AN EXLORATION OF MEMBER INVOLVEMENT WITH ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITIES (OBCs) by Mary Loonam A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Marketing Birmingham Business School College of Social Sciences University of Birmingham October 2017 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Despite growth in research investigating online consumer behaviour there appears to be a lack of study focusing specifically on how consumers are involved within online settings. Involvement is defined as the perceived relevance of a stimulus object such as a product to the individual consumer (Zaichkowsky, 1984). The study of consumer involvement is valuable as it is believed to be important mediator of consumer behaviour in the extant literature (e.g. Slater and Armstrong, 2010; Knox, Walker and Marshall, 1994). Involvement is thought to consist of two forms namely enduring involvement and situational involvement which respectively denote long-term and temporary interest in the stimulus object (Houston and Rothschild, 1978). Components such as personal interest, sign value, hedonic value and perceived risk have been conceptualised as evoking involvement (Kapferer and Laurent, 1993). However, less is known about the forms and components that constitute online consumer involvement. This study explores member involvement with Online Brand Communities (OBCs) focusing specifically on two questions: (1) What is involving about OBCs? (2) How are members involved with OBCs? The study employs a netnographic methodology consisting of participant observation of two OBCs over a nine month period. Based on the findings from the observation data two conceptual models relating to the characteristics and development of member involvement with the OBC are presented. The ‘Typology of Online Community Involvement’ model identifies four distinct types of member involvement with the OBC: (1) utilitarian involvement, (2) social involvement, (3) ego-related involvement, and (4) affective involvement. The ‘Journey of Member Involvement with the OBC’ model charts the different pathways that members who are involved with the OBC may undertake during their membership and develops the idea of situational involvement to include an extended form called repeat situational involvement which relates to member involvement with OBC on an intermittent basis due mainly to product or purchase queries. The findings provide deeper insights into online consumer behaviour such as triggers that prompt members’ initial and continued involvement with OBCs. Recommendations for management focus on developing tools and strategies that help cultivate and sustain member involvement with the OBC. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors Prof Isabelle Szmigin and Dr Deirdre O’Loughlin for their guidance, patience and encouragement in undertaking this research. I would like to thank the individuals who participated in the two Online Brand Communities under observation. Finally, thanks to my family, friends and colleagues at Dublin City University for their support and encouragement during the PhD journey. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH ............................................................................... 1 1.3 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE RESEARCH ............................................................................ 5 1.4 RESEARCH CONTEXT, QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES .................................................. 7 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ......................................................................................... 8 1.6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 2 – INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITIES .......... 13 2.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 13 2.2 AN OVERVIEW OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES ................................................................ 13 2.3 CLASSIFICATION OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES ............................................................. 17 2.4 MOTIVATIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES .................................. 19 2.5 UNDERSTANDING ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITIES .................................................... 28 2.6 GAP IN ONLINE BRAND COMMUNITY LITERATURE ................................................... 35 2.7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 36 CHAPTER 3 – LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 37 3.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 37 3.2 EVOLUTION OF INVOLVEMENT RESEARCH ................................................................ 37 3.3 FORMS OF INVOLVEMENT.......................................................................................... 42 3.3.1 ENDURING INVOLVEMENT ................................................................................. 44 3.3.2 SITUATIONAL INVOLVEMENT ............................................................................. 48 3.4 COMPONENTS OF INVOLVEMENT .............................................................................. 51 3.5 INVOLVEMENT AND RELATED CONCEPTS ................................................................. 60 3.6 THE ROLE OF INVOLVEMENT IN THIS STUDY ............................................................ 65 3.7 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 69 CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................ 71 4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 71 4.2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY ........................................................................................... 72 4.2.1 POSITIVISM ........................................................................................................ 72 4.2.2 INTERPRETIVISM ................................................................................................ 73 4.3.3 CHOOSING A PHILOSOPHICAL PARADIGM: INTERPRETIVISM .............................. 78 4.3 TOWARDS A METHODOLOGY: NETNOGRAPHY .......................................................... 80 4.4 THE NETNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PROCESS ................................................................ 85 4.4.1 PLANNING AND ENTRÉE ..................................................................................... 85 4.4.2 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................ 88 4.4.2.1 SOURCES OF NETNOGRAPHIC DATA ............................................................. 91 4.4.3 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION............................................................. 94 4.4.4 ENSURING ETHICAL PROCEDURES ..................................................................... 99 4.4.5 REPRESENTATION AND EVALUATION ............................................................... 105 4.5 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 108 CHAPTER 5 – ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS PART I ................................................ 110 5.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 110 5.2 PROFILE OF OBC SITES UNDER OBSERVATION ....................................................... 111 5.3 SEEKING AND PROVIDING FUNCTIONAL HELP ........................................................ 114 4 5.3.1 SITUATIONAL INVOLVEMENT WITH THE PRODUCT AS BASIS FOR SEEKING FUNCTIONAL HELP ................................................................................................... 115 5.3.2 TYPES OF FUNCTIONAL HELP PROVIDED.......................................................... 121 5.4 SEEKING AND PROVIDING SOCIAL SUPPORT ........................................................... 126 5.4.1 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE AS BASIS FOR SEEKING OR PROVIDING SOCIAL SUPPORT ................................................................................................................... 128 5.4.2 PRODUCT DESIRE AS BASIS FOR SEEKING OR PROVIDING SOCIAL SUPPORT ..... 135 5.4.3 PRODUCT AND/OR BRAND COMPLAINTS AS BASIS FOR SEEKING OR PROVIDING SOCIAL SUPPORT ....................................................................................................... 140 5.5 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 148 CHAPTER