TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose In an online brand community (OBC), consumers as a group occupy a dominant position, and their horizontal interactions are pivotal for the consumer–brand relationship. However, little is known about the effect of group characteristics on brands. To partially fill this gap, this study examines how group characteristics influence brand loyalty from the perspective of social identity theory. Specifically, by collecting data from an online survey, this paper investigates the effects of group similarity, group receptivity and group involvement on brand loyalty, the mediating role of community identification and the moderating effect of tenure in a community.Design/methodology/approach Data from 482 brand community members were analyzed using structural equation modeling.Findings The results show that group similarity, group receptivity and group involvement increase brand loyalty; furthermore, the effect is mediated by community identification. Moreover, group receptivity is more effective in fostering community identification of short-tenure members, whereas group similarity plays a more important role for long-tenure members.Originality/value This paper enriches the brand community literature from a group perspective and provides implications for how brand communities develop customer loyalty strategies.
VL  - 33
IS  - 1
SN  - 1355-5855
DO  - 10.1108/APJML-06-2019-0377
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-06-2019-0377
AU  - Liao Junyun
AU  - Wang Lu
AU  - Huang Minxue
AU  - Yang Defeng
AU  - Wei Haiying
PY  - 2020
Y1  - 2020/01/01
TI  - The group matters: examining the effect of group characteristics in online brand communities
T2  - Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 124
EP  - 144
Y2  - 2024/05/04
ER  -