Psychological empowerment and user satisfaction: Investigating the influences of online brand community participation

The exponential growth of online brand communities has created a platform where empowered consumers can share knowledge and experiences and participate in community activities. Drawing from psychological empowerment theory, this study proposes a comprehensive framework integrating both social and functional views to investigate the determinants that enhance psychological empowerment and user satisfaction, which consequently influence online brand community participation. By shedding light on the explanatory path routes and highlighting the underexplored and distinctive role of psychological empowerment, this study provides theoretical contributions to illustrate how an enabling environment can be cultivated to drive consumer participation in brand value co-creation.     

How media choice affects learner interactions in distance learning classes

In this research we explore aspects of learning, social interaction and community across online learning, also known as distance learning, in higher education. We measure the impact of online social networking (OSN) software versus traditional learning management system (LMS) software. Guided by a theoretical model for how individuals learn and interact within online communities, we measure student perceptions of learning, social interaction and course community before and after our interventions. Survey instruments measure perceived learning, social interaction and community, which we further explore using social network analysis (SNA). Survey results identified that students experienced higher levels of perceived social interaction and course community and, overall, had higher levels of satisfaction with OSN software than those using LMS software. Along this line, SNA results corroborated that OSN software yielded a higher number of interactions, providing a more engaging learning experience.     

基于文本挖掘及情感分析的社区负面舆论传播预测模型

企业品牌舆论监控、网络敏感社区及重点社区识别是当前企业舆情监控的重点工作。作为网络社会的子集,不同的网络社区（社交媒体中联系密切的群体）由于社区网络结构的不同、社区成员情感倾向的不同,导致企业负面新闻在其中的传播会表现出来不同的特质。从网络社区的角度出发,研究不同社区情感倾向及社区网络结构下,企业负面新闻在其中产生的影响;进而提出了基于文本挖掘及情感分析的社区负面舆论传播预测模型。根据心理学测量视角ProfileofMoodStates（POMS）测度社区成员情感倾向（Tendency）,以事件划分时间窗口;通过对连续六个用抓取的网络数据使用文本挖掘相关算法分析每个事件窗口内社区成员六种情感的分布（愤怒、紧张、失望等）;在情感分布及网络结构上进行聚类,识别不同类别的情感倾向的网络社区;在些基础上建立社区情感倾向及舆论传播预测模型。测试结果表明：该模型在对网络社区情感倾向的识别及舆论传播倾向预测方面有较高的准确度,在舆论传播监控、敏感社区及重点社区识别等方面有一定的指导意义。     

Outcomes of effective explanations: Empowering citizens through online advice

Online advisory services are increasingly being adopted by modern service organisations as an effective way of interacting with their customers. However, despite their importance, our understanding of the value of online advisory services is limited, particularly in the e-government context. Systematic studies addressing design guidelines and best practices for online advisory tools are sparse. This study experimentally investigates the key role that effective online advisory tools play in generating a sense of empowerment among consumers in a government-citizen context. Our findings indicate that tools that have ‘enhanced’ explanatory facilities lead to both improved decision-process satisfaction and decision-advice transparency, in line with prior theory. Further, the study extends the theory on explanations and service design by showing that the higher levels of satisfaction and transparency flow on to empowerment effects, namely a higher sense of control and a lower perceived power distance. A further positive outcome is the improved perceptions of the service provider, in this case the government agency.     

User incentive mechanism in blockchain-based online community: An empirical study of steemit

The rise of blockchain technology has brought innovations in various business domains and spawned a new form of organization—the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Steemit is recognized as one of the earliest blockchain-based online communities, and a typical example of DAO. By endowing community members with new roles, the decentralization of blockchain-based communities brings changes to the design of user incentive mechanisms. However, few studies have paid attention to the user incentive mechanism when users play the dual roles of social participant and community owner. On the basis of social capital theory and psychological ownership theory, this study explores Steemit's incentive mechanism by evaluating the impact of these dual roles on user active participation behavior. The study adopts a two-way fixed effect negative binomial regression to test the research model. The results show that users’ social capital, share capital, social feedback, and economic feedback positively affect their active participation behavior. At the same time, social feedback and economic feedback play moderating roles on the effects of the dual capitals. Overall, this research provides both theoretical insights and practical implications for understanding, designing, and governing blockchain-based online communities.     

Differences in intrapersonal and interactional empowerment between lurkers and posters in health-related online support communities

Participation in health-related online support communities plays an important role in the psychological empowerment of people who are faced with health problems. Research has suggested that important differences exist in terms of psychological empowerment depending on the form and intensity of participation in such domains by showing that users who contribute to health-related online support communities by posting messages (posters) generally experience greater benefits in terms of intrapersonal empowerment, compared to participants who only read messages (lurkers). However, as yet, very little is known about how the often-neglected interactional aspect of psychological empowerment is associated with participation in these online domains. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore how different forms and intensity of participation in health-related online support communities are associated with both dimensions of psychological empowerment. Drawing on a nonprobability sample of 616 participants in two health-related online support communities, the analysis of the data, obtained with an online questionnaire, revealed that posters scored significantly higher in degree of interactional empowerment than lurkers, whereas no difference was observed in terms of intrapersonal empowerment. In addition, high posting frequency was significantly associated with a high level of interactional empowerment but not intrapersonal empowerment. The study suggests that to better understand the empowering potential of participation for users of health-related online support communities, it is important to distinguish not only between various forms of participation but also between different aspects of psychological empowerment.     

Netnography as a Method of Lead User Identification

Lead users are rare subjects, which are difficult to detect. In theory and practice, mass screening is the main method of lead user identification. It is a standardized, quantitative approach, based on screening a large number of potentially relevant users. Shortcomings of screening are low sample efficiency, high search costs and the reliance on the self‐assessment of respondents. Thus, the elaboration of lead user identification methods is still a major challenge to researchers in the field. In this paper, we propose netnography as a new method of lead user identification. Netnography, made up of internet and ethnography, is an approach to analyse online communities systematically. The empirical results of our explorative study of the online community utopia show that 9 out of 40 of the most active online community members possess lead user attributes (22.5 per cent). Hence, we may conclude that netnography is a viable method of lead user identification, which relies on external assessments instead of self‐assessments and is probably less costly than mass screening.     

User Roles in Online Communities and Their Moderating Effect on Online Community Usage Intention: An Integrated Approach

Recently, it has been evident that the analysis of user data and content in online environments allows practitioners to understand how to motivate online community members and keep them frequently involved in the community, and so to manage these communities successfully. In this sense, practitioners should comprehend community members’ usage intentions to give a better service and to motivate them. However, different user types engage in such communities, so understanding their diverse needs is also essential for practitioners. In parallel, this article addresses the problem of the different user types existing in online communities, and each of them requires different strategies to be motivated and involved in the community. Thus, unlike previous studies, this study firstly identifies user roles in an online community based on the structural role theory, social network analysis, and community members’ contribution behavior. After that, it investigates members’ usage intentions based on the technology acceptance model and examines the moderating effect of identified user roles on their usage intentions. The study also guides practitioners to develop motivational strategies to keep each type of member continually satisfied.     

Shiny happy people buying: the role of emotions on personalized e-shopping

Personalized services are diffusing rapidly in online shopping communities. However, the current understanding of the influence of personalization is limited. This study extends personalization literature into the area of emotions related to intention to purchase and into the context of online shopping. Responses from 182 online shoppers were used to examine the impact of personalization on customer emotions and intention to purchase. The results show that there is a direct positive association between personalization and purchase intentions. In addition, provision of personalization features in e-shops may evoke positive emotions to online shoppers but does not evoke nor mitigate negative ones. Finally, our study reports that emotions influence online shopping behavior either positively, through the formulation of positive emotions, or negatively, through negative emotions. These findings indicate that positive emotions mediate the relationship between personalization and purchase intentions. Our study concludes with a critical appraisal of our findings and a discussion of prospective theoretical and managerial implications for e-shop practitioners.     

Age differences in perceptions of online community participation among non-users: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

This study examined age differences in perceptions of online communities held by people who were not yet participating in these relatively new social spaces. Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we investigated the factors that affect future intention to participate in online communities. Our results supported the proposition that perceived usefulness positively affects behavioral intention, yet it was determined that perceived ease of use was not a significant predictor of perceived usefulness. The study also discovered negative relationships between age and Internet self-efficacy and the perceived quality of online community websites. However, the moderating role of age was not found. The findings suggest that the relationships among perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to participate in online communities do not change with age. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations were discussed.     

融合用户兴趣偏好与影响力的目标社区发现

目标社区检测旨在找到符合用户偏好的有凝聚力的社区然而,所有现有工作要么在很大程度上忽视社区的外部影响,要么不是"基于目标的",即不适合目标请求为了解决这一问题,提出面向属性网络的融合用户兴趣偏好与社区影响力的目标社区发现方法,挖掘与用户偏好相关且最具一定影响力的高质量社区首先,综合节点结构与属性信息,挖掘包含样例节点的...     

Understanding the most influential user experiences in successful and unsuccessful technology adoptions

Understanding processes underlying technology adoption or non-adoption is an important research theme often addressed using the technology acceptance model (TAM) approach. The objective of this research was to investigate most influential user experiences in successful and unsuccessful technology adoptions using user experience related concepts and methods in conjunction with the TAM. Participants (N = 76) described their most influential user experiences related to one successful and one unsuccessful technology adoption process and evaluated both experiences using rating scales, including the central TAM related scales and user experience related scales probing emotions, psychological needs, user values, task load, and the impact of technology on the user’s well-being.The results suggested that user experience and technology acceptance related viewpoints can complement each other in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the factors affecting the success or failure of technology adoptions, and the results showed how these variables typically behave in both contexts. The overall valence of user experience was significantly affected by perceived usefulness, the fulfillment of psychological needs, and the salience of negative emotions in the most influential user experiences of successful adoptions, and by perceived usefulness, output quality, and the salience of negative emotions in the unsuccessful adoptions.     

Exploring and mitigating social loafing in online communities

The motivation to share members’ knowledge is critical to an online community’s survival and success. Previous research has established that knowledge sharing intentions are based on group cohesion. Several studies also suggested that social loafing behavior will seriously corrode group cohesion. Therefore, social loafing is a key obstacle to fostering online community development. Although substantial studies have been performed on the critical factors that affect social loafing in the learning group, those on online communities are still lacking. By integrating two perspectives, social capital and perceived risk, a richer understanding of social loafing behavior can be gained. In the research model, social ties and perceived risk have been driven by anonymity, offline activities, knowledge quality, and media richness. Social ties and perceived risk are hypothesized to affect social loafing in the online community, which, in turn, is hypothesized as negatively affecting group cohesion. Data collected from 323 online users in online communities provide support for the proposed model. The study shows that social loafing is a significant negative predictor of the users’ group cohesion. The study also shows that social ties and perceived risk are important components of social loafing. Anonymity, offline activities, knowledge quality, and media richness all have strong effects on social ties and perceived risk in the online community. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Influence of traits and emotions on boosting status sharing through microblogging

Disclosing status information through microblogging can facilitate effective and efficient electronic word-of-mouth marketing. Therefore, we should understand why people share status information and why certain pieces of content are being shared more often than others. This study adopted an impulsive perspective to investigate status-sharing behaviour in microblogs, which is more spontaneous and unplanned compared with that displayed in traditional virtual communities. Specifically, this study developed a theoretical model to investigate the association among personality traits, emotions, and urge to share status through microblogging. The research model was empirically validated by conducting an online survey among the users of a prevalent microblogging service in China. These users’ urge to share their status was influenced by their personality traits and emotions. Moreover, people with a high level of sharing impulsiveness were inclined to generate negative emotions, whereas those with a high level of inherent novelty seeking could easily induce positive emotions.     

Design and evaluation of an adaptive incentive mechanism for sustained educational online communities

Most online communities, such as discussion forums, file-sharing communities, e-learning communities, and others, suffer from insufficient user participation in their initial phase of development. Therefore, it is important to provide incentives to encourage participation, until the community reaches a critical mass and “takes off”. However, too much participation, especially of low-quality can also be detrimental for the community, since it leads to information overload, which makes users leave the community. Therefore, to regulate the quality and the quantity of user contributions and ensure a sustainable level of user participation in the online community, it is important to adapt the rewards for particular forms of participation for individual users depending on their reputation and the current needs of the community. An incentive mechanism with these properties is proposed. The main idea is to measure and reward the desirable user activities and compute a user participation measure, then cluster the users based on their participation measure into different classes, which have different status in the community and enjoy special privileges. For each user, the reward for each type of activity is computed dynamically based on a model of community needs and an individual user model. The model of the community needs predicts what types of contributions (e.g. more new papers or more ratings) are most valuable at the current moment for the community. The individual model predicts the style of contributions of the user based on her past performance (whether the user tends to make high-quality contributions or not, whether she fairly rates the contributions of others). The adaptive rewards are displayed to the user at the beginning of each session and the user can decide what form of contribution to make considering the rewards that she will earn. The mechanism was evaluated in an online class resource-sharing system, Comtella. The results indicate that the mechanism successfully encourages stable and active user participation; it lowers the level of information overload and therefore enhances the sustainability of the community.     

Consumer behavior in online game communities: A motivational factor perspective

The concept of online communities has been used to improve customers’ loyalty in recent years. While studies on transaction community such as online auction have received more attention in the literature, entertainment community such as online game has seldom been addressed. This study applies the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and modifies the technology acceptance model (TAM) to propose a research model. An empirical study involving 356 subjects was conducted to test this model. The results indicate that customer loyalty is influenced by perceived enjoyment, social norms and preference. Perceived cohesion has an indirect impact on loyalty. In addition, the finding’s practical implication suggests that community managers must overcome the problems users encounter, including suffering from an unstable system, malicious players and grief players.     

Proposing the online community self-disclosure model: the case of working professionals in France and the U.K. who use online communities

The global use of online communities has exploded to involve hundreds of millions of users. Despite the tremendous social impact and business opportunities afforded by these communities, little information systems (IS) research has addressed them – especially in a cross-cultural context. Our research proposes an online community self-disclosure model, tested in a cross-cultural setting using data provided by French and British working professionals. Our model is based on social exchange theory (SET) and social penetration theory (SPT), as well as on cross-cultural theory related to individualism-collectivism. SET explains that individuals engage in relationships when the perceived costs associated with the relationship are less than the expected benefits. SPT extends SET to explain that individuals participate in self-disclosure to foster relationships – reciprocation is the primary benefit of self-disclosure, whereas risk is the foundational cost of self-disclosure. Our study established several important findings: positive social influence to use an online community increases online community self-disclosure; reciprocity increases self-disclosure; online community trust increases self-disclosure; and privacy risk beliefs decrease self-disclosure. Meanwhile, a tendency toward collectivism increases self-disclosure. We further found that French participants had higher scores on horizontal individualism than British participants. Several other findings and their implications for practice are also discussed.     

Understanding Key Antecedents of User Loyalty toward Mobile Messenger Applications: An Integrative View of Emotions and the Dedication-Constraint Model

Given the growth of and competition among mobile messenger applications (MMAs), attracting users’ attention and enhancing their loyalty have become large challenges for MMA service providers. This study provides a theoretical view for understanding the mechanisms that lead to user loyalty toward MMAs. Although emotions and the dedication-constraint model are the two main research disciplines via which the formation of user loyalty has been investigated, few studies have unified these two disciplines. A theoretical model is developed by synthesizing emotional responses and the dedication-constraint model. Based on the ambivalent view of emotions, we examine the exact effects of positive and negative emotions on user loyalty to MMA. Moreover, we identify an encompassing set of antecedents to affective and calculative commitments in the MMA context. A structural equation modeling (SEM) method is used to test the research model based on a sample of 300 KakaoTalk users in South Korea. Our findings reveal that user loyalty to MMAs is jointly shaped by dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms and emotional responses. The findings indicate that affective commitment significantly influences user loyalty, both directly and indirectly, through positive emotions. However, calculative commitment has significant positive effects on positive emotions and user loyalty, but it is also positively related to negative emotions. Perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, and trust significantly influence affective commitment to MMAs, while social norms significantly affect calculative commitment to MMAs. Theoretical and managerial implications and future research directions are subsequently discussed.     

Factors affecting reposting behaviour using a mobile phone-based user-generated-content online community application among Chinese young adults

Mobile phone-based user-generated-content (UGC) online community applications have gained increasing popularity among young generations. However, factors that may affect usage behaviour regarding the applications are not fully investigated. In this study, we employed the Technology Acceptance Model as the basis to explore factors that are able to predict user reposting behaviour with the applications. University students (N?=?322) completed a self-reported questionnaire for measuring the studied constructs after they experienced a high-fidelity prototype of a mobile UGC online community application. Results from path analysis demonstrated that perceived usefulness and attitude towards usage were significant determinants of user reposting intention, with 23% of its variance explained. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and information credibility directly predicted attitude towards usage and accounted for 45% of its variance. Perceived ease of use exerted influence on both perceived usefulness and information credibility. The findings can enhance our understanding of factors that contribute to user reposting behaviour and provide insight into design and implementation strategies to increase the likelihood of user intention to repost information using mobile UGC online community applications.     

Consequences of customer engagement behavior: when negative Facebook posts have positive effects

Sharing product information has become an integral part of today’s online social networking world. This research study addresses the effects of customer engagement behavior in online social networks on other consumers in order to understand how online social connections impact decision making. We investigate how different variations of a brand-related Facebook post trigger different response reactions. In particular, we analyze under which conditions negative posts can have positive consequences. The results of two online experiments set in a restaurant context suggest a difference when the user knows the restaurant brand. For users who are familiar with the restaurant brand, a positive effect of negative information posted by distant acquaintances is found with regard to the visiting intention of the user. The results of both experiments demonstrate that information posted by a close friend is perceived to be more diagnostic. For users not familiar with the restaurant brand, negative posts from strong ties induce the highest diagnosticity levels.