SME competitiveness through online brand communities:

exploration of brand loyalty

Mojtaba PoorrezaeiDr. Aleksej Heinze

I am going to talk about…

O A Brief IntroductionO Why Engagement is Important?O Brand Loyalty DefinitionO Engagement in Online Brand

CommunityO Motivations of EngagementO Research ModelO Implications

ChallengeWEB 2.0

Online Brand

Community

Engagement

Brand Loyalty

Online Brand Community

“a specialised, non-geographically bound, online community, based on social communications and relationships among a brand’s consumers” (De

Valck, 2009)

Over the past decade, managers and researchers have taken great interest in how online communities can galvanize Internet users to engage in more collaboration, promotion, and purchases.

Central to discussion about OBC is the use of the terms “engage” and engagement to describe the nature of participants’ interactions experiences

Why Engagement is Important?

O Academic Perspective: AMA (2013) & MSI (2012) research priorities / ISR (2014) & JSR (2012) special issues

O Business Perspective: Engagement as A vehicle for creating, building and enhancing

consumer relationships A strategic imperative for establishing and sustaining a

competitive advantage A valuable predictor of future business performance A primary driver of sales growth

Consumer engagement enhances profitability

Online Engagement

Brand Loyalty

Brand

Loyalty

Behavioral

Preferential

Attitudinal

“the preferential, attitudinal and behavioral response toward one or

more brands in a product category expressed over a period of time by

a consumer” (Engel, 1981)

Engagement in OBC

Engagement

Socialising

Sharing

Co-developin

g

Advocating

Learning

Visit Duratio

n & Frequen

cy of visit

Poster& Lurker

Components of Engagement

O Socialising: Two-way, non-functional interaction through which consumers acquire and develop attitudes and community language.

O Sharing: when consumers share personal relevant information, knowledge and experiences.

O Advocating: When consumers actively encourage other members to buy a specific brand.

O Learning: finding the information that consumers need to purchase and consumption decision-making

O Co-developing: consumers contribute to organisations and organisational performance by assisting in the development of new products, services.

Motivations for Engagement

Engagement

Information Quality

Community

Identification

Brand Identificati

on

Group Norm

Constructs Operational Definition Number of Measures Source of Measurement Items

Information Quality The degree to which the provided information is perceived as being accurate, up to date and complete

4 Zhou (2012), Lin (2008) and Dholakia et al. (2009). 

Group Norm The commitment of community members to the shared goals and values.

2 Dholakia et al. (2004), Shen et al. (2009) and (Zhou, 2011).

Brand Identification The degree to which individuals see themselves as being attached to the brand.

5 Bagozzi and Dholakia (2006), Lam et al. (2010), Hughes, Ahearne (2010) and Carlson et al. (2008).

Community Identification The degree to which individuals see themselves as being attached to the community.

5 Shen et al. (2009), Carlson et al. (2008) and Lam et al. (2010). 

Consumer Engagement The degree to which one engages in community regarding sharing, advocating, co-developing, socialising and learning.

5 De Valck et al. (2009) and Brodie et al. (2013) and the Authors.  

Brand Loyalty The degree to which one tends to continue purchasing the brand and recommends it to others.

4 Hollebeek (2011), Gummerus et al. (2012) and Nam et al. (2011). 

Research Model

Brand Loyalty

Consumer Engageme

nt

Community

Identification

Brand Identificati

on

Information Quality

Group Norm

Research ApproachO Literature review of 43 articles from

top journals addressing engagement in OBC

O Adapt netnography method to study an OBC

O Conducting online survey in order to collect data from members of OBC

Data Analysis

ImplicationsO When small firms are considering their

online strategies, they need to address the following issues:

Quality of information shared in online brand community

Closeness of online brand community members

Sustainable long-term community engagement strategy