品牌社群的消費者忠誠之雙元路徑模型

A Dual Pathway Model of Consumer Loyalty in Brand Community Settings: Intrinsic Need Fulfillment and Extrinsic Cost Perception

忠誠行為是消費者關係管理與品牌關係管理範疇中重要的議題。本研究提出內在與外在的雙元路徑模型，解釋消費者在品牌社群情境下的忠誠行為。內在路徑描述消費者透過認同過程，將其參與品牌社群的心理需求與動機予以內化，其中參與品牌社群的內在需求，包含「自我決定」、「自我形象一致性」、及「對於快樂的追求」；透過社群認同，進而形成消費者對於品牌社群的情感承諾。外在路徑則描述透過外在調節機制，將參與品牌社群過程中所知覺的外部成本予以內化；這些外部成本包括：「轉換障礙」、「關係投資規模」、及「欠缺選擇等外部成本」，並進一步形成持續性承諾。本研究使用三階段網路問卷調查進行資料蒐集，樣本來自九個車隊成員，透過資料比對，刪除無效問卷以及未完成三階段問卷的參與者，共獲得507 個有效樣本。本研究以PLSSEM進行實證分析，研究結果顯示，作者所提出的各假說路徑，均獲得實證支持。

Consumer loyalty is a key feature of consumer-brand relationship management. The authors propose a dual-pathway model, consisting of one intrinsic path and one extrinsic path, to explain consumer loyalty in a brand community context. The intrinsic path internalizes individuals' intrinsic needs (formed from self-determination, self-congruence, and desirable hedonic values) through an identification process that leads to affective commitment to the brand community. The extrinsic path is an external-regulation process that internalizes individuals' extrinsic cost perceptions (consisting of switching barriers, relationship investment size, and lack of attractive alternatives) to form continuance commitment. The authors empirically test the model with a three-stage longitudinal data analysis using a sample of 507 paired-responses from members of nine car clubs. Results support the proposed Model. This dual-pathway model complements and adds to the findings of existing single pathway-based studies in terms of explaining consumers' loyalty in brand community contexts.