在线品牌社群成员关系如何促进品牌忠诚——基于强弱连带整合的视角

文章从强弱连带整合的视角,探讨在线品牌社群成员强关系和弱关系数量对品牌忠诚的促进机制。借鉴社会资源理论的研究框架,基于品牌社群相关理论,本文提出了研究假设,并采用偏最小二乘法进行实证检验。结果显示：弱关系数量不会增强品牌社群信息价值和社群社交价值;强关系数量则对两种社群价值都有促进作用;品牌社群信息价值只能促进持续性社群承诺,而品牌社群社交价值会促进持续性社群承诺、情感性社群承诺和规范性社群承诺;情感性社群承诺和持续性社群承诺都会促进品牌忠诚,规范性社群承诺则不能。研究结论从连带强度的视角丰富了品牌社群理论,同时对在线品牌社群建设具有指导意义。     

在线品牌社群投入对品牌忠诚的影响——消费者品牌投入的中介效应检验

互联网背景下,在线品牌社群在连接品牌和消费者中起着重要作用,因此,有必要研究在线品牌社群如何影响消费者与品牌的关系。基于自我知觉理论和承诺一致性原则的理论视角,以问卷调查方法收集数据,探讨在线品牌社群投入是否会通过反作用促进消费者品牌投入进而提升品牌忠诚。通过实证研究,得出以下结论:(1)在线品牌社群投入对品牌忠诚没有显著的直接作用;(2)但是除消费者品牌投入的认知维度外,在其他两个维度(情感投入和行为投入)的中介作用下,在线品牌社群投入对品牌忠诚有显著作用;(3)在线品牌社群投入对消费者品牌投入具有显著的积极影响,验证了自我知觉理论和承诺一致性原则在在线品牌社群情境下的适用性。研究结论深化了在线品牌社群投入对品牌忠诚影响的研究。     

在线品牌社群成员参与程度对其社群认同的影响——产品类型和品牌熟悉度的调节

文章根据互动和非互动划分社群成员参与程度的高低，通过两个实验探究了在不同产品类型和品牌熟悉度的情境下，在线品牌社群成员参与程度对其社群认同的影响差异。研究发现：对于搜索品，社群参与程度较低时，其社群认同更强；对于体验品，社群参与程度较高时，其社群认同更强。另外，对于低熟悉度品牌，产品类型的调节作用仍然存在。但对于高熟悉度品牌，无论是搜索品还是体验品，社群参与程度较高时，其社群认同更强。最后，文章为企业在线品牌社群管理提出了营销建议。     

房地产企业品牌忠诚培育策略研究

品牌社群社会资本是由消费者、企业、品牌及产品共同构成的社会网络体系。品牌社群社会资本可以为社群成员提供便利,并决定着社群成员的消费态度和行为模式。本文以品牌社群社会资本和消费体验理论为基础,构建了房地产企业品牌忠诚的培育模型,并提出培育房地产企业品牌忠诚的策略。     

品牌社群影响品牌关系作用机理研究

基于品牌社群融入分析的视角,本文采用文献研究与实证研究相结合的方法,探讨品牌社群影响品牌关系的作用机理,结果表明品牌社群融入对品牌信任、品牌承诺和品牌满意具有正向的影响作用,品牌社群为企业改善品牌关系提供了新的路径;品牌社群承诺在上述过程中起到了部分中介作用,品牌社群融入对品牌关系具有直接和间接影响。     

在线品牌社群对消费者溢价购买意愿的影响研究

本文以在线品牌社群为研究对象,通过探讨在线品牌社群的价值维度与品牌认同,证实在线品牌社群对消费者溢价购买意愿的影响。对496个有效样本的实证分析发现,在线品牌社群的信息价值、财务价值和形象价值能有效提高消费者的品牌认同,品牌认同对溢价购买意愿有正向影响。通过进一步考察品牌认同的中介效应,证实在线品牌社群价值对溢价购买意愿的影响是通过品牌认同产生作用。     

在线品牌社群公民行为的维度研究

如同在正式组织里面一样,人们在在线品牌社群当中也会表现出组织公民行为。然而,由于二者的差异,传统的组织公民行为维度并不能简单照搬到在线品牌社群当中。基于现有的组织公民行为维度文献,本文提取直接受益对象和直接行为动机两个视角,据此归纳出在线品牌社群公民行为的四个维度:社群援助、社群参与、社群忠诚、社群维护。四个维度通过了探索性和验证性因子分析的实证检验,具有信度和效度。研究结论为今后相关研究提供维度测量工具,并对品牌社群管理实践提供指导。     

人格特征对在线品牌社群信息分享意愿的影响研究——规范激励和结构保障的调节作用

以往关于尽责性和神经质人格特征对人们分享意愿影响的研究并未达成一致的结论。文章通过两个实验探讨尽责性和神经质对在线品牌社群信息分享意愿产生的影响，并且引入两个社群技术因素（规范激励与结构保障），进一步探讨它们对上述影响的调节作用。结果发现尽责性正向影响信息分享意愿，而神经质负向影响信息分享意愿。此外，在线品牌社群提供规范激励时，相较于低尽责性，高尽责性成员的信息分享意愿会显著提高。而在线品牌社群提供结构保障时，相较于低神经质，高神经质成员的信息分享意愿会显著提高。研究结论能够帮助企业管理者更好地了解消费者在线品牌社群信息分享意愿的差异，以便针对性地对社群进行设计，促进社群成员有更多的信息分享行为。     

在线品牌社群中顾客参与、顾客契合与品牌忠诚的关系研究——感知不确定性的调节作用

在服务主导逻辑下,在线品牌社群顾客参与对品牌忠诚具有重要影响.本文从顾客视角出发,将顾客参与、顾客契合、感知不确定性与品牌忠诚纳入同一研究框架,探讨在线品牌社群中顾客参与对品牌忠诚的具体作用机制.采用偏最小二乘法对收集到的537份有效样本进行多元线性回归分析,结果表明:在线品牌社群中顾客参与能够直接促进常规品牌忠诚和敌对品牌忠诚;顾客参与能够通过顾客契合间接促进常规品牌忠诚和敌对品牌忠诚,顾客契合在顾客参与和品牌忠诚间起到中介作用;感知不确定性负向调节顾客参与对顾客契合的影响.     

品牌社群理论成果研究综述

本文对品牌社群域的空间构成观点进行了梳理;对品牌社群形成动因、品牌社群实证研究现状、品牌社群延展性研究等方面进行了分析;提出了现有研究存在的问题及未来的研究方向。     

An Explorative Study of Korean Consumer Participation in Virtual Brand Communities in Social Network Sites

ABSTRACT

The importance of virtual brand communities in social network sites has received increasing attention from both academia and industry. In surveying a sample of 333 virtual brand community members in Korean social network sites, the current study provides a baseline understanding of the antecedents and consequences of virtual brand communities. The findings here suggest that members of brand communities have six primary social and psychological motives for engaging in virtual community activities: interpersonal utility, brand loyalty, entertainment seeking, information seeking, incentive seeking, and convenience seeking. Our findings also indicate that members of consumer versus marketer-generated brand communities show both similarities and differences in terms of the extent of community participation and the levels of community commitment, satisfaction, and future intention. Our findings provide useful managerial implications for marketers who want to tap into the huge communication potential of this new marketing communication tool and medium, as they offer insight into the proactive role of consumers in today's marketplace.     

The impact of university brand identification and eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being: a multi-group analysis among active and passive social media users

ABSTRACT

Encouraging students to share positive online reviews should not be regarded only as a marketing tool. This study aims to examine (i) the relationship between positive online reviews behaviour for university and students’ well-being; and (ii) the impact of eWOM behaviour on students’ psychological well-being among active (those who share and read information) and passive (those who only read information) social media users. An online survey was conducted to examine the interplay of university brand identification, positive eWOM behaviour, and university life satisfaction on students’ psychological well-being. Results found that students who share positive reviews about university on social media tend to have better psychological health. This study also revealed that active social media users benefit more in terms of well-being through sharing positive online reviews about their universities. Implications for theory and practice of social media marketing in the higher education context are discussed.     

Leveraging Online Communities to Support the Brand and Develop the Community

While numerous organizations and consumers utilize interactive online marketing activities (e.g., creating discussion forums, having brainstorming sessions, and running surveys) to interact with the brand and fellow brand users, there is little research that addresses how important it is to offer community members activities based on their motivations to participate in the community. This research is an important first step at examining the degree to which marketers need to match marketing activities in online communities with community member motivations to affect brand and community outcomes. Using a longitudinal study of 256 members from 9 marketing research online communities in 3 different industries, this research finds that online communities can be used to positively influence a broad range of brand assessments, brand-supportive behaviors, and community-supportive behaviors. Furthermore, leveraging marketing activities in online communities is more complex than previously thought.     

Cultural Differences in Online Community Motivations: Exploring Korean Automobile Online Brand Communities (KAOBCs) and American Automobile Online Brand Communities (AAOBCs)

To gain a better understanding of online brand communities, this study has examined why people joined in online brand communities and whether there were some differences in the motivations of Internet users based on different cultures. Open-ended questions were asked to the community members from both South Korean Automobile Online Brand Communities (KAOBC) and American Automobile Online Brand Communities (AAOBC) in the first stage and then generated and utilized an online survey for the study. The study found that KAOBC members tended to have a stronger social network, business, and communication motivations than AAOBC members. As a primary motivation, information seeking is the strongest motivation for members of both KAOBC and AAOBC. They had a similar level of information motivation.     

The Relationship between Brand Attachment and Consumers' Emotional Well-Being

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between brand attachment and emotional well-being of consumers based on the need for personal image management and feelings of arrogant pride. A study of 107 consumers of the Calvin Klein brand was performed. Data were analyzed using the structural equations modeling technique. The results indicated a positive relationship between brand attachment and emotional well-being of consumers. A relationship was also identified between brand attachment, image management, and emotional well-being, and brand attachment and arrogant pride. No relationship was identified between arrogant pride and emotional well-being.     

Discussing Brand Information on Social Networking Sites: Implications for Global Brand Marketing

Due to the proliferation of information that global brands disseminate on social networking sites (SNS), how to induce SNS users to discuss such information is a topic deserving intensive research efforts. In recent years, scholars have begun to explore the topic from several perspectives. However, there is still a lack of conceptual theorization and empirical verification with more comprehensive probing into the psychological processes through which SNS users become motivated to engage in discussing brand information provided by brand marketers. The current study, based on integrative reconfiguration of relevant theories and a large-scale survey, develops and validates a theoretical model to explicate the key determinants in this regard. Data were obtained from 1518 respondents, who have been active SNS users for at least one year. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling facilitate validation of the model. According to the research findings, affective attitude is a stronger factor than instrumental attitude in predicting the discussion behavior of SNS users relative to brand information intentionally designed and disseminated by brand marketers. Additionally, past behavior in discussing online business news, alongside subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, exercises significant effect on such behavior. Most noteworthy, identity construction generates the greatest impact on behavioral intention and actual behavior among SNS users to discuss brand information that brand marketers provide to them. In general, the current study contributes to making better use of SNS for global brand marketing.     

Building the Charity Brand Community

The current article extends the concept of brand community to the charity sector. While the charity sector has begun to embrace the relationship marketing paradigm, brand communities represent a unique form of relationship marketing that can have a significant impact on nonprofits. A conceptual model of brand community development in the charity sector is proposed, and two unique mechanisms by which charity brand communities might develop — the cognitive and experiential‐learning mechanisms — are proposed. Not only do these mechanisms offer unique insights into how brand communities might develop, but they also explain how “sense of community” becomes a dominant influence on supporter loyalty. Research propositions concerning the influence of specific markers of brand community upon charity support behavior, are also presented.     

Online brand communities: constructing and co-constructing brand culture

Consumers act and interact via social media networks and online brand communities, collectively generating brand culture. In this context, organisations have the opportunity to develop a cultural following. The respective task for brand managers and marketers is to understand how consumers collectively generate online brand culture? Using active and overt netnography and investigating the specific context of the Behance Network, the findings presented here demonstrate that online brand community members collectively generate brand culture in variant ways: through construction of self, emotional relationships, storytelling and ritualistic practices. Pragmatically, this work demonstrates that online brand community members are curators of online brand culture and netnography offers a window through which to identify what actions and interactions need to be facilitated and fostered.     

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.