Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
The Influence of Online Brand Community Characteristics on
Community Commitment and Brand Loyalty 1
Jang, H. Y.*, Ko, I. S.* and Koh, J.*
* College of Business Administration Chonnam National University,
300 Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, Gwangju, South Korea
{janghy,isko, kjoon}@chonnam.ac.kr
Abstract
1. Introduction
Online community activities are becoming
widespread thanks to the expansion of Internet
use
and
the
development
of
Recent advances in information technology
information
have led to the development of media for self-
technology. We highlight the importance of online
expression and information sharing. They have
brand, and investigate the relationship between
also enabled consumers to get useful information
an online community and the online brand. This
via the internet rather than offline, and have
study examines how online brand community
thereby led to the establishment of a variety of
characteristics affect community commitment and
online brand communities.
brand loyalty and, in particular, how the type of
The success of a brand is realized when a
online brand community affects the relationships
brand community enables the consumers' own
between the characteristics and community
expression of their characteristics through the
commitment. A survey of 250 respondents
brand itself. In this regard, a large number of
revealed that both interaction and reward for the
companies
activities significantly influenced the community
established
online
brand
communities, accessible through the company
commitment, while the community commitment
homepage or online portal. Promotions and
was affected by neither information quality nor
advertising through brand communities have been
system quality. The results of analysis also
phenomenal (Oh and Kim, 2004). However, no
showed that the hosting type of a community has
rigorous study has investigated the specific
a significant moderating effect and that the
influence of brand community over companies
community commitment increases brand loyalty.
with ownership of the brand. Instead, most of the
Interpretations and implications of the findings,
studies have focused on factors affecting loyalty
as well as future research directions, are
in online communities or antecedents of loyalty in
discussed.
1
have
the online brand community context (Choi, 2004).
This paper was supported by the second BK21 program of Korea Government.
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Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
This study examines the influence of online
Locality demonstrates that community is based
brand community characteristics on community
upon a certain region in that it differentiates one
commitment
of
community from the others. Social interaction
community commitment on brand loyalty. This
refers to the means of relationship building among
study also analyzes how community types affect
community members. Bond comes from the fact
the relationships between brand community
that community members feel comfort and a sense
characteristics and community commitment. In
of belonging through their community (Koh and
line with these two main purposes, this paper
Kim, 2003-2004). In short, a community is
attempts to elucidate the following four aspects:
defined as an organization of individuals or small
key characteristics of online brand communities,
groups having intention to get together with a
the influence of community characteristics on
sense of responsibility for other individuals
community commitment, the differential impacts
(Rothaermel & Sugiyama, 2001; Rheingold,
of community types on community commitment,
2000).
and
the
and
the
relationship
resulting
between
impact
community
Online Community/ The ubiquity of the
internet and the human desire for connection,
commitment and brand loyalty.
knowledge and information, have combined to
This study attempts to divide the online
community into two types: consumer- and
create
new
social
forms
such
as
online
company-initiated communities. The former type
communities. Online communities exist in the
includes Su-Sa-Mo (the online community of the
areas of non-profit organizations or professional
mobile phone brand of 'SKY': www.skysamo.com),
communities of practice, as well as at the non-
ACU (the online community of the mobile phone
commercial level where individual citizens create
brand of 'AnyCall': www.anycalluser.com), and
their own community of interest (Plant, 2004). In
Internet Verna Club (the online community of the
an online community, people who share common
automobile brand of 'Verna': www.verna.co.kr), while
interests get together typically and electronically,
i-SKY (SKY teletech Co. Ltd.: www.isky.co.kr),
and agree on the benefits they receive through
Anycall Land (Samsung electronics Co., Ltd.:
their actions (Watson, 1997). Online communities
www.anycall.com), and Verna Inside (Hyundai Motor
refer to either groups or individuals engaging in
company: www.vernainside.com) are examples of the
online interaction on virtual spaces created
latter type. These were the sites from which we
through the integration of communication with
obtained our sample for this study.
contents developed by community members. Thus,
people who gather on virtual spaces can be seen
2. Theoretical Background
as a socio-cultural phenomenon.
Brand Community/ More and more firms are
2.1 Community and Brand Community
recognizing the advantages of web-enhanced
Definition of Community/ Community can be
brand communities. Brand communities not only
explained through three major criteria: locality,
provide
companies
with
an
additional
social interaction, and bond (Hillery, 1955).
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Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
communication channel but also allow the
credibility of information, brand reputation, and
possibility of establishing linkages to devoted
reward for activities.
users (Andersen, 2005). A brand community starts
2.2 Commitment and Loyalty
based on its core asset, that is, the brand itself,
and continues to build relationships among
Commitment/ Commitment can be seen as a
members interested in the brand. Furthermore, an
set of needs to sustain a worthwhile relationship in
online brand community can be grouped largely
business-to-consumer (Shankar et al., 2003).
into two major groups based on the criterion of
Morgan and Hunt (1994) defined commitment in
the community initiators. One is a consumerinitiated
community
voluntarily
built
business-to-business
by
requires
community members, and the other is a company-
when
ownership in the brand in order to establish a
community
relationship
relationship with consumers and to induce
maintain
trust
a
which
sustainable
among
members
believe
members
is
the
valuable.
Interactive communication facilitates community
productive feedback from consumers (Shim,
members' positive attitude toward the community
2004).
operator as well as the community, which, in turn,
brand
community
has
some
unique
enhances the level of commitment to the
characteristics. First, an online brand community
community
is free from geographical limitation. Second, it is
factor. Staw (1980) classified commitment into
acts as a place for social negotiation where the
two types: attitudinal and behavioral. The former
and
refers
encourages the members' voluntary interpretation
emotional
attachment
towards
a
membership, while the latter results in actual
equipped with a high level of identity (Muniz &
behaviors beyond mere emotional attachment.
O'Guinn, 2001) as well as an understanding of the
Members'
commercial landscape. Lee and Kim (2005)
online
to
community and often leads to strong community
of the brand. Fifth, community members are
an
(1982)
commitment can be considered a motivational
since it has common themes and goals. Fourth, it
that
Wiener
resulting behavioral outcomes, and concluded that
relatively stable and requires a strong commitment
out
2004).
between a certain set of leading variables and the
shared by the community members. Third, it is
community reflects mainstream culture
(Kang,
considered commitment as a process of bridging
built around commercialized products or services
pointed
to
mutual
relationship, arguing that commitment appears
initiated community built by the company with
A
efforts
as
actual
behaviors
in
an
online
community are critical factors since the online
community's
environment does not have a geographical base
characteristics include quality of information,
and it is therefore relatively hard to promote
quality of service, reward, member interaction,
members to actively visit and stay in their
and leadership. Seo (2005) listed community
community.
characteristics as interaction, user friendliness,
Loyalty/ Loyalty can be defined as individuals'
feeling of attachment to a certain set of brands and
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Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
companies (Kotler et al., 1989). Companies whose
Community
Type
consumers have strong loyalty to the companies
Information
Quality
can gain the following competitive advantages in
marketing: reduced corporate marketing and
System
Quality
transactional costs, increased cross-selling rate,
greater
positive
word-of-mouth
effect,
Brand
Loyalty
Community
Commitment
Interaction
and
reduced cost of failure. Aaker (1991) has defined
Reward
brand loyalty as the 'degree of consumer's
emotional
attachment
towards
brand,'
[Figure 1] Research Model
and
suggested six dimensions of brand loyalty:
the
consumer
willingness
to
premium,
satisfaction
rate,
online
brand
community:
quality
of
repurchase,
price
information, quality of system, interaction, and
switching
cost,
rewards for activities. It is known that both the
preference over brand, and commitment to brand.
first two characteristics exert a strong influence
Oliver (1999) has drawn a definition of loyalty,
upon
demonstrating that consumer loyalty comes from a
(Zeithaml et al., 1996; Anderson & Srinivasan,
consumer's high level of commitment, which leads
2003) and loyalty to the community (Park et al.,
to product or service repurchasing by the
2003).
consumer. Based on the above discussions, loyalty
importance of interaction in increasing consumer's
can be defined either as attitudinal or behavioral.
commitment to communication. Sheth et al.
This study focuses on behavioral loyalty, which
(1995) revealed that a reward for valuable
contributes to brand recommendation to others as
information to the community may accelerate the
well as consumer retention.
level of community commitment. Accordingly, we
the
community
McMillan
members'
(2000)
satisfaction
emphasized
the
developed the following hypotheses.
H1.
3. Research model and hypotheses
Characteristics
of
an
online
brand
community positively influence online brand
3.1 Model and hypotheses
community commitment.
H1-1. Quality of information in an online
Based on our literature review, we propose that
online brand community characteristics affect the
brand
community
level of community commitment, and that such
community commitment.
positively
influences
on
H1-2. Quality of system in an online brand
commitment are contingent upon community
community positively influences online brand
types. In addition, we expect that the commitment
community commitment.
effects
of
community
characteristics
H1-3. Interaction among community members
will increase brand loyalty (see Figure 1).
positively influences online brand community
commitment.
3.1.1 Online brand community characteristics.
This study addresses four major characteristics of
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[Table 1] Operational definitions and measures of the variables
Name of Variable
Consumer
Type of
Community
Company
Operational Definition
Voluntarily initiated and operated by
consumers
Initiated and operated by company with
ownership in the brand
Measurement
- Binary
Quality of Quality of information provided through - Excellence, Affluence, Newness,
information the community
Credibility
- Excellence in web design
Speedy and convenient search for information in
Quality of
- Convenience in navigating through
the community, with help of menu hierarchy and
system
information
layout
- Stability in system access
Characteristics of
online brand
community
Interactivity
Degree of information exchange among
community members
and
between
community members and host of the
community
Source
Kang (2004)
Seo (2005)
Berry (1995)
Muniz & O’ Guinn
(2001)
Zeithaml et al. (1983)
Lee and Kim (2005)
Zeithaml et al. (1983)
Lee and Kim (2005)
McWilliam (2000)
- Degree of activities in exchanging
Muniz & O’ Guinn
information and interpersonal exchanges
(2000)
- Speediness in inquiry and response
Choi (2004)
- Exchanges between host and members
Seo (2005)
- Monetary reward
- Psychological reward
Sheth et al.
Reward for Degree of monetary or psychological reward for
( 1995)
- Upgrade (downgrade) of member
activities proactive members in the brand community
privilege according to the degree of their Seo (2005)
activities
- Sense of belonging
- Degree of emotional attachment
Online brand community Degree of strong and positive feelings
- Degree of trust
commitment
among members towards the community
- Degree of satisfaction
- Degree of needs to participate
Brand loyalty
Degree of brand attachment to or
- Recommendation to others
repurchase of products or services of the
- Purchase of the brand
brand
H1-4. Reward for activities in a community
community
positively influences online brand community
characteristics
McWilliam (2000)
Garbarino & Johnson
(1999),
Choi (2004)
Kang (2004)
Seo (2005)
and
community
commitment.
commitment.
H2-1. The type of an online brand community
moderates the relationship between information
quality and community commitment.
3.1.2 Type of online brand community. Kang
(2004) classified the online brand community into
H2-2. The type of an online brand community
two types: consumer- and company-initiated.
moderates the relationship between system quality
Berry (1995), Muniz and O`Guinn (2001), and
and community commitment.
Seo (2005) proposed that community members'
H2-3. The type of an online brand community
attitude toward the community is dependent upon
moderates the relationship between community
who the host is. This study uses the typology: an
interaction and community commitment.
individual (i.e., consumer) or company with
H2-4. The type of an online brand community
ownership in the brand as a moderating variable.
moderates the relationship between activity
Thus, we developed the following related
reward and community commitment.
hypotheses.
H2. The type of an online brand community
moderates
the
relationship
between
3.1.3 Online brand community commitment
brand
and brand loyalty. It is generally accepted that
commitment is different from loyalty in that
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[Table 2] Descriptive statistics of respondents characteristics
Percentage
(%)
Features
Age
Gender
Percentage
(%)
Features
10's
7.6
Shorter than 6 months
17.2
20's
73.5
Shorter than 1 yr
33.6
30's
40's
50's ~
18.5
0
.4
Shorter than 2 yrs
Shorter than 3 yrs
Longer than 3 yrs
19.3
10.5
19.3
Total
100.0
Total
100.0
Male
78.6
Company- initiated
42.4
Female
21.4
Consumer- initiated
57.6
Total
100.0
Total
100.0
Time period
of activity in
the
community
Typeofbrand
community
Features
Mean
Standard
Deviation
Avg. hours of
Internet use 5.76
per day
3.436
Avg. stay in
community
web-site per
day
3.02
2.36
Avg.numberof
visitstocommunity 4.03
perday
4.296
Avg.numberof
visitstocommunity 20.09
perweek
29.895
commitment leads to loyalty, despite continuing
Of 500 questionnaires randomly distributed to
confusion between the two (Day, 1969; Morgan
brand community members of ‘SKY’, ‘ACU’,
and Hunt, 1994). Jacoby and Chestnut (1978)
‘iSKY’, ‘Internet verna club’, ‘Anycall land’, and
compared the role of commitment with that of
‘Verna inside’ through the websites, 284 were
loyalty, arguing that commitment arises when
collected to give a response rate of 57%. Thirty-
searching through brands before making choices,
four questionnaires were discarded due to a lack
while loyalty arises later. Accordingly, the
of integrity in some of the answers, to give a final
researchers saw commitment as the foundation for
sample size for analysis of 250. All the items of
the development of brand loyalty.
the survey, except type of community, were
Brand loyalty is composed of both attitudinal
measured by a seven-point Likert type scale, and
(by commitment) and behavioral (by repurchase)
SPSS 12.0 for Windows was used for the
components, and it appears when both attitudinal
statistical analysis.
and
behavioral
factors
co-exist.
Thus,
we
developed the following hypothesis.
4.2 Analysis
H3. Online brand community commitment
significantly influences brand loyalty.
Table 2 briefly provides sample characteristics of
this study.
3.2 Operational definitions of research
variables
4.2.1 Factor Analysis. Internal consistency of the
variables was verified with Cronbach's α values,
Operational definitions and measurements of
and some of the variables showing low reliability
the research variables are provided in Table 1.
were eliminated.
The validity was assessed by factor analysis.
4. Research Method
Principal component analysis with Varimax
4.1 Data Collection
rotation was used to draw out factors. Factors with
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Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
[Table 3] Factor structure and reliability of the variables
factor1
factor2
Cronbach's
α
factor3 factor4
info2
.901
.084
-.003
.132
info3
.893
.077
.044
.124
info4
.836
.087
.010
.227
info6
rew2
rew3
rew5
rew6
inter4
inter5
inter1
sys3
sys4
sys2
.796
.140
-.033
.189
.049
.160
.039
-.050
.097
.306
.379
.084
.821
.803
.853
.844
.163
.289
.274
.035
.159
.055
.130
.249
.232
.071
.315
.847
.760
.810
.092
.123
.105
.265
.096
.186
-.031
.052
.164
-.011
.173
.878
.761
.677
eigenvalue 3.278
3.001
2.223
2.068
Explained
23.418
variance (%)
21.436
15.881 14.773
Cumulative
23.415
variance (%)
44.851
60.732 75.506
.907
.888
Cronbach's
Rotated component
Rotated component
scale items
scale items
factor5
factor6
com1
.940
.183
com2
.900
.177
com5
.908
.195
loy1
.224
.822
loy4
.169
.888
loy5
.138
.900
eigenvalue
Explained variance
(%)
Cumulative
variance (%)
2.616
2.376
57.844
25.363
57.844
83.206
α
.924
.810
.774
.864
an eigenvalue higher than 1.0 were selected. Table
p<0.001), which supported H1-4. A moderated
3 demonstrates that every variable had a factor
regression analysis was conducted to examine
loading higher than 0.7. Cronbach's α values
whether
were also higher than 0.7, demonstrating the
characteristics on the community commitment
satisfactory reliability of the research variables.
were affected by the type of brand community.
the
influences
of
community
This tests the differential effects of the community
typology
4.2.2 Hypothesis testing. For the hypothesis
in
the
relationships
between
the
community characteristics and the commitment.
tests, we conducted multiple regression analyses.
In Table 4, the two regression models present
In Model 2 of Table 4, out of the independent
variables, neither information quality nor system
the explanatory powers of R2=0.472 (p<0.001)
quality
and R2=0.495 (p<0.001) respectively. Model 2
significantly
influenced
community
supported. However, the interaction variable was
change=2.707, p<0.05) through the interaction
significant, thereby supporting H1-3. The result
between
implies
independent
interaction
among
community
the
significant
increase
moderating
variables.
At
variable
this
in
(F
yielded
that
a
R2
commitment. Thus, H1-1 and H1-2 were not
and
time,
the
two
members or between the members and the
interaction terms, quality of information and
host/operating staff of a community has a
quality of system, were marginally significant
significant effect upon the community (β =0.365,
(β =0.181, p<0.05; β =0.202, p<0.1), which
p<0.001). In addition, reward for activities,
supported H2-1 and H2-2. However, the other two
monetary or psychological, was significant in
interaction terms (reward*type, interaction*type)
increasing community commitment (β =0.452,
were not significant. Thus, neither H2-3 nor H2-4
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[Table 4] Moderated regression analysis according to the characteristics of online brand community
Regression Model suitability
F-statistic changes
R2
R
*
Δ R2
ΔF
(level of
significance)
Coefficient
F-statistic
(level of
significance)
Model 1
.687 .472
.472
43.230
(.000)
43.230
(.000)
Model 2
.703 .495
.023
2.707
(.031)
25.898
(.000)
Independent variables
β
t-statistic
Reward for activity(REW)
Quality of information(INFO)
Interaction (INTER)
Quality of system (SYS)
Types of community (TYPE)
REW
INFO
INTER
SYS
TYPE
REW*TYPE
INFO*TYPE
INTER*TYPE
SYS*TYPE
.438
.209
.361
.195
.136
.452
.075
.365
.027
.157
-.014
.181
-.012
.202
9.199****
4.208****
7.704****
4.163****
2.684***
4.505****
.959
4.020****
.244
3.051***
-.140
2.440**
-.130
1.850*
p < 0.1; ** p<0.05; *** p<0.01; **** p<0.001
[Table 5] Regression analysis between brand loyalty and community commitment
Dependent variable
Independent variable
β
T
R2
Brand loyalty
Community commitment
.390
6.480****
.152
F
41.997****
****p<0.001
was
supported.
These
results
imply
that
commitment. This result was based on the sample
information quality and system quality exert a
characteristics, which were collected from online
greater influence upon community commitment in
communities tied with mobile phones and
the consumer-initiated type of community than in
automobiles. A mobile phone community is built
the company-initiated one. Finally, the H3
around users interested in accessing information
hypothesis, proposing that brand community
on contents (ring bell, wallpaper, MP3, etc.) and
commitment significantly influences brand loyalty,
information on related utility software. The
was supported by the analysis result (Table 5,
information
β =0.390, p <0.001), implying that community
information exchange as members interact online.
commitment increases brand loyalty.
The search process for such information therefore
is
usually
collected
through
helps members to gain useful content, which is the
5. Conclusion
inherent psychological reward for the activities.
5.1 Discussion
Further, we tried to determine the effect of the
community type on the relationship between the
This study examined the relationships between
characteristics of community and community
four major characteristics of brand community
commitment. We classified the type of community
(quality of information, quality of system,
interaction,
and
reward
community commitment.
into
for activities) and
Only two
consumer-
communities.
of the
and
Moderated
company-initiated
regression
analysis
showed that the differential effects of the
community characteristics - interaction and
community type were significant on some of the
reward for activities - significantly affected
independent variables. That is, both information
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quality and system quality were perceived as
In addition, the sample was skewed in favor of
being more important in enhancing member
males (78%). Further study is therefore required
commitment by the members of consumer-
to test the representativeness of the present sample
initiated communities than by those of company-
for the overall population.
initiated communities. We may interpret this as
indicating
that
consumer-initiated
characteristics used in the study, quality of
communities are based purely on members'
information, quality of system, interaction, and
willingness
is
reward for activities, may be mutually exclusive
sensitively affected by the usefulness of the
or collectively exhaustive, fully reflecting the
community site, which refers to a voluntary
overall community characteristics.
to
since
It is also suspected that the four major
participate,
commitment
working mechanism of general communities.
Further research needs to elucidate a deeper
However, a company-initiated community where
understanding of an online brand community with
the members sometimes have to participate in the
the
community in order to get mandatory web
questionnaire. In addition, this study only
services that only the company can offer to
examined certain industries, suggesting that each
consumers may differ from a consumer-initiated
industry's
one. Examples of such mandatory services are
affected the study results and indicating the need
free contents for newcomers or free software
for further study over a wider range of industries.
upgrade services.
development
of
unique
a
more
characteristics
elaborate
may
have
Companies try to develop brand loyalty among
Finally, we found that community commitment
their consumers, and one method is to build and
increases brand loyalty, which is consistent with
operate online communities to sustain consumer
most prior studies (Kang, 2004). This result
relationships. However, most communities deal
suggests
with multi-brands from different companies, and
that
commitment,
financial
by
increasing
companies
performance
can
community
improve
through
their
these multi-brand characteristics have led us to
consumer
consider
rephrasing and word-of-mouth marketing.
two
different
community
types:
consumer- and company-initiated. We hope that
our proposed classification system and empirical
study results will provide helpful guidance for
5.2 Study limitations and future research
company brand managers to determine the best
directions
way to increase the brand loyalty of their
consumers.
Although the sample was largely restricted to
those in their 20s, this probably is an accurate
Acknowledgements:
reflection of the mainstream of online community
We, authors, would like to express special thanks
users as most are young. However, as this survey
to Lorne Olfman,
Department
was conducted online, it is probably that only
of
Professor and Dean of the
Information
Systems
and
Technology, Claremont Graduate University, for
heavy, as opposed to general, users were surveyed.
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Proceedings of the 40th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2007
valuable and precious
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corrections during our revision process.
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