Building Brand Commitment in Virtual Brand Communities

Abstract

In the context of consumer-brand relationship, brand commitment plays a considerable role in the formation and maintenance of a successful long-term relation between consumers and brands. A recent addition to the brand relationship-building literature is the work on virtual brand communities (VBCs) and the customer attachment that such a community may generate. Although previous research provides valuable insights on the characteristics of VBCs (McAlexander et al. 2002; Muniz and O’Guinn 2001; Schau and Muniz 2002) and their positive outcomes such as brand commitment and brand loyalty (e.g., Algesheimer et al. 2005; Carlson et al. 2008), there are three areas where further research is indicated, especially on the basic mechanisms through which brand commitment can be achieved in VBCs (Broderick et al. 2003).