Role of community trust in driving brand loyalty in large online B2B communities

Abstract

Purpose Online customer communities have become a strategic tool for business-to-business (B2B) firms to drive collaboration among customers around the company’s products and services. This paper aims to argue that the three social capital dimensions, that is, structural, relational and cognitive, themselves driven by brand community trust, can affect brand loyalty for the organization. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a survey to collect data and structural equation modeling to test the conceptual framework by collecting data from 214 participants across three online B2B communities operated by three technology firms in India. Findings Brand community trust is found to have a strong association with social network ties, identification and norm of reciprocity and shared vision. These three have concomitant effects on the quality of customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions. Such communication generates functional, emotional and social benefits, which, in turn, curate brand loyalty. Practical implications The authors’ findings guide community managers in leveraging such conversations in shaping customer loyalty for the corporate brand. Originality/value This work provides an integrated framework to explain the important role of C2C interactions in B2B online brand communities.