Understanding Customers’ Online Brand Community Usage
Özet
Starting with an introductory and conceptual background, this study examines the benefits of customer usage of online brand communities for both businesses and consumers, which have become popular through globalization and the development of information technology. Online brand communities are social structures where consumers sharing a common passion and interest in a brand exchange information, interact, and support one another. Three basic characteristics stand out in the formation of these communities: a sense of belonging, common rituals or traditions, and a sense of moral responsibility. Users join these platforms to learn, share knowledge, advocate, socialize, and contribute to product co-development processes. Alongside functional benefits such as gathering information, consumers also obtain social, psychological, and hedonic gratifications. For businesses, online brand communities offer strategic advantages such as strengthening customer relationships and trust, encouraging word-of-mouth marketing, receiving user feedback during new product development phases, and enhancing brand loyalty. To explain user participation, the study draws upon various theoretical frameworks, including Social Influence Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Social Identity Theory, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT). Ultimately, online brand communities eliminate the boundaries between consumers and businesses, providing a sustainable competitive advantage through seamless information flow and value co-creation.
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