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The Role of Sense of Community in Online Brand Social Networking Sites University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2012 The Role of Sense of Community in Online Brand Social Networking Sites Je Won Lyu [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Business and Corporate Communications Commons, E-Commerce Commons, Marketing Commons, and the Sales and Merchandising Commons Recommended Citation Lyu, Je Won, "The Role of Sense of Community in Online Brand Social Networking Sites. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2012. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/1540 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Je Won Lyu entitled "The Role of Sense of Community in Online Brand Social Networking Sites." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management. Heejin Lim, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Ann Fairhurst, Wanda Costen, Michael Palenchar Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) The Role of Sense of Community in Online Brand Social Networking Sites A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Je Won Lyu December 2012 i Copyright © 2012 by Je Won Lyu All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I give my sincere gratitude and great appreciation to all of my Committee members who have guided and helped me to make this tough journey of Ph.D. program. Especially, I am in debt my life to my wonderful advisors, Dr. Heejin Lim and Dr. Ann Fairhurst, for their encouragement, enduring support, guidance, and trust throughout my doctoral study. I cannot imagine this journey without my advisor, Dr. Heejin Lim. Because of her tremendous amount of time, effort, and caring heart in the process of developing this research, I was able to finish this research with great joy. She is my best-friend, sister, and mentor. I am grateful to have her in my life personally and professionally. She will be my mentor forever. I would also like to give my sincere appreciation to Dr. Ann Fairhurst for her patience, support, guidance, and encouragement. Whenever I need thoughtful advices, she was always there. She will be my mentor and helper forever. I never met a great person like her. It was an honor to work with her and be with her in the same department. I wish to say thank to my dissertation committee members, Dr. Wanda Costen and Dr. Michael Palenchar for giving me the opportunity to learn and to have them as my dissertation committee. Their invaluable discussions contributed to my dissertation in many ways, and it was great to work with the scholars from various disciplines. Their insights led me to have “open eyes” to other disciplines. I also wish to express my thanks to the faculty, staff, and colleagues at the RHTM. To Judy, Pat, and Marcia, and my classmates, I thank you for your warm support and help for the past four years. I would not able to finish this journey without the love, support, and encouragement from my family and friends. I was able to finish this research because of my wonderful parents and my brother. Although they were not with me, I was able to go through my toughest journey because their prayers and hearts with me all the time. I cannot find right words to express my thanks to my family for their great patience and love. My thanks also go to my friends who have made me complete this long journey. Especially, I want to give my big thanks to MJ and her family. You know that you are my sister. I wish to give my sincere gratitude to all my friends who I cannot name here. I am grateful to have you all in my life. Most importantly, none of this could have been possible without my Lord Jesus Christ, who gave me strengths all the time. He is my Savior and my God. iii ABSTRACT This study was designed to explore the phenomenon of social commerce marketing in relation to consumer-brand relationship development. The specific research objective were as follows: (a) to identify multiple factors motivating consumers to have sense of community in the context of brand social networking sites; (b) to investigate the effects of general connection between consumers and the brand on developing a sense of online brand community in social networking site-based brand communities; (c) to examine potential outcomes of having a sense of online brand community in brand social networking sites such as brand commitment, advocacy, and loyalty; (d) to investigate whether levels of participation in brand social networking site strengthens the relationship between a sense of online brand community and relational outcomes such as brand commitment. Theoretical foundations from sense of community (i.e., sense of psychological community), social identity theory, and social capital theory were used to support and test a proposed model. This research employed an online self-administered survey method. A total of 617 complete responses were collected from consumer panels across United States. The analyses of responses were based on a two-step approach: confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Through confirmatory factor analyses with the measurement model development, each construct was examined carefully. The results from the structural model suggested that perceived social support and consumer-brand relationship were important drivers of relationship mediators (i.e., sense of online brand community), which led to relational outcomes (i.e., brand commitment, brand preference, brand advocacy, and behavioral loyalty). However, need for affiliation did not have impact on developing a sense of online brand community. In addition, the levels of engagement of in brand social networking sites strengthened the relationship between sense of online brand community and brand commitment. From the results, academic and managerial implications were suggested, and suggestions for future research were presented. iv Table of Contents CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Research Phenomenon .............................................................................................................................. 1 The Purpose of the Study .......................................................................................................................... 3 The Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 10 Theoretical Foundation ........................................................................................................................... 10 The Conceptualization of Community ................................................................................................ 11 Consumption and Community ............................................................................................................ 13 Community in Cyberspace .................................................................................................................. 16 Psychological Sense of Community ................................................................................................... 18 Sense of Community ........................................................................................................................... 20 Sense of Community Framework ....................................................................................................... 23 Table 3. Key Literature and Findings of Selected Studies on SOC .............................................. 24 The Concept of Sense of Virtual Community ..................................................................................... 25 Sense of Brand Community in BSNs: Sense of Online Brand Community ....................................... 27 Social Identity Theory ............................................................................................................................. 29 Social Capital Theory ............................................................................................................................. 32 HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................................... 34 Need for Affiliation Motive ................................................................................................................ 36 Perceived Exchange Support .................................................................................................................. 39 Individual Characteristics ................................................................................................................... 43 Consumer-Brand Relationship ...........................................................................................................
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