Sense of Virtual Community : Conceptual Framework and Empirical Validation
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In this article, we introduce the “sense of virtual community” construct and explore the factors that are expected to affect it. We also examine the moderating effect of the virtual community origin. By analyzing 172 responses, we found that the sense of virtual community is affected by the virtual community characteristics such as (1) leaders’ enthusiasm, (2) perceived similarity, (3) off-line activities, and (4) playfulness. From the moderated regression analysis, we also found that the virtual community origin moderates the relationship between virtual community characteristics and sense of virtual community.Keywords:
Virtual community
Sense of Community
Similarity (geometry)
Affect
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Purpose The aim of this paper is to employ the perspectives of uses and gratification theory and experiential marketing to investigate the antecedents of virtual community (VC) members’ attitude formation and knowledge‐contribution intention through the sense of virtual community (SOVC) and the interaction between their motivations and experiences in a peer‐to‐peer problem solving (P3) VC. Design/methodology/approach This study chose a well‐known professional IT VC in Taiwan, the ITHelp community, as the target for data collection. An online survey linked from the homepage of this community was used through the cooperation of the vendor of this community. This study employs the partial least squares (PLS) method to examine the research model. Findings The results show that members’ attitudes toward their VCs are determined by the interaction between their motivations for and experiences with P3 VC usages. Moreover, SOVC plays full mediating roles in the relationship between attitude toward P3 VC and knowledge‐contribution intention. Research limitations/implications VC managers need to aim at creating pleasant experiences for their members and foster their belongingness and consciousness to form higher SOVC. The conclusions are restricted to a VC that involves IT‐related issues, which focuses problem solving rather than being socially oriented. Members of IT P3 VCs are usually highly innovative and enthusiastic about new IT products, which is quite different from the membership of other P3 VCs. Originality/value Extant studies seldom considered the effects of SOVC and members’ experiences on knowledge‐contribution behavior. The mediating role of SOVC and the interaction between motivations and experience can enhance our understanding about online knowledge‐contribution behavior.
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Online Community
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More and more people have adapted to joining online virtual communities to get and share information. Little is known about what makes a virtual community more appealing to users. In order to address the gap in existing research regarding why and how consumers identify with virtual communities, the current research focuses on virtual community of interactivity, and analyzes its main attributes and the relation between these attributes and user's participation behavior. The research results indicate that there're five key attributes (target & positioning, standardization, technical support, interactivity and content richness) of virtual community acting as important factors that exert a positive influence on online consumer's participation behavior.
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From a social capital perspective,this study investigates the factors that influence the sense of virtual community(SOVC) of the users' of virtual community(VC).We propose a research model in which SOVC,which is composed of membership,influence and immersion,is positively influenced by the degree of involvement in the VC,the familiarity with other members in the VC,the perceived similarity with other community members and trust in other members.We also propose that membership status moderates the effects of familiarity on influence and immersion.We collect data from Taobao Virtual Community and empirically test the research model.The results support most of these hypotheses proposed and the applications of this models are discussed.
Virtual community
Immersion
Sense of Community
Similarity (geometry)
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Virtual community
Anticipation (artificial intelligence)
Sense of Community
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Online Community
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This paper presents an analysis of the relationships between individuals' traits and cohesion in the virtual community environment. Individual traits relate to personal qualities of members of the community where this paper attempts to present their influence over community cohesion. Four research variables were identified to represent the traits of the virtual community members. Experience relates to the number of years with the virtual community. Type relates to the type of virtual community platform or media used whereas preference is the choice selected by the members on the most preferred platform or media. Lastly involvement refers to the kinds of virtual community the members involved in. A virtual community cohesion measurement was used to test the significance of the four research variables. The findings show that Experience, Type and Involvement of members of the community are the traits that can influence virtual community cohesion. Involvement in the virtual community was however found not significant in contributing to social cohesion.
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Cohesion (chemistry)
Community cohesion
Online Community
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Purpose-This study developed a measurement (Study 1) and an integrated model (Study2) of SOMVC. On the basis of the past literature on Sense of Community (SOC), Sense of Virtual Community (SOVC), and Mobile Connection and Communication (i.e., the characteristics of mobile Internet), this study aimed to develop the dimensions and items of SOMVC. The integrated SOMVC model was developed by integrating Social Influence Theory and community loyalty. Design/methodology/approach - Four surveys were conducted through convenience sampling of college students who were also Facebook users participated in this study. Study 1 included 304 valid samples (119 from first survey; 185 from second survey) and Study 2 collected 326 valid samples (123 from third survey; 203 from fourth survey). Findings-First, this study developed a 15-item measurement of SOMVC that included 5 dimensions: Membership, Influence, Integration and Fulfillment of Needs, Shared Emotional Connection, and Mobile Connection and Communication. Second, this study found that Social Influence Factors (i.e., Group Norm, Social Identity, and Subjective Norm) significantly and positively influenced SOMVC, whereas SOMVC significantly and positively influenced Community Loyalty. SOMVC fully mediated the relationship between Social Influence Factors and Community Loyalty. Finally, within Social Influence Factors, this study found that Group Norms significantly and positively influenced Social Identity, and that Social Identity significantly and positively influenced Subjective Norm. Research limitations/implications-Future research can study other segments to retest the SOMVC measurement. In addition, future studies can compare the integrated model between different types of virtual communities (i.e., transactions, interest, fantasy, and relationship) and include moderators (e.g., susceptibility to interpersonal influence) in the integrated model. Practical implications-This study verified that SOMVC positively influenced members' Community Loyalty; hence, increasing the SOMVC is crucial in maintaining a virtual community. This study suggested 3 approaches to increase the SOMVC: strengthen specific topics, purposes, values, and the vision of the virtual community to internalize them as members' beliefs (i.e., Group Norm); design a feedback or recommendation mechanism in the virtual community to increase recommenders' Social Identity; assign leaders in the virtual community to establish common norms and rules, and then influence members to participate in the community (i.e., Subjective Norm). Originality/value-The SOVC concept has been widely discussed and applied since the 2000s because of the growth of the Internet. With mobile Internet becoming increasingly popular, this study first introduced the concept of SOMVC and developed the SOMVC measurement and integrated model.
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Sense of Community
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Wikipidia is a collaborative web site of knowledge sharing platforms. Based on a survey of 202 Wikipedians, this study develop a theoretical framework to examine the relationship between individual value (utilitarian/hedonic) received, group cohesiveness and virtual community participation. Result from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis reveal that individual motivation has positive effect on virtual community participation. Hence, group cohesiveness moderates participants’ motivations on virtual community participation. Most of the past studies on virtual networks knowledge contribution focused only on the individual level, this study address the literature gap by exploring group level and the mutual relationships between participants in virtual communities.
Value (mathematics)
Virtual community
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Sense of virtual community (SOVC) is a feeling of belongingness and attachment to a certain virtual community when people communicate to each others online. SOVC is such a core concept that it not only strengthens the members' belongingness to the community, but also increases their loyalty that ultimately enhances the impact of the virtual community. Although several literatures have thoroughly discussed SOVC, however, the dimensions of SOVC and its consequences and antecedents have not yet been addressed properly. This study attempts to investigate the key dimensions of SOVC, explore the antecedents of SOVC, and then examine its consequences. Online Survey had been adopted in which 1,200 qualified sample participants of certain virtual communities were collected. The results of the empirical study point to the following findings. First, SOVC contains three key dimensions, belongingness of membership, influence, and immersion. Second, the results of structure equation model analysis show that three anteced ents-leaders' enthusiasm, perceived enjoyability, and perceived usefulness-have significant impacts on all dimensions of SOVC. Third, all the antecedents and the dimensions of SOVC lead to increasing member loyalty toward virtual community.
Belongingness
Sense of Community
Virtual community
Sense of presence
Social Connectedness
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This paper aims to determine whether social cohesion can be informed by current practices of virtual community members represented by four research variables namely experiences in using the social media, the types and preference of social media used, and their involvement in certain
categories of virtual community.These four research variables were tested against the virtual community cohesion constructs to determine significant relationships and to predict their influence on social cohesion in the virtual
community environment.Results of this study show that Experience, Types of Social Media and Virtual Community Involvement are current practices
in the virtual community that can influence social cohesion.Social Media Preference was however not found to be significant in influencing social cohesion.
Cohesion (chemistry)
Virtual community
Community cohesion
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Virtual communities that feature avatars are an emerging social software business model on the Internet. Avatars are Internet users' graphical representations of themselves in virtual environments. This study investigates how virtual community members' satisfaction with avatars is formed. We test a research model that proposes that social factors influence virtual community members' satisfaction with avatars. We draw upon social presence theory, social comparison theory, and self-identity theory. Data from a field experiment (N=134) is analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Our results provide empirical support for our proposed model. We report that social factors affect virtual community members' satisfaction with the use of avatars in virtual communities. Our intended contribution is to help both managers and academics understand aspects of customer behavior and customer satisfaction when using avatars in virtual communities. This study also presents suggestions for future research regarding the use of social software in business.
Exploratory research
Virtual community
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