Online Community Commitment and Member Loyalty: A PLS-based Study to Examine Chinese Travel and Tourismrelated Online Communities

Abstract

While the question of how commitment influences user behavior in online communities has recently attracted considerable research, few studies have empirically evaluated the drivers of online community commitment. Building on a conceptual framework of factors affecting commitment with online communities, this study evaluates the influence of individual psychological attachment and online community characteristics on the commitment of its members. Data was collected from 361 members of 3 travel and tourismrelated Chinese online communities. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was adopted to analyse the data collected for this study. The findings reveal that both individual psychological attachment and online community characteristics significantly influence commitment in Chinese travel and tourism-related online communities. The results also show that online community commitment significantly contributes to member loyalty. The implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.