Cultivating Brand Trust in Virtual Brand Communities: Differences between Posters and Lurkers

This research proposes and empirically investigates the mechanism that translates virtual brand communities into members (both posters and lurkers) brand trust. Using a sample of 752 virtual brand communities’ members, the... [ view full abstract ]

This research proposes and empirically investigates the mechanism that translates virtual brand communities into members (both posters and lurkers) brand trust. Using a sample of 752 virtual brand communities’ members, the study finds that members’ activity characteristics emerge as antecedents of their social identity in virtual brand communities. Lurkers’ frequency of visiting the community, their average duration of time spent on the community website per visit, and frequency of posters’ posting behaviour significantly predict their social identity in the virtual brand community. Social identity significantly predicts brand attitude and brand knowledge that have significant, positive relationships to brand trust. In addition, the study signifies that brand knowledge fully mediates the effect of social identity on brand trust for lurkers compared to posters in virtual brand communities. These results offer implications for theory and brand community management.