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I ENGAGEMENT in ONLINE BRAND ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITIES AND MARKETING RESEARCH ONLINE COMMUNITIES (MROCs) By Brian J. Baldus A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Business Administration – Doctor of Philosophy 2013 i ABSTRACT ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITIES AND MARKETING RESEARCH ONLINE COMMUNITIES (MROCs) By Brian J. Baldus The focus of this dissertation is to develop insights regarding the use of online brand communities (i.e., discussion forums, blogs, or other social media sites centered around a single brand or branded product) and marketing research online communities (MROCs) as strategic marketing assets to influence brand and community outcomes. This is one of the first academic research studies of MROCs. Technological advances in the last decade have fundamentally changed the tools available to marketers and enabled them to socially interact with a broader base of consumers. I developed and validated scales to measure the diverse motivations online brand community members have to participate in online brand communities using 5 rounds of quantitative and qualitative data collection from a total of 660 online brand community members. I found that there are 11 distinct motivations online brand community members have to interact with online brand communities. Additionally, I developed and tested a model to test the effects of fit between marketing activities and community member motivations to leverage social dynamics and influence brand and community outcomes using longitudinal surveys and secondary data from 256 members of 8 MROCs. There is strong support that online brand communities and MROCs can be used as strategic marketing assets to enhance brand assessments (i.e., brand commitment and oppositional brand loyalty), supportive brand behaviors (i.e., word-of-mouth, defending the brand, and willingness to pay a price premium) and ii supportive community behaviors (i.e., participation intentions and community participation). In addition, I also found counterintuitive results for the leveraging effects of marketing activities and engagement. Overall, this research contributes to the strategic marketing literature, marketing practice, marketing research firms, and marketing consultants by assessing the degree to which online brand communities and MROCs can be used as strategic marketing assets to influence a loose hierarchy of effects for brand and community outcomes. Furthermore, this research contributes to the relationship marketing literature by classifying the motivations online brand community members have to form relationships with firms, brands, and other community members. iii Copyright by Brian J. Baldus 2013 iv DEDICATION To my wife, daughter, family, friends, and colleagues, I am very grateful for your love, support, friendship, and mentoring throughout my time at Michigan State University. Miss Elizabeth, your faith, courage, laughter, and contagious smiles inspire us all. To the many doctors, nurses, and staff at Sparrow Hospital, Michigan State University’s Pediatric Hematology Oncology Group, and affiliated childhood leukemia programs of 2012-2013. Thank you for working tirelessly to save my daughter’s life in her battle with leukemia. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my committee (Dr. Roger Calantone, chair; Dr. Clay Voorhees, co-chair; Dr. Cornelia Droge; and Dr. Tomas Hult) for all their generous support, expertise, and mentoring throughout my time at Michigan State University. Thank you to the executives and managers of the firm who worked with me to collect the data for essay two. Thank you to Jacci Weber, Sam Herzing, and Cody Potter for your help as research assistants. Thank you to Jared Pratt and Scott DuHadway. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... .vii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix General Overview ........................................................................................................................... 1 ESSAYS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 LITERATURE GAPS ................................................................................................................. 5 Gaps Addressed ......................................................................................................................11 Essay One...................................................................................................................................... 13 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 13 RESEARCH BACKGROUND ................................................................................................ 16 Behavioral, Psychological, or Sociological Segmentation of Online Brand Community Members .......................................................................................................................... 21 PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................... 29 Online Brand Community Engagement Typology ................................................................ 29 METHODS AND RESULTS .................................................................................................... 37 Scale Development Procedure .............................................................................................. 37 Online Brand Community Engagement Typology Development ......................................... 58 Differences Across Online Brand Community Engagement Segments ................................ 62 Comparison of Predictive Ability of Online Brand Community Engagement Typology and Rival Role-Based Typology ...................................................................................... 68 DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................... 74 Managerial Implications ....................................................................................................... 77 Limitations and Future Research .......................................................................................... 79 Essay Two ..................................................................................................................................... 81 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 81 LITERATURE BACKGROUND ............................................................................................. 85 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT............................................................................................ 92 Marketing Activities.............................................................................................................. 93 Online Brand Community Engagement ................................................................................ 96 Leveraging Marketing Activities and Online Brand Community Engagement .................... 98 Loose Hierarchy of Effects from Psychological Sense of Community .............................. 102 METHODS ............................................................................................................................. 106 Perceptual and Secondary Measures ................................................................................... 106 Analysis and Results ............................................................................................................110 DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 121 Managerial Implications ..................................................................................................... 125 Limitations and Future Research ........................................................................................ 127 Executive Summary and Learning Implications ......................................................................... 129 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 133 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 General Overview: Brand Community Literature Research Gaps ................................... 7 Table 2 Essay One: Bases for Segmentation ............................................................................... 23 Table 3 Essay One: Summary of Steps For Brand Community Engagement Scale Development Process ..................................................................................................... 38 Table 4 Essay One: Online Brand Community Engagement Construct Definitions .................. 41 Table 5 Essay One: Scale Items, Descriptive Statistics, and Factor Loadings ........................... 48 Table 6 Essay One: Results of Measurement Model Assessment and Scale Statistics Final Validation Study Short Form Scale ................................................................................ 57 Table 7 Essay One: Paticipation Intentions Latent Class Regression Model—Results From Short Form of Engagement in Study 5 Final Validation Study ..................................... 59 Table 8 Essay One: Brand Purchase
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