Factors Affecting Brand Identification and Loyalty in Online Community

Abstract

This study explores the factors of online community characteristics which affect customer loyalty through the mediate effects of brand identification. By employing online questionnaire survey, hundreds of observations were collected from online brand communities in Taiwan for hypothetical model test. Research results show that brand loyalty is positively affected by stronger online brand identification which is enhanced by online community interactivity, satisfied customer relationship and platform quality. Based on the findings, this study suggests that online brand managers should focus on providing a rich interactive community environment for establishing satisfied customer relationship on a high quality platform to enhance brand identification thereby to earn customer’s brand loyalty.