The Influence of Online Brand Community Characteristics on Community Commitment and Brand Loyalty

Online community activities are becoming widespread thanks to the expansion of Internet use and the development of information technology. We highlight the importance of online brand, and investigate the relationship between an online community and the online brand. This study examines how online brand community characteristics affect community commitment and brand loyalty and, in particular, how the type of online brand community affects the relationships between the characteristics and community commitment. A survey of 250 respondents revealed that both interaction and reward for the activities significantly influenced the community commitment, while the community commitment was affected by neither information quality nor system quality. The results of analysis also showed that the hosting type of a community has a significant moderating effect and that the community commitment increases brand loyalty. Interpretations and implications of the findings, as well as future research directions, are discussed.