Journal of International Business Research and Marketing Volume 2, Issue 1, 2016 journal homepage: www.researchleap.com Virtual Community Engagement on Facebook Brand Page Zhang Jing1, Heang Sotheara2, Mom Virak3 1Professor of Marketing, School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China 2PhD Candidate, School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China 3College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China ABSTRACT 2017 Research Leap/Inovatus Services Ltd. The behavior of consumers in virtual community varies according to the types of the All rights reserved. community they feel belonged to. The study may not only be conducted to understand what drives consumers to participate in the virtual brand community but may also seek to understand DOI: 10.18775/jibrm.1849-8558.2015.17.3001 how members could get themselves with the community. The finding indicates that hedonic URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.18775/jibrm.1849- benefit is the strongest stimulus, which links to higher engagement. Though economic motive 8558.2015.17.3001 and product learning are not found to have a significant effect on sharing and commenting behavior; they are considered inherent. From theoretical contribution, the papers also provide Keywords: strategic marketing directions to promote virtual community engagement. Virtual Brand Community Engagement Behavior Facebook 1. Introduction Social media has proven to be an effective channel which liking or commenting on the posts and status which may lead to influences consumers’ brand perception and consumption enhancing the bond that turns them into engaged fans (Kabadayi behavior (Munnukka, Karjaluoto, & Tikkanen, 2015). A brand & Price, 2014). can reach a large number of potential segments with low promotional costs through enhanced virtual community (Flavián Laroche, Habibi, and Richard (2013) also emphasized that one of & Guinalíu, 2005), and subsequently produce a favorable the core values of Facebook brand community is not only to outcome (Sotheara, Jing, & Yat, 2016). Previous studies defined bring people with similar characteristics together but also to brand community as non-geography with a shared identity, a facilitate the communication. Moreover, online brand sense of moral responsibility and commitment toward a brand communities are not only understood to be effective platforms (Flavián & Guinalíu, 2005; Muniz & O'guinn, 2001; Ouwersloot for both brand owners and customers but also act like the mean to & Odekerken‐Schröder, 2008), and/or connected to a product. enhance customers involvement in marketing dialogue with the brands and to foster customer interaction with one another Members of brand communities perform two particular loyalty (Munnukka et al., 2015). Zaglia (2013) defined a Facebook group behavior, loyalty toward the preferred brand and oppositional established by a company around its brand as a true brand loyalty toward competing brand (Thompson & Sinha, 2008). community which should be distinguished from a mere fan page. People perform these behaviors when they meet and talk about the brand in a group meeting or any particular events provided by Current study suggested that customers’ commitment and the brands or companies. However, members or fans now may behavior within brand communities vary significantly among participate such community activities just one click on social different community types such as offline and online community, networking sites. fan pages, and small group brand community (Munnukka et al., 2015). However, certain particular behaviors, both active and For example, a brand page or even individual page is easily passive participation, have been found to enhance the value of the created with even no cost where brands can post, like, comment virtual community (Shang, Chen, & Liao, 2006). For example, and share to engage their visitors including current and potential some members of the Facebook community get involved with consumers. In return, consumers respond to these efforts by more active communication, while others focus on evaluating or 7 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, vol. 2, issue 1, pp. 7-13, November 2016 8 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing watching the continuing communication around shared brand meet and interact with companies or brands. Moreover, many interests (Ho, 2014). Studies also suggested that common small business owners see Facebook as an effective marketing interests, values or desire among participants to discuss specific and sales channels that pay high dividends and enable the issues are also motives for community participation (Shang et al., companies to attract new customers, improve the effectiveness of 2006). communication with customers, and finally gain a better understanding of consumers' needs (Chen et al., 2014). The consequences of brand engagement have arisen in previous discussions. Engagement enhances consumer's attitudes toward The study indicated that having a Facebook page increases sales brand and purchase intention (Duffett, 2015; T. Yang (2012)). for small business (www.pagemodo.com). This implication Similarly, Shang et al. (2006) suggested that promoting encourages the companies to create a page around their brands to community participation may also increase brand loyalty. Loyal engage their visitors including their fans and potential and satisfied customers are then more likely to engage in word- consumers. Likewise, the Facebook brand page provides of-mouth (WoM) favorable to the firm (Chen, consumers high possibility to interact with brands in a more Papazafeiropoulou, Chen, Duan, & Liu, 2014). direct way by liking and/or commenting on brand's posts and messages (Kabadayi & Price, 2014). When a consumer places a Moreover, the significance of brand community enhances the comment on brand’s Facebook page, awareness of the brand can value of the brand, but there are few papers (Gummerus, rise markedly (Direction). People can see who has made a Liljander, Weman, & Pihlström, 2012; Pihlstrom, 2012; Shi, comment and, more importantly, gain access to their views, Chen, & Chow, 2016) empirically discussing the specific thoughts, and feelings (Direction). This form of communication engagement behaviors – Like, Comment and Share feature on is likely to drive presumption blossom into a new and profitable Facebook, which are supposed to represent user's engagement – way (Lilley et al., 2012). performed by Facebook users on this communication platform. This paper reviews relevant academic marketing literature in the Engagement behavior discussion on Facebook brand community, then develops a conceptual framework and test Generally speaking, Facebook users are supposed to join the proposed hypotheses. Empirical finding illustrates the community when they interact with the community elements and relationship between community participation stimuli and participate in any form of joint activity (Ho, 2014). However, specific engagement behaviors performed by Facebook users. some members of the Facebook community get involved with more active communication, while others focus on watching the 2. Literature Review continuous communication around shared brand interest (Ho, Facebook as virtual community platform 2014). For example, if a customer logs in a Facebook community Facebook has become the world's most popular networking site to become a member and comment, share experience, interact with more than 1.65 billion monthly active users of 2016 with the marketer, ask questions about the brand or product, or (www.en.wikipedia.org). The study showed that users spend six answers comments, that member is participating in the days a week, 2.6 hours per day on Facebook (Lilley, Grodzinsky, community activities. & Gumbus, 2012). 82 percent of active users disclosed personal information such as date of birth, mobile phone number, home On Facebook, a brand page is a good platform for community. address and relationship status, etc. which help shape to catalog With this platform, certain buttons are displayed to allow users to potential customers via specific segments or characteristics express their thoughts, feeling, and participation. Like button on (Delerue & Hopkins, 2012; Lilley et al., 2012). Facebook has gained attraction among brands from various industries which have seen to improve the performance of the In addition, typical Facebook users regularly interact with their brands after implementation (Kabadayi & Price, 2014). “Likes” friends by posting messages about their personal lives, helps companies promote brand awareness and engagement popular/unpopular trending issues and/or their opinion or which, in turn, contribute to return on investment, while experience with products/companies (Kucukemiroglu & Kara, commenting on brand pages allows consumers to share their 2015). This form of communication is considered as an important opinions about or agreement/disagreement with the content on resource for many consumers and is considered more effective the pages (Kabadayi & Price, 2014). than advertising in influencing certain purchase decisions (Peterson & Merino, 2003). Like: According to Phua and Ahn (2014), "likes'" holds its functional meaning including different degrees of liking and Such platform may drive future business direction where people whether people judge the value of "like" based on their are encouraged to have a conversation or dialog on a product relationships to others (e.g. friends,