 Transforming visitors into members in online brand communities: Evidence from ChinaZhimin Zhou, Jane Peihsun Wu, Qiyuan Zhang and Shen Xu Journal of Business Research, 2013, vol. 66, issue 12, 2438-2443 Abstract: Using observational learning theory, this study investigates how simply viewing posts can affect visitors' intentions to join an online brand community. The study finds that the viewing of posts leads to informational value and perceived social value, which in turn increases visitors' intentions to participate in the community. For visitors with brand ownership, both informational value and perceived social value play full mediating roles; for visitors without brand ownership, both values play partial mediating roles. In addition, for visitors with brand ownership, informational value is just as important as perceived social value in shaping their participation intentions; for those without brand ownership, perceived social value is more important than informational value. The findings enrich the brand community literature and provide implications for brand community development. Keywords: Online brand communities; Viewing posts; Informational value; Perceived social value; Participation intention (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:66:y:2013:i:12:p:2438-2443 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.032 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.