Examining Drivers of Brand Community Engagement: The Moderation of Product, Brand and Consumer Characteristics

Jintang Wang, Junyun Liao, Shiyong Zheng and Biqing Li
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Jintang Wang: Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Junyun Liao: Department of Marketing, School of Management, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Shiyong Zheng: Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Biqing Li: School of Information and Communication Engineering, Hezhou University, Hezhou 542800, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Numerous firms operate online brand communities (OBCs) in order to build a close consumer–brand relationship. To succeed in realizing this aim, firms must first sustain members’ brand community engagement. While prior studies have examined a series of drivers of brand community engagement, most of them focused on psychological and social motivations. Limited information is available about the role of product, brand and consumer characteristics in driving brand community engagement. Building on the uses and gratifications (UG) theory, the authors investigate the moderation of product complexity, brand symbolism, and extraversion in the relationship between brand community gratification and brand community engagement. With the collaboration of an online shopping site, 462 validated survey responses were collected to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that product complexity positively moderates the impact of information value on brand community engagement and brand symbolism positively moderates the effect of social value on brand community engagement. Finally, the results show that extraversion positively interacts with social value in enhancing brand community engagement. This study advances the understanding of brand community engagement.

Keywords: online brand community; product complexity; brand symbolism; informational value; social value; brand community engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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