How Online Communities Affect Online Community Engagement and Word-of-Mouth Intention

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of online communities on online community engagement and word-of-mouth intention. The current research model was extended and developed into a theoretical model that conceptualizes the relationship between the main concepts to study the influence of utilitarian value, hedonic value, entitativity value, social presence, social support, and community identification on online community engagement, which will therefore affect word-of-mouth intention. Therefore, based on the collected survey questionnaire of 338 responses in Jordan, the results were analyzed using Amos 22. EFA is used to test reliability and validity, analyze the validation of the convergent model and the discriminant validity and analyze the data description. Moreover, this study applied Path Analysis, which was used to check the hypotheses of the studies that were previously developed by researchers. The findings of the seven hypotheses that were conducted to test the research hypotheses indicate that entitativity value, social support, social presence, community identification, and word-of-mouth intention significantly influence online community engagement. However, the utilitarian value and the hedonic value did not influence online community engagement significantly. In addition, the results represent various findings that hold essential implications and accordingly, recommendations are suggested for future marketing research and practices.