Are Visitors Outsiders Are Visitors Outsiders? The Effect of Viewing Posts in Online Brand Communities Zhimin Zhou Shenzhen University, China Ning Zhang City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R.

83,415 Online Users at a point in time： and 78,091 visitors 5,324 members 83,415 Online Users at a point in time：

Research Questions How can influence visitors be influenced by online brand communities to participate in the communities and purchase the brands?

Conceptual Model

Measures Viewing posts (Bateman, Gray, and Butler, 2010; Koh and Kim, 2004): three items Informational value (Mathwick, Wiertz, and de Ruyter, 2008): three items Perceived social value (Mathwick, Wiertz, and de Ruyter, 2008): four items Attitude toward community (Gupta, Kim, and Shin, 2010): four items Attitude toward brand (Putrevu and Lord, 1994): five items Participation intention (Algesheimer, Dholakia, and Herrmann, 2005; Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006): three items Purchase intention (Putrevu and Lord, 1994): three items.

Data Collection and Analysis Method The website Sojump (www.sojump.com), a popular online survey platform in China 376 valid questionnaires Analysis Method Partial least square (PLS) modeling

Sampling Gender Age Income(RMB) Vocation Education Male 48.1% Female 51.9% ≤20 12.5% 21-25 41.2% 26-30 24.5% 31-40 17.8% 41-50 2.7% ≥51 1.3% No income 26.9% < 2000 16.2% 2000-3000 21.0% 3001-5000 20.2% 5001-8000 11.2% 8001-15000 2.9% 15001-50000 1.6% Student 33.5% Non-student (such as sales, engineer, worker, teacher) 66.5% Primary school 1.1% High school 5.3% Secondary technical school 2.9% Junior college 18.9% Undergraduate 61.4% Post-graduate 9.6% Doctorate 0.8%

Measurement Model SFL t-value Viewing posts (Cronbach’s α = .834) I have viewed posts in OBC X for a long time. .843 40.380 I have visited OBC X to view posts frequently. .902 67.923 I have viewed a large number of posts presented by members in OBC X. .854 41.800 Informational value (Cronbach’s α = .816) I find the information on OBC X to be valuable. .891 66.168 I think of OBC X as an information resource. .866 49.700 There is unique value in OBC X. .802 25.150 Perceived social value (Cronbach’s α = .829) I feel that members think of the patrons of OBC X as members’ extended family. .813 31.567 I feel that participating on OBC X provides an important source of camaraderie for members. .858 47.050 I feel that OBC X provides a sounding board for members’ ideas. .760 22.842 I feel that members rely on the personal support they get from others in OBC X. .819 42.188 Attitude toward community (Cronbach’s α = .897) OBC X is a good online forum. .903 77.354 OBC X is a likeable online forum. .883 50.581 OBC X is a beneficial online forum. .841 44.184 OBC X is a pleasant online forum. .868 49.142

Cont’d SFL t-value Attitude toward brand (Cronbach’s α = .905) The decision to buy Brand X is foolish.(r) .664* 14.627 Buying Brand X is a good decision. .905 60.526 I think Brand X is a satisfactory brand. .917 82.934 I think Brand X has a lot of beneficial characteristics. .886 49.415 I have a favorable opinion of Brand X. .875 57.940 Participation intention (Cronbach’s α = .884) I intend to be a part of OBC X. .912 63.942 I intend to participate in the activities of OBC X. 76.547 I intend to communicate with members of OBC X. 39.599 Purchase intention (Cronbach’s α = .881) It is very likely that I will buy Brand X. .902 44.135 I will purchase Brand X the next time I need the product. .933 110.670 I will definitely try Brand X. .861 38.933 Overall model fit: χ2(263)= 732.53, χ2/df=2.79, p<.01; CFI=.93; NNFI=.92; IFI=.93; RMSEA=.070 * For the loadings of reverse questions, the response data are subtracted by 7. Notes: OBC X means online community of brand X. (r) indicates a reverse question. SFL means standardized factor loadings.

Descriptive Statistics of Construct Measures Variables  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Viewing posts .87** 2. Informational value .39** .85** 3. Perceived social value .46** .53** .81** 4. Attitude toward community .50** .56** .69** 5. Attitude toward brand .32** .44** 6. Participation intention .48** .52** .64** .42** .90** 7. Purchase intention .35** .45** .36** .71** Mean 4.07 4.58 4.23 4.36 4.60 4.38 4.71 Standard deviation 1.08 　.89 　.88 　.84 　.95 　.96 Composite reliability 　.90 　.93 AVE 　.75 　.73 　.66 　.76 　.81 ** p < .01 (two-tailed test). Notes: Bold figures on the diagonal are the square root of the AVE for the constructs.

Tests of Hypotheses Hypothesized Paths Coefficient t-value Results Main effects H1a: viewing posts → informational value .400** 7.202 supported H1b: viewing posts → perceived social value .457** 8.431 H2a: informational value → attitude toward community .271** 4.940 H2b: informational value → attitude toward brand .294** 4.748 H3a: perceived social value → attitude toward community .549** 13.416 H3b: perceived social value → attitude toward brand .060 1.061 rejected H4: attitude toward community → attitude toward brand .324** 3.735 H5a: attitude toward community → participation intention .652** 12.538 H5b: attitude toward community → purchase intention .151* 2.463 H6a: attitude toward brand → participation intention .070 1.458 H6b: attitude toward brand → purchase intention .632** 10.194 H7: participation intention → purchase intention .002 0.057 * p < .05 (two-tailed test); ** p < .01 (two-tailed test).

Cont’d Control effects Coefficient t-value Gender → purchase intention .004 .181 Age → purchase intention -.005 .127 Income → purchase intention .073 1.554 Education → purchase intention .036 1.275 Dependent variables Overall R2 　informational value .160 　perceived social value .209 　attitude toward community .536 　attitude toward brand .349 　participation intention .486 　purchase intention .541

Research Conclusions × × ×

Managerial Implications facilitating online information sharing foster a culture of harmony promote members’ interactions

Limitations and Future Research common method bias variation of the model among different industries dynamic mechanism from visitors to members