The current study proposed and tested a theoretical model of consumers' online brand community engagement behaviors, with particular attention given to online brand community type (consumer vs. marketer-created). By integrating attribution and social identity theories, this study investigated the causal linkages between intrinsic motives of altruism, social identification motivations, and online brand community engagement behaviors. The results showed that consumers' online brand community engagement intentions were indirectly influenced by the different types of communities through different levels of consumers' attributions to intrinsic motives of altruism. This study also found that, in the attribution processes, consumers' intrinsic motives of altruism motivated them to identify themselves socially with the online communities they join. Finally, this study demonstrated that the intrinsic motives of altruism and social identification motivations provided strong social incentives to motivate consumers to engage in subsequent online brand community behaviors.