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The purpose of this paper is to understand the customer attitude and perception towards the online brand communities (OBCs) and purchase intention (PI). The paper also analyses the moderating effects of age, income and internet usage on the relationship among the proposed variables.

The study employed a multi-analytical approach through the use of structural equation modelling and neural networks to test the proposed framework. The information was obtained from 236 respondents using a web-based questionnaire survey. Further, moderation analysis, with age, annual family income and weekly internet usage as moderating variables, was conducted on the structural model.

The results of the analysis demonstrate that the multi-group moderating effect for different groups within age, income and internet usage have significant differences for the relationships between the independent variables content perception, perceived usefulness, critical mass, brand attachment and attitude towards brand and the dependent variable, PI.

The study is one of its kind to understand and analyse the role of moderating variables (age, income and internet usage) on OBC-induced PI.

Social networking sites (SNSs), especially Facebook, have made deep inroads in the teaching-learning process worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to understand the key factors which influence a students’ intention to use Facebook for academic usage.

A web-based questionnaire survey was administered among 218 students enrolled in higher education programme of universities/institutions in National Capital Territory of Delhi. The relationship among the proposed variable were tested through structural equation modelling and neural network (NN) approach. SEM is used to identify and validate the factors significant to influence the intention to use Facebook among students. To further find which of the factors are more influential, factors NN with tenfold cross-validation was used to identify the factors which are more influential among the ones proposed in this study.

The results suggested that the proposed framework has a good fit and the five relationships hypothesized were found to be significant; thus, establishing that the antecedent factors have a positive influence on the intention of users (student) to actively use Facebook as an academic medium for collaborative learning.

This study establishes that the antecedent factors identified in the course of this study have a positive influence on the intention to use Facebook for higher academics and collaborative learning by the students. This paper suggests and supports the adoption and usage of Facebook as a learning tool for higher academics.

The growing use of internet-based learning (IBL) platforms in institutions of higher education is producing profound changes in the traditional teaching learning process worldwide. This paper aims to identify and understand the ways in which higher education institutions draw benefits by the use of such means, synthesizing the literature research.

The study synthesized the literature research by using a mixed method approach in which both Web of Science (WoS) and bibliographic techniques were used to retrieve the relevant data base.

The comprehensive review of the literature suggests that communication technology (CT), massive open online courseware (MOOCs), social networking sites (SNSs), blogs, real simple syndication (RSS) and YouTube are creating new possibilities and avenues of collaborative learning by transforming the traditional class and teacher-centric system.

Multiplicity of the IBL platforms and rapid technological obsolesce are some of the limitations of this paper.

The findings of this study are highly useful in developing a strategic framework to accelerate the integration of IBL platforms to make teaching learning process more interactive and informative.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of online brand communities on customers’ attitude, who engage with such communities, and their further influence on purchase intention (PI).

A conceptual framework was developed by reviewing literature and then validating it in the context of customers, engaged with Facebook brand pages. The framework empirically examined the influence of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence and attachment with brand (AWB) on attitude towards brand and PI; alongside the influence of AWB on PI, from 206 responses gathered from an online survey administered to Facebook users. The framework was validated by using structural equation modelling.

The results demonstrate that the proposed framework was found to have a good fit, and seven of eight relationships hypothesized were found to be significant. The study establishes that the online brand communities have an impact on the customers’ attitude, which in turn has an influence on customers’ intention to purchase.

This study is first of its kind to analyse the engagement on Facebook online brand communities and the influence they have on the customers’ attitude towards a brand which further develops the PI of the customer. The paper suggests and supports the adoption and usage of online brand communities as a part marketing and communication strategy.