How do brand communities generate brand relationships? Intermediate mechanisms

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Abstract

This research investigates the intermediate mechanism that translates brand communities into brand relationships. Using a sample of online brand communities from China, the study finds that consumer brand attachment plays a full mediating role between brand community commitment and brand commitment and exerts partial mediation between brand identification and brand commitment. Perceived community–brand similarity moderates both brand community identification's effect on brand identification and brand community commitment's effect on brand attachment. The findings contribute to the brand literature and provide implications for brand community management.

Research highlights

► We investigate how brand communities generate brand relationships. ► Consumer brand attachment plays a mediating role. ► Perceived community Cbrand similarity plays a moderating role.

Introduction

The past decade bears witness to a growing interest in brand community, a term different from other branding concepts on a single brand consumer (e.g., brand attitude, brand personality, and brand image) (see Algesheimer et al., 2005, Schau et al., 2009, Schouten et al., 2007, Stokburger-Sauer, 2010). Brand community refers to “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand” (Muniz & O'Guinn, 2001, p. 412). Traditional literature on brand communication pays attention to the company-to-consumers paradigm, while a brand community describes a new paradigm of consumers-to-consumers communication (McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, 2002). Thus, “community” may replace “relationship” as a new marketing buzzword (McWilliam, 2000).

Prior research examines brand communities’ effects on marketing performance (e.g., Fournier & Lee, 2009). Specifically, brand community identification, participation, and commitment all empirically lead to brand loyalty and recommendation (e.g., word of mouth). Although little doubt exists about a brand community's strong impact on branding, the impact's mediation on brand relationships remains unclear. For example, a direct relationship exists between brand community commitment and brand commitment or loyalty (e.g., Jang, Olfman, Ko, Koh, & Kim, 2008). However, given that brand communities and consumer–brand relationships operate at different levels (McAlexander et al., 2002), the mechanisms mediating or moderating brand community effects on the consumer–brand relationship remain uncharted. Specifically, scholars and practitioners should understand how consumers’ relationships with a brand community translate into their relationships with the brand, such as their commitment to the brand (e.g., Ahluwalia, Burnkrant, & Unnava, 2000). This study intends to uncover such intermediate mechanisms to enrich the understanding of brand community.

The reminder of the paper proceeds as follows: the next section presents the conceptual model built on relevant literature that sheds light on the research hypotheses. After the research methods, the paper presents the main research results based on an empirical study using data collected from a Chinese car club. Finally, the paper concludes with managerial implications as well as limitations and further research directions.

Section snippets

Conceptual model

Consumers in a brand community identify and commit to the community as well as affect toward the brand due to shared brand experiences (Scarpi, 2010). In addition, a match between the community traits (e.g., community members’ demographics and psychographics) and the brand traits (e.g., brand personality) further influences the consumer–brand relationship (Milas & Mlačić, 2007). Therefore, consumer brand-related affect mediates the effects of consumer community-related brand cognition and

Sample

The research tested the model using data collected from a Chinese car club. Marketing researchers find car clubs have high member participation and engagement (e.g., Algesheimer et al., 2005). In China, several car clubs exist around Chinese national car brands (e.g., Chery, BYD), providing useful empirical data sources for the current study. Using an online survey based on Sojump (www.sojump.com), the research collected data from a nation-wide online car community with 170,000 members, Xin Qi

Measurement model

Internal consistency data reliability relied on a confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's α level (see Table 2). The results indicate that all the thirty-three items possess significant, standardized factor loadings (r > .55). The test extracted eight factors as expected. Cronbach's alpha factors are all above .84, indicating high internal consistency (Nunnally, 1978). The eight construct's composite reliabilities all exceed .90, suggesting the measuring items have adequate reliability.

Theoretical implications

This research's main objective is to uncover the intermediate mechanism mediating and/or moderating brand community's effects on brand relationships. The results show consumer brand attachment serves as such a full mediator connecting consumer brand community commitment with consumer brand commitment. In addition, the match between community characteristics and brand traits partially moderates such mediation effects.

This study contributes to brand literature in three aspects. First, consumer

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    The authors acknowledge the financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 70802042 and 71002081) and Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Grant No. 9041466—CityU 150709). The authors also thank Dr. Julie Li and Dr. Wenyu Dou of City University of Hong Kong for their helpful comments to an earlier draft.

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