The Effects of Consumers' Perceived Benefits on Attitudes and Revisit Intentions in an Online Brand Community

Abstract

<p>As the Internet greatly enhances people's abilities to interact and communicate with each other, the online brand community has become a dominant venue in the marketplace through which to share individual information and experiences (McWilliam, 2000). This study aims to examine the relationships between consumers' perceptions of benefits in using online brand communities and their attitudes and revisit intentions toward those communities. In addition, this study investigates the differences in these relationships between two types of online brand communities (marketer-created and consumer-created). The results of this study imply that consumers visiting the marketer-created online community (MOC) are significantly influenced by their perceived information benefits than social benefits. On the other hand, brand attitudes and intention of those who visit the consumer-created online community (COC) are influenced by their perceptions of both benefits. This study ultimately supports the importance of managing online brand communities as part of a total brand strategy for marketers.</p>