Encouraging Passive Members of Online Brand Communities to Generate eWOM Based on TAM and Social Capital Theory

Online brand communities have become a strong marketing tool for companies. However, passive members form the majority of these communities, and although it is recognized that passive members’ electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has a powerful impact on success and prosperity of online brand communities, little research has been devoted so far to the factors influencing their eWOM. To improve our understanding of how to encourage passive members of online brand communities to generate eWOM, this study incorporates the technology acceptance model (TAM) and social capital theory to examine the influence of the factors in the TAM (perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness) on the different types of eWOM behaviors (opinion seeking and passing), while looking at bonding and bridging social capital as mediating factors. An internet questionnaire survey, in which 600 passive users of an online brand community were recruited in China, was conducted to validate hypothetical model with structural equation modeling using AMOS 24. The findings confirm that bonding and bridging social capital have significant, positive, direct effects on passive users’ opinion seeking and passing. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use are indirect positively related to opinion seeking and passing through the mediating roles of passive members’ bonding and bridging social capital. Finally, we propose specific recommendations for online brand community operators and members.