Consumption community commitment : Newbies' and longstanding members' brand engagement and loyalty

Résumé En

The relationships among members of virtual brand-related communities may change depending on the length of their participation in the community. Consumers' commitment to the community is likely to influence the relationship between consumer engagement in the community and brand loyalty. Commitment can be affective, calculative, and normative. Knowledge concerning the impact of these dimensions on behavioral loyalty to a brand over membership time is lacking. This study examines the changing relationship between consumers' engagement in a consumption community, their kind of commitment to the community and their behavioral loyalty to a brand over membership time. Members of a French virtual community sharing photography interests participated in the sample. Configural analysis shows that strong engagement in community activities alone is neither sufficient nor necessary for brand loyal intentions. Combinations of engagement with various levels of affective, calculative and normative commitment to the community can cause high behavioral brand loyalty of community members. These combinations change with the length of membership in the community. Brand managers can use the results to fine-tune their communication to groups of community members with different combinations of engagement and commitment as drivers of brand loyalty.