Online brand communities have become a strong marketing tool for companies. However, passive members form the majority of these communities, and although it is recognized that passive members' electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has a powerful impact on success and prosperity of online brand communities, little research has been devoted so far to the factors influencing their eWOM. To improve our understanding of how to encourage passive members of online brand communities to generate eWOM, this study incorporates the technology acceptance model (TAM) and social capital theory to examine the influence of the factors in the TAM (perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness) on the different types of eWOM behaviors (opinion seeking and passing), while looking at bonding and bridging social capital as mediating factors. An internet questionnaire survey, in which 600 passive users of an online brand community were recruited in China, was conducted to validate hypothetical model with structural equation modeling using AMOS 24. The findings confirm that bonding and bridging social capital have significant, positive, direct effects on passive users' opinion seeking and passing. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use are indirect positively related to opinion seeking and passing through the mediating roles of passive members' bonding and bridging social capital. Finally, we propose specific recommendations for online brand community operators and members.

Passive users' continuance usage intention is very important to the sustainable and healthy development of virtual brand communities. Therefore, the factors influencing passive users' continuance usage intention is worth investigating more comprehensively and systematically. This study proposed a research model which integrates technology acceptance model (TAM) with social capital theory to investigate passive users' continuance intention. An online survey was conducted for data collection to test the proposed hypotheses, and structural equation modeling in AMOS was utilized for data analysis. The results suggest that trust and reciprocity have significantly positive direct effects on passive users' continuance intention. Shared vision can significantly influence passive users' continuance intention through the mediating effects of trust and reciprocity. Meanwhile, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use indirectly affect passive users' continuance intention through the multiple mediation roles of shared vision, trust and reciprocity. Finally, specific suggestions for virtual brand community managers are also proposed. INDEX TERMS TAM model, social capital theory, virtual brand community, passive user.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways to encourage members in QQ knowledge-communication groups to persistently share knowledge in terms of contexts and autonomous motivations. Design/methodology/approach Based on self-determination theory, three important contextual factors of QQ knowledge-communication groups were selected as exogenous variables and three typical autonomous motivations as mediating variables to construct a knowledge-sharing model. Internet questionnaire surveys and data collection were conducted to test proposed hypotheses by means of structural equation modeling with AMOS. Findings Reciprocity, learning, and altruism have significant positive influence on persistent sharing willingness, and the degree to which each factor influences persistent sharing willingness differs considerably. Autonomy support, perceived usefulness, and relatedness support have no significantly direct influence on persistent sharing willingness, but they indirectly influence the persistent sharing behaviors by the mediating effect of different autonomous motivations. Originality/value This study contributes theoretically and practically. First, the results suggest that a particular motivation in different contexts has a different degree of autonomy. In addition, explanations are offered for the phenomenon that suggest that controlled motivations directly affect autonomous motivations. It was found that the contextual factors of competence support and relatedness support also have influence on different autonomous motivations, and hence encourage knowledge-sharing behaviors. Specific suggestions for QQ group managers and information seekers are proposed.