Online brand communities’ contribution to digital business models

Abstract

Purpose There is limited research examining social drivers and mediators of online brand community identification in the context of business models development. This study aims to identify them behind the social mechanisms and present essential factors which should be applied in business models to foster value co-creation. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a convenience sample of 712 cases gathered among young European Facebook users via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method. Findings Customer–other customers’ identification is a pivotal factor in influencing brand community identification. Practical implications If companies want to implement online brand communities into business models effectively and co-create brand value, they need deliver brand content useful for customer self-expression and social interaction to enhance consumer-brand identification and customer–customer social bonds which enable to transform the audience into a community. Focusing on the constant reinforcement of online brand community by supporting customer–customer relationships is critical for voluntary value co-creation. Originality/value The main contribution of this study to the literature on online brand communities is the presentation and empirical verification of pivotal social mechanisms of online brand community identification considered as a starting point to potential co-creation and capturing value based on the social presence theory.

Enhancing the value co-creation process: artificial intelligence and mobile banking service platforms

“…Digital transformation is creating new opportunities for financial institutions to interact with their customers (Kucharska, 2019; Adapa et al , 2020). As AI continues to disrupt the industry, value-creating activities are shifting from brick-and-mortar to self-service channels with no direct contact with bank employees (Gummerus et al , 2019).…”

“…Digital transformation is revolutionizing service ecosystems (Kucharska, 2019; Dahl et al , 2020; Dahl et al , 2018b), changing how services are created, delivered and evaluated (Hilken et al , 2018; Peltier et al , 2020; Swan et al , 2019). Digital servitization, which leverages digital technology to open up opportunities for value creation and revenue generation (Sihi, 2018; Sklyar et al , 2019; Adapa et al , 2020), empowers consumers to control how, when and where services are delivered (Dahl et al , 2018a).…”

New rules of social media shopping: Personality differences of U.S. Gen Z versus Gen X market mavens

“…While we have endeavored to identify the psychological antecedents and outcomes of market mavens in social media, future research can uncover the role of market mavens within brand communities (Rossolatos, 2019). Future research can also explore peer-to-peer social bonds between market mavens and brand community members (Kucharska, 2019).…”

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

“…Belk 2013;Wolter et al 2016). In addition, as individuals strive for positive self-esteem, they are motivated to maintain a positive self-defining view of themselves and of their relationship to others (Abrams and Hogg 1988;Wolter et al 2016;Kucharska 2019). Therefore, coherently with UGT, the highest horizon of gaining the expected self-expression gratification is, the more intensive is the identification with the brand and simultaneously, the more intensive is the interaction with other fan page members who follow the same brand.…”