Exploring oppositional loyalty and satisfaction in firm-hosted communities in China

Abstract

Purpose An increasing number of companies have become aware of the considerable commercial potential of firm-hosted online communities (FOC) and initiated their own platform for different purposes. However, limited research has systematically explored oppositional loyalty and customer satisfaction in the context of FOC. By applying the expectation–confirmation model (ECM), the purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of oppositional loyalty and satisfaction from the perspective of social capital and e-quality. Design/methodology/approach A research model was tested by applying partial least squares technique, and data were collected from a survey of members (n=512) of two popular smartphone communities in China. Findings Results revealed that satisfaction, trust and shared language are the significant antecedents of oppositional loyalty. Benefits confirmation, information quality, service quality, trust and social tie exert strong effects on the formation of satisfaction. Originality/value This study is an original empirical research guided by several theories. It contributes to the information system usage literature and provides opinions regarding how users’ oppositional loyalty and satisfaction can be developed in the FOCs. This work also widens the application of ECM and provides an alternative theoretical framework for future research on oppositional brand loyalty.

Oppositional loyalty as a brand identity-driven outcome: a conceptual framework and empirical evidence

“…Focusing on the drivers of brand evangelism, Becerra and Badrinarayanan (2013) find that brand identification influences consumers' positive referrals of the brand and oppositional brand referrals of competing brands. More recently, based on the expectationconfirmation model, Liang et al (2019) indicate the positive role of customer satisfaction and social capital in generating oppositional loyalty.…”

Positive and Negative Behaviors of Oppositional Loyalty in Online Communities

“…Confrontational loyalty has two sides: consumption, positive attitudes and behaviors toward preferred brands, anti-consumption, negative attitudes, and behaviors toward competitive brands [11]. This relates to statements of other authors [8], [12] that adversarial loyalty is displayed in two ways: customers buy their preferred-brand products repeatedly, in large quantities, and at a premium. However, they also refuse to purchase, prevent others from buying, and reversely recommend the products of competing brands.…”

“…Oppositional loyalty includes a series of anti-brand activities, such as maliciously disrupting the order of competing brand communities, disturbing rivalrous brands' marketing activities, treating competitive brands as a "common enemy," demonizing "enemy brands" and anticonsumption [11], [12], [25]. When the values are inconsistent between the brand and the customer, Japutra et al [34] believed that brand attachment could lead to antagonistic loyalty (schadenfreude and trash-talking) and anti-brand activities (payback, obsess and complaint).…”

“…Confrontational loyalty behaviors between competing brands are also widespread in other industries, including beverages [10], smartphones [11], [12], automobiles [13], [14], video cards, microprocessors [15], fashion, sports, tourism, media, entertainment [16], football clubs [17], and online games [18]. Notably, in the mobile internet environment, it is easy for individual confrontational behaviors to escalate to group antagonistic behaviors [19], [20], producing a more comprehensive range of influences.…”

New Product Information Diffusion in Firm–Hosted Online Communities Based on User Influence

“…To reduce capital expenditure, risk, and develop products of commercial value, more and more companies launched their own online communities to achieve open innovation. As a mobile Internet company focused on the design and manufacture of smartphones, Xiaomi is a typical representative of the research on firm-hosted online communities [28], [46], [31]. It adopted a unified retail and ecosystem strategy and launched the official Xiaomi community forum in 2010 to make full use of opportunities across users' 24-hour digital life in emerging markets.…”