Relationships and online consumer communities

Purpose – To explore, through a case study approach, relationship and community development in online consumer communities.Design/methodology/approach – A case study‐based analysis of three organizations that are supporting online community creation and development is used as the basis for grounded theory development. Two of these organizations, the Consumers Association, and Emerald Group Publishing Limited, are publishers, and are building on established community. The third case study, Letsbuyit.com seeks to bring together a consumer community in pursuit of the good deals with suppliers. Online communities are analysed in terms of relationships, including the nature and types of relationships, the role of value creation and commitment, customer‐to‐customer interaction, and relationship lifecycles.Findings – These case studies demonstrate that whilst communication, content and commerce are often associated with consumer online communities, each e‐business needs to develop its own model of community buil...

[1]  Charles L. Martin.  Consumer-to-Consumer Relationships: Satisfaction with Other Consumers' Public Behavior , 1996 .

[2]  P. Abeele,et al.  Decline and variability in brand loyalty. , 1997 .

[3]  Mark P. Zanna,et al.  The impact of computer-mediated communication on self-awareness☆ , 1988 .

[4]  Rachel Barker,et al.  Measuring knowledge management in a virtual chat room: A case study , 2008 .

[5]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[6]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[7]  Jin Yong Park,et al.  Dimensions of online community attributes , 2008 .

[8]  T. Bonoma.  Case Research in Marketing: Opportunities, Problems, and a Process , 1985 .

[9]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students , 2006 .

[10]  G. Hogg,et al.  Consumers and Services , 1998 .

[11]  F. Buttle.  Relationship Marketing: Theory and Practice , 1996 .

[12]  D. Silverman.  Qualitative research : theory, method and practice , 2004 .

[13]  M. Fritz.  E-commerce partnering due diligence: A methodology for trust in e-commerce in food networks , 2007 .

[14]  C. Perry.  Processes of a case study methodology for postgraduate research in marketing , 1998 .

[15]  Craig S. Breitenbach,et al.  Value‐added marketing in the digital domain: enhancing the utility of the Internet , 1998 .

[16]  Lopo L. Rego,et al.  What makes commercial Web pages popular , 1998 .

[17]  R. Watson,et al.  THE WORLD WIDE WEB AS AN ADVERTISING MEDIUM , 1996 .

[18]  Sally Harridge‐March,et al.  Website elements in B2B online communications: a case from the UK print industry , 2008 .

[19]  Alan Dick,et al.  Customer loyalty: Toward an integrated conceptual framework , 1994 .

[20]  A. Strauss,et al.  Basics of Qualitative Research , 1992 .

[21]  Philip E. T. Lewis,et al.  Research Methods for Business Students (2nd edition) , 2000 .

[22]  Colin Robson,et al.  Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers , 1993 .

[23]  C. Hoey,et al.  Maximising the effectiveness of Web‐based marketing communications , 1998 .

[24]  N. Pliskin,et al.  Virtual communities and society: Toward an integrative three phase model , 1997 .

[25]  R. Hallowell.  The relationships of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability: an empirical study , 1996 .

[26]  S. Kiesler,et al.  Group and computer-mediated discussion effects in risk decision making. , 1987 .

[27]  Jennifer E. Rowley,et al.  Remodelling marketing communications in an Internet environment , 2001, Internet Res..

[28]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Finding a happy medium: explaining the negative effects of electronic communication on social life at work , 1994, TOIS.

[29]  G. Hutton.  Net gain: Expanding markets through virtual communities , 1998 .

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

[31]  Philip Powell,et al.  Investigating the Worth of Internet Advertising , 1998 .