TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose Although recent research appreciates that consumers increasingly interact with brands in brand communities and that brand engagement is an important and complex phenomenon in brand communities, little is known about the nature of individuals’ brand engagement in brand communities. This study aims to identify brand community members’ segments in terms of their brand engagement within the community; help us understand if these segments use a different approach in the development of brand loyalty; and develop mechanisms that can be used to identify members of these segments.Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a quantitative approach and uses a total of 970 responses from members of Facebook brand pages in three popular languages on Facebook (English, French and Spanish). Data are analysed with structural equation modelling, integrating FIMIX-PLS and POS-PLS.Findings The results reveal that cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement dimensions play a different role in driving brand loyalty. Three different segments of engaged consumers exist (emotional engagers, thinkers and active engagers). Variables related to the perceived value of the brand community provide initial explanations as to the differences of the consumer groups.Research limitations/implications The data were collected from a specific type of brand communities (Facebook-based, company-managed brand communities) and are self-reported.Practical implications This work demonstrates the heterogeneity of brand community members in terms of their brand engagement profile and the effect of this profile on the formation of behavioural brand loyalty. Suggestions on identifying members of these segments based on the value that they get from the community are offered.Originality/value This work extends the brand engagement and brand community literature. It is the first work that provides this nature of actionable suggestions to the teams supporting brands with brand communities.
VL  - 53
IS  - 9
SN  - 0309-0566
DO  - 10.1108/EJM-11-2017-0818
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-11-2017-0818
AU  - Dessart Laurence
AU  - Aldás-Manzano Joaquín
AU  - Veloutsou Cleopatra
PY  - 2019
Y1  - 2019/01/01
TI  - Unveiling heterogeneous engagement-based loyalty in brand communities
T2  - European Journal of Marketing
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 1854
EP  - 1881
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -