Virtual community, purchasing behaviour, and emotional well-being

Cindy Yunhsin Chou*, Sukanlaya Sawang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The benefits of virtual communities in increasing firms' profits, instilling knowledge in consumers, and enhancing consumers' social experience and enjoyment are widely recognised. However, relatively little is known about how the use of a virtual community could influence consumers' emotional well-being. This study examines the relationships among virtual community features (structural and experiential routes) as antecedents of virtual community engagement, including quality of use of virtual communities (time spent online and level of information exchange), electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) purchasing behaviour, and consumers' emotional experience. Furthermore, by extending the cultural perspective to virtual community engagement, this study examines the role of collectivistic values on the aforementioned relationships. The proposed hypotheses are tested on the basis of data collected from 286 members of different virtual communities in Taiwan. The results partially support the theory that features of virtual communities influenced the quality of use, which then has a subsequent effect on consumer eWOM purchasing and emotional well-being. The results of the empirical analysis add credence to the proposed relationships. The role of collectivistic values is also partially supported. A detailed discussion of the findings and limitations of this study is provided.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)207-217
Number of pages11
JournalAustralasian Marketing Journal
Volume23
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015 Aug 1
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Collectivistic value
  • Emotional well-being
  • Quality of use
  • Virtual community

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Marketing

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