A Typology of Virtual Communities: A Multi-Disciplinary Foundation for Future Research

Despite the growing popularity of virtual communities, there is no consensus among researchers regarding the appropriate definition or types of virtual communities. In this paper, a virtual community is defined as an aggregation of individuals or business partners who interact around a shared interest, where the interaction is at least partially supported and/or mediated by technology and guided by some protocols or norms. The central objective of developing this typology was to develop a classification system that would be useful to researchers from various disciplinary perspectives such that the classification system might be used as a foundation for theory construction. The proposed typology serves its intended purposes and is evaluated against criteria put forth by Hunt (1991). The proposed typology uses establishment type and relationship orientation as the key categorization variables, reconciling problems posed by other researchers who attempt to use attributes as categorization variables. It is simple, pragmatic for practitioners and useful for researchers seeking to develop an understanding of the virtual community phenomenon.

[1]  David Marsland,et al.  Community: A Critical Response , 1976 .

[2]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Studying Online Social Networks , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[3]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Intentional social action in virtual communities , 2002 .

[4]  R. Kling,et al.  Group Behavior and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Sociotechnical Approach , 2003 .

[5]  H. Bansal,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Processes within a Services Purchase Decision Context , 2000 .

[6]  C. Mathwick.  Understanding the online consumer: A typology of online relational norms and behavior , 2002 .

[7]  Stacey E. Bressler,et al.  Communities of Commerce: Building Internet Business Communities to Accelerate Growth, Minimize Risk, and Increase Customer Loyalty , 2000 .

[8]  Satish Nambisan,et al.  DESIGNING VIRTUAL CUSTOMER ENVIRONMENTS FOR NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT : TOWARD A THEORY , 2005 .

[9]  C. Barnatt.  Virtual communities and financial services ‐ on‐line business potentials and strategic choice , 1998 .

[10]  Dennis L. Hoffman,et al.  Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments : Conceptual Foundations 1 ) , 1998 .

[11]  Robert M. Schindler,et al.  Internet forums as influential sources of consumer information , 2001 .

[12]  S. Wilson,et al.  The Anthropology of Online Communities , 2002 .

[13]  Anita L. Blanchard.  Virtual Behavior Settings: An Application of Behavior Setting Theories to Virtual Communities , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[14]  J. McAlexander,et al.  Building Brand Community , 2002 .

[15]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[16]  F. Rothaermel,et al.  Virtual internet communities and commercial success: individual and community-level theory grounded in the atypical case of TimeZone.com , 2001 .

[17]  B. Butler.  When is a Group not a Group: An Empirical Examination of Metaphors for Online Social Structure , 2003 .

[18]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  A Social Influence Model of Consumer Participation in Network- and Small-Group-Based Virtual Communities , 2004 .

[19]  Dimitrina S. Dimitrova,et al.  Computer Networks as Social Networks: Collaborative Work, Telework, and Virtual Community , 1996 .

[20]  S. Brint.  Gemeinschaft Revisited: A Critique and Reconstruction of the Community Concept* , 2001 .

[21]  Quentin Jones,et al.  Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archaeology: A Theoretical Outline , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[22]  Won-Seok Yoo,et al.  Exploring the Factors Enhancing Member Participation in Virtual Communities , 2002, J. Glob. Inf. Manag..

[23]  Jessie Bernard.  The Sociology of Community , 1973 .

[24]  Katarina Stanoevska-Slabeva,et al.  Toward a Community-Oriented Design of Internet Platforms , 2002, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[25]  R. Kozinets.  The Field behind the Screen: Using Netnography for Marketing Research in Online Communities , 2002 .

[26]  Gary T. Marx,et al.  “Only Connect”—E. M. Forster in an Age of Electronic Communication: Computer‐Mediated Association and Community Networks , 1997 .

[27]  John Hagel,et al.  Real Profits from Virtual Communities , 1995 .

[28]  J. Phelps,et al.  Privacy Concerns and Consumer Willingness to Provide Personal Information , 2000 .

[29]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  The Economic Leverage of the Virtual Community , 2001, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[30]  K. Sheehan,et al.  Dimensions of Privacy Concern among Online Consumers , 2000 .

[31]  Jenny Preece,et al.  Online Communities: Designing Usability and Supporting Sociability , 2000 .

[32]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  Sociability and usability in online communities: Determining and measuring success , 2001, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[33]  George R. Milne.  Consumer Participation in Mailing Lists: A Field Experiment , 1997 .

[34]  Paul Dourish,et al.  Re-place-ing space: the roles of place and space in collaborative systems , 1996, CSCW '96.

[35]  Michael H. Zack,et al.  Interactivity and Communication Mode Choice in Ongoing Management Groups , 1993, Inf. Syst. Res..

[36]  Petra Schubert,et al.  Virtual Communities of Transaction: The Role of Personalization in Electronic Commerce , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[37]  Sandeep Krishnamurthy,et al.  E-Commerce Management: Text and Cases , 2002 .

[38]  Sheizaf Rafaeli,et al.  Time to Split, Virtually: 'Discourse Architecture' and 'Community Building' Create Vibrant Virtual Publics , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[39]  Douglas R. Vogel,et al.  Virtual Community Informatics: A Review and Research Agenda , 2003 .

[40]  Loren G. Terveen,et al.  The dynamics of mass interaction , 1998, CSCW '98.

[41]  Howard Rheingold,et al.  Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution , 2002 .

[42]  D. D. Schoenbachler,et al.  Trust and customer willingness to provide information in database-driven relationship marketing , 2002 .

[43]  Ananda Mitra,et al.  From Cyber Space to Cybernetic Space: Rethinking the Relationship between Real and Virtual Spaces , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[44]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[45]  S. Hunt.  Modern Marketing Theory: Critical Issues in the Philosophy of Marketing Science , 1990 .

[46]  Jacques Bughin,et al.  The Operational Performance of Virtual Communities - Towards a Successful Business Model? , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[47]  Kenneth C. Laudon,et al.  E-commerce: Business, Technology, Society , 2002 .

[48]  Gary Burnett,et al.  Information Exchange in Virtual Communities: A Comparative Study , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[49]  G. A. Hillery.  Definitions of community : Areas of Agreement , 1955 .

[50]  Eric Walden,et al.  Some Value Propositions of Online Communities , 2000, Electron. Mark..

[51]  Jacques Bughin,et al.  The Marketing Scale Effectiveness of Virtual Communities , 2001, Electron. Mark..

[52]  Lee Komito,et al.  The Net as a Foraging Society: Flexible Communities , 1998, Inf. Soc..

[53]  Jerome B. Kernan,et al.  Analysis of Referral Networks in Marketing: Methods and Illustration , 1986 .

[54]  Peter H. Reingen,et al.  Social Ties and Word-of-Mouth Referral Behavior , 1987 .

[55]  J. Hagel,et al.  Net gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities , 1999 .