Examining How Brand Co-Creation and Virtual Brand Community Affect Brand Commitment

Abstract

The significance of brand co-creation in virtual brand communities has been recognized in academia and practice. The existing literature has investigated the impact of customer participation in virtual brand community on brand performance and its mechanism, but the prospective impact of types of virtual brand community on types of brand commitment is not examined. Based on the survey of 229 members in virtual brand communities of two popular games of Tencent, this research empirically examines how different types of brand co-creation and virtual brand communities influence brand commitment. This research confirms that customers participating in autonomous brand co-creation in the autonomous virtual brand community have a significantly higher degree of brand experience, and those who participate in both sponsored and autonomous virtual brand community have a comparatively lower degree of brand experience. Meanwhile, sub-brand brand commitment plays the role of mediator between brand experience and corporate brand commitment. Theoretical and managerial implications are offered with limitations and future research.

Effect of introducing virtual community and community group buying on customer’s perceived value and loyalty behavior: A convenience store-based perspective

“…To attract a large number of customers, most virtual communities do not set the entry threshold, resulting in mixed community members and poor internal interaction and sharing. Releasing too much promotion or advertising information in the community will cause members’ aversion, and irregular promotional activities in the community can only increase customer activity in a short time ( Lu et al, 2021 ). However, LPs can help remedy these shortcomings by screening loyal customers with high value and making targeted marketing plans accordingly.…”

The impact of customer-focus on the performance of business organizations: evidence from SMEs in an emerging West African economy

“…Base on this viewpoint, customers cannot anymore be identified as obeisant actors in the marketing and product development process of business organizations. In essence, it signifies a change in reasoning and the concentration of marketing and product/service development process to “ collaboration with and among ” customers as opposed to “ targeted to customers ” (Lu et al ., 2020). A key advantage of adopting co-creation technique is for business organizations to achieve reproductive knowledge and encourage organizational learning and innovation which is considered critical to customer-focus practice (Sarasvuo et al ., 2022).…”