Brand communities: loyal to the community or the brand?

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the relative emphasis accorded by members of a brand community to identification with that community and identification with the brand-owner, and thereby close a gap in the literature to date. Design/methodology/approach -Based on a review of the literature relating to identification, loyalty, and potentially mediating brand-related constructs, a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was carried out at a brandfest organised by a major European motorcycle manufacturer. Data collected from 256 respondents were analysed by structural equation modelling, testing seven hypothesised causal links. Findings -Brand loyalty is primarily influenced by identification with the brand community, through the mediating role of brand affect.Research limitations/implications -The findings require confirmation in other settings and industry sectors before they can be generalised with confidence, but point to several fruitful research directions. Practical implications -Brand strategists have new evidence to guide allocation of effort and resources to the effective cultivation and maintenance of brand loyalty. Originality/value -The study makes an original contribution, in a real-world setting, to the understanding of how members of a brand community relate to the brand, and of how their brand loyalty is activated.

Are Facebook brand community members truly loyal to the brand?

“…Social media has proven to be an effective channel through which to influence consumers' brand perceptions and consumption behavior (e.g., Marzocchi et al 2013). This finding highlights the need to thoroughly understand the forms and especially the consequences of consumers' participation in personal networks, particularly on Facebook (Gamboa & Gonçalves 2014).…”

“…Brand communities act as a means to enhance customer involvement in marketing dialogue with brands and to foster customer interactions with one another (Hur et al 2011). These interactions have been found to positively affect customers' brand perceptions (Marzocchi et al 2013), brand loyalty (Gummerus et al 2012), and purchasing and WOM behavior (Algesheimer et al 2005;Hur et al 2011). In the social media context, Laroche, Habibi and Richard (2013) confirm that brand communities established on social media have a positive relationship with several customer-centric strategy outcomes such as attachment to the product, brand and the company in question.…”

“…For example, the European Communication Monitor (2012) highlighted the importance of online brand communities and emphasized the need to increase competence in the use of this medium for marketing activities. Prior studies have also been limited insofar as they have focused solely on college students (Chu & Kim 2011), examined brand communities in a single-brand context (Marzocchi et al 2013), measured the behavioral intention to share WOM rather than to engage in actual WOM behavior (Yeh and Choi 2010) or studied only the direct effects of community commitment on brand loyalty (rather than the indirect and total effects) (Hur et al 2011;). In summary, there are still notable gaps in our understanding of how consumers' commitment to online brand communities, such as Facebook brand communities, manifests in different forms of community outcomes and brand loyalty.…”

Capturing consumer engagement: duality, dimensionality and measurement

“…Research in other domains, such as social identification, suggests that consumers identify with brands as well as other consumers (Marzocchi, Morandin, & Bergami, 2013) and that they develop relationships with multiple foci concurrently, for example, with a brand and a brand community (Veloutsou & Moutinho, 2009). The multiple foci of consumer engagement have thus far been ignored and this narrow treatment of consumer engagement operationalisation is worrying because the focus on one object of engagement may obscure the relevance of other objects, casting doubt on the validity of the research models.…”

Scaling Technoliberalism for Massively Multiplayer Online Games

“…For example, even though Eli and Wayne just met, they shared their experiences about the Bloodbath of B-R5RB effortlessly and continued to hang out throughout the convention. Management scholars Marzocchi, Morandin, and Bergami (2013) suggest that inter-consumer attachments accrue brand loyalties that benefit companies in areas such as customer retention, tolerance for product failings, successful brand extension, and word-of-mouth promotion. By sharing war stories and extolling the virtues of the sandbox, players circulate ideas and affects about mass causality which are intensified through their web of relationships with the EVE brand, its development company, products, and other customers.…”