2008 ijec the influence of on-line bcc on ccc and brand loyalty

7/28/2019 2008 IJEC the Influence of on-Line BCC on CCC and Brand Loyalty

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The Influence of On-Line Brand CommunityCharacteristics on Community Commitment and

Brand Loyalty

Heehyoung Jang, Lorne Olfman, Ilsang Ko, Joon Koh, andKyungtae Kim

ABSTRACT: The relationship between on-line communities and on-line brands is inves-tigated by examining how on-line brand communitys characteristics affect communitycommitment and brand loyaltyin particular, how the hosting type of an on-line brandcommunity af fects the relationships between characteristics and community commitment.A survey of 250 respondents revealed that their community commitment was significantly

influenced by their community interaction and the rewards for their activities, but not byinformation quality and system quality. The analysis shows that the hosting type of acommunity has a significant moderating effect and that community commitment increasesbrand loyalty. Interpretations and implications of the findings, as well as future researchdirections, are discussed.

KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: Brand community, brand loyalty, community commitment,company-initiated community, consumer-initiated community.

Recent advances in information technology have led to the development of

media for self-expression and information sharing. These advances enableconsumers to get useful information from the Internet rather than off-line,thereby leading to the establishment of a variety of on-line brand communi-ties. An on-line brand community is a specialized, nongeographically boundcommunity, based upon social relationships among admirers of a brand incyberspace [39]. For example, people who are interested in Harley-Davidsonmotorcycles get together via the Internet, form an on-line community, and meetcontinuously in on-line and off-line spaces. The members of a community ofthis kind have a shared consciousness, rituals and traditions, and a sense ofmoral responsibility, all centering on a branded good or service.

A brand achieves success when consumers are able to express their personalcharacteristics through the brand as a result of their membership in a brandcommunity. Many companies have established on-line brand communities,accessible through the companys home page or on-line portal. In addition,active consumers have built their own on-line brand communities that respondto members needs by providing plentiful information about the pre-purchase,purchase, and after-service of branded products and services. Promotionsand advertising through brand communities have been phenomenal [42]. Asyet, no study has rigorously investigated the specific influence of the charac-teristics of on-line brand communities on their members commitment andloyalty in terms of service quality, interaction, and rewards, including their

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58 JANG ET AL.

operating mechanisms. Most studies in this area have focused on the factorsaffecting loyalty to an on-line community or the antecedents of loyalty to a

brand or product.

This paper examines the influence of on-line brand community charac-teristics on community commitment and the resulting impact of communitycommitment on brand loyalty. It also analyzes how different types of com-munities affect the relationships between brand community characteristics andcommunity commitment. In line with these two main purposes, the followingfour aspects are elucidated: the key characteristics of on-line brand commu-nities, the influence of these characteristics on community commitment, thedifferential impacts of community type on community commitment, and therelationship between community commitment and brand loyalty.

The discussion that follows highlights the importance of on-line brand

communities in Internet business and explores how they increase the brandloyalty of the consumers who use and participate in them. An understand-ing of on-line brand communities is expected to provide companies with anopportunity to gain competitive advantages in marketing their products andservices.

Theoretical Background

On-Line Community and Brand Community

Community

A community can be explained with reference to three major criteria: (1) lo-cality, (2) social interaction, and (3) bond [20]. Locality demonstrates that thecommunity is based upon a certain region that differentiates it from othercommunities. Social interaction refers to the means of relationship buildingamong community members. Bond comes from the fact that membership in thecommunity gives its member a feeling of comfort and a sense of belonging [29].A community consists of the personal and institutional relationships betweenthe members, their interactions, the atmosphere, the evolution of individual

and collective identities, and, last but not least, physical or virtual spaces formeeting. The members of a community share a profession, a discipline, and

job roles or deal with the same clients [45]. As defined by Etzioni and Etzioni,a community has two central attributes: (1) affect-laden relationships of themembers and (2) commitment to a set of shared values, meanings, and ashared historical identity [11]. Every community has frameworks, ideas, sto-ries, experiences, lessons learned, and documents that community membersshare at work or outside of work (e.g., a community of interest). Communitydenotes a body of specific, collectively elaborated know-how about ways ofdoing tasks in a specific domain [58]. According to Muniz and OGuinn, the

three core components of a community are: (1) an intrinsic connection such thatmembers feel different from others not in the community; (2) the presence ofh d it l d t diti th t t t th it hi t lt


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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE 59

to the community as a whole and its individual members [39]. In short, a com-munity is defined as an organization of individuals or small groups that havean intention to get together and a sense of mutual responsibility [48, 49].

Tnnies observes that social relations fall into one or another of two cat-egories: Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft [55]. These terms are often translated ascommunity and society. Gemeinschaft relationships are local, cohesive,enduring, intimate, and face-to-face; Gesellschaft relationships are large-scale,impersonal, and calculative, and in consequence are weaker. An on-line com-munity is similar to a Gemeinschaft, except that it forms through an electroniccommunication medium and is not bound by space and time.

Gusfield distinguishes two types of communities: the traditional territo-rial or geographical community (e.g., a neighborhood, town, or region) and arelational community concerned with human relationships (e.g., hobby clubs,

religious groups, fan clubs) [16]. Most on-line communities are relational com-munities. However, members of on-line communities actively interact withone other on a specific site in cyberspace and have an emotional attachment tothe site that resembles the attachment of members of a traditional communityto the physical place of their relationship.

On-Line Community

The ubiquity of the Internet and the human desire for connectedness, knowl-

edge, and information has combined to create new social forms such as on-line communities. Communities on-line are quite different from those in thephysical world. In traditional communities, people meet one another face toface, get to know one another, and then, if the chemistry is right, form relation-ships. In the on-line world, people get to know others, form relationships ,andonly then, if the chemistry is right, choose to meet them face to face [48]. Inaddition, participation in an on-line community is driven by volitional choice,whereas in traditional bounded communities membership may be imposedinvoluntarily by geographical location [4].

There are multiple definitions of an on-line community. Rheingold de-fines the on-line community as a social aggregation that emerges from the

Net with sufficient human feeling to form a web of personal relationships incyberspace [48]. Hagel and Armstrong also see the on-line community as acomputer-mediated space [17]. Bagozzi and Dholakia view on-line commu-nities as computer-mediated social spaces with intentional actions, in whichcontent is created by members through ongoing communication processes[4]. However, Rothaermel and Sugiyama note that on-line communities maynot be a complete substitute for personal, simultaneous, one-to-one inter-action, either vocally or face-to-face [49]. Their study found that about 30percent of the respondents communicated with other community membersvia telephone and in person, in addition to their on-line participation. Fox,

proposing a community embodiment model (CEM), illustrates that relation-ships of various kinds may exist between physical and virtual communitiesb d i t l h i [12] I th l ld


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60 JANG ET AL.

For the purposes of this study, an on-line community is defined as a groupof individuals engaging in predominantly on-line interaction in virtual spacescreated through the integration of communication with content developed

by community members.Hagel and Armstrong classify on-line communities into four types: transac-

tion-, relationship-, interest-, and fantasy-based [17]. Henri and Pudelko alsosuggest that there are four principal types of on-line communities: (1) com-munity of interest, (2) goal-oriented community of interest, (3) learnerscommunity, and (4) community of practice based on the two dimensions ofsocial bond and intentionality [19]. Furthermore, on-line communities existfor profit organizations (e.g., professional communities of practice), as wellas at the noncommercial level where individual citizens create their owncommunities of interest [46]. In an on-line community, people who share

common interests get together electronically and agree on the benefits theyreceive through their actions [56]. An on-line community is only viable if itmaintains a sufficient number of members[6]. Community builders need toprovide beneficial products to retain existing community members and attractpotential members [28]. The discussion in the next section will focus on brandcommunities, a type of on-line community formed by members who share aninterest in a particular brand.

On-Line Brand Community

Firms like Dell and Cisco Systems have transformed suppliers and customersinto members of their corporate communities, thereby enabling exchanges ofvaluable information and knowledge with them. More and more firms arerecognizing the advantages of on-line brand communities, which include theopportunity for effective communication with customers and of obtainingvaluable ideas. Brand communities do not simply provide companies withan additional communication channel; they also enable the possibility ofestablishing linkages to devoted users [2]. A brand community starts basedon its core asset, the brand itself, and grows by building relationships amongmembers interested in the brand.

There are several classifications of on-line brand communities (e.g., Con-stance [7], Henri and Pudelko [19], Kozinets [33]), but by and large they can

be grouped into two major types based on the criterion of who hosts them:(1) consumer-initiated communities voluntarily built by their members and(2) company-initiated communities built by the company that owns the brandin order to establish a relationship with consumers and induce productivefeedback from them. The hosting type may be one of the most important fac-tors in classifying on-line communities because it results in different operatingmechanisms [5, 39]. Constance similarly proposes that virtual communitiesfall into two categories based on establishment type and relationship orien-

tation: (1) member-initiated communities (analogous to consumer-initiated)and (2) organization-sponsored communities (almost identical to company-i iti t d) [7]


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Company-initiated on-line brand communities have the advantages of pro-viding detailed information about products and their usage. However, sincethe management of the Web site is controlled by the company, unfavorable

opinions from customers may be removed and blocked. Thus, the weaknessesof products with which customers have unpleasant experiences are less likelyto be shown on the Web site, as compared to consumer-initiated on-line brandcommunities. Consumer-initiated communities can provide beneficial informa-tion, valuable experiences, and strengths and weaknesses of products withoutscreening or appealing to other consumers to purchase, but their ability torender detailed specifications of the product is limited. These communitiestend to manage negative information about the branded product quite well,compared to the company-initiated ones.

An on-line brand community, whether consumer-initiated or company-initi-

ated, has some unique characteristics. It has no geographical limitations [57].It is built around commercialized products or services shared by communitymembers [39]. It is relatively stable, and its members have strong commitmentswith common themes and goals [8, 35]. It acts as a place for social negotia-tion where the community reflects mainstream culture and encourages themembers voluntary interpretation of the brand [22]. Community membershave a high level of identity as well as an understanding of the commerciallandscape [39].

Commitment and LoyaltyCommitment

Commitment can be seen as a set of needs to sustain a worthwhile business-to-consumer relationship [51]. It has been defined as an enduring desire tomaintain a valued relationship [37] and a tendency to resist change [47].Commitment plays a key mediating role in the formation of consumer loyaltyand behavioral intention [13, 38, 47]. Morgan and Hunt define commitmentin a business-to-business relationship as mutual trust that requires effort tomaintain a sustainable relationship, arguing that commitment appears when

community members value their relationships with other members [38].Interactive communication facilitates a positive attitude among memberstoward the community operator as well as the community, and this, in turn,enhances the level of commitment to the community [25]. Wiener considerscommitment as a process of bridging between a certain set of leading variablesand the resulting behavioral outcomes, and concludes that commitment is amotivational factor [59]. Staw classifies commitment as either attitudinal or

behavioral [54]. The former involves emotional attachment to a communityand often leads to strong community membership; the latter results in actual

behaviors beyond mere emotional attachment. Members actual behaviors

in an on-line community are critical factors, since the on-line environmentdoes not have a geographical base. It is, therefore, relatively hard to promote

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62 JANG ET AL.

In light of the preceding definitions, one may say that in the context of anon-line community, commitment refers to each members attitude towardthe community. The concept of commitment may predict members actual

behaviors in an on-line community, such as solving problems for others,giving help, and community participation. Thus, to accommodate a broadrange of commitment in an on-line community, commitment is here treatedas an attitudinal factor that appears when the members of a community feelthat the continuing relationship between their community and themselves isvaluable.

In the service marketing literature, service quality, perceived value, andsatisfaction are considered to be antecedents of commitment [15, 21, 52].Kohand Kim argue that leaders enthusiasm, off-line interaction, and enjoyabilitylead to a sense of on-line community that has a significant influence on mem-

bers commitment [29]. Several articles proposing that leaders effort, off-lineactivities and managerial strategies (e.g., rules, reward systems) directly affectmembers commitment and intention to participate in an on-line community[31, 60]. However, there has been little investigation of members attitudesand behavior in the context of an on-line brand community that may vary bycommunity typology.

In a company-initiated on-line brand community, customers participationin building their opinions and managing their continuing experiences can beeasily monitored and controlled by the company. Such a community may behandicapped in building customers commitment to the branded product.

However, in a consumer-initiated on-line brand community, customers volun-tarily participate in building information about good features of the productand valuable experiences with it. Uncontrolled feedback from fellow membershelps members to trust their community and strengthen their commitment.Therefore, members tend to have higher beliefs and concerns about productinformation and experiences from their peers in a consumer-initiated on-line

brand community than in company-initiated one.

Loyalty

Loyalty can be defined as a feeling of attachment to a certain set of brandsand companies [32]. Companies whose consumers are strongly loyal can gainimportant competitive advantages in marketing, such as reduced corporatemarketing and transactional costs, increased cross-selling rate, a greaterpositive word-of-mouth effect, and reduced cost of failure [14]. Aaker defines

brand loyalty as the degree of a consumers emotional attachment to a brandand suggests that it has six dimensions: consumer willingness to repurchase,price premium, satisfaction rate, switching cost, preference over brand, andcommitment to brand [1]. Oliver demonstrates that consumer loyalty comesfrom a high level of commitment that leads to product or service repurchas-

ing [43].The Internet helps people to approach and evaluate products without any

ti li it It l f ilit t di di t d lt ti Th b


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a need for more and better efforts to bring people to a companys home pageand retain them as loyal and profitable customers [28]. Loyalty, which is akey requirement in establishing any kind of relationship marketing, may also

play an important role in expanding e-commerce [14]. Based on the precedingdiscussion, loyalty can be defined as either attitudinal or behavioral. Sincecommitment, as an attitudinal factor, is included in the research model of thisstudy, the focus will be on behavioral loyalty, which drives brand recommen-dation to others and increases consumer retention. Loyalty may be a relevantvariable to represent the degree of influence a brand has on consumers in theon-line community context where a company gains competitive advantagesin marketing.

There have been many studies of the factors affecting loyalty, such as servicequality, product quality, information quality, corporate image, price, and com-

mitment [10, 34, 40], but little work combining brand loyalty with the on-linecommunity concept. That is to say, few researchers have noted that brandloyalty can be increased by on-line community participation or commitment.The present study explores the link between brand community commitmentand level of brand loyalty.

In on-line brand communities, loyalty to a brand is expected to be influencednot only by customers voluntary participation in the community, but also bytheir autonomous management of the Web site. In consumer-initiated on-line

brand communities, because the trustworthy information and experiencespresented are trustworthy, customers are likely to build strong commitments

to the community, thereby establishing persistent loyalty to the relevant brandor branded products.

Research Model and Hypotheses

Model and Hypotheses

Plant developed a three-dimensional model of the on-line community space:(1) degree of community regulation, (2) degree of community openness tomembership, and (3) degree to which a community is involved in commercial

activities [46]. Many studies, including those by Hagel and Armstrong, and byKim, have discussed the community-related dimensions, such as communityregulation, openness, and commerce, which contributed to Plants model, aswell as the definition of communities [17, 27]. Since most of the earlier studiesinvestigated community characteristics and the operating mechanism of on-linecommunities without connecting them to the concept of a brand in marketing,this research area is fragmented. Filling the gap between on-line community re-search and marketing research, the present study focuses on brand communitycharacteristics and community-operating mechanisms by community types.It is proposed that on-line brand community characteristics affect the level of

community commitment and that the effects of community characteristics oncommitment are contingent upon community types. In addition, it is expectedth t th it t ill i b d l lt (see Figure 1)


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64 JANG ET AL.

On-Line Brand Community Characteristics

This study addresses four major characteristics of the on-line brand com-munity: (1) quality of information, (2) quality of system, (3) interaction, and

(4) rewards for activities. The first two characteristics are known to exert astrong influence upon the satisfaction and loyalty to the community of itsmembers [3, 44, 61]. McWilliam emphasizes the importance of interactionin increasing consumer commitment to communication [36]. Sheth and Atulreveal that a reward for valuable information to the community may accel-erate the level of community commitment [53]. Accordingly, the followinghypotheses are developed:

H1. Characteristics of an on-line brand community positively influence on-line brand community commitment.

H11. Higher quality of information in an on-line brand community leads tohigher on-line brand community commitment.

H12. Higher quality of system in an on-line brand community leads tohigher on-line brand community commitment.

H13. Higher interaction among community members leads to higher on-linebrand community commitment.

H14. Greater reward for activities in a community leads to higher on-linebrand community commitment.

Figure 1. Research Model


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Types of On-Line Brand Communities

Kang classifies on-line brand communities as either consumer- or company-

initiated [26]. Berry and, similarly, Muniz and OGuinn propose that theattitude of community members toward the community is dependent uponwho the host is [5, 39]. In a consumer-initiated brand community, since it is

built and operated based on purely voluntary behaviors of members (i.e.,consumers), the community stimulation or member participation tends to beaffected by general community characteristics, such as leaders enthusiasm,information quality, and community content [29]. However, a company-initi-ated community may include a hybrid, mixed style of both voluntariness andunwillingness in terms of community operation, since the members some-times will participate in the community to get mandatory Web services, such

as free software upgrade services. Thus, the operating mechanism of sucha community may be different from that of a purely voluntary community.Specifically, the influence of brand community characteristics on communitycommitment may be weaker for a company-initiated community than fora purely consumer-initiated community. Therefore, the hosting type of a

brand community is introduced as a moderating variable, and the followinghypotheses are proposed:

H2. The type of on-line brand community moderates the relationship betweenbrand community characteristics and community commitment.

H21. The type of on-line brand community moderates the relationshipbetween information quality and community commitment.

H22. The type of on-line brand community moderates the relationshipbetween system quality and community commitment.

H23. The type of on-line brand community moderates the relationshipbetween community interaction and community commitment.

H24. The type of on-line brand community moderates the relationship

between activity reward and community commitment.

On-Line Brand Community Commitment and Brand Loyalty

Although there is some confusion about their relationship, it is generally ac-cepted that commitment is different from loyalty in that commitment leads toloyalty [9, 38]. Jacoby and Chestnut argue that commitment arises while oneis searching through brands before making a choice, whereas loyalty ariseslater [24]. Accordingly, they see commitment as the foundation for the develop-

ment of brand loyalty. On-line community participation or commitment mayincrease the brand value perceived by community members, since it may helpthem to have a positive attitude to the brand as well as to have brand loyalty


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66 JANG ET AL.

Therefore, stimulating community activities and commitment is expected tolead to brand loyalty of consumers in the long term.

Brand loyalty has both attitudinal and behavioral components, and emerges

when these factors co-exist. Thus:

H3. Higher on-line brand community commitment leads to higher brandloyalty.

Operational Definitions of Research Variables

The instruments of the present study were based on literature related to in-formation systems (IS), marketing, and community psychology. Information

quality, in this study, is defined as quality of information provided throughthe community, while system quality refers to speedy and convenientsearch for information in the community [34, 61]. Interactivity involves thedegree of information exchange among community members and betweencommunity members and the host of the community [36, 39]. Reward foractivities reflects the degree of monetary or psychological reward for proac-tive members in the brand community [53]. On-line brand community com-mitment is defined as strong and positive feelings among members towardthe community [36]. Finally, brand loyalty was adapted to the study setting

based on earlier studies like Kangs [26], and was measured by the degree

of brand attachment to products and repurchase of products/services of thebrand. Operational definitions and measurements of the research variablesare provided in Table 1.

The respondents in the study were asked to select either (1) consumer-initi-ated community or (2) company-initiated community to indicate the type ofcommunity in which they participate. The former type includes SKY People(the on-line community of the SKY mobile phone brand: www.skysamo.com),ACU (the on-line community of the Samsung AnyCall mobile phone brand:www.anycalluser.com), and the Internet Verna Club (the on-line communityof the Verna automobile brand: www.verna.co.kr), while i-SKY (the on-linecommunity of the SKY Teletech Co. mobile phone: www.isky.co.kr), Anycall

Land (the on-line community of the Samsung Electronics Co. mobile phone:www.anycall.com), and Verna Inside (the on-line community of the HyundaiMotors automobile community: http://club.hyundai-motor.com/inside) areexamples of the latter type. These were the sites where the sample for thisstudy were obtained.

Research Method

Sample and Data Collection

The questionnaire for this study was developed via the following steps: First,t it t l t d i t K ith d bl t l ti


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eofvariable

Op

erationaldefinition

Measure

ment

Source

fcommu

nity

nsumer

Voluntarilyinitiatedandoperatedbyconsumers

Binary

[

4,15,24]

mpany

Initiatedandoperatedbycompanythatownsbrand

cteristics

ofon-linebrandcommunity

alityofinformation

Qualityofinformationprovidedthroughcommunity

Excellence,affluence,newness,credibility

[21,39]

alityofsystem

Speedyandconvenientsearchforinformationincom

munity

ExcellenceofWebdesign

[21,39]

withhelpofm

enuhierarchyandlayout

Convenienceofnavigatingthroughinformation

Stabilityofsystem

access

raction

Degreeofinformationexchangeamongcommunitym

embers

Degreeofactivity

inexchanginginformation

[22,24]

andbetween

communitymembersandhostofcommunity

andinterpersonal

exchanges

Speedofinquiryandresponse

Exchangesbetwe

enhostandmembers

wardforactivities

Degreeofmo

netaryorpsychologicalrewardsforpro

active

Monetaryreward

[34]

membersofb

randcommunity

Psychologicalrew

ard

Upgrade(downgrade)ofmemberprivileges

accordingtodegr

eeofactivity

ebrandcommunity

Degreeofstrongandpositivefeelingstowardcommu

nity

Senseofbelongin

g

[7,22]

tment

amongmemb

ers

Degreeofemotionalattachment

Degreeoftrust

Degreeofsatisfac

tion

Degreeofneedto

participate

loyalty

Degreeofbrandattachmenttoorrepurchaseofprod

ucts

Recommendation

toothers

[15]

orservicesofbrand

Purchaseofbrand

e1.O

perationalDefinitionsand

MeasuresofVariables.


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68 JANG ET AL.

was conducted with ten graduate students majoring in IS managementand marketing science. The pretest respondents were asked to evaluate therelevance of the questionnaire items for each variable of the study. The ques-

tionnaire was modified in accordance with the pretest feedback. The brandcommunity leaders of SKY People, ACU, iSKY, Internet Verna Club, AnycallLand, and Verna Inside were contacted, and their brand community membere-mail lists were obtained. Using the e-mail lists, 500 questionnaires wererandomly distributed to brand community members. In addition, the surveyguidelines were uploaded onto the Web sites of the brand communities. Outof the 500 questionnaires sent, 284 were returned, which gives a response rateof 57 percent. Thirty-four questionnaires were discarded because of a lack ofintegrity in some of the answers, giving a final sample size for the analysisof 250. All of the items in the survey were measured on a seven-point Likert

scale except for type of community, which was measured by a binary scale.The statistical analysis used SPSS 12.0 for Windows.

Analysis and Results

Of the 250 respondents, 78.6 percent were male and 21.4 percent were female.Almost three-quarters of the respondents were in their twenties (exactly 73.5%),which may represent an accurate reflection of the mainstream of on-line com-munity users. Also, 57.6 percent of respondents were enrolled in consumer-

initiated communities, and 42.4 percent were members of company-initiatedcommunities. The respondents average amount of Internet use per day was5.76 hours, and the average number of community visits per day was 4.03.Table 2 provides sample characteristics of the study.

Factor Analysis

The internal consistency of the variables was verified with Cronbachs alphavalues, and 11 items showing low reliability were eliminated. Every variablehas at least three items. Validity was assessed by factor analysis. Principal

component analysis with varimax rotation was used to draw out factors. Fac-tors with an eigenvalue higher than 1.0 were selected. Table 3 demonstratesthat every variable had a factor loading higher than 0.7. Cronbachs alphavalues were also higher than 0.7, demonstrating the satisfactory reliability ofthe research variables.

Hypotheses Testing

Simple correlations among the research variables as well as descriptive sta-

tistics, such as means and standard deviations, are shown in Table 4. Pearsoncorrelations were calculated for the six variables measured by interval or ratio

l All i bl i ifi tl l t d t h th t p < 0 001


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Features (%)

Age

50s 0.4

Total 100.0

Gender

Male 78.6

Female 21.4

Total 100.0

Time period of activity in community

Less than 6 months 17.2

Less than 1 year 33.6

Less than 2 years 19.3Less than 3 years 10.5

Longer than 3 years 19.3

Total 100.0

Type of brand community

Company- initiated 42.4

Consumer- initiated 57.6

Total 100.0

Features M SD

Average hours of Internet use per day 5.76 3.436

Average stay on community Web site in hours per day 3.02 2.36Average number of visits to community per day 4.03 4.296

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Respondent Characteristics

their tolerance values were less than 1.000, indicating that multicollinearitywas not a likely threat to the parameter estimates [18].

The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. Model2 of Table 5 shows that two independent variables, information quality andsystem quality, did not significantly influence community commitment. Thus,

H11 and H12 were not supported. However, the interaction variable wassignificant, thereby supporting H13. The result implies that interaction amongcommunity members or between the members and the host/operating staffof a community has a significant effect upon the community ( = 0.365,p

2008 ijec the influence of on-line bcc on ccc and brand loyalty

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