University of Twente Student Theses

Consumer-Centered Marketing. Consumer-brand relationships: motivational antecedents for participation in online brand communities and the consequences for brands and online brand communities, a cross-cultural perspective.

Koppelaar, G.W. (2014) Consumer-Centered Marketing. Consumer-brand relationships: motivational antecedents for participation in online brand communities and the consequences for brands and online brand communities, a cross-cultural perspective.

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Abstract:	Brand communities are a more common platform for brands to interact with active consumer, and for consumers to interact with fellow community members. Active community members are seen as one of the most committed and loyal consumers of brand. Moreover, these members could facilitate the brand with important information like innovative ideas and product changes. From a marketing perspective it is important to understand how to set up a successful brand community, to profit from the benefits it produces. Especially for global brands it is important to understand how to acquire community members with different cultural backgrounds, and to assure their engagement with the community. The aim of this research was to investigate how differences in cultural backgrounds (i.e. individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance) as moderator would affect the influence of motives to engage and participate in online brand communities (i.e. informative motive, social, status enhancement, entertainment) on the brand consequences (brand loyalty and brand attitude) and community related consequences (i.e. community credibility, community, identification, and community involvement). An online questionnaire was conducted among brand community members, while non-members were primed with a scenario. Questionnaires were distributed on existing global brand communities, resulting in a geographically diverse sample. The findings show a significant influence of community credibility and community involvement on the brand consequences. Moreover, some of the motivations are significant predictors for brand consequences and community consequences, of which social and entertainment elicit the most interactions with the consequences. However, little significant evidence was found for the influence of cultural values on the interactions. Overall, the results highlight the relevance of the recognition of the differences in cultural values while building or maintaining a brand community, and the importance of cross-cultural research in brand communities.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	05 communication studies
Programme:	Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/64847
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