To Be Or Not To Be Visible In Company-Managed Virtual Communities?

Imene Ben Yahia
Additional contact information
Imene Ben Yahia: ISFFS, Sousse, Tunisia

International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 2014, vol. 5, issue 4, 20-37

Abstract: This research investigates how the companies' efforts' visibility influence VCs members' loyalty. Based on the relationship marketing and the signaling theory, it posits that perceived benefits by members influence loyalty through the full mediation of the relationship investments and the relationship quality. However, this influence is moderated by the visibility of companies' efforts. Data from 342 members of company-managed virtual communities were collected. The sample was divided into two groups according to the visibility of the company's efforts. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques and multi-group analysis. Results show that this influence is significant when the efforts of the company are visible and not significant when they are not. Providing benefits to members is then not enough to foster loyalty. The company has to be a visible partner who contributes in the success of the virtual community.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://services.igi-global.com/resolvedoi/resolve. ... 18/ijcrmm.2014100102 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jcrmm0:v:5:y:2014:i:4:p:20-37

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM) is currently edited by Riyad Eid

More articles in International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM) from IGI Global
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journal Editor ().