Participation In Virtual Communities Research Articles

Brand communities on the internet

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the virtual communities' phenomenon.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports a case study. It explains one of the most successful online strategies developed by a global brand, Coca‐Cola, in Spain.FindingsThis study has shown that a web site can act as a marketing tool to develop a group of loyal consumers around the brand. The strength of the Spanish strategy relies on the creation of a virtual community, which provides functional, social, and experiential values.Originality/valueThe paper analyses the evolution from off‐line communities to virtual communities. A uses and gratification approach is used to explain consumer participation in virtual communities. The paper offers some useful guidelines for the creation and maintenance of a virtual community.

The impact of participation in virtual brand communities on consumer trust and loyalty

PurposeThe importance of virtual brand communities is growing day by day as a result of consumers increasingly using online tools to contact fellow consumers in order to get information on which to base their decisions. For this reason, this work aims to explore some of the effects of participation in a virtual brand community on consumer behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes the positive effects of participation in a virtual community on both consumer trust and loyalty to the product, brand or organisation around which the community is developed. In addition, it also proposes a positive effect of trust on consumer loyalty. After the validations of measurement scales, the hypotheses are contrasted through structural modelling.FindingsThe data, obtained through a web survey using members of several free software virtual communities, show that participation in the activities carried out in a virtual community may foster consumer trust and loyalty to the mutual interest of the community (the free software in this case). In addition, the study also found a positive and significant effect of consumer trust on loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected thanks to a web survey using Spanish‐speaking subjects.Practical implicationsThe high costs every company has to face in order to get new customers make it increasingly necessary to reinforce the ties established with customers. In this respect, this study has shown that managers may foster consumer trust and loyalty by developing virtual brand communities and promoting consumers' participation in them.Originality/valueMost of the works that are focused on virtual communities have been conducted at the conceptual level. Thus, with the aim of moving on this topic, this study analyses empirically the effects of participation in a virtual brand community on consumer behaviour.

Virtual communities and the social dimension of privacy

While the issue of privacy and the Internet has been a popular topic among academics across the disciplines lately, this study explores the unique privacy concerns of virtual community participants. Employing a broad understanding of privacy, this study points to the need to focus on the expressive and social role of privacy in regard to virtual community participants. Furthermore, this study suggests that virtual communities offer members a unique opportunity to work on their self-identity via the degree of self-expression and social interaction that is available in these groups. This finding helps to explain why users consciously bring the ‘private’ to the public realm, despite the inherent privacy risks they face by doing so.

Exploring knowledge contribution from an OCB perspective

As participation in virtual community becomes popular, it is important to know how to encourage individuals to contribute actively and assist other members share their expertise. Through the lens of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), we explored the factors that facilitate voluntary knowledge sharing in a virtual community. We examined OCB in online gaming communities in which various behaviors can contribute to the community (the team) or to individuals (team members). Our aim was to gain insight into ways of creating an environment that facilitated voluntary sharing of knowledge. Our findings suggested that effective leader–member exchange relationships, the attractiveness of the group to individuals, and affection similarity were important in establishing a virtual environment within which voluntary contributions could be promoted effectively. In addition, our study suggested that better quality leader–member exchange relationships and positive affection toward the virtual team enhanced OCB.

Encouraging participation in virtual communities

Leaders of robust, sustainable virtual communities find ways tostrengthen their members' sense of social identity and motivate their participation in the community's activities.

Virtual Communities and their Importance for Informal Learning

This paper deals with the concept of informal learning in virtual communities on the Internet. Initially we discuss the need for continuing education and its relation with informal learning. Virtual communities are next defined and then compared to real communities. Case studies are employed, focused on some specific kinds of virtual communities. We examine how they operate, how their members interact, what values they share and what kind of knowledge they gather. The learning process within virtual communities is then examined. We look at the kind of information and knowledge available in some particular virtual communities, and comment on its organisation. Next, the learning process of virtual communities is compared to that of Open Universities. Finally, we claim that the participation in virtual communities is not only a form of continuing education but also a contribution towards the multiliteracies needed for working as well as living in the 21st century.

Developing the Commitment to Virtual Community

A virtual community (VC) of committed members is of great strategic value to online firms and vendors owing to its ability to attract and retain members. However, online firms and vendors find it difficult to instill commitment among their VC members. Therefore, this study examines the mechanism of customer commitment formation in a relationship-cum-interest based VC. By understanding the mechanism of customer commitment formation in a VC, online firms and vendors can enhance customer commitment to the VC. Using the theory of reasoned action, this study finds that encouraging participation among customers is the springboard for customer commitment to the VC. However, customer participation should be balanced with a proper mix of cognition and affect enhancing aspects, particularly those aspects that arouse customers’ interests and encourages relationship building among them. Online firms and vendors would thus benefit by encouraging personal relationships among their VC participants.

Doing ethnography from within a constructivist paradigm to explore virtual communities in Saudi Arabia

Most of the studies in the recent literature focus on the method used but not the philosophy behind it. This article focuses on doing ethnography, from within a constructivist paradigm, to explore individuals’ participation in virtual communities in Saudi Arabia. An aim of this article is to highlight how particular ethnographic techniques, viz unobtrusive observation and participation, were used in that study. The article argues that doing ethnography in this way allowed for placing the results within the social and cultural context of Saudi society. The article, which includes a sample of the findings from the two techniques involved for illustration, concludes that the one-year unobtrusive observation and the eight months’ participation in two different but similar virtual communities, during the period 2001-2002, have produced findings that are deep, meaningful and rich in description.

The value of participation in virtual consumer communities on brand loyalty

PurposeTo examine the effects of consumers' lurking and posting behaviors in virtual consumer communities on specific brand loyalty.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of a virtual community of Apple computer users was conducted to test a model of involvement, participation, loyalty, trust, and attitudes toward the brand exist in messages within the community.FindingsThe causes and effects of lurking and posting differed. Lurking contributed to brand loyalty more than posting did, and the primary purpose of lurking was to look for information regarding product function/performance, instead of satisfying consumers' affective needs.Research limitations/implicationsAs a result of the limitations in a computer mediated communication environment, virtual consumer communities should be perceived as an arena for weak‐tied strangers to communicate for word‐of‐mouth (WOM) behavior, rather than as a brand community.Practical implicationsAlthough negative messages in a community can hurt brand image, companies should encourage the establishment of communities about their products and encourage consumers to participate in them.Originality/valueAlthough the importance of virtual communities has been recognized, few studies have been done to examine the business value of consumer communities. Based on perspectives of brand community and WOM behavior, this paper contributes to virtual community and marketing research by clarifying the effects of consumers' lurking and posting behaviors in a consumer community on brand loyalty.

A social influence model of consumer participation in network- and small-group-based virtual communities

We investigate two key group-level determinants of virtual community participation—group norms and social identity—and consider their motivational antecedents and mediators. We also introduce a marketing-relevant typology to conceptualize virtual communities, based on the distinction between network-based and small-group-based virtual communities. Our survey-based study, which was conducted across a broad range of virtual communities, supports the proposed model and finds further that virtual community type moderates consumers' reasons for participating, as well as the strengths of their impact on group norms and social identity. We conclude with a consideration of managerial and research implications of the findings.

Exploring the Factors Enhancing Member Participation in Virtual Communities

The purpose of this study is to find the factors that enhance member participation in virtual communities. Although there are many factors influencing member participation, this study limits its independent variables to those of managing strategy and information system quality. In addition to finding their direct impacts, this study identifies indirect effects through two mediating variables such as member visit and sense of community. The result of this study revealed that there was no significant direct path from managing strategy to participation. However, the path from sense of community to participation was strongly supported by the results. This then implies that a manager of a community has to emphasize the sense of community, membership in particular, in order to enhance participation. In addition, the results showed that sense of community could be enhanced by an appropriate managing strategy, while the number of visits could be increased by the information systems quality.

Intentional social action in virtual communities

There is growing evidence of the increasing participation in, and influence of, virtual communities in digital environments. To help explain this irresistible allure, the individual and social determinants of the member's intentions to participate are investigated. Conceptualizing virtual community participation as intentional social action, we explicate the concept of “we-intentions”, and use the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior to explain members’ we-intentions. Virtual community influences pertaining to compliance, internalization, and social identity are also elaborated on. An empirical study of regular virtual community participants ( N = 157) finds that we-intentions to participate are functions of both individual determinants (positive anticipated emotions and desires), and community influences (social identity). Implications for marketing and future research opportunities are discussed.

E-tribalized marketing?: the strategic implications of virtual communities of consumption

On the Internet, electronic tribes structured around consumer interests have been growing rapidly. To be effective in this new environment, managers must consider the strategic implications of the existence of different types of both virtual community and community participation. Contrasted with database-driven relationship marketing, marketers seeking success with consumers in virtual communities should consider that they: (1) are more active and discerning; (2) are less accessible to one-on-one processes, and (3) provide a wealth of valuable cultural information. Strategies for effectively targeting more desirable types of virtual communities and types of community members include: interaction-based segmentation, fragmentation-based segmentation, co-opting communities, paying-for-attention, and building networks by giving product away.