Company versus consumer performance: does brand community identification foster brand loyalty and the consumer’s personal brand?

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of community identification in building brand loyalty (attitudinal and behavioural) and a personal brand via social networks. The proposed model explained the main community identification antecedents and how identification can lead to enhanced company and consumer performance. This study adopts the theoretical lens of uses and gratifications theory and identifies three motivational drivers of community identification: relationship-oriented motives, self-oriented motives and brand content-oriented motives. The data were analysed with a structural equation modelling method based on a convenience sample collected through a survey. This study extends the body of knowledge about the outcomes from an active social media usage, based on a UGT perspective. It relates community identification and its drivers to loyalty. Besides, it links community identification with personal branding, which is considered as a vital outcome expected by social media users. The findings suggested that self-oriented motives represented a key driver for taking part in an online community. In addition, community identification represents to be an important antecedent to build attitudinal loyalty rather than behavioural loyalty. Consequently, community identification was also found to be a significant driver for building a user’s personal brand.

Predicting Social Media Usage Motives Toward Brand Performance: Community Relationship and Community Identification as Mediating Variables

“…Social interaction is a reciprocal or reciprocal influence, which results in behavior modification, which is carried out through social contact and communication which in turn, is shaped by inter-stimulus and response. The results of this study are also like those of Confente and Kucharska (2021), Popp and Woratschek (2017), Dimitriu and Guesalaga (2017), Luo et al (2016), andCorrada et al (2020).…”

“…Social relationships grow community building and a sense of belonging and bonding, not only with community members who can be friends but also with the brand itself through their community. The results of this study are also like those of Confente and Kucharska (2021), Kaur et al (2020), Ilicic and Webster (2016), Saboo et al (2016), Pedeliento et al (2020).…”

Effects of online brand community rituals on customer citizenship behavior: exploring the sequential mediation mechanism

“…gender, age, education and income), usage frequency and membership duration. Brand community identification was also controlled and measured by using three items from Confente and Kucharska (2021) given the evidence of its influence on customer citizenship behavior (Mandl and Hogreve, 2020).…”

Customer retention: Exploring the effects of relationship layers and perceived indifference

“…By entering and taking part in a consumption community, a consumer could have a feeling of normative pressure to articulate loyalty to a certain object, and this can affect individual behavior (Sullivan & Richardson, 2020; Thatcher & George, 2004). It is suggested that relationships with consumer communities could foster loyalty to the company (Confente & Kucharska, 2021; Roos et al, 2005). In addition, customers' urge to comply with the collective expectations in an online community might generate a tendency to repeat their behavior in a stable consumption context, such as habitual purchases (Shi et al, 2018).…”