An In-Depth Study of the Participant Involvement Journey in Online Brand Communities

There has been increased research attention dedicated to understanding online brand communities (OBCs) over the last few years possibly due to the exponential growth rate of such entities. This paper is an in-depth study of... [ view full abstract ]

There has been increased research attention dedicated to understanding online brand communities (OBCs) over the last few years possibly due to the exponential growth rate of such entities. This paper is an in-depth study of participant involvement in OBCs which appears to be a relatively under researched area in the literature. The paper adopts Houston and Rothschild’s (1978) conceptualisation of enduring and situational forms of involvement to explore participant involvement in OBCs. The focus of the paper is to gain deeper insights into the nature of participant involvement in OBCs, and how participant behaviour evolves over long-term involvement with the OBC. As part of an in-depth approach, the study employs netnography, involving observation and semi-structured interviews, to gain rich insights into participant involvement in OBCs. The paper presents a conceptual framework to illustrate the participant involvement journey in OBCs. Findings from the study propose the existence of four different types of involvement that are goal-, product/brand-, self-, and community-orientated in nature which respectively shape how participants are involved in OBCs.