線上品牌社群共創之前導、中介與結果

Drivers, Mediators and Outcomes of Co-creation in Online Brand Communities

本文探討OBC 及顧客－－品牌間的關係，特別是針對高、低品牌涉入之消費者與公、私OBC，分別設計模型及進行比較。研究結果揭示，低品牌涉入消費者模型具有最佳模型配適度，且應強調OBC 承諾在中介OBC 品牌之關係形成過程中的重要性。高品牌涉入消費者模型則由於消費者對品牌的瞭解早在OBC 參與之前，故並不一定要透過OBC 承諾，便連結OBC 價值共創與品牌的直接關係。對品牌投入最積極、成員組成最整齊的消費者集群為公OBC，故該群組形成最堅固穩定的模型，而對品牌忠誠擁有最大解釋能力。至於私OBC 模型，因其受制該品牌公司過多，故消費者呈現保留態度，致使模型配適不佳。研究結果進一步地闡釋、討論並提出限制及未來方向。

Online brand communities (OBCs) not only help firms that own brands interact with consumers, but also enable consumers to communicate and exchange information, thus increasing collective value co-creation and strengthening consumer-brand marketing relationships. In this study, we investigated the relationship between OBCs and consumer brands by examining the links among OBC value co-creation, OBC commitment, brand commitment, and brand loyalty. In particular, we designed separate models for consumers exhibiting high and low brand involvement as well as public and private OBCs and then compared the four models. The results revealed that the model for consumers exhibiting low brand involvement demonstrated the optimal goodness-of-fit value. The importance of OBC commitment in mediating the OBC-brand relationship during relationship establishment should be emphasized. In the model for consumers exhibiting high brand involvement, because the consumers understood the brand before they participated in the OBC, OBC commitment is not required to connect the OBC value co-creation and brand directly. The consumer group most actively involved in the brand and organized with the most consistent members is the public OBCs (Led by consumers). Thus, the public OBC formed the most consolidated and steady model that had the strongest explanatory power on brand loyalty. The private OBC (Led by producers) model was overly restricted by the brand company; thus, consumers tended to had a reservation about the private OBCs, thereby resulting in unfavorable goodness-of-fit values. Finally, the results were interpreted and their implications presented along with the study limitations and future research directions.