This slides was presented at ISBE 2014 conference.

1. SME competitiveness through
online brand communities: exploration
of brand loyalty
Mojtaba Poorrezaei
Dr. Aleksej Heinze

2. I am going to talk about…
O A Brief Introduction
O Why Engagement is Important?
O Brand Loyalty Definition
O Engagement in Online Brand Community
O Motivations of Engagement
O Research Model
O Implications

5. Challenge
WEB 2.0
Online Brand
Community
Engagement
Brand
Loyalty

6. Online Brand Community
“a specialised, non-geographically bound, online
community, based on social communications and
relationships among a brand’s consumers” (De Valck,
2009)
 Over the past decade, managers and researchers
have taken great interest in how online
communities can galvanize Internet users to
engage in more collaboration, promotion, and
purchases.
 Central to discussion about OBC is the use of the
terms “engage” and engagement to describe the
nature of participants’ interactions experiences

7. Why Engagement is
Important?
O Academic Perspective: AMA (2013) & MSI (2012)
research priorities / ISR (2014) & JSR (2012) special issues
O Business Perspective: Engagement as
 A vehicle for creating, building and enhancing consumer
relationships
 A strategic imperative for establishing and sustaining a
competitive advantage
 A valuable predictor of future business performance
 A primary driver of sales growth
Consumer engagement enhances profitability

9. Online Engagement

10. Brand Loyalty
Brand
Loyalty
Behavioral
Preferential
Attitudinal
“the preferential, attitudinal and behavioral response toward one or
more brands in a product category expressed over a period of time by
a consumer” (Engel, 1981)

11. Engagement in OBC
Socialising
Engagement
Sharing
Co-developing
Learning
Advocating
Visit
Duration
&
Frequenc
y of visit
Poster&
Lurker

12. Components of Engagement
O Socialising: Two-way, non-functional interaction
through which consumers acquire and develop
attitudes and community language.
O Sharing: when consumers share personal relevant
information, knowledge and experiences.
O Advocating: When consumers actively encourage
other members to buy a specific brand.
O Learning: finding the information that consumers
need to purchase and consumption decision-making
O Co-developing: consumers contribute to
organisations and organisational performance by
assisting in the development of new products,
services.

13. Motivations for Engagement
Engagement
Information
Quality
Community
Identification
Brand
Identification
Group Norm

14. Constructs Operational Definition Number of Measures Source of Measurement Items
Information Quality The degree to which the provided
information is perceived as being
accurate, up to date and complete
4 Zhou (2012), Lin (2008) and
Dholakia et al. (2009).
Group Norm The commitment of community
members to the shared goals and
values.
2 Dholakia et al. (2004), Shen et al.
(2009) and (Zhou, 2011).
Brand Identification The degree to which individuals
see themselves as being attached
to the brand.
5 Bagozzi and Dholakia (2006), Lam
et al. (2010), Hughes, Ahearne
(2010) and Carlson et al. (2008).
Community Identification The degree to which individuals
see themselves as being attached
to the community.
5 Shen et al. (2009), Carlson et al.
(2008) and Lam et al. (2010).
Consumer Engagement The degree to which one engages
in community regarding sharing,
advocating, co-developing,
socialising and learning.
5 De Valck et al. (2009) and Brodie
et al. (2013) and the Authors.
Brand Loyalty The degree to which one tends to
continue purchasing the brand
and recommends it to others.
4 Hollebeek (2011), Gummerus et
al. (2012) and Nam et al. (2011).

15. Research Model
Brand
Loyalty
Consumer
Engagement
Community
Identification
Brand
Identification
Information
Quality
Group Norm

16. Research Approach
O Literature review of 43 articles from top
journals addressing engagement in OBC
O Adapt netnography method to study an
OBC
O Conducting online survey in order to
collect data from members of OBC

17. Data Analysis

18. Implications
O When small firms are considering their online
strategies, they need to address the following
issues:
 Quality of information shared in online brand
community
 Closeness of online brand community
members
 Sustainable long-term community
engagement strategy